This should be good. Montalban was a true gentleman, a man of class and that old fashioned term: breeding. I never saw an interview with him where he wasn't gracious and impressive. I remember him being on a talk show--either Arsenio's or Johnny Carson's--speaking of when he first came to the States. One of his first memories was seeing a restaurant with a sign, "No dogs or mexicans allowed". Yet, he told the story with no bitterness, just a firm resolve that life may be hard, but we don't have to be. I'm a man, but found myself captivated by Montalban's presence and positive attitude. Like some of the great black actors who had to deal with racism just to work, he didn't let it change him. Montalban's strength of character shone through even more to me as I watched him deal with increasing lack of mobility, which ultimately led to confinement to a wheelchair. That would have been hard on anyone, but especially vexing for a man whose physicality has always been part and parcel of his image. Despite that he was still upbeat, still gracious, still working--even doing a "Spy Kids" movie where the chair was part of the storyline. His was a long and storied career, that spanned the studio system to TV, from strange roles (the irony of a racist Hollywood casting him as a Japanese man instead of a real Asian actor) to the iconic ones of Mr. Rourke and Khan.
They don't make 'em like that anymore. He will be missed... ************************************ http://www.tcm.com/movienews/index/ In Honor of Ricardo Montalban, who died on January 14th, TCM will air a tribute to the actor on Friday, January 23, replacing the current scheduled programming with the following movies: 7:30 AM Fiesta (47) 9:30 AM Neptunes Daughter (49) 11:15 AM Latin Lovers (53) 1:00 PM Border Incident (49) 2:45 PM Battleground (49) 4:45 PM Across the Wide Missouri (51) 6:15 PM The Singing Nun (66) TCM REMEMBERS RICARDO MONTALBAN Despite being one of the first heavily employed and high profile Hispanic actors working in post-war Hollywood of the 1950s and '60s, Ricardo Montalbán became strangely more famous later in his career - first, as the mysterious host Mr. Roarke on the TV hit drama, "Fantasy Island" (ABC, 1978-1984), followed not long after by his classic turn as Captain Kirk's arch nemesis, Khan Noonien Singh in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" (1982). Montalbán was born on Nov. 20, 1920 in Mexico City, Mexico. As a teenager he moved to the United States at the behest of his elder brother Carlos Montalban, where his poor English skills threatened to keep him out of Los Angeles high schools. Studying English for hours each day at downtown L.A.'s Belmont High School, he had improved enough to be accepted to the more esteemed Fairfax High School, where he started trying out for and winning parts in plays. It was at Fairfax where a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer executive first caught him on stage during a performance of "Tovarich." The exec was impressed enough to signing Montalban to a contract with the then largest and most prestigious studio in town. The young actor cut his teeth on a number of Spanish language films initially, but also began landing parts in MGM musicals set in exotic Latin locales before scoring his first starring role as Pablo Rodriguez in "Border Incident" in 1949. The studio - not sure what to do with the handsome, but obviously Hispanic-looking actor in those white-washed days - went on to appear in countless westerns in the 1940s and 50s, playing everything from a bandito to a Native American. Along with fellow Latin lovers like Fernando Lamas, Montalban filled in whatever ethnic niche he could in those limited days. Unfortunately, while working on one of his more prestigious pictures (starring the studio's biggest star, Clark Gable) "Across the Wide Missouri" (1951), the athletic actor suffered an injury to his spinal chord which, despite surgery to repair it, would go on to plague him even decades later. After years of paying his onscreen eye-candy dues opposite such stars as Esther Williams, Cyd Charisse and Lana Turner in mindless films like "Neptune's Daughter" (1949), "Sombrero" (1953) and "Latin Lovers" (1953), Montalban finally earned the industry's respect when he nabbed a Tony Award for his performance in the musical "Jamaica" in 1958. In the 1960s, like most former matinee idols pushing 40, Montalbán made dozens of guest star appearances on shows such as "The Untouchables" (CBS, 1959-1963), "Ben Casey" (ABC, 1961-66) and "The Lieutenant" (NBC, 1963-65). He played several characters on "Letter to Loretta" (NBC, 1953-1961) and held a recurring role as Damon West on the very popular medical drama, "Dr. Kildare" (NBC, 1961-66). Among these guest spots was a part which would secure him a place in film and sci-fi history - that of the evil Khan, on "Star Trek" (NBC, 1966-69). In the season one episode, entitled "Space Seed," Montalbán played a charismatic but dangerous genetic super-man from the 20th century, revived from suspended animation. With this brief TV appearance on a show few held out much hope for succeeding, the world would not see the last of Khan. Though no foreword-thinking executive - let alone Montalban, himself - realized this at the time. Montalbán continued with guest spots on "Gunsmoke" (CBS, 1955-75), "Marcus Welby" (ABC, 1969-1976), "The Virginian," (NBC, 1962-1971) "Hawaii-Five-O" (CBS, 1968-1980) and even "Here's Lucy" (CBS, 1968-1974). He returned to the sci-fi fold with what would have been another villainous leading role in an alternate "Wonder Woman" (ABC, 1974) TV movie, starring Cathy Lee Crosby. But thankfully for Lynda Carter fans, the pilot did not take off. He also played the leading role of David Valerio in the short-lived corporate drama, "Executive Suite" (CBS, 1976-77). Following such extensive TV exposure, Montalbán was tapped by producer Aaron Spelling in 1977 to play the enigmatic Mr. Roarke on the producer's latest flight of fancy, "Fantasy Island." Clad in an immaculate white suit, with his sidekick Tattoo (Hervé "De Plane!" Villechaize), at his side each week, Montalbán introduced each episode's guests as they disembarked from the sea plane, hinting at their fantasy and what it might mean for their individual destinies. At first a 1977 television movie, the show took off like gangbusters, providing a perfect fantastical bookend to the show's Saturday night lead-in, Spelling's other big hit, "The Love Boat" (ABC, 1977-1986). In the midst of the fluffy "Fantasy Island" era, Montalban was recognized with an Emmy Award for his performance as Satangkai in the epic miniseries, "How the West Was Won" in 1978. In an unexpected move, Montalbán was approached by Paramount to reprise his mostly forgotten role of Khan from the "Star Trek" pilot for the much-anticipated feature film sequel, "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." Through his robust, red-blooded performance, Montalbán and his chiseled chest was introduced to a new generation of young sci-fi fans, who thrilled to the strategic maneuvering between Khan and William Shatner's Captain James T. Kirk. Others simply enjoyed watching both actors shamelessly chew the scenery. With his profile higher than ever, Montalbán went on to star in the "Dynasty" spin-off, "The Colbys" (ABC, 1985-87), where he played powerful patriarch Zach Powers. Showing a flair for comic timing, he went on to play the villain in the classic cop spoof, "The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad," (1988) opposite Leslie Nielsen. At the same time, he had been the commercial spokesman for the Chrysler Cordoba, appearing in a long-running ad campaign hailing back to the 1970s, in which his smooth Latin accent added a romantic touch to his descriptions of "soft Corinthian leather" - commercials which had been widely parodied through the years. He left such an impression with his suggestive selling technique, that even 30 years later, Montalban was still being sought for extensive voice over and commercial work. In 1993, Montalbán was plagued by his long-time spinal cord injury, and was confined to a wheelchair much of the time. Aside from some guest shots on "Chicago Hope" (CBS, 1994-2000) and "Love Boat: The Next Wave" (UPN, 1998), he remained mostly active with voice work, providing voices for "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command," (The Disney Channel, 2000), "Kim Possible" (ABC/The Disney Channel, 2002- ) and the 2006 feature film, "The Ant Bully." He also appeared as the grandfather in the hugely successful live action kiddie film franchise, "Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams" (2002) and "Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over" (2003). The good-humored Montalban continued to be a favorite at conventions and fan screenings, often garnering a standing ovation for his role as the malevolent mullet-wearing Khan, a role he often described as "Even when I'm not in the scene, they're talking about me." * Article from the TCMdb ------------------------------------ Post your SciFiNoir Profile at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/app/peoplemap2/entry/add?fmvn=mapYahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/join (Yahoo! 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