Ricardo Montalban

Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalban Merino was born on November 25, 1920 in Mexico City, although his family moved to the city of Torreón, in the north of the country, in the state of Coahuila, where his father opened a tailor shop. His parents, Genaro Montalban and Ricarda Merino, were Catholics who transmitted the faith to their son, who was not only a pious man, but also constantly affirmed that religion was the most important thing in his life, and also distinguished himself by participating in solidarity and philanthropic activities, and for founding the association Nosotros, to protect the rights of Latino actors in the United States.

It was his older brother, Carlos Montalbán (the general from Bananas ) who started out as an actor. Carlos convinced Ricardo to go with him to Mexico, DF to try his luck in the movies. He started out as an extra, but he was already standing out in front of the cameras, which is why he was soon offered important roles in films such as Cadetes de la naval , La casa de la zorra , Pepita Jiménez and Santa , where he was a bullfighter who fell in love with the protagonist.

He had great prestige in Mexican cinema when he decided to go to the United States to improve his English. There he met Georgiana Young – the sister of the star Loretta Young – with whom he fell in love, and they both married. They had four children and the marriage was together until her death separated them in 2007, something quite unusual in Hollywood. “Many good things have happened to me in life, but the best thing is that I have always been with the same wife. I took my father as an example, who was also married for more than fifty years”, recalled the actor.

After signing a contract with MGM, he began in American cinema with the swimmer Esther Williams , in Fiesta (1947) , a joyous musical. He repeated with the actress in the films On an island with you and Neptune’s daughter . Her talent for singing and dancing was so striking that she was requested by Broadway directors for plays like “Jamaica” and “Seventh Heaven”, with which she achieved great success.

In the musical Sombrero , which told three interconnected love stories, he shared the bill with the big stars Yvonne De Carlo , Cyd Charisse and Vittorio Gassman . He was signed to play an Indian in the westerns Beyond the Missouri , by William Wellman and The Great Fight , by John Ford . He also made great performances in other genres, for example, he starred in Anthony Mann ‘s ‘film-noir’ Border Incident , about a subject quite unprecedented so far: illegal immigrants who cross the border between Mexico and the United States. He also excelled in drama, withLet No Man Write My Epitaph –sequel to Knock on any door that followed in the footsteps of John Derek ‘s son in that one–, where he was a drug dealer. He even went through science fiction in Escape from the Planet of the Apes and Conquest of the Planet of the Apes .

Although he had played many titles on the big screen, some of great quality, Montalban never became a well-known actor with the general public. In fact he was much more successful in the theater and on television, where he concentrated most of his career. “The truth is that the movies were never kind to me,” he said in an interview. For the small screen, he played numerous roles in well-known series such as The Untouchables , Jim West , Mission Impossible and Star Trek , in one of the episodes most appreciated by fans, ‘Space Seed’, which explains why he returned to his character in the second film part of the saga, the aforementioned Star Trek II. khan’s wrath. No series made him as famous as Fantasy Island , where he was Mr. Roarke, who ran a resort on an island whose visitors would see his dreams come true.

Montalban continued to be active until he reached a respectable age. In the 80’s he was successful with the series Los Colbys , together with Charlton Heston . He next starred in the popular sitcom Grab It Anywhere You Can . His compatriot Robert Rodríguez required his services to play the grandfather of the protagonists in Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams and Spy Kids 3-D Game Over . Due to a spinal ailment, the actor spent the last years of his life in a wheelchair.