Obit: Ricardo Montalban (14 Jan 2009)

Subject: RE: Obit: Ricardo Montalban (14 Jan 2009)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Jan 09 - 06:47 PM

I'd forgotten about that dance with Cyd Charisse, but it aired a fair amount when she died.

When you think about it, he made that Star Trek film when he was 58, and he was as muscular and buff as a man half his age. He always was very fit and very professional. He had the classic whole-body approach to his art (remember all of the work Norma Desmond went to when she thought she was being called in for a film part in Sunset Boulevard? We are seeing old-fashioned Hollywood when looking at Montalban's legacy.)

SRS

Subject: RE: Obit: Ricardo Montalban (14 Jan 2009)
From: catspaw49
Date: 17 Jan 09 - 06:33 PM

I commented in another thread that I really enjoyed probably more than anything else, his portrayal of an aging bullfighter who had lost his nerve on an episode of Columbo.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Obit: Ricardo Montalban (14 Jan 2009)
From: goatfell
Date: 17 Jan 09 - 03:46 PM

so sad

Subject: RE: Obit: Ricardo Montalban (14 Jan 2009)
From: fat B****rd
Date: 17 Jan 09 - 03:34 PM

What a suave, handsome chap !. Great clip of him and Cyd Charisse as mentioned above. RIP Sir.

Subject: RE: Obit: Ricardo Montalban 1-14-09
From: Joe Offer
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 03:04 PM

I'd agree that this obituary should go in the music section. It's a shame most people remember Montalban for Fantasy Island and Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. It was a pleasure to watch his performances in the MGM movie musicals of the 1940's and 1950's. You'll find a good biography at allmovie.com.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Obit: Ricardo Montalban 1-14-09
From: pdq
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 01:11 PM

"Montalban was no stranger to prejudice. He was born Nov. 25, 1920, in Mexico City, the son of parents who had emigrated from Spain. The boy was brought up to speak the Castilian Spanish of his forebears. To Mexican ears that sounded strange and effeminate, and young Ricardo was jeered by his schoolmates.

His mother also dressed him with old-country formality, and he wore lace collars and short pants 'long after my legs had grown long and hairy,' he wrote in his 1980 autobiography, 'Reflections: A Life in Two Worlds.'

'It is not easy to grow up in a country that has different customs from your own family's.'"

Subject: RE: Obit: Ricardo Montalban 1-14-09
From: gnu
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 12:46 PM

"His obit could go in the musical portion of this site."

VOOOOOlarayyyyy, whoa.... always loved his rendition of that song.

Class. Real class. RIP

Subject: RE: Obit: Ricardo Montalban 1-14-09
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 12:01 PM

My favorite film of senor Montalban was his first MGM musical, "Fiesta", in which he performed a couple of Mexican folkloric dances (including La Bamba) with Cyd Charisse. They (the dances)can be found on You Tube.

While his dramatic range was never really tested, say, like an Anthony Quinn, his contibution to preparing Mexican and other Latino groups for film and stage was enormous.

Muchas gracias, caballero...RIP

Subject: RE: Obit: Ricardo Montalban 1-14-09
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 11:31 AM

Typo - 1940s and 1950s.

Subject: RE: Obit: Ricardo Montalban 1-14-09
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 11:27 AM

I loved him when he played an absolutely rotten and vicious S.O.B. of a drug dealer in the old movie "Let No Man Write My Epitaph". He played the part wonderfully, making you just hate the character, until he finally got throttled by an outraged Burl Ives after Ricardo emptying an entire pistol load of bullets into the big man...who just kept coming. Great scene. Ives also acted very well in that film.

It was unusual to see Ricardo playing a bad guy. He did it so well in that one movie that it made me wish he'd done it a bit more often.

Subject: RE: Obit: Ricardo Montalban 1-14-09
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 11:19 AM

His obit could go in the musical portion of this site. He did a lot of song and dance in his early films. It looks like the last overtly musical film he was in was 1969's Sweet Charity, with Shirley MacClaine. I haven't seen that one in years, so I don't remember if he did sing or dance, however.

Looking particularly at his work in the 19540s and 1950s, when he was working only in film, he was often cast as a Latin heart throb, and one who could sing. One of those films most likely to appear these days on Turner Classic Movies is Neptune's Daughter, with Ester Williams. It looks like he moved into television in 1956, and then the range of typecasting he experienced was wider (though he did manage to break free of it on many occasions).

SRS

Subject: RE: Obit: Ricardo Montalban 1-14-09
From: 3refs
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 11:05 AM

One of my favorites. Class, suave, debonair and handsome to boot!

But in the Star Trek movie "Wrath of Khan", error, he had never met Chekhov as he was not in the episode #24 "Space Seed".
Loved him just the same!

Subject: RE: Obit: Ricardo Montalban 1-14-09
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 11:01 AM

It will be shattering news for alumni of the RMSOFA.

Subject: RE: Obit: Ricardo Montalban 1-14-09
From: GUEST,Bob Ryszkiewicz
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 10:35 AM

What can you say about a man who always seemed to have a smile for his fans? He elevated
the stature of the Latino around the world with his class and dignity. May he Rest in Peace...

Thanks Ricardo...
bob

Subject: RE: Obit: Ricardo Montalban 1-14-09
From: Becca72
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 10:27 AM

:-) I had the same initial reaction as Rich. Sad news, but I honestly didn't know he was still alive.

Subject: Obit: Ricardo Montalban
From: Rog Peek
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 10:26 AM

I think Ricardo deserves his own thread.
Ricardo Montalban 1920 - 2009
Rog

transferred from a duplicate thread
el joe clone

Subject: RE: Obit: Ricardo Montalban 1-14-09
From: GUEST,Rich
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 08:36 AM

Sad news.   Khaannnn!!!

Subject: RE: Obit: Ricardo Montalban 1-14-09
From: GUEST,Mrr
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 08:32 AM

zere goes ze plane!

Subject: Obit: Ricardo Montalban 1-14-09
From: Genie
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 04:54 AM

Ricardo Montalban dies at age 88