Ricardo Cortez

Ricardo Cortez news, related photos and videos, and reviews of Ricardo Cortez performances. According to Wikipedia: Ricardo Cortez was a film actor who began his career during the silent film era. Born Jacob Krantz in Vienna, Austria... [more]

Ricardo Cortez news, related photos and videos, and reviews of Ricardo Cortez performances. According to Wikipedia: Ricardo Cortez was a film actor who began his career during the silent film era. Born Jacob Krantz in Vienna, Austria into a Jewish family, 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. Cortez appeared in over 100 films including playing Sam Spade in the original The Maltese Falcon in 1931. He also played Perry Mason in the 1936 film, The Case of the Black Cat. Although he began his career playing romantic leads again with actresses like Greta Garbo, he found his greatest success playing smooth talking con men and villains.