Ricardo Montalbán

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Ricardo Montalbán

Main title from The Colbys
Birth name Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán Merino
Born November 25, 1920
Mexico City, Mexico
Notable roles "Mr. Roarke" in
Fantasy Island
"Khan" in
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán Merino, better known as simply Ricardo Montalbán (born November 25, 1920 in Mexico City) is a television, theatre and film actor. He is best known for his roles as Mr. Roarke in the television series Fantasy Island and villain Khan Noonien Singh in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

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[edit] Background

His elder brother, Carlos Montalbán, was instrumental in moving Ricardo to the United States. Also an actor, Carlos is best-known for portraying El Exigente ("The Demanding One"), a coffee export agent, in a series of television commercial for Savarin Coffee in the 1960s and 1970s.

When Montalbán first arrived in Los Angeles, California, he had no knowledge of the English language, and was initially rejected from Fairfax High School in West Hollywood, California.

He attended Belmont High School in downtown Los Angeles and studied English intensely for hours each day after school. Four months later, Montalbán was accepted to the "more academically challenging" Fairfax High School and carried on the development of his language skills. It was at Fairfax High that Montalbán was first discovered by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer executives while he was playing the lead role in the school play, Tovarich.

From 1993-1994, Montalbán was confined to a wheelchair and lived in constant pain. Reports differ as to the exact cause; one source says it is the result of nine and a half hours of spinal surgery to repair an injury he received making Across the Wide Missouri in 1951, while another says he was left immobilized by partial paralysis after three operations for a congenital condition affecting his spine. The last word heard about his health was at the Star Trek convention in Las Vegas in 2004, in which he sent a taped message to the convention goers explaining that his doctors recommended he did not travel due to a spinal cord injury. In the recording, he was clearly seen seated in a wheelchair.

In the DVD Commentary to the film Spy Kids 2: Island Of Lost Dreams, director Robert Rodriguez explains this is why his grandfather character is confined to a wheelchair for the film. In the third sequel, Spy Kids 3D: Game Over his character enters the virtual world and appears with legs able to walk. Rodriguez has said he didn't know how many films Montalban had left but if this was his last appearance he wanted him walking and not appearing frail.

He married Georgiana Young (née Georgiana Belzer), youngest half-sister of the late film stars Polly Ann Young, Sally Blane, and the more famous Loretta Young. Loretta died at the Montalbáns' home in Santa Monica, California in 2000 after a bout with cancer. He and his wife married in 1944, and they have 4 children. They are devout Catholics. In October 2003, Montalbán received a lifetime achievement award from Catholic Media Associates for his "tenacity and faith" that Montalbán said "has seen me through my many years in entertainment."

Ricardo Montalbán has retained his Mexican citizenship, but is a permanent resident of the United States only.

[edit] Career

Montalbán's first leading role was the 1949 film Border Incident, with George Murphy. During the 1950s and 1960s he was one of the few working Hispanic actors. Many of his early roles were in Westerns in which he played character parts, usually as an Indian or the Latin lover. In 1950, he was cast against type, playing a Barnstable Cape Cod cop in the film noir Mystery Street.

In 1957/59 he starred in the long running Broadway musical Jamaica, singing several amusing calypso numbers.

In 1975, he was chosen as the television spokesman for the new Chrysler Cordoba. The car was successful and heavily advertised; his mellifluous delivery of a line praising its "soft Corinthian leather"[1] upholstery became famous and was much parodied. He has been a favorite subject of impressionists, with Eugene Levy, for instance, frequently impersonating him on SCTV. In 1986, he was featured in a magazine ad for the new Chrysler New Yorker.

One of his most well-known roles was that of Mr. Roarke in the television series Fantasy Island, from 1978 to 1984. For a time the series was one of the most popular on television. His character and his sidekick, Tattoo (played by Hervé Villechaize), were pop icons. He played another well-known role appearing as Khan Noonien Singh in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, which he reprised from a 1967 episode of Star Trek called "Space Seed".

Montalbán has appeared in many diverse films including The Naked Gun and two films from the Planet of the Apes series. He also appeared in the second Spy Kids film in 2002, and the third one in 2003, as the kids' grandfather. Over the course of his long career, he has played roles or guest starred in dozens of television series.

[edit] Trivia

  • In several interviews and public speeches, Montalbán has described "the five stages of the actor", which are as follows:
  1. Who is Ricardo Montalbán?.
  2. Get me Ricardo Montalbán.
  3. Get me a Ricardo Montalbán type.
  4. Get me a young Ricardo Montalbán.
  5. Who is Ricardo Montalbán?
  • There were some questions initially as to whether Montalban had prosthetic muscles applied to his chest during filming of Star Trek II to make him appear more muscular, on account of his being over 60 years old at the time. Montalban and many people associated with the production of Star Trek II have refuted this, most notably Leonard Nimoy in his book *I Am Spock*, citing the fact that he was always physically active and worked out regularly, and those really were his muscles.
    • Additionally, Montalban took a significant pay cut to play Khan, because he enjoyed playing the character so much.
  • Montalbán has portrayed Asian characters - as a Japanese (in Sayonara and the Hawaii Five-O episode Samurai) and a Sikh (Asian Indian) in the Star Trek series.

[edit] Recent Happenings

For the last three years, Montalban has been involved in a lawsuit with his Beverly Hills neighbor, and Friends creator, David Crane, regarding construction Crane's house is undergoing. Allegedly Montalban is infuriated with the constant noise and the height of the new wing on Crane's house which obstructs Montalban's view. The lawsuit is pending in Los Angeles Superior Court.

[edit] Filmography

Ricardo Montalbán as Khan Noonian Singh in the 1967 Star Trek episode Space Seed.
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Ricardo Montalbán as Khan Noonian Singh in the 1967 Star Trek episode Space Seed.
An older Ricardo Montalbán reprising the role of Khan Noonian Singh in the 1982 film Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan.
Enlarge
An older Ricardo Montalbán reprising the role of Khan Noonian Singh in the 1982 film Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan.

[edit] 1940s

  • Verdugo de Sevilla, El (Twig of Seville) (1942)
  • Razón de la culpa, La (Reason of The Fault) (1943)
  • Santa (1943)
  • Cinco fueron escogidos (Five Were Chosen) (1943)
  • Fuga, La (The Flight) (1944)
  • Cadetes de la naval (Navy Cadets) (1945)
  • Nosotros (We) (1945)
  • Hora de la verdad, La (The Hour Of Truth) (1945)
  • Casa de la zorra, La (The House Of The Vixen) (1945)
  • Pepita Jiménez (1946)
  • Fantasía ranchera (1947)
  • Fiesta (1947)
  • On an Island with You (1948)
  • The Kissing Bandit (1948)
  • Neptune's Daughter (1949)
  • Border Incident (1949)
  • Battleground (1949)

[edit] 1950s

[edit] 1960s

[edit] 1970s

[edit] 1980s

[edit] 1990s to the present

[edit] External links

[edit] Internal Links

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