Ricardo Montalban

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino KSG November 25 1920 January 14 2009 was a Mexican radio television theatre and film actor He had a career spanning seven decades motion pictures from 1943 to 2006 and multiple notable roles During the mid1970s Montalbán was most notable as the spokesman in automobile advertisements for the Chrysler Cordoba in which he famously extolled the soft Corinthian leather used for its interior He also advertised the Chrysler New Yorker From 1977 to 1984 he became famous as Mr Roarke the main star in the television series Fantasy Island He played Khan Noonien Singh in both the 1967 episode Space Seed of the first season of the original Star Trek series and the 1982 film Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan He won an Emmy Award in 1978 for his role in the mini series How the West Was Won and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild in 1993 Into his 80s he continued to perform often providing voices for animated films and commercials and appearing in several Spy Kids films as Grandfather Valentin Date of Death 14 January 2009 Los Angeles California  congestive heart failure