Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino, KSG (, ; November 25, 1920 – January 14, 2009) was a Mexican radio, television, theatre and film actor. He had a career spanning seven decades (motion pictures from 1943 to 2006) and multiple notable roles. During the mid-1970s, Montalbán was most notable as the spokesman in automobile advertisements for the Chrysler Cordoba (in which he famously extolled the "soft Corinthian leather" used for its interior). From 1977 to 1984, he became famous as Mr. Roarke the main star in the television series Fantasy Island. He played Khan Noonien Singh in both the 1967 episode "Space Seed" of the first season of the , and the 1982 film . He won an Emmy Award in 1978, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild in 1993. Into his 80s, he continued to perform, often providing voices for animated films and commercials, and appearing in several Spy Kids films as "Grandfather Valentin".
Early life
Montalbán was born in
Mexico City, but grew up in the city of
Torreón, the son of Castilian Spanish émigrés Ricarda Merino and Jenaro Montalbán, a store manager. He was raised as devout
Roman Catholic. Montalbán had a sister, Carmen, and two brothers, Pedro and the actor
Carlos Montalbán. As a teenager, Ricardo moved to Los Angeles to live with Carlos. The two went to New York City in 1940, and Ricardo earned a minor role in the play,
Her Cardboard Lover.
Career
In 1941, he appeared in his first motion pictures, three-minute musicals produced for the
Soundies film jukeboxes. Montalbán appeared in many of the New York–produced Soundies as an extra or as a member of a singing chorus (usually billed as Men and Maids of Melody). Ricardo Montalbán's first starring film was
He's a Latin from Staten Island (1941), in which the young Latin (billed simply as "Ricardo") played the title role of a guitar-strumming gigolo, accompanied by an offscreen vocal by
Gus Van.
Late in 1941, Montalbán learned that his mother was dying, so he returned to Mexico. There, he acted in a dozen Spanish-language films and became a star in his homeland. He frequently portrayed Asian characters – mostly of Japanese background, as in Sayonara and the Hawaii Five-O episode "Samurai". His first leading role was in the 1949 film Border Incident with actor George Murphy. He was the first Hispanic actor to appear on the front cover of Life magazine on November 21, 1949. During the 1950s and 1960s, he was one of only a handful of actively working Hispanic actors.
Many of his early roles were in Westerns in which he played character parts, usually as an "Indian" or as a "Latin Lover". In 1950, he was cast against type, playing a Cape Cod police officer in the film Mystery Street. In 1957, he played Nakamura in the Oscar-winning film Sayonara.
From 1957 to 1959, he starred in the Broadway musical Jamaica, singing several light-hearted calypso numbers opposite Lena Horne.
Montalbán starred in radio, such as the internationally syndicated program "Lobo del Mar" (Seawolf), in which he was cast as the captain of a vessel which became part of some adventure at each port it visited. This 30-minute weekly show aired in many Spanish-speaking countries until the early 1970s. In 1972, Montalban co-founded the Screen Actors Guild Ethnic Minority Committee with actors Carmen Zapata, Henry Darrow and Edith Diaz.
In 1975, he was chosen as the television spokesman for the new Chrysler Cordoba. The car became a successful model, and over the following several years, was heavily advertised; his mellifluous delivery of a line praising the "soft Corinthian leather" upholstery of the car's interior, often misquoted as "fine" or "rich Corinthian leather", became famous and was much parodied, and Montalbán subsequently became a favorite subject of impersonators. Eugene Levy, for example, frequently impersonated him on SCTV. (In deference to American habits, he deliberately misstressed the car's name on the second syllable.) In 1986, he was featured in a magazine advertisement for the new Chrysler New Yorker.
Montalbán's best-known television role was that of Mr. Roarke in the television series Fantasy Island, which he played from 1978 until 1984. For a while, the series was one of the most popular on television, and his character as well as that of his sidekick, Tattoo (played by Hervé Villechaize), became pop icons. Another of his well-known roles was that of Khan Noonien Singh in , in which he reprised a role that he had originated in the 1967 episode of titled "Space Seed". There were some questions initially as to whether Montalbán had had prosthetic muscles applied to his chest during filming of Star Trek II to make him appear more muscular; director Nicholas Meyer replied that even in his sixties Montalbán was "one strong cookie" and that his real chest was seen on film; Khan's costume was specifically designed to display Montalbán's physique. Critic Christopher Null called Khan the "greatest role of Montalbán's career".
When Montalbán guest starred in the Family Guy episode "McStroke" as the genetically engineered cow, he made several references to his role as Khan (such as using the quote "...including... my beloved wife").
Montalbán appeared in many diverse films including as well as two films from both the Planet of the Apes and Spy Kids series. In addition, he appeared in various musicals, such as 1966's The Singing Nun, also starring Debbie Reynolds. Over the course of his long career, he played lead roles or guest-starred in dozens of television series.
Prior to his death in January 2009, Montalbán recorded the voice for a guest character in an episode of the animated TV series American Dad!, in which main character Roger becomes the dictator of a South American country. According to executive producer Mike Barker, it was his last role.
Injury
During the filming of the 1951 film,
Across the Wide Missouri, Montalbán was thrown from his horse, knocked unconscious, and trampled by another horse, resulting in a painful back injury that never healed. The pain increased as he aged, and in 1993, Montalbán underwent 9½ hours of spinal surgery which left him paralyzed below the waist and using a wheelchair. Despite constant pain, the actor persevered; he performed and provided voices for animated films and supported Nosotros. Filmmaker
Robert Rodriguez created a role for him as "Grandfather Cortez" in the popular 2000s
Spy Kids film series, and wrote the part specifically including his wheelchair – now jet-propelled to allow him to move throughout the scenes.
Personal life
He married Georgiana Young (née Georgiana Paula Belzer; September 10, 1924—November 13, 2007), who had a brief acting and modeling career, in 1944; they had four children: Laura, Mark, Anita and Victor. Georgiana was the half-sister of the actresses
Sally Blane,
Polly Ann Young, and movie and television star
Loretta Young, who nicknamed her "Georgie". After sixty-three years of marriage, she died at the age of 83, on November 13, 2007, predeceasing her husband by fourteen months.
Montalbán was a practicing Roman Catholic and once had said that his religion was the "most important thing" in his life. In 1998, Pope John Paul II named him a Knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great, the highest honor a Roman Catholic lay person can receive from the Church. Although he spent most of his life in the United States, he remained a citizen of Mexico and never applied for American citizenship.
Montalbán's autobiography, Reflections: A Life in Two Worlds, was published in January 1980 by Doubleday.
Nosotros Foundation
The way he was asked to portray Mexicans disturbed him, so Montalbán, along with Richard Hernandez, Val de Vargas, Rudolfo Hoyos Jr., Carlos Rivas, Tony de Marco, and
Henry Darrow He served as its first president and was quoted as saying:
The foundation created the Golden Eagle Awards, an annual awards show that highlights Latino actors. The awards are presented in conjunction with the Nosotros American Latino Film Festival (NALFF), held at the Ricardo Montalbán Theatre in Hollywood.
Ricardo Montalbán Theatre
The Nosotros Foundation and the
Ricardo Montalbán Foundation agreed to purchase the
Doolittle Theatre in 1999 from
UCLA. The process from agreement to opening took over four years. The facility in Hollywood was officially renamed the Ricardo Montalbán Theatre in a May 11, 2004 ceremony. The event was attended by numerous celebrities, including
Ed Begley, Jr., representing the
Screen Actors Guild (SAG);
Valerie Harper,
Loni Anderson,
Hector Elizondo and
Robert Goulet.
When Montalbán rolled onto the stage in his wheelchair, he repeated "the five stages of the actor" that he famously stated in several interviews and public speeches:
# Who is Ricardo Montalbán?
# Get me Ricardo Montalbán.
# Get me a Ricardo Montalbán type.
# Get me a young Ricardo Montalbán.
# Who is Ricardo Montalbán?
He then jokingly added two more stages:
"Wait a minute—isn't that What's-his-name?", referring to his role in the Spy Kids movies
"Who the hell is that?", believing that to be the reaction of people seeing his name on the theater marquee
Contrary to his assertions, a young generation is somewhat familiar with him through his voice as Señor Senior, Sr. in five Kim Possible television episodes from 2002–2007 and as the grandfather in the movies and .
Montalbán then spoke about the goal of the Nosotros organization: According to his son-in-law Gilbert Smith, Montalbán died of "complications from advancing age". His cause of death was later revealed to be congestive heart failure. He is buried next to his wife in Culver City's Holy Cross Cemetery.
Filmography
{| border="2" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 90%;"
|- bgcolor="#CCCCCC" align="center"
! colspan="4" style="background: LightSteelBlue;" | Film
|- bgcolor="#CCCCCC" align="center"
! Year
! Film
! Role
! Notes
|-
| 1941
|
Soundies musical shorts
| Chorus member and crowd extra
|appeared in at least two dozen titles
|-
| 1943
|
Santa
| Jarameño
|
|-
| 1944
|
La Fuga
| Teniente
|
|-
| 1947
|
Fiesta
| Mario Morales
|
|-
| rowspan=2|1948
|
On an Island with You
| Ricardo Montez
|
|-
|
The Kissing Bandit
| Fiesta Specialty Dancer
|
|-
| rowspan=3|1949
|
Neptune's Daughter
| José O'Rourke
|
|-
|
Border Incident
| Pablo Rodriguez
|
|-
|
Battleground
| Rodriguez
|
|-
| rowspan=3|1950
|
Mystery Street
| Lieutenant Peter Morales
| Alternative title:
Murder at Harvard
|-
|
Two Weeks With Love
| Demi Armendez
|
|-
|
Right Cross
| Johnny Monterez
|
|-
| rowspan=2|1951
|
Across the Wide Missouri
| Ironshirt (Blackfoot war chief)
|
|-
|
Mark of the Renegade
| Marcos Zappa
|
|-
| 1952
|
My Man and I
| Chu Chu Ramirez
|
|-
| 1953
|
Latin Lovers
| Roberto Santos
|
|-
| 1954
|
The Saracen Blade
| Pietro Donati
|
|-
| 1955
|
A Life in the Balance
| Antonio Gómez
|
|-
| 1956
|
Three for Jamie Dawn
| George Lorenz
|
|-
| 1957
|
Sayonara
| Nakamura
|
|-
| 1962
|
Ernest Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man
| Major Padula
|
|-
| 1963
|
Love Is a Ball
| Duke Gaspard Ducluzeau
| Alternative title:
All This and Money Too
|-
| 1964
|
Cheyenne Autumn
| Little Wolf
|
|-
| 1965
|
The Money Trap
| Pete Delanos
|
|-
| rowspan=2|1966
|
Madame X
| Phil Benton
|
|-
|
The Singing Nun
| Father Clementi
|
|-
| 1967
|
The Longest Hundred Miles
| Father Sanchez
|-
| 1968
|
Sol Madrid
| Jalisco
| Alternative title:
The Heroin Gang
|-
| 1969
|
Sweet Charity
| Vittorio Vidal
|
|-
| rowspan=2|1971
|
The Deserter
| Natachai
|
|-
|
Escape from the Planet of the Apes
| Armando
|
|-
| 1972
|
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
| Armando
|
|-
| 1973
|
The Train Robbers
| The Pinkerton man
|
|-
| 1974
|
The Mark of Zorro
| Captain Esteban
|
|-
| 1982
|
|
Khan Noonien Singh
|
|-
| 1984
|
Cannonball Run II
| King
|
|-
| 1988
|
| Vincent Ludwig
|
|-
| 2002
|
| Grandfather
|
|-
| 2003
|
| Grandfather
|
|-
| 2006
|
The Ant Bully
| The Head of Council
| Voice
|-
|- bgcolor="#CCCCCC" align="center"
! colspan="4" style="background: LightSteelBlue;" | Television
|- bgcolor="#CCCCCC" align="center"
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
| 1956
|
General Electric Theater
| Esteban
| 1 episode
|-
| 1957
|
Wagon Train
| Jean LeBec
| 1 episode
|-
| 1958
|
Frances Farmer Presents
| Tio
| 1 episode
|-
| 1959
|
Adventures in Paradise
| Henri Privaux
| 1 episode
|-
| 1960
|
Death Valley Days
| Joaquin Murietta
| 1 episode
|-
| 1960
|
Bonanza
| Matsou
| 1 episode
|-
| 1961
|
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
| Karl Steiner
| 1 episode
|-
| 1961
|
Hamlet (German TV production) (uncredited)
| Claudius (dubbed English voice)
| 1 episode
|-
| 1961
|
The Untouchables
| Frank Makouris
| 1 episode - "Stranglehold"
|-
| 1962
|
Cain's Hundred
| Vincent Pavanne
| 1 episode
|-
| 1962
|
The Lloyd Bridges Show
| Navarro
| 1 episode – "War Song"
|-
| 1963
|
Ben Casey
| Henry Davis
| 1 episode
|-
| 1964
|
The Defenders
| 'Spanish John' Espejo
| 1 episode
|-
| 1964
|
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
| Satine
| 1 episode
|-
| 1966
|
The Wild Wild West
|
Col. Noel Bartley Vautrain
| 1 episode - "The Night of the Lord of Limbo"
|-
| 1966
|
Dr. Kildare
| Damon West
| 4 episodes
|-
| 1966
|
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
| Delgado
| 1 episode
|-
| 1967
|
|
Khan Noonien Singh
| 1 episode – "
Space Seed"
|-
| 1967
|
| Gerard Sefra
| 1 episode – "Snowball In Hell"
|-
| 1967
|
Combat!
| Barbu
| 1 episode
|-
| 1968
|
Ironside
| Sgt. Al Cervantes
| 1 episode
|-
| 1968
|
Hawaii Five-O
| Tokura
| 1 episode – "Samurai"
|-
| 1970
|
Gunsmoke
| Chato
| 1 episode
|-
| 1972
|
Here's Lucy
| Prince Phillip Gregory Hennepin Of Montalbania
| 1 episode
|-
| 1972
|
Hawaii Five-O
| Alex Pareno
| 1 episode – "Death Wish on Tantalus Mountain"
|-
| 1973
|
Griff
|
| 1 episode – "Countdown to Terror"
|-
| 1974
|
Wonder Woman
| Abner Smith
| Made for TV movie (pilot)
|-
| 1975
|
Switch
| Jean-Paul
| 1 episode
|-
| 1976
|
Columbo
| Luis Montoya
| 1 episode
|-
| 1977
|
Police Story
| Major Sergio Flores
| 1 episode
|-
| 1978
|
How the West Was Won
| Satangkai
| 4 episodes
|-
| 1978–1984
|
Fantasy Island
| Mr. Roarke
| 124 episodes
|-
| 1985–1987
|
The Colbys
| Zachary "Zach" Powers
| 48 episodes
|-
| 1986
|
Dynasty
| Zachary "Zach" Powers
| 2 episodes
|-
| 1990
|
B.L. Stryker
| Victor Costanza
| 1 episode
|-
| 1990
|
Murder, She Wrote
| Vaacclav Maryska
| 1 episode
|-
| 1991
|
Dream On
| Alejandro Goldman
| 1 episode
|-
| 1993
|
The Golden Palace
| Lawrence Gentry
| 1 episode
|-
| 1994
|
Heaven Help Us
| Mr. Shepherd
|
|-
| 1995–1996
|
Freakazoid!
| Armondo Gutierrez (Voice)
| 4 episodes
|-
| 1997
|
Chicago Hope
| Col. Martin Nieves
| 1 episode
|-
| 1998
|
| Manuel Kaire
| 1 episode
|-
| 2000
|
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
| Vartkes (Voice)
| 1 episode
|-
| 2001
|
Titans
| Mr. Sanchez
| 1 episode
|-
| 2002
|
Dora the Explorer
| El Encantador (Voice)
| 1 episode
|-
| 2002–2007
|
Kim Possible
| Señor Senior Sr. (Voice)
| 5 episodes
|-
| 2008
|
Family Guy
| The Cow
| 1 episode (
McStroke)
|-
| 2009
|
American Dad!
| El Generalisimo
| 1 episode (
Moon Over Isla Island).
Last role before his death.
|}
References
Further reading
External links
Archive of American Television interview with Ricardo Montalbán on August 13, 2002
Catholics in Media Associates Lifetime Achievement Award
"Ricardo Montalbán's death announced in Los Angeles"
Los Angeles Times, Thursday, January 15, 2009.">"Ricardo Montalbán dies at 88; 'Fantasy Island' actor", Los Angeles Times, Thursday, January 15, 2009.
The New York Times, Thursday, January 15, 2009.">"Ricardo Montalbán, Star of 'Fantasy Island,' Dies at 88," The New York Times, Thursday, January 15, 2009.
Category:1920 births
Category:2009 deaths
Category:American film actors
Category:Mexican film actors
Category:American stage actors
Category:Mexican stage actors
Category:American television actors
Category:Mexican television actors
Category:American voice actors
Category:Mexican voice actors
Category:Emmy Award winners
Category:American people of Mexican descent
Category:American people of Spanish descent
Category:Mexican people of Spanish descent
Category:Mexican expatriates in the United States
Category:Mexican immigrants to the United States
Category:People from Mexico City
Category:People from Los Angeles, California
Category:Chrysler people
Category:Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery
Category:Mexican Roman Catholics
Category:American Roman Catholics
Category:20th-century actors
Category:Hispanic and Latino American actors
Category:Hispanic and Latino American people
