Ricardo Montalbán

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Ricardo Montalbán

from the trailer for Fiesta (1947)
Born Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán Merino
November 25, 1920 (1920-11-25) (age 87)
Mexico City, Mexico
Spouse(s) Georgiana Young
(1944–2007)
4 children

Ricardo Gonzálo Pedro Montalbán Merino (born November 25, 1920) is a Mexican television, theatre, and film actor. He has a career spanning decades and multiple notable roles. During the late 1970s, he was the spokesperson in automobile advertisements for Chrysler Cordoba (in which he famously extols the "Corinthian leather" used for its interior). From 1977-1984 he was the lead character Mr. Roarke in the television series Fantasy Island. He also played the villainous Khan Noonien Singh in both the 1967 "Space Seed" episode of the first season of the original Star Trek series, and again in the 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. He won a "Supporting Actor" Emmy Award in 1978, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild in 1993. Though currently in his 80s, he continues to perform, often providing voices for animated films and commercials, such as one that aired during the 2007 Super Bowl XLI.

Contents

Biography

Personal life

Montalbán was born in Mexico City, the son of Ricarda (née Merino) and Jenaro Montalbán, a store manager.[1] He had a brother, actor Carlos Montalbán, and a sister, Carmen.[2] Montalbán is a practicing Roman Catholic and has said that his religion is "the most important thing in his life".[3] He remains a Mexican citizen by choice, having never taken out citizenship in the United States.

He married Georgiana Young, a minor actress, in 1944; they had four children. She was half-sister of the late actresses Sally Blane, Polly Ann Young, and Oscar-winner Loretta Young, who nicknamed her "Georgie". Georgiana Young de Montalbán died on November 13, 2007, aged 84, of undisclosed causes. Her death was not publicly known for some time as no formal obituaries were published, including in such papers as The Los Angeles Times, Variety and The New York Times. Bloggers first reported the story. She is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, Section EE, #21. She is survived by her husband, their four children and a large extended family including grandchildren, nephews and nieces.

Career

Montalbán has stated that when he first arrived in Hollywood, studios wanted to change his name to Ricky Martin.[4] He has frequently portrayed Asian characters - mostly of Japanese background (as in Sayonara and the Hawaii Five-O episode Samurai). His first leading role was the 1949 film Border Incident, with actor George Murphy. During the 1950s and 1960s he was one of only a few 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.

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 its "soft Corinthian leather" upholstery, often misquoted as "rich Corinthian leather", became famous and was much parodied, and Montalban subsequently became a favorite subject of impersonators. Eugene Levy, for example, frequently impersonated him on SCTV. 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 well known role was that of Khan Noonien Singh in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, which was a reprisal of his role in the 1967 episode of Star Trek entitled "Space Seed". There were some questions initially as to whether Montalbán 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. Montalbán and others associated with the production of Star Trek II have disputed 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.

Montalbán has appeared in many diverse films including The Naked Gun as well as two films from both the Planet of the Apes and Spy Kids series. In addition, he has appeared in multiple musicals, such as 1966's The Singing Nun, also starring Debbie Reynolds. Over the course of his long career, he has played lead roles or guest starred in dozens of television series. Since 1993, Montalbán has had to use a wheelchair after a long-unresolved spinal injury from the 1951 film Across the Wide Missouri recurred.

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?

Taco Bell

Montalbán did a voiceover for a Taco Bell commercial that aired in 2007 during Super Bowl XLI. In the commercial, one lion suggests to another to roll his Rs in a manner that is "sexy, like Ricardo Montalbán" while pronouncing carne asada. This segues to a voiceover featuring the actor.

Filmography

Television

Broadway musical

References

  1. ^ Ricardo Montalban Biography (1920-)
  2. ^ Ricardo Montalban Biography - Yahoo! Movies
  3. ^ CatholicWeb.com Catholic Web Church Parish Diocese Software Email News Site Directory
  4. ^ See at 57 seconds into his interview for the Archive of American Television in 2002 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7687635617267643616&q=%22ricardo+montalban%22&hl=en

External links

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The Naked Gun series
TV series
Films
Cast
Crew
Characters


Persondata
NAME Montalbán, Ricardo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Merino, Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán
SHORT DESCRIPTION Actor
DATE OF BIRTH 1920-11-25
PLACE OF BIRTH Mexico City, Mexico
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH