Ricardo Cortez
Birthday: 1900-09-17
Place of Birth: New York City, New York, USA
Biography: Ricardo Cortez (September 19, 1900 – April 28, 1977) was an American film actor who began his career during the silent film era. Born Jacob Krantz in New York City into a Jewish family, he worked on Wall Street in a broker's office and as a boxer before his looks got him into the film business. 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. When rumour began to circulate that Cortez was not actually Spanish, the studios tried to pass him off as a different type of Latin, French, before they finally admitted his (supposedly) Viennese origin. Cortez appeared in over 100 films. He played opposite Joan Crawford in Montana Moon in 1930, played Sam Spade in the original The Maltese Falcon in 1931, co-starred with Charles Farrell and Bette Davis in The Big Shakedown and Wonder Bar (with Al Jolson and Dolores del Río) in 1934. He also played Perry Mason in the 1936 film The Case of the Black Cat. Although he began his career playing romantic leads with actresses like Greta Garbo, when sound cinema arrived, his powerful delivery and New York accent made him an ideal villain and conman, and he switched from sex symbol to character actor. Cortez was married to silent film actress Alma Rubens until her death of pneumonia in 1931. When he retired from the film business, Cortez went to work as a stockbroker for Solomon Brothers on New York's Wall Street. He died in New York City in 1977 and was interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx. He was the older brother of noted cinematographer Stanley Cortez (born Stanislaus Krantz).
Movies
Tomorrow We Live
Julie Bronson, whose father operates a desert cafe, is attracting the unwanted attention of a half-c...
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The Phantom of Crestwood
Five men have to prove their innocence when a blackmailer is murdered....
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The Walking Dead
Down-on-his-luck John Ellman is framed for a judge's murder. After he's convicted and sentenced to d...
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Charlie Chan in Reno
Mary Whitman has gone to Reno to obtain a divorce. While there she is arrested on suspicion of murde...
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Hollywood
Angela comes to Hollywood with only two things: Her dream to become a movie star, and Grandpa. She l...
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White Shoulders
In this drama, an impoverished young woman meets a millionaire who marries her on the spot and then ...
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The Maltese Falcon
A lovely dame with dangerous lies employs the services of a private detective, who is quickly caught...
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The Locket
A dark personal secret drives a young woman to use every man she encounters....
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Blackmail
A private detective is offered a job protecting a rich business man from suspected blackmail. Before...
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Bunco Squad
Police sergeants Johnson and McManus take on Los Angeles confidence tricksters. Con man Tony Wells, ...
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Murder Over New York
When Charlie's old friend from Scotland Yard is murdered when they attend a police convention in New...
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In the Name of Love
Naturalized American Raoul Melnotte travels from Chicago to his native France in search of his child...
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Mr. Moto's Last Warning
A Japanese man claiming to be Mr. Moto, of the International Police, is abducted and murdered soon a...
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The House on 56th Street
A beautiful chorine marries a handsome rich socialite, but her idyllic life ends when she visits a d...
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Midnight Mary
While on trial for her life, a young woman recalls her tough upbringing and her involvement with the...
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Torch Singer
When she can't support her illegitimate child, an abandoned young woman puts her up for adoption and...
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The Inner Circle
A fresh-faced young detective gets set up, framed for murder, and alibied by a smart blonde....
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Special Agent
A reporter turned tax agent infiltrates a crime ring to catch a racketeer, working with the mobster'...
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The Man with Two Faces
Actress Jessica Wells, sister of actor Damon Wells, is on top of her form except when her husband Va...
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Thirteen Women
Thirteen women who were schoolmates ask a swami to cast their horoscopes. The news they receive is n...
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The Last Hurrah
In a changing world where television has become the main source of information, Adam Caulfield, a yo...
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Make Your Own Bed
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Mockery
There is hunger in Siberia during the Russian Civil War. One day while dim-witted peasant Sergei is ...
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Bad Company
A psychotic and sadistic mob boss is infatuated with the young wife of his newlywed attorney, and he...
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The Big Shakedown
Former bootlegger Dutch Barnes pressures neighborhood druggist Jimmy Morrell into making cut-rate kn...
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Symphony of Six Million
A young doctor escapes the slums of New York City to make his fortune as a Park Avenue doctor. When ...
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The Murder of Dr. Harrigan
A young doctor is determined to expose the killer when a surgeon is found stabbed to death in a hosp...
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Ten Cents a Dance
A taxi dancer with a jealous husband finds herself falling for a wealthy client....
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Illicit
Ann, a young woman with outrageously advanced ideas, has been living in sin with Dick, her lover, be...
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Transgression
When British mining engineer Robert Maury is sent to India on an extended business trip, his wife El...
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Montana Moon
A wild-partying flapper marries a cowboy and tries to adjust to life on a western ranch....
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Big Business Girl
A young woman goes to New York and finds success in advertising thanks to her legs while her boyfrie...
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I Killed That Man
A condemned inmate's premature death places officials under suspicion....
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Flesh
Gifted German wrestler Polokai falls in love with ex-con Laura, who persuades him to emigrate to Ame...
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Torrent
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Wonder Bar
Harry and Inez are a dance team at the Wonder Bar. Inez loves Harry, but he is in love with Liane, t...
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Behind Office Doors
Mary Linden is the secretary who is the unheralded power behind successful executive James Duneen. H...
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Her Man
A prostitute sees a friendly sailor as a way out of Havana's grimy underworld....
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The Case of the Black Cat
Lawyer Perry Mason is summoned to the Laxter mansion in the dead of night to write granddaughter Wil...
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The Gentleman from America
Two Army buddies, Dennis O'Shane and Johnny Day, decide to take their furlough in Paris but instead ...
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Frisco Kid
After a roustabout sailor avoids being shanghaied in 1850s San Francisco, his audacity helps him ris...
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I Am a Thief
A man dodges jewel thieves while carrying a fortune in diamonds on the Orient Express....
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Hat, Coat and Glove
A prominent New York attorney defends his estranged wife's lover, who's been charged with the murder...
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The Bedroom Window
William C. DeMille, Cecil B. DeMille's talented director brother, teamed with his favorite collabora...
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The Phantom in the House
A man is blamed for a murder that was actually committed by his wife....
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The Younger Generation
Soap-opera about a social-climbing Jewish man and his old-world parents who are heartbroken by his r...
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City Girl
In this tearful crime melodrama, a waitress becomes so taken with her dream of living in posh luxury...
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Is My Face Red?
William Poster writes a gossip column for the Morning Gazette. He will write about anyone and everyo...
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The Sorrows of Satan
Geoffrey is desperately in love with Mavis, who lives at his boardinghouse and is also pursuing a wr...
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No One Man
When the boyfriend of a rich, bored socialite dies from a weak heart, she finds herself attracted to...
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West of Shanghai
American businessmen and missionaries working in China are captured and held prisoner by a local war...
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The White Cockatoo
In a spooky hotel on the coast of France, two bands of crooks are working independently of the other...
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Mystery in Mexico
Insurance detective Steve Hastings is sent by his company to investigate the disappearance of a fell...
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Shadow of Doubt
When a Hollywood producer is murdered, the most likely suspect is a man who is smitten with the vict...
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Romance of the Rio Grande
When old rancher Cordoba's grandson is murdered, the Cisco Kid takes his place to find who's trying ...
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A Lost Lady
A bitter woman who thinks she'll never love again marries, only to fall for a brash young man....
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The Firebird
Herman Brandt, a handsome but overly conceited actor, lives in the same apartment building in Vienna...
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The Lost Zeppelin
Explorers to the South Pole in an airship Zeppelin crash in the frozen Antarctic and must struggle f...
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The Californian
Native son returns from school in Spain to California in 1855 and finds corrupt politicians stealing...
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Her Husband Lies
J. Ward Thomas of Park Avenue leads a double life as an investment broker and as notorious gambler S...
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Broadway Bad
Showgirl Tony Landers, supported by her friend Flip Daly, fights for the custody of her son during a...
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The Private Life of Helen of Troy
Setting the standard for his later light-hearted biopics The Private Life of Henry VIII and Rembrand...
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Mandalay
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The Spaniard
In England, Don Pedro de Barrego meets Dolores Annesley, and he decides he must have her. Dolores, h...
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The Eagle of the Sea
Eagle of the Sea is based on Charles Tenney Jackson's swashbuckling novel Captain Sazarac....
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The Swan
The Swan (1925) is a silent film produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictu...
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Feet of Clay
Kerry Harlan (La Rocque) is unable to work because he was injured in a battle with a shark, so his y...
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Woman of Destiny
Expressing post-war cultural internationalism, this silent film follows the mysterious Orchid and th...
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Reckless Living
In order to be able to buy a gas station, a young couple run a speakeasy. Complications arise when t...
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The Pony Express
The Pony Express is a silent 1925 Western film produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by P...
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Excess Baggage
Excess Baggage is a lost 1928 American silent comedy film directed by James Cruze and distributed by...
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Hollywood Newsreel
A potpourri of features involving Hollywood celebrities. The Columbia University football team, winn...
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Hedda Hopper's Hollywood
A look at the past, present and future of Hollywood as seen through the eyes of the movie columnist....
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Rubber Racketeers
Racketeer Gillin is paroled from prison and immediately goes to work trying to make an illegal buck ...
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Breakdowns of 1936
Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1936....
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A Shot in the Dark
A reporter and a police detective sort through the clues in a night-club owner's murder....
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Screen Snapshots (Series 10, No. 8)
Pola Negri, Bebe Daniels, Mitzi Green, Polly Moran, Mack Sennett and Marjorie Beebe are seen relaxin...
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Children of Jazz
Babs Weston agrees to marry adventurer Richard Forestall before his hasty departure, accepting his r...
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Greta Garbo: The Temptress and the Clown
Two part biography of Greta Garbo - 1. The Temptress 2. The Clown. Reminiscences of her early life i...
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Manhattan Moon
Night club owner Dan Moore is trying to collect a debt owed to him by playboy Reggie Van Dorn, but R...
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New York
A product of the Bowery, Trent Regan grows up to become a powerful gangster. Regan's girlfriend Angi...
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Breakdowns of 1937
Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1937....
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New Orleans
Billy, a jockey, and Jim, an assistant manager of a New Orleans racetrack, are close friends. They b...
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Complicated Women
Looks at the stereotype-breaking films of the period from 1929, when movies entered the sound era, u...
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The Next Corner
While honeymooning in Paris Elsie is rescued from attentions of a man.Her hero is Don Arturo who tak...
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Who Is Hope Schuyler?
A girl reporter is trying to tack down the lady-in-the-title, as a key witness in a graft trial, whi...
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Talk of the Devil
A ruthless businessman tries to steal his brother's successful shipping company. He hires a gifted m...
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Sunkist Stars at Palm Springs
Winners of the Lucky Stars National Dance Contest - one woman from each state of the United States -...
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The Call of the Canyon
Returning from World War I, Glenn Kilbourne travels to Arizona to regain his health. He meets a loca...
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The Cat's Pajamas
Sally, seamstress for a fashionable modiste, supports a disabled father and adores her kitten, Tommy...
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This Woman
Facing poverty, Carol Drayton is prevented from suicide by Rose, a woman of the streets, who buys Ca...
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Midstream
Following a successful experimental operation to reverse age, a wealthy businessman stages his own d...
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World Premiere
A movie-making publicity man screwball comedy about a movie producer who wants to create publicity f...
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Not So Long Ago
Against the backdrop of New York City of the early 1850s, a young woman -- naively seeking to win th...
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A Society Scandal
Hector Colbert sues his wife Marjorie for a divorce after Peters, an admirer of Marjorie, deliberate...
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Argentine Love
While his daughter, Consuelo, is visiting the United States, Emanuel García, the Mayor of Alcorta in...
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Volcano
Zabette de Chauvalons leaves a convent in Brussels to join her father on the island of Martinique, e...
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The City That Never Sleeps
Mother O'day, running her saloon after the death of her husband, places her daughter in the care of ...
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Ladies of the Night Club
The wealthy millionaire patron of a nightclub is attracted by the female half of a vaudeville show a...
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Stars of the Silver Screen - Greta Garbo
Documentary providing a career overview of the great Greta Garbo....
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Prowlers of the Sea
Carlos De Neve, a young Spanish military officer, is given an important post to prevent gun-smugglin...
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