Ricardo Cortez

1900-09-17 New York City, New York, USA

Biografia

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).

Películas

	Complicated Women	Self (archive footage)	2003-05-06
	Greta Garbo: The Temptress and the Clown	Self as Don Rafael Brull (archive footage)	1986-01-01
	Hedda Hopper's Hollywood	Self	1960-01-10
	The Last Hurrah	Sam Weinberg	1958-12-31
	Bunco Squad	Tony Weldon / Anthony Wells	1950-09-01
	Mystery in Mexico	John Norcross	1948-08-21
	Blackmail	Ziggy Cranston	1947-07-24
	The Inner Circle	Duke York	1946-08-07
	The Locket	Drew Bonner	1946-12-20
	Make Your Own Bed	Wilson / Fritz Alden	1944-06-10
	Rubber Racketeers	Gilin	1942-06-26
	Tomorrow We Live	The Ghost, Alexander Caesar Martin	1942-09-23
	Who Is Hope Schuyler?	Anthony Pearce	1942-04-17
	Romance of the Rio Grande	Ricardo de Vega	1941-01-17
	A Shot in the Dark	Phillip Richards	1941-04-05
	I Killed That Man	Roger Phillips	1941-11-28
	World Premiere	Mark Saunders	1941-08-21
	Murder Over New York	George Kirby	1940-12-13
	Charlie Chan in Reno	Dr. Ainsley	1939-06-16
	Mr. Moto's Last Warning	Fabian	1939-01-20
	City Girl	Charles Blake	1938-01-07
	Her Husband Lies	J. Ward Thomas	1937-03-13
	The Californian	Ramon Escobar	1937-07-18
	West of Shanghai	Gordon Creed	1937-10-30
	Breakdowns of 1937	Self	1937-12-31
	Talk of the Devil	Ray Allen	1936-12-09
	The Murder of Dr. Harrigan	George Lambert	1936-01-11
	Man Hunt	Frank Kingman	1936-01-29
	Breakdowns of 1936	Self	1936-12-30
	The Walking Dead	Nolan	1936-03-01
	Postal Inspector	Inspector Bill Davis	1936-08-16
	Sunkist Stars at Palm Springs		1936-08-05
	The Case of the Black Cat	Perry Mason	1936-10-31
	Special Agent	Alexander Carston	1935-09-14
	The White Cockatoo	Jim Sundean	1935-01-29
	Manhattan Moon	Dan Moore	1935-07-01
	Frisco Kid	Paul Morra	1935-11-30
	Shadow of Doubt	Sim	1935-02-15
	Mandalay	Tony Evans	1934-02-10
	Hollywood Newsreel	Himself	1934-03-24
	Hat, Coat and Glove	Robert Mitchell	1934-07-26
	The Firebird	Herman Brandt	1934-11-03
	A Lost Lady	Ellinger	1934-09-29
	I Am a Thief	Pierre Londais	1934-11-24
	The Big Shakedown	Dutch Barnes	1934-01-06
	Wonder Bar	Harry	1934-03-31
	The Man with Two Faces	Ben Weston	1934-08-04
	Broadway Bad	Craig Cutting	1933-02-24
	Big Executive	Victor Conway	1933-10-19
	Torch Singer	Tony Cummings	1933-09-08
	The House on 56th Street	Bill Blaine	1933-12-23
	Midnight Mary	Leo	1933-06-30
	Is My Face Red?	William Poster	1932-06-17
	Symphony of Six Million	Felix	1932-04-29
	No One Man	Bill Hanaway	1932-01-22
	Thirteen Women	Police Sergeant Barry Clive	1932-09-16
	The Phantom of Crestwood	Gary Curtis	1932-10-14
	Flesh	Nicky	1932-12-08
	White Shoulders	Lawrence Marchmont	1931-05-17
	Reckless Living	Curly	1931-10-20
	Bad Company	Goldie Gorio	1931-10-16
	Screen Snapshots (Series 10, No. 8)	Self	1931-06-01
	Illicit	Price Baines	1931-02-14
	Ten Cents a Dance	Bradley Carlton	1931-01-30
	Men of Chance	Johnny Silk	1931-12-26
	Big Business Girl	Robert J. Clayton	1931-06-12
	Behind Office Doors	Ronnie Wales	1931-03-15
	Transgression	Don Arturo de Borgus	1931-06-27
	The Maltese Falcon	Sam Spade	1931-05-23
	Montana Moon	Jeff	1930-03-20
	Her Man	Johnnie	1930-09-21
	Midstream	James Stanwood	1929-07-29
	New Orleans	Jim Morley	1929-06-01
	The Phantom in the House	Paul Wallis	1929-10-20
	The Lost Zeppelin	Tom Armstrong	1929-12-19
	The Younger Generation	Morris Goldfish	1929-03-04
	Excess Baggage	Val D'Errico	1928-09-28
	La Danseuse Orchidée	Yoanes Etchegarry	1928-04-29
	The Private Life of Helen of Troy	Paris	1927-12-09
	Mockery	Dimitri	1927-08-13
	New York	Michael Angelo Cassidy	1927-01-30
	The Cat's Pajamas		1926-08-29
	Volcano	Stéphane Séquineau	1926-05-23
	The Sorrows of Satan	Geoffrey Tempest	1926-10-12
	Torrent	Don Rafael Brull	1926-02-21
	The Eagle of the Sea	Captain Sazarac	1926-10-17
	Not So Long Ago	Billy Ballard	1925-09-07
	The Spaniard	Don Pedro de Barrego	1925-05-04
	The Swan	Dr. Walter, the Tutor	1925-02-16
	In the Name of Love	Raoul Melnotte	1925-08-10
	The Pony Express	Jack Weston	1925-09-03
	Argentine Love	Juan Martin	1924-12-22
	A Society Scandal	Harrison Peters	1924-03-09
	The Bedroom Window	Robert Delano	1924-06-08
	Feet of Clay	Tony Channing	1924-09-27
	This Woman	Whitney Duane	1924-11-02
	The Next Corner	Don Arturo	1924-02-18
	Hollywood	Ricardo Cortez	1923-08-19
	The Call of the Canyon	Larry Morrison	1923-12-16
	Children of Jazz	Ted Carter	1923-07-08
	The Gentleman from America		1923-02-19