Ricardo Cortez
Encyclopedia
Jacob Krantz known by his stage name Ricardo Cortez, was an American film actor who began his career during the silent
era.
(Vienna
has been incorrectly cited as his birthplace), Krantz was an amateur boxer and worked on Wall Street
prior to entering the film business. Hollywood executives changed his name from Krantz to Cortez in order to capitalize on the popularity of his Latin contemporaries (Rudolph Valentino
, Ramon Novarro
and Antonio Moreno
, among others.) When rumor began to circulate that Cortez was not actually Spanish, the studios attempted to pass him off as French before finally "admitting" to his supposedly Viennese
origin.
Cortez appeared in over 100 films. Although he began his career playing romantic leads, when sound cinema arrived, his powerful delivery and New York accent made him an ideal heavy, and he switched from sex symbol to character actor. He played opposite Joan Crawford
in Montana Moon
(1930), played Sam Spade
in the original, pre-code
version of The Maltese Falcon
(1931), co-starred with Charles Farrell
and Bette Davis
in The Big Shakedown
, and with Al Jolson
and Dolores del Río
in Wonder Bar
(1934). In 1936
, Cortez replaced Warren William
as Perry Mason
in The Case of the Black Cat
.
Cortez was married to silent film actress Alma Rubens
until her death from pneumonia
in 1931.
When he retired from the film business, Cortez went to work as a stockbroker for Salomon Brothers on Wall Street
in New York City. He died in New York City in 1977, and was interred at Woodlawn Cemetery
in The Bronx
.
Cortez was the older brother of noted cinematographer Stanley Cortez
(born Stanislaus Krantz).
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
era.
Life and career
Born to a Jewish family in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
(Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
has been incorrectly cited as his birthplace), Krantz was an amateur boxer and worked on Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
prior to entering the film business. Hollywood executives changed his name from Krantz to Cortez in order to capitalize on the popularity of his Latin contemporaries (Rudolph Valentino
Rudolph Valentino
Rudolph Valentino was an Italian actor, and early pop icon. A sex symbol of the 1920s, Valentino was known as the "Latin Lover". He starred in several well-known silent films including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Sheik, Blood and Sand, The Eagle and Son of the Sheik...
, Ramon Novarro
Ramón Novarro
Ramón Novarro was a Mexican leading man actor in Hollywood in the early 20th century. He was the next male "Sex Symbol" after the death of Rudolph Valentino...
and Antonio Moreno
Antonio Moreno
Antonio "Tony" Moreno was a notable Spanish-born American actor and film director of the silent film era and through the 1950s.- Biography :...
, among others.) When rumor began to circulate that Cortez was not actually Spanish, the studios attempted to pass him off as French before finally "admitting" to his supposedly Viennese
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
origin.
Cortez appeared in over 100 films. Although he began his career playing romantic leads, when sound cinema arrived, his powerful delivery and New York accent made him an ideal heavy, and he switched from sex symbol to character actor. He played opposite Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
in Montana Moon
Montana Moon
Montana Moon is a 1930 film starring Joan Crawford, Johnny Mack Brown , and Ricardo Cortez.-Plot:Joan Prescott, , a vacuous daughter of a wealthy, Montana rancher, meets Larry , a Texas cowboy. Joan and Larry fall for one another and are engaged...
(1930), played Sam Spade
Sam Spade
Sam Spade is a fictional character who is the protagonist of Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel The Maltese Falcon and the various films and adaptations based on it, as well as in three lesser known short stories by Hammett....
in the original, pre-code
Pre-Code
Pre-Code Hollywood refers to the era in the American film industry between the introduction of sound in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines. Although the Code was adopted in 1930, oversight was poor and it did not become rigorously...
version of The Maltese Falcon
The Maltese Falcon (1931 film)
The Maltese Falcon is a 1931 American Warner Bros. Pre-Code crime film based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett. The movie was directed by Roy Del Ruth and stars Bebe Daniels in the role of Ruth Wonderly and Ricardo Cortez as private detective Sam Spade.Maude Fulton, Brown Holmes,...
(1931), co-starred with Charles Farrell
Charles Farrell
Charles Farrell was an American film actor of the 1920s silent era and into the 1930s, and later a television actor...
and Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
in The Big Shakedown
The Big Shakedown
The Big Shakedown is a 1934 American drama film starring Charles Farrell and Bette Davis and directed by John Francis Dillon. The screenplay by Rian James and Niven Busch is based on the story Cut Rate by Busch and Samuel G. Engel. The supporting cast includes Ricardo Cortez and Glenda...
, and with Al Jolson
Al Jolson
Al Jolson was an American singer, comedian and actor. In his heyday, he was dubbed "The World's Greatest Entertainer"....
and Dolores del Río
Dolores del Río
Dolores del Río was a Mexican film actress. She was a star of Hollywood films during the silent era and in the Golden Age of Hollywood...
in Wonder Bar
Wonder Bar
Wonder Bar is a 1934 pre-code movie adaptation of a Broadway musical of the same name directed by Lloyd Bacon with musical numbers created by Busby Berkeley...
(1934). In 1936
1936 in film
The year 1936 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May 29 - Fritz Lang's first Hollywood film Fury, starring Spencer Tracy and Bruce Cabot, is released.*November 6 - first Porky Pig animated cartoon...
, Cortez replaced Warren William
Warren William
Warren William was a Broadway and Hollywood actor, popular during the early 1930s, who was later nicknamed the "king of Pre-Code". He was born Warren William Krech in Aitkin, Minnesota to parents Freeman E. and Frances Krech. He had a certain physical resemblance to John Barrymore. He attended the...
as Perry Mason
Perry Mason
Perry Mason is a fictional character, a defense attorney who was the main character in works of detective fiction authored by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason was featured in more than 80 novels and short stories, most of which had a plot involving his client's murder trial...
in The Case of the Black Cat
The Case of the Black Cat
The Case of the Black Cat is a 1936 mystery film, based on the novel The Case of the Caretaker's Cat by Erle Stanley Gardner. The film stars Ricardo Cortez as Perry Mason, and co-stars June Travis and Jane Bryan...
.
Cortez was married to silent film actress Alma Rubens
Alma Rubens
Alma Rubens was an American silent film actress and stage performer.-Early life:Born to John B. and Theresa Hayes Rueben in San Francisco, California, she performed since youth and became a star at the age of 19. She was educated at the Sacred Heart Convent in San Francisco...
until her death from pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
in 1931.
When he retired from the film business, Cortez went to work as a stockbroker for Salomon Brothers on Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
in New York City. He died in New York City in 1977, and was interred at Woodlawn Cemetery
Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx
Woodlawn Cemetery is one of the largest cemeteries in New York City and is a designated National Historic Landmark.A rural cemetery located in the Bronx, it opened in 1863, in what was then southern Westchester County, in an area that was annexed to New York City in 1874.The cemetery covers more...
in The Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
.
Cortez was the older brother of noted cinematographer Stanley Cortez
Stanley Cortez
Stanley Cortez, A.S.C. was an American cinematographer. He worked on over seventy films, including Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons , Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter , Nunnally Johnson's The Three Faces of Eve , and Samuel Fuller's Shock Corridor and The...
(born Stanislaus Krantz).
Filmography
- The Gentleman from AmericaThe Gentleman from AmericaThe Gentleman from America is a 1923 comedy film directed by Edward Sedgwick and featuring Hoot Gibson. It also featured Boris Karloff in an uncredited role.-Cast:* Hoot Gibson - Dennis O'Shane * Tom O'Brien - Johnny Day...
(1923) (uncredited) - The Call of the CanyonThe Call of the CanyonThe Call of the Canyon is a silent Western directed by Victor Fleming. The film was based on the story of the same name by Zane Grey.-Preservation status:...
(1923) - Feet of ClayFeet of Clay (film)Feet of Clay is a drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Vera Reynolds and Rod La Rocque, and with set design by Norman Bel Geddes. The film is now considered to be a lost film.-Cast:* Vera Reynolds - Amy Loring...
(1924) - The City That Never SleepsThe City That Never Sleeps (film)The City That Never Sleeps is a 1924 drama film directed by James Cruze.-Cast:* Louise Dresser - Mother O'Day* Ricardo Cortez - Mark Roth* Kathlyn Williams - Mrs. Kendall* Virginia Lee Corbin - Molly Kendall* Pierre Gendron - Cliff Kelley...
(1924) - TorrentTorrent (1926 film)Torrent is an American silent romantic drama film directed by Monta Bell , based on a novel by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, and released on February 21, 1926.Torrent was the first American film starring Swedish actress Greta Garbo...
(1926) - The Sorrows of SatanThe Sorrows of Satan (film)The Sorrows of Satan is a silent film by D. W. Griffith based on the novel The Sorrows of Satan by Marie Corelli. At this point in his career Griffith had given up his independent filmmaker status by joining Paramount Pictures....
(1926) - The Eagle of the SeaThe Eagle of the SeaThe Eagle of the Sea is a 1926 silent drama film directed by Frank Lloyd, starring Florence Vidor and featuring Boris Karloff in an uncredited role.-Cast:* Florence Vidor - Louise Lestron* Ricardo Cortez - Captain Sazarac...
(1926) - Mockery (1927)
- The Private Life of Helen of TroyThe Private Life of Helen of TroyThe Private Life of Helen of Troy is a 1927 silent film about Helen of Troy based on a novel by John Erskine and adapted to screen by Gerald C. Duffy. The film was directed by Alexander Korda and starred Maria Corda as Helen, Lewis Stone as Menelaus, and Ricardo Cortez as Paris...
(1927) - Montana MoonMontana MoonMontana Moon is a 1930 film starring Joan Crawford, Johnny Mack Brown , and Ricardo Cortez.-Plot:Joan Prescott, , a vacuous daughter of a wealthy, Montana rancher, meets Larry , a Texas cowboy. Joan and Larry fall for one another and are engaged...
(1930) - Ten Cents a DanceTen Cents a Dance (1931 film)Ten Cents a Dance is a 1931 romantic drama film starring Barbara Stanwyck as a married taxi dancer who falls in love with one of her customers...
(1931) - The Maltese FalconThe Maltese Falcon (1931 film)The Maltese Falcon is a 1931 American Warner Bros. Pre-Code crime film based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett. The movie was directed by Roy Del Ruth and stars Bebe Daniels in the role of Ruth Wonderly and Ricardo Cortez as private detective Sam Spade.Maude Fulton, Brown Holmes,...
(1931) - Bad CompanyBad Company (1931 film)Bad Company is a 1931 gangster film directed and co-written by Tay Garnett with Tom Buckingham based on Jack Lait's 1930 novel Put On the Spot. It stars Helen Twelvetrees and Ricardo Cortez...
(1931) - Thirteen WomenThirteen WomenThirteen Women is a psychological thriller film, produced by David O. Selznick and directed by George Archainbaud. It starred Myrna Loy, Irene Dunne, Ricardo Cortez, Florence Eldridge and Jill Esmond...
(1932) - Symphony of Six Million (1932)
- The Phantom of CrestwoodThe Phantom of CrestwoodThe Phantom of Crestwood is a murder mystery film released by RKO Radio Pictures, directed by J. Walter Ruben, and starring Ricardo Cortez, Karen Morley, Richard "Skeets" Gallagher, Anita Louise, H. B. Warner, and Pauline Frederick...
(1932) - FleshFlesh (1932 film)Flesh is a 1932 black-and-white drama film directed by John Ford and starring Wallace Beery as a German wrestler. Some of the script was written by Moss Hart and an uncredited William Faulkner.-Cast :...
(1932) - Midnight MaryMidnight MaryMidnight Mary is a 1933 film that reveals in flashbacks the hard life of a woman on trial for murder. It stars Loretta Young, Ricardo Cortez, and Franchot Tone.-Cast:*Loretta Young as Mary Martin AKA "Midnight Mary"*Ricardo Cortez as Leo Darcy...
(1933) - Torch SingerTorch SingerTorch Singer is a 1933 film made by Paramount Pictures, directed by Alexander Hall and George Somnes, and starring Claudette Colbert, Ricardo Cortez and David Manners and Lyda Roberti.The screenplay was written by Lenore J...
(1933) - The House on 56th StreetThe House on 56th StreetThe House on 56th Street is a 1933 drama film starring Kay Francis as a woman sent to prison for twenty years for a murder she did not commit...
(1933) - The Big ShakedownThe Big ShakedownThe Big Shakedown is a 1934 American drama film starring Charles Farrell and Bette Davis and directed by John Francis Dillon. The screenplay by Rian James and Niven Busch is based on the story Cut Rate by Busch and Samuel G. Engel. The supporting cast includes Ricardo Cortez and Glenda...
(1934) - MandalayMandalay (film)Mandalay is a 1934 American drama film directed by Michael Curtiz. The screenplay by Austin Parker and Charles Kenyon was based on a story by Paul Hervey Fox. The film stars Kay Francis, Ricardo Cortez, Warner Oland, and Lyle Talbot...
(1934) - Wonder BarWonder BarWonder Bar is a 1934 pre-code movie adaptation of a Broadway musical of the same name directed by Lloyd Bacon with musical numbers created by Busby Berkeley...
(1934) - A Lost LadyA Lost Lady (film)A Lost Lady is a 1934 American dramatic film directed by Alfred E. Green and Phil Rosen, and starring by Barbara Stanwyck, Frank Morgan, and Ricardo Cortez...
(1934) - Special Agent (1935)
- Frisco KidFrisco KidFrisco Kid is a 1935 film starring James Cagney and directed by Lloyd Bacon.-Cast:*James Cagney as Bat Morgan*Margaret Lindsay as Jean Barrat*Ricardo Cortez as Paul Morra*Lili Damita as Belle*Donald Woods as Charles Ford...
(1935) - The Walking DeadThe Walking Dead (1936 film)The Walking Dead is a 1936 horror film starring Boris Karloff as a wrongly executed man who is restored to life by a scientist . The film was directed by Michael Curtiz, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.-Plot:...
(1936) - The Case of the Black CatThe Case of the Black CatThe Case of the Black Cat is a 1936 mystery film, based on the novel The Case of the Caretaker's Cat by Erle Stanley Gardner. The film stars Ricardo Cortez as Perry Mason, and co-stars June Travis and Jane Bryan...
(1936) - Mr. Moto's Last WarningMr. Moto's Last WarningMr. Moto’s Last Warning is the sixth in a series of eight films starring Peter Lorre as Mr. Moto. The film is an original story featuring a character created by John P. Marquand.-Plot:...
(1939) - Murder Over New YorkMurder Over New YorkMurder Over New York is a 1940 mystery film starring Sidney Toler. Charlie chan must solve a murder mystery while attending a police convention...
(1940) - I Killed That ManI Killed That ManI Killed That Man is a 1941 American film directed by Phil Rosen that was a remake of his 1933 film The Devil's Mate.- Plot summary :The film begins with a disparate group of individuals in a room; some are gambling, some are drinking coffee, others are chatting as if at a party. Curtains are...
(1941) - Tomorrow We LiveTomorrow We Live (1942 film)Tomorrow We Live is a 1942 American film directed by Edgar G. Ulmer.The film is also known as The Man with a Conscience in the United Kingdom.- Cast :*Ricardo Cortez as The Ghost, Alexander Caesar Martin*Jean Parker as Julie Bronson...
(1942) - The LocketThe LocketThe Locket is a suspense film directed by John Brahm, starring Laraine Day, Brian Aherne, Robert Mitchum, and Gene Raymond, and released by RKO Radio Pictures...
(1946) - The Last HurrahThe Last Hurrah (1958 film)The Last Hurrah is a 1958 film adaptation of the novel The Last Hurrah by Edwin O'Connor. It was directed by John Ford and starred Spencer Tracy as a veteran mayor preparing for yet another election campaign...
(1958)
External links
- “Hollywood Unmasked: Latin Lover is Kosher Butcher’s Son,” Robert J. Avrech, BigHollywood.com, July 14, 2009.