Ricardo Cortez
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1900-09-17
Day of Death
1977-04-28 (76 years old)
Place of Birth
New York City, New York, USA
Ricardo Cortez
Biography
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).
Acting
(2003)
Complicated Women
as Self (archive footage)
(1986)
Greta Garbo: The Temptress and the Clown
as Self as Don Rafael Brull (archive footage)
(1960)
Hedda Hopper's Hollywood
as Self
(1958)
The Last Hurrah
as Sam Weinberg
(1950)
Bunco Squad
as Tony Weldon / Anthony Wells
(1948)
Mystery in Mexico
as John Norcross
(1947)
Blackmail
as Ziggy Cranston
(1946)
The Locket
as Drew Bonner
(1946)
The Inner Circle
as Duke York
(1944)
Make Your Own Bed
as Wilson / Fritz Alden
(1942)
Tomorrow We Live
as The Ghost, Alexander Caesar Martin
(1942)
Rubber Racketeers
as Gilin
(1942)
Who Is Hope Schuyler?
as Anthony Pearce
(1941)
I Killed That Man
as Roger Phillips
(1941)
A Shot in the Dark
as Phillip Richards
(1941)
World Premiere
as Mark Saunders
(1941)
Romance of the Rio Grande
as Ricardo de Vega
(1940)
Murder Over New York
as George Kirby
(1939)
Charlie Chan in Reno
as Dr. Ainsley
(1939)
Mr. Moto's Last Warning
as Fabian
(1938)
City Girl
as Charles Blake
(1937)
West of Shanghai
as Gordon Creed
(1937)
Breakdowns of 1937
as Self
(1937)
The Californian
as Ramon Escobar
(1937)
Her Husband Lies
as J. Ward Thomas
(1936)
The Walking Dead
as Nolan
(1936)
The Murder of Dr. Harrigan
as George Lambert
(1936)
(1936)
Breakdowns of 1936
as Self
(1936)
The Case of the Black Cat
as Perry Mason
(1936)
Postal Inspector
as Inspector Bill Davis
(1936)
Man Hunt
as Frank Kingman
(1936)
Talk of the Devil
as Ray Allen
(1935)
Frisco Kid
as Paul Morra
(1935)
Special Agent
as Alexander Carston
(1935)
Shadow of Doubt
as Sim
(1935)
The White Cockatoo
as Jim Sundean
(1935)
Manhattan Moon
as Dan Moore
(1934)
Mandalay
as Tony Evans
(1934)
The Big Shakedown
as Dutch Barnes
(1934)
Wonder Bar
as Harry
(1934)
The Firebird
as Herman Brandt
(1934)
Hollywood Newsreel
as Himself
(1934)
The Man with Two Faces
as Ben Weston
(1934)
Hat, Coat and Glove
as Robert Mitchell
(1934)
I Am a Thief
as Pierre Londais
(1934)
A Lost Lady
as Ellinger
(1933)
Midnight Mary
as Leo
(1933)
Torch Singer
as Tony Cummings
(1933)
The House on 56th Street
as Bill Blaine
(1933)
Broadway Bad
as Craig Cutting
(1933)
Big Executive
as Victor Conway
(1932)
Is My Face Red?
as William Poster
(1932)
Flesh
as Nicky
(1932)
Thirteen Women
as Police Sergeant Barry Clive
(1932)
No One Man
as Bill Hanaway
(1932)
The Phantom of Crestwood
as Gary Curtis
(1932)
Symphony of Six Million
as Felix
(1931)
The Maltese Falcon
as Sam Spade
(1931)
Bad Company
as Goldie Gorio
(1931)
Ten Cents a Dance
as Bradley Carlton
(1931)
Behind Office Doors
as Ronnie Wales
(1931)
Big Business Girl
as Robert J. Clayton
(1931)
Transgression
as Don Arturo de Borgus
(1931)
Illicit
as Price Baines
(1931)
(1931)
Men of Chance
as Johnny Silk
(1931)
White Shoulders
as Lawrence Marchmont
(1931)
Reckless Living
as Curly
(1930)
Montana Moon
as Jeff
(1930)
Her Man
as Johnnie
(1929)
The Younger Generation
as Morris Goldfish
(1929)
The Phantom in the House
as Paul Wallis
(1929)
New Orleans
as Jim Morley
(1929)
The Lost Zeppelin
as Tom Armstrong
(1929)
Midstream
as James Stanwood
(1928)
Woman of Destiny
as Yoanes Etchegarry
(1928)
Excess Baggage
as Val D'Errico
(1927)
(1927)
Mockery
as Dimitri
(1927)
New York
as Michael Angelo Cassidy
(1926)
Torrent
as Don Rafael Brull
(1926)
The Sorrows of Satan
as Geoffrey Tempest
(1926)
(1926)
Volcano
as Stéphane Séquineau
(1926)
The Eagle of the Sea
as Captain Sazarac
(1925)
The Pony Express
as Jack Weston
(1925)
The Swan
as Dr. Walter, the Tutor
(1925)
The Spaniard
as Don Pedro de Barrego
(1925)
Not So Long Ago
as Billy Ballard
(1925)
In the Name of Love
as Raoul Melnotte
(1924)
Feet of Clay
as Tony Channing
(1924)
Argentine Love
as Juan Martin
(1924)
The Next Corner
as Don Arturo
(1924)
This Woman
as Whitney Duane
(1924)
The Bedroom Window
as Robert Delano
(1924)
A Society Scandal
as Harrison Peters
(1923)
Hollywood
as Ricardo Cortez
(1923)
The Call of the Canyon
as Larry Morrison
(1923)
(1923)
Children of Jazz
as Ted Carter
Crew
(1940)
City of Chance
Director
(1940)
Girl in 313
Director
(1940)
Free, Blonde and 21
Director
(1939)
Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence
Director
(1939)
Inside Story
Director
(1939)
The Escape
Director
(1939)
Chasing Danger
Director