Long ago we missed the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ricardo Montalban, who died in 2009. He is perhaps best remembered as Mr Roarke in six seasons of Fantasy Island 1977-84, although Star Trek fans will recall he appeared in the first season of Star Trek – Space Seed 1967 - as arch-villain Khan Nonnien Singh, a role which he returned to on the big screen in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan 1982 fifteen years later. Born in Mexico City & raised in Terreon, he moved as a teen to Hollywood and was educated at Fairfax High School. He went to New York in 1940 where he started to make an impact on stage, but returned to Mexico in 1941 to care for his sick mother and broke into Spanish-language films, and was on the verge of stardom there when he was scouted by MGM and returned to Los Angeles. Always the epitome of Latin elegance he started in Hollywood in the Latin lover role and was paired with Esther Williams, then other stars Cyd Charisse, Shelley Winters, Anne Bancroft, Pier Angeli, Laraine Day, and Lana Turner in Latin Lovers 1953. For fear of being typecast he moved from bandidos and gigolos, taking ethnic roles outside of Latino; he was in Across the Wide Missouri 1951, where he suffered spinal injury in an accident which left him with a limp, but was regularly on screens up to his 80s, achieving 171 screen credits in all; he was in two Planet of the Apes films, Escape and Conquest 1971-2 and won a Primetime Emmy as Supporting Actor for the series How the West was Won 1976, and appeared as a smooth villain in The Colbys 1985 and was also the grandfather in the Spy Kids franchise 2002-3 but his deep, soothing smooth voice was also used in animated features and commercials, particularly for Chrysler for many years. Presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Screen Actors Guild in 1993, he set up a theatre project Nosotros to help Latinos in the industry and the Montalban Foundation bought the Doolittle Theatre and renamed it after him. In 1998 he was made by Pope John Paul II a Knight of the Order of St Gregory, the highest honour a layperson can achieve in the Catholic Church. The earlier spinal injury later saw him confined to a wheelchair before he passed at his long-standing home in Beverly Hills in 2009, his wife Georgiana (sister of Loretta Young) of 63 years having preceded him by two – both interred Culver City, CA. We believe he is more than worthy of a match in his honour and hope you will accept – if the numbers or ratings do not suit, then please make contact.
Equaliser769
