July 14, 2009
Hollywood Unmasked: Latin Lover is Kosher Butcher's Son
Ricardo Cortez with Greta Garbo in The Torrent, 1926.
Ricardo Cortez (1899-1977) was a handsome and talented leading man whose image, in the silent era, was that of a hot-blooded Latin lover.
In truth, his name was Jacob Krantz, the son of a kosher butcher, born and raised in the mean streets of New York’s Lower East Side.
Cortez worked as a runner on Wall Street while training to be an actor at night. Soon his good looks afforded him an opportunity to break into the young but flourishing movie business. Paramount groomed the tall and handsome Cortez by giving him bit parts, and then moving him up to more substantial roles.
To read my entire profile of Ricardo Cortez, head on over to Big Hollywood.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:36 AM | Comments (0)
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