Ricardo Cortez

Ricardo Cortez ( born September 19, 1899 in New York as Jacob Krantz, † April 28, 1977 ) was an American actor of the silent film and early sound film era. He was the brother of the cameraman Stanley Cortez.

Life and work

Ricardo Cortez was born Jacob Krantz in New York, such as a letter from the City of New York in 2000 confirmed. He worked in his youth in a variety of jobs, sold newspapers and was on Wall Street working as an office boy. After a few years he managed the theater in the early 1920s, the leap to Hollywood, where he got a contract with Paramount Pictures. There Krantz gained the stage name Ricardo Cortez. The studio built it up as a replacement Rudolph Valentino and put him in a most cheaply produced mass-produced. Among his best known films include the appearance alongside Greta Garbo in their U.S. debut tides of passion. With the advent of the talkies Cortez moved to Warner Brothers and was as Sam Spade to see The Maltese Falcon next to Bebe Daniels in the first film adaptation of the novel 1931. His roles decreased rapidly in importance and often was Cortez who appeared almost exclusively as a gangster or unsavory fellow on the canvas, already shot shortly after the start. He was four times partner of Kay Francis and found a violent death in each of the films.

From 1939, he shot a few B- movies as a director. Cortez retired shortly after 1950 from the film business and worked as a stockbroker.

Ricardo Cortez was briefly married to the silent film star Alma Rubens.

Filmography (selection)

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