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