Ricardo Cortez
Acting
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).
Known For
This Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience, including special guest appearances by colleagues, friends and family. Edwards revived the show in 1971-72, while Joseph Campanella hosted a version in 1983. Edwards returned for some specials in the late 1980s, before his death in 2005. The show originated as a radio show on NBC Radio airing from 1948 to 1952.
This Is Your Life
A reporter turned tax agent infiltrates a crime ring to catch a racketeer, working with the mobster's bookkeeper. When she agrees to testify, an informant exposes them and she's kidnapped.
Special Agent
Looks at the stereotype-breaking films of the period from 1929, when movies entered the sound era, until 1934 when the Hays Code virtually neutered film content. No longer portrayed as virgins or vamps, the liberated female of the pre-code films had dimensions. Good girls had lovers and babies and held down jobs, while the bad girls were cast in a sympathetic light. And they did it all without apology.
Complicated Women
While on trial for her life, a young woman recalls her tough upbringing and her involvement with the men who brought her to this current state of affairs.
Midnight Mary
After a roustabout sailor avoids being shanghaied in 1850s San Francisco, his audacity helps him rise to a position of power in the vice industry of the infamous Barbary Coast.
Frisco Kid
Night club owner Dan Moore is trying to collect a debt owed to him by playboy Reggie Van Dorn, but Reggie is a playboy with no money but lots of social connections. In lieu of the cash, Dan gets Reggie to introduce him to the swells of high society. They go to the opera and, after hearing Yvonne Malloy sing, Dan falls in love with her. Reggie introduces them, but the introduction is to Yvonne's double and stand-in, Toots. This leads to many complications for all concerned.
Manhattan Moon
A fresh-faced young detective gets set up, framed for murder, and alibied by a smart blonde.
The Inner Circle
In a changing world where television has become the main source of information, Adam Caulfield, a young sports journalist, witnesses how his uncle, Frank Skeffington, a veteran and honest politician, mayor of a New England town, tries to be reelected while bankers and captains of industry conspire in the shadows to place a weak and manageable candidate in the city hall.
The Last Hurrah
Down-on-his-luck John Ellman is framed for a judge's murder. After he's convicted and sentenced to death, witnesses come forth and prove his innocence. But it was too late for a stay to be granted and Ellman is executed. A doctor uses an experimental procedure to restore him to life, though the full outcome is other than expected.
The Walking Dead
A priceless necklace goes missing at a plush party. Police close in on the jewel thieves but is one cop getting too close to one of the crooks?
Girl in 313
When British mining engineer Robert Maury is sent to India on an extended business trip, his wife Elsie finds romance with a Spanish playboy.
Transgression
A movie-making publicity man screwball comedy about a movie producer who wants to create publicity for his latest project. He decides to have three men pose as spies, disrupting the opening, but things don't go quite as planned...there are actual spies also present!
World Premiere
In this drama, an impoverished young woman meets a millionaire who marries her on the spot and then begins pampering her with jewels and furs. When not attending to her every need, the business magnate works his mines so he can buy her some more. While he is gone, a gigolo makes advances upon her.
White Shoulders
Herman Brandt, a handsome but overly conceited actor, lives in the same apartment building in Vienna as Carola and John Pointer and their 18-year-old daughter Mariette. One day, as Carola leaves the building, Brandt catches her in the stairwell and proposes she "visit" him at his apartment after everyone has gone to bed. Shocked and offended at his brazenness, she complains to the building manager, who orders Brandt to leave. He refuses, so the Pointers decide that they will move out instead. While they're packing, the police show up at their apartment with some bad news--Brandt has been found murdered, shot in the head. Inspector Muller, the detective investigating the murder, discovers that there is more to this case than meets the eye.
The Firebird
Ann, a young woman with outrageously advanced ideas, has been living in sin with Dick, her lover, because of her conviction that marriage would destroy their love; but social pressure ends up paying off, so Ann and Dick get married.
Illicit
Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1937.
Breakdowns of 1937
A lovely dame with dangerous lies employs the services of a private detective, who is quickly caught up in the mystery and intrigue of a statuette known as the Maltese Falcon.
The Maltese Falcon
A look at the past, present and future of Hollywood as seen through the eyes of the movie columnist.
Hedda Hopper's Hollywood
A Japanese man claiming to be Mr. Moto, of the International Police, is abducted and murdered soon after disembarking from a ship at Port Said in Egypt. The real Mr. Moto is already in Port Said, investigating a conspiracy against the British and French governments.
Mr. Moto's Last Warning
Thirteen women who were schoolmates ask a swami to cast their horoscopes. The news they receive is not good for any of them.