Ricardo Cortez
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Ricardo Cortez (September 19, 1900 – April 28, 1977) was an American film actor who began his career during the silent film era. Born Jacob Krantz in New York City into a Jewish family, he worked on Wall Street in a broker's office and as a boxer before his looks got him into the film business. Hollywood executives changed his name to Cortez to appeal to film-goers as a "Latin lover" to compete with such highly popular actors of the era as Rudolph Valentino, Ramon Novarro and Antonio Moreno. When rumour began to circulate that Cortez was not actually Spanish, the studios tried to pass him off as a different type of Latin, French, before they finally admitted his (supposedly) Viennese origin. Cortez appeared in over 100 films. He played opposite Joan Crawford in Montana Moon in 1930, played Sam Spade in the original The Maltese Falcon in 1931, co-starred with Charles Farrell and Bette Davis in The Big Shakedown and Wonder Bar (with Al Jolson and Dolores del Río) in 1934. He also played Perry Mason in the 1936 film The Case of the Black Cat. Although he began his career playing romantic leads with actresses like Greta Garbo, when sound cinema arrived, his powerful delivery and New York accent made him an ideal villain and conman, and he switched from sex symbol to character actor. Cortez was married to silent film actress Alma Rubens until her death of pneumonia in 1931. When he retired from the film business, Cortez went to work as a stockbroker for Solomon Brothers on New York's Wall Street. He died in New York City in 1977 and was interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx. He was the older brother of noted cinematographer Stanley Cortez (born Stanislaus Krantz).
Known for
Credits
The Younger Generation (1929)
as Morris Goldfish
The Swan (1925)
as Dr. Walter, the Tutor
Rubber Racketeers (1942)
as Gilin
The Locket (1946)
as Drew Bonner
The Walking Dead (1936)
as Nolan
The Last Hurrah (1958)
as Sam Weinberg
Argentine Love (1924)
as Juan Martin
Behind Office Doors (1931)
as Ronnie Wales
The House on 56th Street (1933)
as Bill Blaine
The Spaniard (1925)
as Don Pedro de Barrego
Manhattan Moon (1935)
as Dan Moore
Talk of the Devil (1936)
as Ray Allen
Prowlers of the Sea (1928)
as Carlos De Neve
Her Man (1930)
as Johnnie
City Girl (1938)
as Charles Blake
Is My Face Red? (1932)
as William Poster
Murder Over New York (1940)
as George Kirby
Ten Cents a Dance (1931)
as Bradley Carlton
White Shoulders (1931)
as Lawrence Marchmont
Special Agent (1935)
as Alexander Carston
Hedda Hopper's Hollywood (1960)
as Self
Hollywood Newsreel (1934)
as Himself
A Shot in the Dark (1941)
as Phillip Richards
Charlie Chan in Reno (1939)
as Dr. Ainsley
I Am a Thief (1934)
as Pierre Londais
The Murder of Dr. Harrigan (1936)
as George Lambert
Mr. Moto's Last Warning (1939)
as Fabian
The Man with Two Faces (1934)
as Ben Weston
Wonder Bar (1934)
as Harry
Stars of the Silver Screen - Greta Garbo (2014)
as Self (archive footage)
Make Your Own Bed (1944)
as Wilson / Fritz Alden
New York (1927)
as Michael Angelo Cassidy
The Phantom of Crestwood (1932)
as Gary Curtis
In the Name of Love (1925)
as Raoul Melnotte
Sunkist Stars at Palm Springs (1936)
Actor
Frisco Kid (1935)
as Paul Morra
Torrent (1926)
as Don Rafael Brull
The Call of the Canyon (1923)
as Larry Morrison
Screen Snapshots (Series 10, No. 8) (1931)
as Self
Bunco Squad (1950)
as Tony Weldon / Anthony Wells
I Killed That Man (1941)
as Roger Phillips
Excess Baggage (1928)
as Val D'Errico
Big Business Girl (1931)
as Robert J. Clayton
The Inner Circle (1946)
as Duke York
The Maltese Falcon (1931)
as Sam Spade
The Sorrows of Satan (1926)
as Geoffrey Tempest
Mystery in Mexico (1948)
as John Norcross
Man Hunt (1936)
as Frank Kingman
Torch Singer (1933)
as Tony Cummings
Midnight Mary (1933)
as Leo
Complicated Women (2003)
as Self (archive footage)
Not So Long Ago (1925)
as Billy Ballard
This Woman (1924)
as Whitney Duane
The Case of the Black Cat (1936)
as Perry Mason
Hat, Coat and Glove (1934)
as Robert Mitchell
The Private Life of Helen of Troy (1927)
as Paris
Thirteen Women (1932)
as Police Sergeant Barry Clive
Sixty Cents an Hour (1923)
as William Davis
Symphony of Six Million (1932)
as Felix
Who Is Hope Schuyler? (1942)
as Anthony Pearce
The City That Never Sleeps (1924)
as Mark Roth
The Eagle of the Sea (1926)
as Captain Sazarac
Her Husband Lies (1937)
as J. Ward Thomas
Greta Garbo: The Temptress and the Clown (1986)
as Self as Don Rafael Brull (archive footage)
Ladies of the Night Club (1928)
as George Merrill
Breakdowns of 1937 (1937)
as Self
Postal Inspector (1936)
as Inspector Bill Davis
Hollywood (1923)
as Ricardo Cortez
The Big Shakedown (1934)
as Dutch Barnes
Breakdowns of 1936 (1936)
as Self
West of Shanghai (1937)
as Gordon Creed
The Firebird (1934)
as Herman Brandt
The Cat's Pajamas (1926)
Actor
Romance of the Rio Grande (1941)
as Ricardo de Vega
Illicit (1931)
as Price Baines
The Gentleman from America (1923)
Actor
Transgression (1931)
as Don Arturo de Borgus
Mandalay (1934)
as Tony Evans
Montana Moon (1930)
as Jeff
Midstream (1929)
as James Stanwood
The White Cockatoo (1935)
as Jim Sundean
The Phantom in the House (1929)
as Paul Wallis
Flesh (1932)
as Nicky
A Lost Lady (1934)
as Ellinger
Volcano (1926)
as Stéphane Séquineau
World Premiere (1941)
as Mark Saunders
Bad Company (1931)
as Goldie Gorio
By Whose Hand? (1927)
as Agent X-9
Men of Chance (1931)
as Johnny Silk
Blackmail (1947)
as Ziggy Cranston
Feet of Clay (1924)
as Tony Channing
A Society Scandal (1924)
as Harrison Peters
Shadow of Doubt (1935)
as Sim
The Pony Express (1925)
as Jack Weston
The Bedroom Window (1924)
as Robert Delano
The Next Corner (1924)
as Don Arturo
Big Executive (1933)
as Victor Conway
No One Man (1932)
as Bill Hanaway
Woman of Destiny (1928)
as Yoanes Etchegarry
Mockery (1927)
as Dimitri
Broadway Bad (1933)
as Craig Cutting
The Lost Zeppelin (1929)
as Tom Armstrong
The Californian (1937)
as Ramon Escobar
Tomorrow We Live (1942)
as The Ghost, Alexander Caesar Martin
Children of Jazz (1923)
as Ted Carter
New Orleans (1929)
as Jim Morley
Reckless Living (1931)
as Curly