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This article is about a person who has recently died. Some information, such as that pertaining to the circumstances of the person's death and surrounding events, may change rapidly as more facts become known. Ricardo Montalbán Born Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino November 25, 1920(1920-11-25) Mexico City, Los Angeles, California, United States Occupation Actor, director Years active 1942 - 2009 Spouse(s) Georgiana Young (1944-2007) [show]Awards won Emmy Awards Outstanding Supporting Actor - Comedy/Drama Series 1978 How the West Was Won (Part II) Screen Actors Guild Awards Life Achievement Award 1994 Lifetime Achievement Other awards Golden Boot 1985 Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino (November 25, 1920 – January 14, 2009) was a Mexican-born American radio, television, theatre and film actor. He had a career spanning seven decades (motion pictures from 1943 to 2006) and multiple notable roles. During the mid-to-late 1970s, he was the spokesperson in automobile advertisements for the Chrysler Cordoba (in which he famously extolled the "soft Corinthian leather" used for its interior). From 1977 to 1984 he starred as Mr. Roarke in the television series Fantasy Island. He also played Khan Noonien Singh in both the 1967 episode "Space Seed" of the first season of the original Star Trek series, and the 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. He won an Emmy Award in 1978, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild in 1993. Up until his 80s, he continued to perform, often providing voices Biography Early life Montalbán was born in Mexico City, the son of Spanish emigres' Ricarda Merino and Jenaro Montalbán, a store manager.[1] He had an older brother, actor Carlos Montalbán, and a sister, Carmen.[2] In his teens, Ricardo moved to Los Angeles and lived with Carlos, who was pursuing a show business career. The brothers traveled to New York City in 1940, and Ricardo landed a small role in the play Her Cardboard Lover, starring Tallulah Bankhead. The following year, Montalban learned that his mother was dying, so he returned to Mexico. He made a dozen Spanish-language films and became a star.[3] Career Montalbán first acted in a motion picture in 1943. He had stated that when he first arrived in Hollywood, studios wanted to change his name to Ricky Martin.[4] He frequently portrayed Asian characters – mostly of Japanese background, as in Sayonara and the Hawaii Five-O episode "Samurai". His first leading role was in the 1949 film Border Incident with actor George Murphy. During the 1950s and 1960s, he was one of only a handful of actively working Hispanic actors. Many of his early roles were in Westerns in which he played character parts, usually | ||||
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