Ricardo Montalban

Acting

Ricardo Montalban

Born 1920-11-25 · Mexico City, Mexico

Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino (November 25, 1920 – January 14, 2009) was a Mexican-American actor. He had a career spanning seven decades (motion pictures from 1943 to 2006) across radio, television, theatre, and film. During the mid-1970s, Montalbán was most notable as the spokesman in automobile advertisements for the Chrysler Cordoba, in which he famously extolled the "soft Corinthian leather" used for its interior. He also advertised the Chrysler New Yorker. From 1977 to 1984, he became famous as Mr. Roarke the main star in the television series Fantasy Island. He played Khan Noonien Singh in both the 1967 episode "Space Seed" of the first season of the original Star Trek series, and the 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. He won an Emmy Award in 1978 for his role in the mini series How the West Was Won and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild in 1993. Into his 80s, he continued to perform, often providing voices for animated films and commercials, and appearing in several Spy Kids films as Grandfather Valentin.

Acting credits

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! poster
7.3

When the bumbling Lieutenant Frank Drebin investigates events following the shooting of his partner, he stumbles upon an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II.

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!

1988

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan poster
7.4

The starship Enterprise and its crew is pulled back into action when old nemesis, Khan, steals a top secret device called Project Genesis.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

1982

The Ant Bully poster
5.8

Fed up with being targeted by the neighborhood bully, 10-year-old Lucas Nickle vents his frustrations on the anthill in his front yard ... until the insects shrink him to the size of a bug with a magic elixir. Convicted of "crimes against the colony," Lucas can only regain his freedom by living with the ants and learning their ways.

The Ant Bully

2006

Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over poster
5.1

Carmen's caught in a virtual reality game designed by the Kids' new nemesis, the Toymaker. It's up to Juni to save his sister, and ultimately the world.

Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over

2003

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes poster
6.2

In a futuristic world that has embraced ape slavery, a chimpanzee named Caesar resurfaces after almost twenty years of hiding from the authorities, and prepares for a revolt against humanity.

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes

1972

Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams poster
5.6

Exploring the further adventures of Carmen and Juni Cortez, who have now joined the family spy business as Level 2 OSS agents. Their new mission is to save the world from a mad scientist living on a volcanic island populated by an imaginative menagerie of creatures. On this bizarre island, none of the Cortez's gadgets work and they must rely on their wits--and each other--to survive and save the day.

Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams

2002

Escape from the Planet of the Apes poster
6.4

The world is shocked by the appearance of three talking chimpanzees, who arrived mysteriously in a spacecraft. Intrigued by their intelligence, humans use them for research - until the apes attempt to escape.

Escape from the Planet of the Apes

1971

Cannonball Run II poster
5.4

When a wealthy sheikh puts up $1 million in prize money for a cross-country car race, there is one person crazy enough to hit the road hard with wheels spinning fast. Legendary driver J.J. McClure enters the competition along with his friend Victor and together they set off across the American landscape in a madcap action-adventure destined to test their wits and automobile skills.

Cannonball Run II

1984

Cheyenne Autumn poster
6.7

A reluctant cavalry Captain must track a defiant tribe of migrating Cheyenne.

Cheyenne Autumn

1964

Sayonara poster
6.7

Air Force Major Lloyd Gruver is reassigned to a Japanese air base and is confronted with US racial prejudice against the Japanese people. The issue is compounded because a number of the soldiers become romantically involved with Japanese women, in defiance of US military policy. Ordinarily, a by-the-book officer, Gruver must take a position when a buddy of his, an enlisted man, Joe Kelly, falls in love with a Japanese woman, Katsumi, and marries her. Gruver risks his position by serving as best man at the wedding ceremony.

Sayonara

1957

Sweet Charity poster
6.9

Taxi dancer Charity continues to have faith in the human race despite apparently endless disappointments at its hands, and hope that she will finally meet the nice young man to romance her away from her sleazy life. Maybe, just maybe, handsome Oscar will be the one to do it.

Sweet Charity

1969

Mystery Street poster
6.8

When a young woman's skeletal remains turn up on a Massachusetts beach, Barnstable cop Peter Moralas teams with Boston police and uses forensics, with the help of a Harvard professor, to determine the woman's identity, how she died, and who killed her.

Mystery Street

1950

Fantasy Island poster
7.5

Mr. Roarke and his assistant Tattoo greet a former reporter in World War II who wants to relive a brief romance that took place in London 30 years ago, a big-game hunter who, for once, wants to be the hunted and a wealthy businesswoman who wants to be a secret and silent observer at her own funeral.

Fantasy Island

1977

Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood poster
4.4

A would-be filmmaker and actress shake up the industry with a trick dog who gets discovered by a studio bus driver in the 1920s.

Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood

1976

Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down the Line poster
7.7

Born Ruby Stevens, she was orphaned when she was four. A chance audition led to a chorus job. By 17 she was a Ziegfeld Girl. At 20 she earned excellent reviews for a bit part in a Broadway play — and she had a new name: Barbara Stanwyck.

Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down the Line

1997

The Train Robbers poster
6.3

A gunhand named Lane is hired by a widow, Mrs. Lowe, to find gold stolen by her deceased husband so that she may return it and clear the family name.

The Train Robbers

1973

Battleground poster
6.7

Members of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division are fighting for their country amidst the rugged terrain of Bastogne, Belgium, in December 1944. Holley and his American compatriots have already seen one of their own, Roderigues, perish under enemy fire. The men try to rebuff another series of Nazi attacks, but what they really need is a change in the weather. Without clear skies, they'll never get the air support they need.

Battleground

1949

Behind the Planet of the Apes poster
7.1

Roddy McDowall takes you, film by film, from production meetings to make-up sessions, then right onto the movie set to see the actual filming of the science fiction masterpiece. The most comprehensive history of Planet of the Apes ever created, this fascinating 127-minute documentary explores one of the most imaginative and influential series in movie history.

Behind the Planet of the Apes

1998

That's Entertainment! III poster
7.1

Some of MGM's musical stars review the studio's history of musicals. From The Hollywood Revue of 1929 to Brigadoon, from the first musical talkies to Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain.

That's Entertainment! III

1994

Madame X poster
6.4

Holly Parker, the wife of a wealthy diplomat, is compromised by the accidental death of a man who has been romantically pursuing her. She is forced by her mother-in-law to assume a new identity in order to save the reputation of her husband and infant son. She wanders the world, trying to forget her heartbreak with the aid of alcohol and unsavory men. Eventually returning to the city of her downfall, she murders a blackmailer who threatens to expose her past. Amazingly, Holly is represented at her murder trial by her now adult son, who has become a public defender. In the hope of protecting her family, she refuses to reveal her real name and is known to the court as "Madame X".

Madame X

1966

The Pigeon poster
10.0

A private eye is hired to protect a young woman who has a black book on a crime syndicate.

The Pigeon

1969

Fiesta poster
6.2

When a matador leaves town to focus on his music, his twin sister takes on his identity in the bullfighting ring.

Fiesta

1947

Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man poster
5.6

Young and restless Nick Adams, the only son of a domineering mother and a weak but noble doctor father, leaves his rural Michigan home to embark on an eventful cross-country journey. He is touched and affected by his encounters with a punch-drunk ex-boxer, a sympathetic telegrapher, and an alcoholic advanceman for a burlesque show. After failing to get a job as reporter in New York, he enlists in the Italian army during World War I as an ambulance driver. His camaraderie with fellow soldiers and a romance with a nurse he meets after being wounded propel him to manhood.

Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man

1962

Blue poster
5.9

A young man is torn between the woman he loves and his loyalty to his father, the leader of a Mexican gang.

Blue

1968