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