Ricardo Cortez
Ricardo Cortez (born September 19, 1899 in New York as Jacob Krantz , † April 28, 1977 ibid) was an American actor of the silent film and sound film era. He was the brother of the cameraman Stanley Cortez .
Live and act
Ricardo Cortez was born Jacob Krantz in New York, as confirmed by a letter from the City of New York in 2000. In his youth he worked in a variety of jobs, selling newspapers and serving as an office delivery boy on Wall Street . After several years in the theater, he made the leap to Hollywood in the early 1920s , where he got a contract with Paramount Pictures . There Krantz adopted the stage name Ricardo Cortez. The studio built him up as a replacement for Rudolph Valentino and mostly used him in cheaply produced dozen items. One of his most famous films is the appearance alongside Greta Garbo in her US debut Floods of Passion . With the advent of the talkie , Cortez moved to Warner Brothers and was seen in 1931 as Sam Spade in the first film adaptation of the novel The Maltese Falcon alongside Bebe Daniels .
His roles already decreased in importance in the following years and mostly Cortez, who appeared almost exclusively as a gangster or dodgy fellow on the screen, was shot shortly after the start. He was partner of Kay Francis four times and found a violent death in each of the films. While his acting career proved increasingly unsuccessful, he made a total of seven B-films as a director in 1939 and 1940 . Shortly after 1950, Cortez largely withdrew from the film business and worked as a stockbroker . In the following decade he appeared only sporadically as an actor, most recently in 1960 in an episode of the western series Bonanza .
Ricardo Cortez was briefly married to the silent film star Alma Rubens .
Filmography (selection)
As an actor (selection)
- 1919: The Imp
- 1923: Sixty Cents an Hour
- 1926: Floods of Passion (The Torrent)
- 1927: The Love Life of Helen of Troy (The Private Life of Helen of Troy)
- 1928: The orchid dancer (La danseuse orchidée)
- 1930: Montana Moon
- 1931: Illicit
- 1931: The Maltese Falcon
- 1931: Transgression
- 1932: Symphony of Six Million
- 1932: Thirteen Women
- 1933: Midnight Mary
- 1933: The House on 56th Street
- 1934: Mandalay
- 1934: The Big Shakedown
- 1934: Wonder Bar
- 1935: Special Agent
- 1936: The Walking Dead
- 1939: Charlie Chan in Reno
- 1939: Mr. Moto and the Fleet (Mr. Moto's Last Warning)
- 1940: Charlie Chan: Murder Over New York
- 1946: The Locket
- 1950: Bunco Squad
- 1958: The Last Hurray (The Last Hurray)
- 1960: Bonanza (TV series, 1 episode)
As a director
- 1939: Inside Story
- 1939: Chasing Danger
- 1939: The Escape
- 1939: Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence
- 1940: City of Chance
- 1940: Free, Blonde and 21
- 1940: Girl in 313
Individual evidence
- ^ Mention of a corresponding letter from the Department of Health, City of New York, October 8, 2000. In: Rudolf Ulrich (Ed.): Austrians in Hollywood. New edition, Verlag Filmarchiv Austria, Vienna 2004, ISBN 3-901932-29-1 , p. 597
Web links
- Ricardo Cortez in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Pictures by Ricardo Cortez In: Virtual History
- Ricardo Cortez in the database of Find a Grave (English)
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Cortez, Ricardo |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Krantz, Jacob (maiden name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | US-American actor |
DATE OF BIRTH | September 19, 1899 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | New York City , New York , United States |
DATE OF DEATH | April 28, 1977 |
Place of death | New York City , New York , United States |