Screen legend Ricardo Montalban was best known for his iconic role as Mr. Rourke on the TV show Fantasy Island and for his memorable performance as Captain Kirk’s nemesis, Khan Noonien Singh, in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. See video and photos from throughout his long and distinguished career as a trailblazing Mexican actor who got his start as a star of MGM musicals in the 1940s and 1950s and was notable for his activism in helping Latino actors achieve greater recognition and more dignified roles in film.

Ricardo Montalban and Cyd Charisse in “Fiesta.” (1947)

 ”He paved the way for being outspoken about the images and roles that Latinos were playing in movies,” said Luis Reyes, co-author of “Hispanics in Hollywood” (2000).

On Wednesday, actor Edward James Olmos called Montalban “one of the true giants of arts and culture.”

“He was a stellar artist and a consummate person and performer with a tremendous understanding of culture . . . and the ability to express it in his work,” Olmos told The Times.

Ricardo Montalban, Esther Williams, Mary Astor, Fortunio Bonanova and Akim Tamiroff, from left, in MGM’s “Fiesta,” 1947

Montalban was already a star of Mexican movies in the 1940s when MGM cast him as a bullfighter opposite Esther Williams in “Fiesta” and put him under contract. He would go on to appear alongside such movie greats as Clark Gable and Lana Turner.

Source: Ricardo Montalban dies at 88; ‘Fantasy Island’ actor Photo source: LA Times: Richardo Montalban: 1920-2009

As film work grew sparse, Montalban turned to television, notably the hit series on ABC, Fantasy Island, which aired from 1977 to 1984.  He portrayed the host, attired in a white suit known only as Mr. Rourke who proclaimed at the beginning of each episode, “Welcome to Fantasy Island” and  who was accompanied by his sidekick, Tattoo, portrayed by Herve Villechaize. He was also the spokesman in TV commercials in the 1970s for Chrysler Corboda and uttering the famous phrase ‘ soft Corinthian leather’ interior.

Of his role in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, New Yorker Magazine critic Pauline Kael said,  it “was the only validation he has ever had of his power to command the big screen.” In full, she said,

Montalban is unquestionably a star in The Wrath of Khan (and his grand manner seems to send a little electric charge through Shatner). As a graying superman who, when foiled, cries out to Kirk, “From Hell’s heart I stab at thee!,” Montalban may be the most romantic smoothie of all sci-fi villains….And that great chest of Montalban’s is reassuring—he looks like an Inca priest—and he’s still champing at the bit, eager to act: he plays his villainy to the hilt, smiling grimly as he does the dirty….

You know how you always want to laugh at the flourishes that punctuate the end of a flamenco dance and the dancers don’t let you? Montalban does. His bravado is grandly comic….This man, who believes that his search for vengeance is like Ahab’s, makes poor pompous Kirk even more self-conscious. Kirk is Khan’s white whale, and he knows he can’t live up to it—he’s not worth of Khan’s wrath.

Via Deadly Mantis: Here’s what Pauline Kael had to say

Here is video of Montalban as Khan from one of the pivotal scenes in the classic 1982 movie (featuring the cast of Star Trek and Kirstie Alley in one of her early screen appearances).



YouTube Link Via Hero Complex

Here is video of Richardo Montalban and Cyd Charisse dancing together in Fiesta (1947)

YouTube Link via USAToday.com On Deadline

Fantasy Island TV show intro 1978



YouTube Link

Here is a 1975 Ricardo Montalban Chrysler commercial



YouTube Link

See also on YouTube:

• Ricardo Montalban interview video (2002)

Related post:

• Hollywood Dance Legend Cyd Charisse (1922-2008) – Video Tribute

Ricardo Montalban (1920-2009) Video, Photo Tribute pics pictures