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