Ricardo Montalban, the smooth-talking, handsome Mexican heart throb who starred in numerous feature films and TV series, has died at home at age 88. Montalban had appeared in numerous Mexican films before immigrating to Hollywood in the 1940s where he was put under contract with MGM. He appeared in lightweight comedies and musicals, including some box-office hits with Esther Williams before demonstrating his talents in dramatic films like
Border Incident (1949) an early film noir thriller that tackled the topic of illegal immigration into the USA. By the 1960s, Montalban was appearing in many top films including
The Singing Nun, Cheyenne Autumn and
Sweet Charity. In the 1970s, he appeared as Armando, the kindly circus owner in
Escape From the Planet of the Apes and
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. In 1973, he starred with John Wayne in
The Train Robbers before finding his greatest success in the late 1970s as the star of ABC TVs hit series
Fantasy Island. Critics rolled their eyes at the premise of well-known stars appearing as love-struck losers who find their fantasies fulfilled on a tropical island run by a benevolent but mysterious man named Roarke, played by Montalban. However, the show was a major success and ran for years. Few critics pointed out that the character of Roarke was obviously inspired by the character played by Christopher Lee in the James Bond film
The Man With the Golden Gun, though Lee's Scaramanga was clearly a villain. Both characters were always clad in white, and both had a charismatic sidekick played by actor Herve Villechaize. Montalban found a new generation of fans with his appearance in the 1982 film
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, reprising a character he appeared as in one episode of the TV series in the 1960s. The film is still regarded as the best of the series and Montalban's performance as the villain rates high with
Trek fans. In 1988, he co-starred as another villain in the hit film
The Naked Gun. In recent years, he continued to act sporadically and appeared in the
Spy Kids movie series. For more
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