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
Hollywood Newsreel (1934)
as Himself
Special Agent (1935)
as Alexander Carston
Wonder Bar (1934)
as Harry
Torrent (1926)
as Don Rafael Brull
Her Man (1930)
as Johnnie
Talk of the Devil (1936)
as Ray Allen
A Lost Lady (1934)
as Ellinger
In the Name of Love (1925)
as Raoul Melnotte
Manhattan Moon (1935)
as Dan Moore
The Inner Circle (1946)
as Duke York
Ten Cents a Dance (1931)
as Bradley Carlton
The Locket (1946)
as Drew Bonner
The Last Hurrah (1958)
as Sam Weinberg
Sunkist Stars at Palm Springs (1936)
Actor
Ladies of the Night Club (1928)
as George Merrill
The Walking Dead (1936)
as Nolan
Argentine Love (1924)
as Juan Martin
New York (1927)
as Michael Angelo Cassidy
City Girl (1938)
as Charles Blake
Prowlers of the Sea (1928)
as Carlos De Neve
Her Husband Lies (1937)
as J. Ward Thomas
White Shoulders (1931)
as Lawrence Marchmont
The Spaniard (1925)
as Don Pedro de Barrego
Charlie Chan in Reno (1939)
as Dr. Ainsley
This Woman (1924)
as Whitney Duane
Thirteen Women (1932)
as Police Sergeant Barry Clive
I Am a Thief (1934)
as Pierre Londais
Big Business Girl (1931)
as Robert J. Clayton
Stars of the Silver Screen - Greta Garbo (2014)
as Self (archive footage)
The Phantom of Crestwood (1932)
as Gary Curtis
Midstream (1929)
as James Stanwood
Excess Baggage (1928)
as Val D'Errico
Mr. Moto's Last Warning (1939)
as Fabian
Murder Over New York (1940)
as George Kirby
Midnight Mary (1933)
as Leo
Men of Chance (1931)
as Johnny Silk
Mystery in Mexico (1948)
as John Norcross
The Bedroom Window (1924)
as Robert Delano
The Maltese Falcon (1931)
as Sam Spade
The House on 56th Street (1933)
as Bill Blaine
Torch Singer (1933)
as Tony Cummings
Romance of the Rio Grande (1941)
as Ricardo de Vega
Make Your Own Bed (1944)
as Wilson / Fritz Alden
Hollywood (1923)
as Ricardo Cortez
Is My Face Red? (1932)
as William Poster
The Sorrows of Satan (1926)
as Geoffrey Tempest
Bunco Squad (1950)
as Tony Weldon / Anthony Wells
Volcano (1926)
as Stéphane Séquineau
A Society Scandal (1924)
as Harrison Peters
The Phantom in the House (1929)
as Paul Wallis
Frisco Kid (1935)
as Paul Morra
The Case of the Black Cat (1936)
as Perry Mason
The Private Life of Helen of Troy (1927)
as Paris
Sixty Cents an Hour (1923)
as William Davis
By Whose Hand? (1927)
as Agent X-9
The Call of the Canyon (1923)
as Larry Morrison
The Big Shakedown (1934)
as Dutch Barnes
A Shot in the Dark (1941)
as Phillip Richards
Symphony of Six Million (1932)
as Felix
I Killed That Man (1941)
as Roger Phillips
Postal Inspector (1936)
as Inspector Bill Davis
The Lost Zeppelin (1929)
as Tom Armstrong
Not So Long Ago (1925)
as Billy Ballard
No One Man (1932)
as Bill Hanaway
Woman of Destiny (1928)
as Yoanes Etchegarry
Hedda Hopper's Hollywood (1960)
as Self
Breakdowns of 1936 (1936)
as Self
The Gentleman from America (1923)
Actor
Greta Garbo: The Temptress and the Clown (1986)
as Self as Don Rafael Brull (archive footage)
Mandalay (1934)
as Tony Evans
The Firebird (1934)
as Herman Brandt
The Swan (1925)
as Dr. Walter, the Tutor
The Man with Two Faces (1934)
as Ben Weston
Flesh (1932)
as Nicky
Transgression (1931)
as Don Arturo de Borgus
West of Shanghai (1937)
as Gordon Creed
The Murder of Dr. Harrigan (1936)
as George Lambert
Complicated Women (2003)
as Self (archive footage)
Who Is Hope Schuyler? (1942)
as Anthony Pearce
Hat, Coat and Glove (1934)
as Robert Mitchell
Blackmail (1947)
as Ziggy Cranston
World Premiere (1941)
as Mark Saunders
The Younger Generation (1929)
as Morris Goldfish
The Cat's Pajamas (1926)
Actor
Feet of Clay (1924)
as Tony Channing
Rubber Racketeers (1942)
as Gilin
The City That Never Sleeps (1924)
as Mark Roth
The Eagle of the Sea (1926)
as Captain Sazarac
The Next Corner (1924)
as Don Arturo
Man Hunt (1936)
as Frank Kingman
Behind Office Doors (1931)
as Ronnie Wales
Shadow of Doubt (1935)
as Sim
Tomorrow We Live (1942)
as The Ghost, Alexander Caesar Martin
Illicit (1931)
as Price Baines
The Pony Express (1925)
as Jack Weston
Big Executive (1933)
as Victor Conway
Reckless Living (1931)
as Curly
The White Cockatoo (1935)
as Jim Sundean
Montana Moon (1930)
as Jeff
Screen Snapshots (Series 10, No. 8) (1931)
as Self
Mockery (1927)
as Dimitri
Breakdowns of 1937 (1937)
as Self
Children of Jazz (1923)
as Ted Carter
Bad Company (1931)
as Goldie Gorio
The Californian (1937)
as Ramon Escobar
New Orleans (1929)
as Jim Morley
Broadway Bad (1933)
as Craig Cutting