Ricardo Cortez

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Ricardo Cortez

Born 19 September 1899(1899-09-19)
Vienna, Austria-Hungary
Died 28 April 1977 (aged 77)
New York, New York, U.S.

Ricardo Cortez (September 18, 1899 – April 28, 1977) was a film actor who began his career during the silent film era.

Born Jacob Krantz in Vienna, Austria-Hungary into a Jewish family, he worked on Wall Street 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 Latin, the studios tried to pass him off as French, before they finally admitted his 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, and co-starred with Charles Farrell and Bette Davis in The Big Shakedown 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 on 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).

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Persondata
NAME Ricardo Cortez
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Actor
DATE OF BIRTH 1899-9-19
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna, Austria-Hungary
DATE OF DEATH 1977-4-28
PLACE OF DEATH New York, New York, U.S.