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EspañolRICARDO MONTALBáN
(Redirected from Ricardo Montalban)
'Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán Merino' (born November 25, 1920) is a Mexican television, theatre and film actor. He is known as a spokesperson in late '70s advertisements for Chrysler Cordoba (in which he famously extols the "Corinthian leather" used for its interior), and for playing Mr. Roarke in the television series ''Fantasy Island'' and Khan Noonien Singh in ''.
Montalbán was born in Mexico City to Ricarda Merino and Jennaro Montalbán, a store manager.[1] He had a brother, Carlos, and a sister, Carmen.[2] Montalbán is a practicing Catholic and has said that his religion is "the most important thing in his life".[3]
Montalban 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 Barnstable Cape Cod police officer in the film noir movie ''Mystery Street''. In 1957, he played the role of "Nakamura" in the 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.
Montalban's best-known television role was perhaps that of Mr. Roarke in the television series ''Fantasy Island'', which he played from 1978 until 1984. For a time, 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 '', which was a reprisal of his role in a 1967 episode of '' entitled "Space Seed". There were some questions initially as to whether Montalban had prosthetic muscles applied to his chest during filming of '' to make him appear more muscular, on account of his being over 60 years old at the time. Montalban and many individuals 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. Montalban took a significant pay cut to play Khan, because he enjoyed playing the character so much.
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, Montalban 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:
# Who is Ricardo Montalbán?
# Get me Ricardo Montalbán.
# Get me a Ricardo Montalbán type.
# Get me a young Ricardo Montalbán.
# Who is Ricardo Montalbán?
Montalbán did a voiceover for a Taco Bell commercial that aired during Super Bowl XLI. In the commercial, one lion suggests to another to roll his ''R''s in a manner that is "sexy, like Ricardo Montalbán" while pronouncing ''carne asada.'' This segues to a voiceover featuring the actor.
★ ''Five Were Chosen'' (1942) (a Spanish version was filmed the following year)
★ ''The Twig of Seville'' (1942)
★ ''The Reason of the Fault'' (1943)
★ ''Santa'' (1943)
★ ''Flight'' (1944)
★ ''Cadets of the Navy'' (1945)
★ ''We'' (1945)
★ ''The Hour of Truth'' (1945)
★ ''The House of the Fox'' (1945)
★ ''Pepita Jiménez'' (1946)
★ ''Ranch Fantasy'' (1947)
★ ''Fiesta'' (1947)
★ ''On an Island with You'' (1948)
★ ''The Kissing Bandit'' (1948)
★ ''Neptune's Daughter'' (1949)
★ ''Border Incident'' (1949)
★ ''Battleground'' (1949)
★ ''Mystery Street'' (1950)
★ ''Right Cross'' (1950)
★ ''Two Weeks with Love'' (1950)
★ ''Mark of the Renegade'' (1951)
★ ''Across the Wide Missouri'' (1951)
★ ''The Million Dollar Nickel'' (1952) (short subject)
★ ''My Man and I'' (1952)
★ ''Sombrero'' (1953)
★ ''Latin Lovers'' (1953)
★ ''The Saracen Blade'' (1954)
★ ''Untouched'' (1954)
★ ''A Life in the Balance'' (1955)
★ ''The Queen of Babylon'' (1955)
★ ''Three for Jamie Dawn'' (1956)
★ ''Desert Warrior'' (1957)
★ ''Sayonara'' (1957)
★ ''Let No Man Write My Epitaph'' (1960)
★ ''Rage of the Buccaneers'' (1961)
★ ''Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man'' (1962)
★ ''The Reluctant Saint'' (1962)
★ ''Love Is a Ball'' (1963)
★ ''Cheyenne Autumn'' (1964)
★ ''Good Night, New Year'' (1964)
★ ''The Money Trap'' (1965)
★ ''The Singing Nun'' (1966)
★ ''Madame X'' (1966)
★ ''Sol Madrid'' (1968)
★ ''Blue'' (1968)
★ ''Sweet Charity'' (1969)
★ ''The Deserter'' (1971)
★ ''Escape from the Planet of the Apes'' (1971)
★ ''Sentinels of Silence'' (1971)
★ ''Conquest of the Planet of the Apes'' (1972)
★ ''The Train Robbers'' (1973)
★ ''Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood'' (1976)
★ ''Joe Panther'' (1976)
★ ''Mission to Glory: A True Story'' (1977)
★ '' (1982)
★ ''Cannonball Run II'' (1984)
★ '' (1988)
★ '' (2002)
★ '' (2003)
★ ''The Ant Bully'' (2006) (voice)
★ ''Operation Cicero'' (1956)
★ ''Rashomon'' (1960)
★ ''Hamlet'' (1961) (voice dubber in English version)
★ ''Alice Through the Looking Glass'' (1966)
★ ''The Man From U.N.C.L.E.'' (The Dove Affair) (1964)
★ ''Code Name: Heraclitus'' (1967)
★ ''The Longest Hundred Miles'' (1967)
★ ''Samurai'' Hawaii Five-O, 1st Season, Guest Star (1968)
★ ''Fade-In'' (1968)
★ ''The Pigeon'' (1969)
★ ''The Desperate Mission'' (1969)
★ ''Black Water Gold'' (1970)
★ ''The Aquarians'' (1970) (unsold pilot)
★ ''Sarge'' (1971)
★ ''Fireball Forward'' (1972)
★ ''Wonder Woman'' (1974) (unsold pilot)
★ ''The Mark of Zorro'' (1974)
★ ''McNaughton's Daughter'' (1976)
★ ''Executive Suite'' (1976-1977)
★ ''Fantasy Island'' (1977) (pilot for series)
★ ''Captains Courageous'' (1977)
★ ''Return to Fantasy Island'' (1978) (2nd pilot for series)
★ ''Fantasy Island'' (1978-1984)
★ ''How the West Was Won'' (1978) (miniseries)
★ ''The Colbys'' (1985-1987)
★ ''Heaven Help Us'' (1994) (canceled after 13 episodes)
★ ''Freakazoid'' (1995-1997) (voice)
★ ''Kim Possible'' (2002-present) (voice)
★ ''Dora the Explorer: The Missing Piece '' (2004) (Wizard voice)
★ ''Jamaica'' (1957-1959)
★ In The Larry Sanders Show Ricardo is referred to as a friend of the character Arthur.
1. http://www.filmreference.com/film/29/Ricardo-Montalban.html
2. http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800015033/bio
3. http://www.catholicweb.com/media_index.cfm?fuseaction=view_article&partnerid=18&article_id=547
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
★
★ Archive of American Television Interview with Ricardo Montalbán Aug 13, 2002 on Google Video
★ Catholics in Media Associates Lifetime Achievement Award
'Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán Merino' (born November 25, 1920) is a Mexican television, theatre and film actor. He is known as a spokesperson in late '70s advertisements for Chrysler Cordoba (in which he famously extols the "Corinthian leather" used for its interior), and for playing Mr. Roarke in the television series ''Fantasy Island'' and Khan Noonien Singh in ''.
| Contents |
| Biography |
| Personal life |
| Career |
| Filmography |
| Television |
| Broadway Musical |
| Trivia |
| References |
| External links |
Biography
Personal life
Montalbán was born in Mexico City to Ricarda Merino and Jennaro Montalbán, a store manager.[1] He had a brother, Carlos, and a sister, Carmen.[2] Montalbán is a practicing Catholic and has said that his religion is "the most important thing in his life".[3]
Career
Montalban 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 Barnstable Cape Cod police officer in the film noir movie ''Mystery Street''. In 1957, he played the role of "Nakamura" in the 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.
Montalban's best-known television role was perhaps that of Mr. Roarke in the television series ''Fantasy Island'', which he played from 1978 until 1984. For a time, 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 '', which was a reprisal of his role in a 1967 episode of '' entitled "Space Seed". There were some questions initially as to whether Montalban had prosthetic muscles applied to his chest during filming of '' to make him appear more muscular, on account of his being over 60 years old at the time. Montalban and many individuals 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. Montalban took a significant pay cut to play Khan, because he enjoyed playing the character so much.
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, Montalban 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:
# Who is Ricardo Montalbán?
# Get me Ricardo Montalbán.
# Get me a Ricardo Montalbán type.
# Get me a young Ricardo Montalbán.
# Who is Ricardo Montalbán?
Montalbán did a voiceover for a Taco Bell commercial that aired during Super Bowl XLI. In the commercial, one lion suggests to another to roll his ''R''s in a manner that is "sexy, like Ricardo Montalbán" while pronouncing ''carne asada.'' This segues to a voiceover featuring the actor.
Filmography
★ ''Five Were Chosen'' (1942) (a Spanish version was filmed the following year)
★ ''The Twig of Seville'' (1942)
★ ''The Reason of the Fault'' (1943)
★ ''Santa'' (1943)
★ ''Flight'' (1944)
★ ''Cadets of the Navy'' (1945)
★ ''We'' (1945)
★ ''The Hour of Truth'' (1945)
★ ''The House of the Fox'' (1945)
★ ''Pepita Jiménez'' (1946)
★ ''Ranch Fantasy'' (1947)
★ ''Fiesta'' (1947)
★ ''On an Island with You'' (1948)
★ ''The Kissing Bandit'' (1948)
★ ''Neptune's Daughter'' (1949)
★ ''Border Incident'' (1949)
★ ''Battleground'' (1949)
★ ''Mystery Street'' (1950)
★ ''Right Cross'' (1950)
★ ''Two Weeks with Love'' (1950)
★ ''Mark of the Renegade'' (1951)
★ ''Across the Wide Missouri'' (1951)
★ ''The Million Dollar Nickel'' (1952) (short subject)
★ ''My Man and I'' (1952)
★ ''Sombrero'' (1953)
★ ''Latin Lovers'' (1953)
★ ''The Saracen Blade'' (1954)
★ ''Untouched'' (1954)
★ ''A Life in the Balance'' (1955)
★ ''The Queen of Babylon'' (1955)
★ ''Three for Jamie Dawn'' (1956)
★ ''Desert Warrior'' (1957)
★ ''Sayonara'' (1957)
★ ''Let No Man Write My Epitaph'' (1960)
★ ''Rage of the Buccaneers'' (1961)
★ ''Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man'' (1962)
★ ''The Reluctant Saint'' (1962)
★ ''Love Is a Ball'' (1963)
★ ''Cheyenne Autumn'' (1964)
★ ''Good Night, New Year'' (1964)
★ ''The Money Trap'' (1965)
★ ''The Singing Nun'' (1966)
★ ''Madame X'' (1966)
★ ''Sol Madrid'' (1968)
★ ''Blue'' (1968)
★ ''Sweet Charity'' (1969)
★ ''The Deserter'' (1971)
★ ''Escape from the Planet of the Apes'' (1971)
★ ''Sentinels of Silence'' (1971)
★ ''Conquest of the Planet of the Apes'' (1972)
★ ''The Train Robbers'' (1973)
★ ''Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood'' (1976)
★ ''Joe Panther'' (1976)
★ ''Mission to Glory: A True Story'' (1977)
★ '' (1982)
★ ''Cannonball Run II'' (1984)
★ '' (1988)
★ '' (2002)
★ '' (2003)
★ ''The Ant Bully'' (2006) (voice)
Television
★ ''Operation Cicero'' (1956)
★ ''Rashomon'' (1960)
★ ''Hamlet'' (1961) (voice dubber in English version)
★ ''Alice Through the Looking Glass'' (1966)
★ ''The Man From U.N.C.L.E.'' (The Dove Affair) (1964)
★ ''Code Name: Heraclitus'' (1967)
★ ''The Longest Hundred Miles'' (1967)
★ ''Samurai'' Hawaii Five-O, 1st Season, Guest Star (1968)
★ ''Fade-In'' (1968)
★ ''The Pigeon'' (1969)
★ ''The Desperate Mission'' (1969)
★ ''Black Water Gold'' (1970)
★ ''The Aquarians'' (1970) (unsold pilot)
★ ''Sarge'' (1971)
★ ''Fireball Forward'' (1972)
★ ''Wonder Woman'' (1974) (unsold pilot)
★ ''The Mark of Zorro'' (1974)
★ ''McNaughton's Daughter'' (1976)
★ ''Executive Suite'' (1976-1977)
★ ''Fantasy Island'' (1977) (pilot for series)
★ ''Captains Courageous'' (1977)
★ ''Return to Fantasy Island'' (1978) (2nd pilot for series)
★ ''Fantasy Island'' (1978-1984)
★ ''How the West Was Won'' (1978) (miniseries)
★ ''The Colbys'' (1985-1987)
★ ''Heaven Help Us'' (1994) (canceled after 13 episodes)
★ ''Freakazoid'' (1995-1997) (voice)
★ ''Kim Possible'' (2002-present) (voice)
★ ''Dora the Explorer: The Missing Piece '' (2004) (Wizard voice)
Broadway Musical
★ ''Jamaica'' (1957-1959)
Trivia
★ In The Larry Sanders Show Ricardo is referred to as a friend of the character Arthur.
References
1. http://www.filmreference.com/film/29/Ricardo-Montalban.html
2. http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800015033/bio
3. http://www.catholicweb.com/media_index.cfm?fuseaction=view_article&partnerid=18&article_id=547
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
★
★ Archive of American Television Interview with Ricardo Montalbán Aug 13, 2002 on Google Video
★ Catholics in Media Associates Lifetime Achievement Award
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psst.. try this: add to faves
