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 Inner Circle
as Duke York
(1946)
The Locket
as Drew Bonner
(1944)
Make Your Own Bed
as Wilson / Fritz Alden
(1942)
Rubber Racketeers
as Gilin
(1942)
Who Is Hope Schuyler?
as Anthony Pearce
(1942)
Tomorrow We Live
as The Ghost, Alexander Caesar Martin
(1941)
I Killed That Man
as Roger Phillips
(1941)
World Premiere
as Mark Saunders
(1941)
A Shot in the Dark
as Phillip Richards
(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)
Her Husband Lies
as J. Ward Thomas
(1937)
The Californian
as Ramon Escobar
(1937)
West of Shanghai
as Gordon Creed
(1937)
Breakdowns of 1937
as Self
(1936)
The Walking Dead
as Nolan
(1936)
(1936)
Postal Inspector
as Inspector Bill Davis
(1936)
The Case of the Black Cat
as Perry Mason
(1936)
Talk of the Devil
as Ray Allen
(1936)
The Murder of Dr. Harrigan
as George Lambert
(1936)
Man Hunt
as Frank Kingman
(1936)
Breakdowns of 1936
as Self
(1935)
Frisco Kid
as Paul Morra
(1935)
Manhattan Moon
as Dan Moore
(1935)
The White Cockatoo
as Jim Sundean
(1935)
Special Agent
as Alexander Carston
(1935)
Shadow of Doubt
as Sim
(1934)
The Man with Two Faces
as Ben Weston
(1934)
Wonder Bar
as Harry
(1934)
The Firebird
as Herman Brandt
(1934)
The Big Shakedown
as Dutch Barnes
(1934)
Hollywood Newsreel
as Himself
(1934)
Hat, Coat and Glove
as Robert Mitchell
(1934)
Mandalay
as Tony Evans
(1934)
I Am a Thief
as Pierre Londais
(1934)
A Lost Lady
as Ellinger
(1933)
Torch Singer
as Tony Cummings
(1933)
Big Executive
as Victor Conway
(1933)
The House on 56th Street
as Bill Blaine
(1933)
Midnight Mary
as Leo
(1933)
Broadway Bad
as Craig Cutting
(1932)
Thirteen Women
as Police Sergeant Barry Clive
(1932)
Flesh
as Nicky
(1932)
Is My Face Red?
as William Poster
(1932)
The Phantom of Crestwood
as Gary Curtis
(1932)
No One Man
as Bill Hanaway
(1932)
Symphony of Six Million
as Felix
(1931)
The Maltese Falcon
as Sam Spade
(1931)
White Shoulders
as Lawrence Marchmont
(1931)
Ten Cents a Dance
as Bradley Carlton
(1931)
Behind Office Doors
as Ronnie Wales
(1931)
Bad Company
as Goldie Gorio
(1931)
Illicit
as Price Baines
(1931)
Reckless Living
as Curly
(1931)
Transgression
as Don Arturo de Borgus
(1931)
Big Business Girl
as Robert J. Clayton
(1931)
Men of Chance
as Johnny Silk
(1931)
(1930)
Her Man
as Johnnie
(1930)
Montana Moon
as Jeff
(1929)
The Younger Generation
as Morris Goldfish
(1929)
New Orleans
as Jim Morley
(1929)
The Phantom in the House
as Paul Wallis
(1929)
Midstream
as James Stanwood
(1929)
The Lost Zeppelin
as Tom Armstrong
(1928)
Woman of Destiny
as Yoanes Etchegarry
(1928)
Excess Baggage
as Val D'Errico
(1927)
(1927)
New York
as Michael Angelo Cassidy
(1927)
Mockery
as Dimitri
(1926)
The Sorrows of Satan
as Geoffrey Tempest
(1926)
Torrent
as Don Rafael Brull
(1926)
Volcano
as Stéphane Séquineau
(1926)
(1926)
The Eagle of the Sea
as Captain Sazarac
(1925)
Not So Long Ago
as Billy Ballard
(1925)
The Pony Express
as Jack Weston
(1925)
In the Name of Love
as Raoul Melnotte
(1925)
The Swan
as Dr. Walter, the Tutor
(1925)
The Spaniard
as Don Pedro de Barrego
(1924)
A Society Scandal
as Harrison Peters
(1924)
This Woman
as Whitney Duane
(1924)
Argentine Love
as Juan Martin
(1924)
Feet of Clay
as Tony Channing
(1924)
The Next Corner
as Don Arturo
(1924)
The Bedroom Window
as Robert Delano
(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