Ricardo Cortez


Ricardo Cortez was an American actor and film director. He was also credited as Jack Crane early in his acting career.

Early years

Ricardo Cortez was born Jacob Kranze or Krantz in New York City to Jewish parents, Sarah and Morris Kranze or Krantz. He had a brother Stanley Cortez. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School in New York City.
Prior to entering the film business, he was an amateur boxer and worked on Wall Street as a runner.

Film career

Acting

Hollywood executives changed his name from Krantz to Cortez to capitalize on his handsome Latin-like features and the popularity of the silent film era's "Latin lovers" such as Rudolph Valentino, Ramon Novarro, Antonio Moreno and Rod La Rocque. When it began to circulate publicly that Cortez was not actually Latin, the studios attempted to pass him off as French before a final Viennese origin story was promoted.
Cortez appeared in over 100 films. He began his career playing romantic leads, and when sound cinema arrived, his strong delivery and New York accent made him an ideal heavy. While his main focus was character acting, he occasionally was able to play leading men. He played opposite Joan Crawford in Montana Moon, and was the first actor to portray Sam Spade in the original pre-Code version of The Maltese Falcon ; the latter film was later overshaded by the 1941 remake with Humphrey Bogart in the lead. He co-starred with Charles Farrell and Bette Davis in The Big Shakedown, and with Al Jolson and Dolores del Río in Wonder Bar. In 1936, Cortez replaced Warren William as Perry Mason in The Case of the Black Cat.

Directing

Cortez directed seven films for 20th Century Fox from 1938 through 1940, all of them "program pictures made on a shoestring for the express purpose of filling the bottom half of the mandatory double bill..." His first film as director was Inside Story, which was assigned to Cortez in the spring of 1938 but was not released until 1939. He also directed Chasing Danger, The Escape, Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence, City of Chance, Free, Blonde and 21, and Girl in 313.

Personal life

Cortez married silent film actress Alma Rubens on February 8, 1926. They had previously married on January 30, but it was invalid due to Rubens's divorce not being finalized. The couple separated in 1930, and she had sued him for divorce when she died of pneumonia on January 21, 1931. Cortez married Christine Conniff Lee on January 8, 1934, but they divorced in 1940.
After retiring from the film business in the late 1950s, Cortez returned to New York, and began working as a stockbroker for Salomon Brothers on Wall Street.

Death

Cortez died in Doctors Hospital in New York City in 1977 at age 76 and was interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.

Recognition

Cortez has a star at 1500 Vine Street in the Motion Pictures section of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was dedicated on February 8, 1960.

Filmography

  • The Fringe of Society
  • The Imp as Minor Role
  • The Gentleman from America as Minor Role
  • Sixty Cents an Hour as William Davis
  • Children of Jazz as Ted Carter
  • Hollywood as Himself
  • The Call of the Canyon as Larry Morrison
  • The Next Corner as Don Arturo
  • A Society Scandal as Harrison Peters
  • The Bedroom Window as Robert Delano
  • The City That Never Sleeps as Mark Roth
  • Feet of Clay as Tony Channing
  • This Woman as Whitney Duane
  • Argentine Love as Juan Martin
  • The Spaniard as Don Pedro de Barrego
  • The Swan as Dr. Walter, the Tutor
  • Not So Long Ago as Billy Ballard
  • In the Name of Love as Raoul Melnotte
  • The Pony Express as Jack Weston
  • Torrent as Don Rafael Brull
  • Volcano! as Stéphane Séquineau
  • The Cat's Pajamas as Don Cesare Gracco
  • The Sorrows of Satan as Geoffrey Tempest
  • The Eagle of the Sea as Capt. Sazarac
  • New York as Michael Angelo Cassidy
  • Mockery as Captain Dimitri
  • By Whose Hand? as Agent X-9
  • The Private Life of Helen of Troy as Paris
  • The Orchid Dancer as Yoanes Etchegarry dit Jean Barliave
  • Ladies of the Night Club as George Merrill
  • Prowlers of the Sea as Carlos De Neve
  • The Grain of Dust as Fred Norman
  • Excess Baggage as Val D'Errico
  • The Gun Runner as Julio
  • The Younger Generation as Morris Goldfish
  • New Orleans as Jim Morley
  • Midstream as James Stanwood
  • The Phantom in the House as Paul Wallis
  • The Lost Zeppelin as Tom Armstrong
  • Montana Moon as Jeff
  • Her Man as Johnnie
  • Illicit as Price Baines
  • Ten Cents a Dance as Bradley Carlton
  • Behind Office Doors as Ronnie Wales
  • White Shoulders as Lawrence Marchmont
  • The Maltese Falcon as Sam Spade
  • Big Business Girl as Robert J. Clayton
  • Transgression as Don Arturo de Borgus
  • Reckless Living as Curly
  • Bad Company as Goldie Gorio
  • Men of Chance as Johnny Silk
  • No One Man as Bill Hanaway
  • Symphony of Six Million as Dr. Felix 'Felixel' Klauber
  • Is My Face Red? as William Poster
  • Thirteen Women as Police Sergeant Barry Clive
  • The Phantom of Crestwood as Gary Curtis
  • Flesh as Nicky Grant
  • Broadway Bad as Craig Cutting
  • Midnight Mary as Leo Darcy
  • Torch Singer as Tony Cummings
  • Big Executive as Victor Conway
  • The House on 56th Street as Bill Blaine
  • The Big Shakedown as Dutch Barnes
  • Mandalay as Tony Evans
  • Wonder Bar as Harry
  • Hat, Coat and Glove as Robert Mitchell
  • The Man with Two Faces as Ben Weston
  • A Lost Lady as Ellinger
  • The Firebird as Herman Brandt
  • I Am a Thief as Pierre
  • The White Cockatoo as Jim Sundean
  • Shadow of Doubt as Sim Sturdevant
  • Manhattan Moon as Dan Moore
  • Special Agent as Alexander Carston
  • Frisco Kid as Paul Morra
  • The Murder of Dr. Harrigan as George Lambert
  • Man Hunt as Frank Kingman
  • The Walking Dead as Nolan
  • Postal Inspector as Inspector Bill Davis
  • The Case of the Black Cat as Perry Mason
  • Talk of the Devil as Ray Allen
  • Her Husband Lies as J. Ward Thomas
  • The Californian as Ramon Escobar
  • West of Shanghai as Gordon Creed
  • City Girl as Charles Blake
  • Mr. Moto's Last Warning as Fabian
  • Charlie Chan in Reno as Dr. Ainsley
  • Murder Over New York as George Kirby
  • Romance of the Rio Grande as Ricardo de Vega
  • A Shot in the Dark as Philip Richards
  • World Premiere as Mark Saunders
  • I Killed That Man as Roger Phillips
  • Who Is Hope Schuyler? as Anthony Pearce
  • Rubber Racketeers as Gilin
  • Tomorrow We Live as The Ghost, Alexander Caesar Martin
  • Make Your Own Bed as Fritz Alden
  • The Inner Circle as Duke York
  • The Locket as Mr. Bonner
  • Blackmail as Ziggy Cranston
  • Mystery in Mexico as John Norcross
  • Bunco Squad as Tony Weldon - aka Anthony Wells
  • The Last Hurrah as Sam Weinberg