Ricardo Montalbán

Mexican-born actor and activist

• Born: November 25, 1920
• Birthplace: Mexico City, Mexico
• Died: January 14, 2009
• Place of death: Los Angeles, California

Montalbán overcame many stereotypes about Latino actors to achieve success in film, on stage, and in television. Best known for the television series Fantasy Island, he was active in the entertainment world from the 1940’s until his death.

Early Life

Born in Mexico City to parents who had emigrated from Spain, Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino (MOHN-tahl-BAHN) was born in Mexico City on November 25, 1920, and raised in Torreón, where his father managed a dry goods store. The family moved to Torreón because of the unstable political and economic situation in the capital. Montalbán’s parents had four children—three boys and one girl. From his family, Montalbán learned the importance of a happy marriage, family ties, and a deep and profound faith in God. These values remained with him his whole life.

Life’s Work

In his late teens, Montalbán moved to Los Angeles to live with his older brother Carlos, an actor; they later moved to New York. In 1940, he had a minor role in the playHer Cardboard Lover (1927), starring Tallulah Bankhead; in 1941, he worked in films produced in New York until his mother’s serious illness forced him to return to Mexico. While in Mexico, he became a film star before returning to the United States in 1943.

Because of his dark good looks, Montalbán was typecast as a “Latin lover,” a concept and term he abhorred. In 1947, he starred in Fiesta, a film in which he and Esther Williams played twins born to an upper-class Mexican family. The anomaly of twins with different accents left Hollywood undaunted. Montalbán and Williams worked together in two other films: On an Island with You (1948) and Neptune’s Daughter (1949). Montalbán was cast as a Latin film star in On an Island with You and a South American polo player in Neptune’s Daughter. In 1950, he costarred with Jane Powell in the musical Two Weeks with Love as a sophisticated older man attracted to a young woman at a family resort. In 1953, he costarred with Lana Turner in the film Latin Lovers. Montalbán also worked with Cyd Charisse in several films, including Fiesta and On an Island with You. Because he could dance and sing, he was successful in the era of Hollywood musicals, but those roles dried up in the early 1950’s. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), the leading studio for musicals, dropped Montalbán in 1953.

Montalbán thought of himself as a dramatic actor but was not hired for leading roles in major dramas during his early years in Hollywood; however, he did have featured dramatic roles in B films such as Mystery Street (1950). In the 1950’s, he played Latinos, Indians, Japanese, and even Afro-Caribbean characters. In Across the Wide Missouri (1951), starring Clark Gable, Montalbán played an Indian chief; during the filming in 1950, he was seriously injured when his horse was startled by a prop cannon and he was thrown against a large rock. It proved to be a life-changing injury; he was in constant pain for the rest of his career.

In the 1950’s, Montalbán moved to the stage. In 1957, he starred on Broadway opposite Lena Horne in the musical play Jamaica, winning a Tony Award in 1958. Montalbán and Horne broke a racial taboo of the era when they shared a kiss on stage. Despite his injury, he was able to dance in the play. Also in 1957, he played a Japanese actor in the Marlon Brando film Sayonara.

While his career was developing, Montalbán found personal happiness with model Georgiana Belzer, the half-sister of Loretta Young. The two met, fell in love, and were married for more than sixty years until her death in 2007. The couple had four children—two boys and two girls. In his personal life, Montalbán was a devout Roman Catholic and given the high honor of Knight of the Order of St. Gregory in 1998 by Pope John Paul II. In his memoir, Reflections: A Life in Two Worlds (1980), the setting is a Catholic retreat where he reflects on his life after the death of his older brother Pedro.

Over a successful career that spanned seven decades, Montalbán always was conscious of the struggle that Latino actors faced. In 1970, he cofounded the Nosotros Foundation to advance the cause of Latino actors and to honor their work. Nosotros means “we” and signifies the unity of all Latino actors. As first president of the foundation, Montalbán was an advocate for Latino actors, which hurt his own career for several years.

In the 1970’s, Montalbán’s career entered a new phase when he became the spokesman for the Chrysler Cordoba. His commercial might have been more famous than the car itself. Suave and well-groomed, speaking in a charming voice, Montalbán praised the “soft Corinthian leather” of the car’s interior, a phrase that was frequently mentioned and often parodied. A major turning point in his later career occurred when he was selected to play Mr. Roarke in the television series Fantasy Island, which ran for seven seasons. One of the best roles of his later career was as the genetically enhanced villain Khan Noonien Singh in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), in which he reprised a role he had originated in an episode of the Star Trek television series in 1967.

Montalbán’s spinal injury worsened as he aged, and in his seventies he underwent major surgery that left him paralyzed below the waist. He continued to perform in films in a wheelchair. During his last years, he had a number of voice roles in animated series and films. He also remained dedicated to the work of the Nosotros Foundation. In 1999, the foundation and the Ricardo Montalbán Foundation bought the Doolittle theater from the University of California at Los Angeles. In 2004, the theater was renamed the Ricardo Montalbán Theater. In his speech at the time the theater was dedicated, Montalbán spoke of his dual loyalties to Mexico and to the United States, calling Mexico his mother and the United States his friend. He died on January 14, 2009, in Los Angeles.

Significance

As one of few Latino actors to play starring roles in American films in the 1940’s and 1950’s, Montalbán transcended the sidekick roles typical of that time but detested being typecast as a Latin lover. He appeared opposite famous leading ladies such as Lana Turner and Esther Williams and costarred with Marlon Brando and Clark Gable, among others. As he aged, Montalbán performed a variety of character roles ranging from Latinos to Japanese to the futuristic Indian superman Khan. He also did important and influential work on behalf of Latinos that established him as a major activist in the entertainment industry.

Bibliography

Dederer, Claire, and Bruce Weber. “Ricardo Montalbán, Early Latino Leading Man, Dies.” The New York Times, January 15, 2009. Lengthy obituary detailing Montalbán’s career and impact on the entertainment industry.

Montalbán, Ricardo, and Bob Thomas, Reflections: A Life in Two Worlds. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1980. Montalbán reflects on his life and career in this memoir.

Reyes, Luis, and Peter Rubie. Hispanics in Hollywood: An Encyclopedia of Film and Television. Hollywood, Calif.: Lone Eagle Press, 2000. Reference work containing a biography of Montalbán and examination of his career from an ethnic perspective.

Rodriguez, Clara. Heroes, Lovers and Others: The Story of Latinos in Hollywood. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. In-depth examination of the treatment of Latino actors and depictions of Latino characters in the entertainment industry; contains discussion of Montalbán’s career and influence.