Template:Realworld Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino (25 November 1920 – 14 January 2009; age 88), better known simply as Ricardo Montalban, was an Emmy Award-winning, Tony Award-nominated Mexican actor who enjoyed a long career in television and film. He is best known to Star Trek fans for his role as the genetically-engineered Khan Noonien Singh, a role he originated in the original series episode "Space Seed". He would reprise the role 15 years later in the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
An almost stereotypical "Latin Lover" type, Montalban is perhaps best known to the general public as the enigmatic Mr. Roarke from the television series Fantasy Island (1978-84). Others may remember him as the Chrysler pitchman who touted the Cordoba, with its "soft, Corinthian leather".
Since the early 1940s, Montalban had worked on over 200 film and television projects, in addition to numerous stage credits. Before achieving pop culture status with his roles as Khan and Mr. Roarke, Montalban was known for his performances in musicals for MGM and on the Broadway stage during the 1940s and 1950s. He continued to work until his death in 2009, despite having been confined to a wheelchair since 1993, the result of an injury he suffered (and had been concealing) since 1951.
In 1993, he was given a Life Achievement Award by the Screen Actors Guild. [1] He and Brock Peters are the only two Star Trek alumni to have received this honor to date. Montalban also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The Ricardo Montalbán Theatre in Hollywood, California, is named in his honor.
Early life and career
Montalban was born in Mexico City. After starring in many films in his native Mexico throughout the 1940s, he landed a contract with MGM. Montalban's first major American film appearance came in 1947, with a supporting role opposite Esther Williams in the musical Fiesta. His next musical, also with Esther Williams, was 1948's On an Island with You. He again worked with Williams on the 1949 musical Neptune's Dauggter.
In 1949, he had his first starring role, playing a Mexican federal agent in the MGM noir drama Border Incident, which co-starred fellow TOS guest performer Arnold Moss. He also appeared in the war drama Battleground that same year. He followed this in 1950 with a starring role in the film noir Mystery Street (with John Crawford and Frank Overton) and a supporting role in the John Sturges drama Right Cross (with Kenneth Tobey and John Crawford). He then played the male lead in the musical Two Weeks with Love.
It was while filming the Western Across the Wide Missouri with Clark Gable in 1951 that Montalban is reported to have suffered a back injury that would plague him for the rest of his life. According to Wrath of Khan director Nicholas Meyer, Montalban suffered the injury after a horse rode over the actor during production, which also left him with a limp that he would conceal for the rest of his professional career. (Meyer made no reference to Montalban's back, only that the actor suffered a leg injury.) Despite his injury, Montalban continued to work in film and television as well as in theater throughout the next several decades.
Following his injury, Montalban continued working with MGM on such films as the musical Sombrero (in which he again played the lead) and the comedy Latin Lovers, opposite Lana Turner. His contract with MGM ended in 1953. Montalban then co-starred with Michael Ansara in the 1954 adventure film The Saracen Blade. They would later work together in two more films: 1968's Sol Madrid (also with Perry Lopez) and in 1977's Mission to Glory: A True Story (also with Anthony Caruso).
In 1955, Montalban made his Broadway debut, portraying Chico in the musical Seventh Heaven, which ran for 44 performances. Afterwards, Montalban was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance in the lead role of Koki in the Broadway musical Jamaica, which ran for 555 performances from October 1957 through April 1959.
Montalban placed third as Top Male Supporting Performance at the Laurel Awards for his performance in the Academy Award-winning 1957 film Sayonara. He was beat out by Arthur Kennedy (for Peyton Place) and Red Buttons (also for Sayonara). His subsequent film credits included Let No Man Write My Epitaph (1960, with James Darren and Roy Jenson), Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962, co-starring Richard Beymer, Whit Bissell, Michael J. Pollard, and Peter Brocco), and the John Ford western Cheyenne Autumn (1964, with Charles Seel).
Montalban was active on television during this time, as well. Years prior to taking on the role of Khan on TOS, Montalban starred in another science fiction script written by Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry called The Secret Defense of 117. This episode, which aired on the Chevron Hall of Stars (aka Chevron Theater) in March 1956, was Roddenberry's first science fiction sale to television.
In addition, six years before they co-starred as potential lovers on Star Trek, Montalban and actress Madlyn Rhue played husband and wife in an episode of Bonanza entitled "Day of Reckoning". Montalban later made guest appearances on such programs as The Untouchables (with Phillip Pine), The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (including one episode directed by Joseph Sargent and co-starring Nancy Kovack, George Sawaya, and John Winston), and The Wild Wild West (with Davis Roberts). In 1966, Montalban played the recurring role of Damon West on the NBC medical drama Dr. Kildare.
Later life and career
After playing Khan for the first time in Star Trek's "Space Seed," Montalban made guest appearances on such television programs as Mission: Impossible (with Steven Marlo), Ironside (with Barbara Anderson, Gene Lyons, Phillip Pine, and "Space Seed" co-star Blaisdell Makee), Gunsmoke (directed by Vincent McEveety), and even The Carol Burnett Show. He continued landing roles in feature films, as well, notably as Vittorio Vidal in the 1969 musical Sweet Charity, co-starring Ben Vereen. Montalban later appeared as Armando in two Planet of the Apes movies: Escape from the Planet of the Apes in 1971 (with William Windom, Jason Evers, and James B. Sikking) and Conquest of the Planet of the Apes in 1972.
In 1977, Montalban took on the role of Mr. Roarke for the TV movie pilot for Fantasy Island. It was picked up as a series the following year. Star Trek: Voyager guest star Wendy Schaal became a regular on the program in 1980. Interestingly, Montalban's character was later played by Star Trek Generations actor Malcolm McDowell in the 1998 revival of the series. Co-starring Mädchen Amick, this revival only lasted one season.
Montalban won an Emmy Award for his portrayal of Satangkai on the epic 1978 Western mini-series How the West Was Won. Also appearing in this series were fellow Star Trek alumnus Robert DoQui, Fionnula Flanagan, Brian Keith, Ed Lauter, Gregg Palmer, Robert Phillips, George D. Wallace, Morgan Woodward, Harris Yulin, and Montalban's "Space Seed" and Wrath of Khan co-star William Shatner.
In 1981, Montalban agreed to reprise the role of Khan in Star Trek II for only $100,000, reportedly because he loved the role and was thrilled to play the character again. Six years later, he played another villainous role, that of Vincent Ludwig, in The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! In this film, Raye Birk played the bad guy who hired Montalban's character to assassinate the Queen of England, while Tiny Ron played Al, a tall police lab technician.
Following the end of Fantasy Island in 1984, Montalban starred as Zach Powers in the primetime soap opera The Colbys from 1985 through 1987. For his performance on this program, Montalban was nominated for two Soap Opera Digest Award as Outstanding Villain in a Prime Time Serial. He also portrayed Powers in two episodes of Dynasty, from which The Colbys was spun-off.
By 1993, the injury Montalban sustained in the 1950s had grown to the point at which Montalban required 9 1/2 hours of spinal surgery. Unfortunately, the surgery left him in constant pain, unable to walk, and confined to a wheelchair. Nonetheless, he continued to work, albeit primarily in voiceover roles and the occasional role that could be filmed around his disability. Coincidentally, Montalban's co-star and love interest in "Space Seed", Madlyn Rhue (who played Marla McGivers in the episode) had also been confined to a wheelchair due to health issues. Also like Montalban, Rhue continued to work despite her predicament (which included an appearance with Montalban on Fantasy Island in 1982). She passed away in 2003.
Montalban starred in Aaron Spelling's short-lived 1994 syndicated series Heaven Help Us, in which he played an angel who helps a recently-deceased newlywed couple, played by Melinda Clarke and John Schneider. Also in the 1990s, he voiced eye-patched villain Armondo Guitierrez on the animated series Freakazoid!; fellow Star Trek film actors John Schuck and David Warner voiced villains on this program, as well.
Montalban entertained a whole new generation of audiences with his portrayal of high-tech wheelchair-bound grandfather in two of the Spy Kids films, beginning with Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams in 2002 (with Christopher McDonald) and followed by Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over in 2003. He also continued to do voice work for various cartoons and animated films. He voiced the role of Señor Senior, Sr. on the Disney series Kim Possible. His final role was the voice of a cow in an episode of Seth MacFarlane's series Family Guy, in which he paraphrases lines from his role in Star Trek II.
Montalban died at his home in Los Angeles, California, on 14 January 2009 at 6:30pm local time. He was 88 years old. [2][3] According to his son-in-law, Montalban died "from complications of advancing age." [4] He is buried next to his wife at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. [5]
Other Trek connections
Additional projects in which Montalban has worked with other Star Trek performers include:
- The Money Trap (1965 film, with Parley Baer and William Campbell)
- Madame X (1966 film, with Warren Stevens)
- Code Name: Heraclitus (1967 TV movie, directed by James Goldstone and featuring Chuck Courtney and Malachi Throne)
- Black Water Gold (1970 TV movie) with France Nuyen
- Sarge (1971 TV movie, with Stewart Moss and David Huddleston)
- Wonder Woman (1974 TV movie, with Ed McCready, Andrew Prine, and directed by Joseph McEveety)
- The Mark of Zorro (1974 TV movie, co-starring Frank Langella)
- Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976 film, with Teri Garr and Dean Stockwell)
- Joe Panther (1976 film, co-starring Brian Keith)
- Captains Courageous (1977 TV movie, with Jeff Corey and Fritz Weaver)
- Murder, She Wrote (1990 episode, with Melinda Culea, James Sloyan, and Hallie Todd)
External links
- Template:IMDb-link
- Ricardo Montalban at Wikipedia