Ricardo Cortez

Film Career

Ricardo Cortez's birth name was Jacob Krantz. His parents were Austrian immigrants living in New York. However, 'Jacob Krantz' was not a good name for a leading actor. Rudolph Valentino and Ramon Navarro, the so-called 'Latin Lovers,' were the ideals of leading men at the time. Although not Hispanic, Jacob had necessary dark and handsome masculine look, and only a change of name was required for the young actor to become the 'Latin' lover type. His first screen credit dates from 1923, and he was a leading actor throughout most of the 1920s. He was Greta Garbo's leading man in her first American film, Torrent (1926) and, because he was better known at the time, his name is listed first in the credits.

When talkies arrived, the phoniness of his Latin persona was revealed. His voice and demeanor are strictly eastern American urban. His talkies usually feature him as a hardboiled type, hero or villain. He could deliver wise cracks and innuendo sharply and was effective during the pre-code period when stronger language was acceptable. After the enforcement of the code resulted in the softening of dialogue, Cortez's best assets were significantly reduced. After 1935, he mostly played villains in B-level films. He was active until about 1950. He appeared in his final film, John Ford's The Last Hurrah, in 1958, and worked as a Wall Street stockbroker after retiring from acting. His younger brother was esteemed cinematographer Stanley Cortez (The Night of the Hunter).