Talk:Ricardo Montalbán

Formatting

• What the hell happened to the formatting? -- Fortyseven

Paralysis

• I found two slightly differing stories on what exactly caused his paralysis. If anyone knows for certain, please update the story. -- Fortyseven

I think it is the first one but I could be wrong.

Khan

Would it be reasonable to say that Ricardo Montalbán is best known for his role of Khan Noonian Singh, despite his appearances in other popular shows such as Fantasy Island? I don't know about anyone else, but my first thought whenever I hear the name Ricardo Montalbán is Khan.
JesseG 20:15, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

I agree...pretty sad resume for a very good actor. Kidshare 19:26, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Whether it's "reasonable" depends totally on your age and perspective. He didn't just "appear" in Fantasy Island, he starred in it for several seasons and, to late 20th century audiences, it's his signature role. Of course, to older audiences, he might be best known as a romantic lead. In any event, I wouldn't pigeonhole a guy in one role just because it's the only thing I know. Pergish1 (talk) 16:48, 6 December 2009 (UTC)pergish1

Last Name question

This isn't a pressing issue or anything, but does his last name Montalbán have any relation to the famous ancient city of Monte Alban in Oaxaca? I only recently noticed the similarity. -- Bobak 17:30, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

You are quite right. This is quite common in Spanish names. For example, Hidalgo is a contraction of Hijo de Algo or son of somebody (son of someone of importance). Likewise, Montalbán is a name based on a contraction of Monte Alban. Sarum blue 04:19, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

No and absolutely NOT! And Sarum blue you are quite WRONG!!!! The name is Spanish (for White Spaniards) (Montalbán): habitational name from Montalbán de Córdoba from Latin montem albanum 'white mountain'. Source: Ancestry. From monte (“mountain”), referring to the hills surrounding the municipality to the east. Source: Wikitionary. Ricardo was a Spaniard by blood (DNA, ethnicity and White/European by race) and had nothing to do with any cities (Oaxaca) in Mexico! How could he?! His entire lineage was from Spain! Ricardo himself said it on video interview: he couldn't be "anything else but a Spaniard" as his entire lineage is from Spain (White race).

Nobody in his family tree was born in Mexico before he and his siblings, since his parents (Spaniards, aka Whites from Europe) moved from their native Spain (White peoples country in Europe) to Mexico (a red race country of "Indians" or Native Americans, later invaded by Spaniards in the 1700s). There is no difference between Sioux, Apache, Navajos and Mayans, Aztecs or Quechuas etc since they are from the same continent, all red race or "natives" of the Americas. Please stop erroneously referring to Reds as "Hispanic": that means from Spain, or "Latinos" that means the language of the Vatican (Latin) where all White-European languages (Latin-based) originate from. The "O" added at the end is ridiculous for a peoples with a rich history and culture that is completely SEPARATE from that of Spaniards and should be respected for their own heritage instead of being made to adhere to White peoples (European) culture. Their Aztec, Mayan, Quechua etc culture is far richer than that of their current language (Spanish) so please respect both cultures. Woke people need to reject the White man's savage imposition of their culture and ruling upon the noble Red race, which stands alone and apart from Europeans. Enough of calling people from "south of the USA border" "Spanish" (that's just the language) or "Hispanic" or "Latino" (equally as bad!) It's time to differentiate both cultures. Navajo indians aren't called "English" or "British" because they speak English, neither are Indians (from India) when they already speak English with a British accent. And Blacks are mainly mixed with Whites and you don't call them "Europeans" or "Whites" so why do it to Mexicans? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.80.255.137 (talk) 05:42, 4 December 2022 (UTC)

Cordoba

Though it is usually misquoted as "rich Corinthian leather", the correct line is "SOFT Corinthian leather." Video available at YouTube verify this. He also did the Plymouth Volare Commerical. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.28.158.53 (talk) 02:19, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

It is not misquoted. A simple search for the exact phrase on YouTube reveals he indeed did say, “rich Corinthian leather.” 73.69.251.97 (talk) 03:56, 6 August 2021 (UTC)

Recent Happenings

I don't think that the relative time references in this paragraph are encyclopedic. They should be absolute. Lukas 03:11, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

Ricardo Montalbán was a lifelong supporter of the Right To Life Movement. Very anti-abortion. Its funny how Wikipedia will hype an actor's political views when he or she is extreme leftwing, but won't mention it when he/she is a conservative. --2600:6C65:747F:CD3F:44E5:8A66:C20E:C906 (talk) 19:45, 22 February 2020 (UTC)

Five Stages of the Actor

Does anyone have any verifiable source for this? I seem to recall Lorne Greene quoting these five stages in an interview. Enigmatick 07:34, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

I clearly remember watching an interview where Montalbán resites these five rules. Of course, I can't say if they were verbatim what is written here. 193.91.181.142 (talk) 05:11, 2 August 2008 (UTC) (Nick)

Maybe it's such a nice little joke, that several actors have used it upon reaching a certain age. It's also attributed to Mary Astor (see Later life section of her article). Rossrs (talk) 08:01, 2 August 2008 (UTC)

This quote has been attributed to the famed early silent film actress Mary Astor - Mr. Montalban re-used it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Astor 2602:30A:C0AE:EB40:A83B:E6F5:67A8:61F9 (talk) 09:10, 15 March 2015 (UTC)

Taco Bell

He was mentioned the the Super Bowl Commercial

Screencap

I have deleted the screencap from the ibox (again). Screencaps are not free use in bios, only in character articles, see WP:FU. – ukexpat (talk) 00:29, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

• I did not see the deleted image, but presuming it was an image of Montalban as Mr. Roarke, item #12 under "unacceptable uses" actually provides a notwithstanding clause. First, the individual pictured is no longer alive, second it is an image that depicts the individual in their most notable role. It is ridiculous and in my opinion utterly disrepsectful that this article has no image of the person. It's times like this that Wikipedia looks silly and deserves the criticism it gets for being too anal for its own good. 23skidoo (talk) 00:55, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

Potential breach of copyright is a serious issue, trumping any alleged "direspect". – ukexpat (talk) 01:17, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

Fair use is not an infringement. 23skidoo is pointing out that Wikipedia's policies, which you cited as the basis for the photo's removal, consider this a fair use. The prohibition you seem to be relying on is against "Pictures of people still alive..." Montalban is no longer still alive. If you are referring to a different part of WP:FU, perhaps you can be more specific. TJRC (talk) 02:42, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

Heaven Help Us

Surprisingly there's no article on the 1994-95 fantasy TV series in which Montalban starred (he played a Mr. Roarke character to a pair of "angels" one of whom I recall was played by a pre-OC Melinda Clarke). Not only is there no Wikipedia article, but IMDB has very little, although the series did exist and was shown quite a lot in the mid-90s. It should be added -- it was no classic but it was a series in which Montalban had a major role. I'm hesitant to add a redlink at the present time, however. 23skidoo (talk) 00:51, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

Date of Death

There seems to be an edit war, swapping the date of death between the 13th and 14th.

L.A. Times reports the 14th: "Montalban died Wednesday morning..." [1]. Ditto Hollywood Reporter, [2] and Entertainment Weekly [3]. Are there sources to the contrary? TJRC (talk) 00:58, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

L.A. Times and NY Times both report Jan 14, along with pretty much all other sources. Someone has set the date to Dec 14 Where did that come from????. Setting it to Jan 14. Does anyone has a rationale for Jan 13? Thisdaytrivia (talk) 04:37, 17 March 2017 (UTC)

Characteristics?

Could somebody add a line about Montalban's personal charisma through all his roles? Pauline Kael noted this in her review of "The Wrath of Khan": she suggested that this might be one reason that he _didn't_ get the parts he deserved. 128.147.28.1 (talk) 16:42, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

Title of Knighthood

I know that he was only Knighted by the Pope, not the Queen on England or something, but I still feel that in respect for such a wonderful actor, his title on the article should be changed to "Sir Ricardo Montalbán", but I'm just saying.— Preceding unsigned comment added by Haon 2.0 (talk • contribs) 5:45:14 24 November 2011 (UTC)

I agree Montalbán is a wonderful actor. However, Papal Orders of Chivalry are "honorary" titles, meaning titles bestowed on non-citizens, without most of the legal obligations of knighthood or other nobility. Relevant policy citations:

Wikipedia:Naming conventions (royalty and nobility)

Honorary knights – roughly, those not from the Commonwealth – are not called "Sir"

Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Biographies

Honorary knights and dames are not entitled to Sir or Dame, only the post-nominal letters.

What I gather from this is knighthood bestowed from another country does not get a Sir. I think this style limitation helps prevent confusion, since in this case it would imply there is a Mexican knighthood (or a similar order of nobility), which I don't think there is. There is some controversy about the use of honorifics, but the safe bet would be to discuss the knighthood in the article body (as this article does), and avoid it in naming.

Other interesting things I just learned:

• per Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Biographies#Honorific_titles, honorifics with first names ("Sir Elton", "Dame Judi") are considered too casual for an encyclopedia
• Sir Bob is not a "Sir" at all, tho he is dubbed so in the press, and cannot use the title.

/ edg ☺ ☭ 14:38, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

Citizenship

I reverted a change where User:Mcjones41 removed cited text from article which states that Montalban never became a citizen of the US. In his Edit Summary, the user includes a URL [[4]] of a video interview and Mcjones41 states: "I just watched an interview with Montalban in which he states explicitly that he has US citizenship." I watched 28 minutes and did not hear him talk about becoming an American citizen. I looked for other sources of citizenship info, and found four that state he did not become an American citizen. Mgrē@sŏn 19:37, 1 December 2011 (UTC)

Maybe it derives from him saying that he was "honored to be an American". It seems that many people don't realize that Mexicans are Americans too (America is a continent, not a nation). Ianbrettcooper (talk) 11:13, 19 July 2015 (UTC)

Also he registered to vote in US elections per sources so had American citizenship. It is only recently that American citizenship stopped being a requirement to register to vote. Geraldo Perez (talk) 03:45, 18 August 2021 (UTC)

It has happened to me, I tried to remove US citizenship from Ricardo Montalbán but IJBall reverted my edition twice12, the same thing happened with Nathalia Ramos who also replaced Spanish nationality instead of explicitly saying that she obtained US citizenship according to permanent residency or by immigration. 148.101.50.30 (talk) 01:09, 10 November 2022 (UTC)

See message immediately above the one you posted. He was registered to vote in US elections, thus he had US citizenship. Geraldo Perez (talk) 04:04, 10 November 2022 (UTC)

IP is also not paying attention to WP:CONTEXTBIO. All major words for Nathalia Ramos was an American (where she was born is not relevant to that), while Montalban is certainly known for American works in the U.S. so it's directly relevant in the lede. --IJBall (contribs • talk) 14:57, 10 November 2022 (UTC)

Hi @Geraldo Perez and @IJBall - I'm sorry for bumping a discussion near two years ago, but are there other sources confirming Montalban had dual Mexican and American citizenship? The source provided in the article I assume mentioned his registered politicians in the U.S, but the slide show appears to have been removed when I saw the link as of 2024.[5][6] Though earlier archives seem to indicate it was there before (the entire slide show was not archived).[7]

In regards to the lede, I do support the "Mexican and American" descriptor for Montalban since he was born and raised in Mexico and achieved stardom in Mexico during the 1940s but would also act in American films before dying in America in 2009 (in addition to seemingly having dual citizenship) unlike Nathalia Ramos. Clear Looking Glass (talk) 02:14, 13 September 2024 (UTC)

I know this was almost a decade ago @Ianbrettcooper - but in case anyone confused may look to this discussion, I'd like to point out that "American" is the widely used demonym for people from the United States, and "America" (at least in English) is a shortened form to refer to the "United States of America". If Montalban did refer to himself as an "American", it's almost certainly in reference to the U.S.

Also, at least least from an English-language POV (since this is English Wiki), Mexico is a North American country, and the division of the Americas into North and South America is widely used and accepted in the English language. Clear Looking Glass (talk) 01:34, 13 September 2024 (UTC)

Trying to also find books as sources.

Latino American Cinema: An Encyclopedia of Movies, Stars, Concepts, and Trends, Scott Baugh, 2012, pages 175-77.

This seems like a good medium-lenght summary of Montalban's career, and a good recent source. FriendlyRiverOtter (talk) 19:12, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

Vague language

Subsection on Fantasy Island and Wrath of Khan starts with a paragraph on FI that includes the statement, "For a while, the series was one of the most popular on television, and his character as well as that of his sidekick, Tattoo (played by Hervé Villechaize), became popular icons." This is vague language with no sources cited. For a while? One of the most popular? What is "a while?" Popularity is usually based on ratings. Can we agree that these statements need to be more specific? MandieJ1975 (talk) 21:59, 23 April 2022 (UTC)

Missing Credit

1961 “Hamlet” (German movie). Montalban provided the English dub for the German actor’s character “Claudius.” This movie was featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Maximilian Schell played the title role, performing in German and then providing his own English dub. Mermaid Terry (talk) 01:44, 24 March 2023 (UTC)