Ricardo Cortez
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).
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as Sam WeinbergIn a changing world where television has become the main source of information, Adam Caulfield,...
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Torrent
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The Locket
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Frisco Kid
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The Maltese Falcon
as Sam SpadeA lovely dame with dangerous lies employs the services of a private detective, who is quickly...
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Thirteen Women
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The Walking Dead
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Flesh
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Postal Inspector
as Inspector Bill DavisPostal inspectors track down money stolen from a railroad car.
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Midnight Mary
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Mr. Moto's Last Warning
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Special Agent
as Alexander CarstonNewspaperman Bill Bradford becomes a special agent for the tax service trying to end the career...
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Blackmail
as Ziggy CranstonA private detective is offered a job protecting a rich business man from suspected blackmail....
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Breakdowns of 1937
as SelfFlubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1937.
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Complicated Women
as Self (archive footage)Looks at the stereotype-breaking films of the period from 1929, when movies entered the sound...
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I Am a Thief
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City Girl
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Bad Company
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Man Hunt
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The Firebird
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Hollywood Newsreel
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Manhattan Moon
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Murder Over New York
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Mystery in Mexico
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Hollywood
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Big Business Girl
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Torch Singer
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Behind Office Doors
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The House on 56th Street
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Montana Moon
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Mockery
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The Murder of Dr. Harrigan
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Her Man
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World Premiere
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Bunco Squad
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The Phantom of Crestwood
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A Shot in the Dark
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The Californian
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The Inner Circle
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The Big Shakedown
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The Case of the Black Cat
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Broadway Bad
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Wonder Bar
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The Pony Express
as Jack WestonThe Pony Express is a silent 1925 Western film produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed...
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A Lost Lady
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The Swan
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The Sorrows of Satan
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This Woman
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The Spaniard
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Breakdowns of 1936
as SelfFlubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1936.
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I Killed That Man
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New Orleans
as Jim MorleyBilly, a jockey, and Jim, an assistant manager of a New Orleans racetrack, are close friends....
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Make Your Own Bed
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Tomorrow We Live
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Mandalay
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Talk of the Devil
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No One Man
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Transgression
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Shadow of Doubt
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Symphony of Six Million
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Screen Snapshots (Series 10, No. 8)
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Romance of the Rio Grande
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Ten Cents a Dance
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Sunkist Stars at Palm Springs
as uncreditedWinners of the Lucky Stars National Dance Contest - one woman from each state of the United...
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Rubber Racketeers
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Hedda Hopper's Hollywood
as SelfA look at the past, present and future of Hollywood as seen through the eyes of the movie columnist.
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The Phantom in the House
as Paul WallisA man is blamed for a murder that was actually committed by his wife.
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The Eagle of the Sea
as Captain SazaracEagle of the Sea is based on Charles Tenney Jackson's swashbuckling novel Captain Sazarac.
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Midstream
as James StanwoodFollowing a successful experimental operation to reverse age, a wealthy businessman stages his...
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The Younger Generation
as Morris GoldfishSoap-opera about a social-climbing Jewish man and his old-world parents who are heartbroken by...
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Her Husband Lies
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West of Shanghai
as Gordon CreedAmerican businessmen and missionaries working in China are captured and held prisoner by a local...
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Who Is Hope Schuyler?
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New York
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The Private Life of Helen of Troy
as ParisSetting the standard for his later light-hearted biopics The Private Life of Henry VIII and...
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The White Cockatoo
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The Call of the Canyon
as Larry MorrisonReturning from World War I, Glenn Kilbourne travels to Arizona to regain his health. He meets a...
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Excess Baggage
as Val D'ErricoExcess Baggage is a lost 1928 American silent comedy film directed by James Cruze and...
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Argentine Love
as Juan MartinWhile his daughter, Consuelo, is visiting the United States, Emanuel García, the Mayor of...
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The Next Corner
as Don ArturoWhile honeymooning in Paris Elsie is rescued from attentions of a man.Her hero is Don Arturo who...
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A Society Scandal
as Harrison PetersHector Colbert sues his wife Marjorie for a divorce after Peters, an admirer of Marjorie,...
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Feet of Clay
as Tony ChanningKerry Harlan (La Rocque) is unable to work because he was injured in a battle with a shark, so...
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Is My Face Red?
as William PosterWilliam Poster writes a gossip column for the Morning Gazette. He will write about anyone and...
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Volcano
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The Lost Zeppelin
as Tom ArmstrongExplorers to the South Pole in an airship Zeppelin crash in the frozen Antarctic and must...
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In the Name of Love
as Raoul MelnotteNaturalized American Raoul Melnotte travels from Chicago to his native France in search of his...
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Hat, Coat and Glove
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The Bedroom Window
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The Gentleman from America
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White Shoulders
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Not So Long Ago
as Billy BallardAgainst the backdrop of New York City of the early 1850s, a young woman -- naively seeking to...
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This Is Your Life
as SelfThis Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally...
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