Ricardo Cortez: The New York Jew Who Became a Latin Lover
Discover the fascinating story of Ricardo Cortez (Jacob Krantz), the New York actor who became a famous “Latin Lover” in Hollywood.
At the dawn of Hollywood’s golden age, Ricardo Cortez emerged as one of its earliest “Latin lovers.” But unlike Rudolph Valentino, who hailed from Italy, Cortez’s background was quite different. Born Jacob Krantz, he was the son of a Jewish butcher and grew up on the bustling streets of New York City.
Before stepping into the limelight, Cortez worked as a stockbroker on Wall Street by day and performed in small theater sketches by night. His striking looks didn’t go unnoticed, and soon he was invited for screen tests in the rapidly expanding film industry. Paramount Pictures saw potential in the tall, handsome young man and offered him minor roles, which eventually led to more substantial parts. His “Latin” appearance positioned him as a direct competitor to stars like Rudolph Valentino, Ramon Novarro, and Antonio Moreno.
In 1965, Cortez gave an interview to historian Kevin Brownlow, published in The Parade’s Gone By. Brownlow was researching silent film director D.W. Griffith, who had directed Cortez in The Sorrows of Satan (1926).
“I clearly remember the time I made The Sorrows of Satan. Griffith took a long time to produce the film. I went to California for eight weeks and filmed Eagle of the Sea while he continued working with Lya de Putti, Adolphe Menjou, and Carol Dempster. Griffith was a strange man, very calm. There seemed to be an invisible barrier around him that he insisted on maintaining. I got the impression he was a very lonely man, although over time I got to know him better. I felt terribly sad for him when I visited him at the Astor Hotel. He would go out for walks and end up at Pennsylvania Station, where he would sit alone on a bench and watch people.””
“There was a scene I was filming in an attic, and he got deeply irritated with me because I couldn’t do it the way he wanted. I lost my patience when he said, ‘If you knew anything about acting, you wouldn’t do that,’ to which I replied that if I didn’t know how to act in a certain situation, he, as the director, should teach me.”
Cortez was cast to star alongside a new actress brought from Sweden by L.B. Mayer. At the time, 26-year-old Cortez had been working for four years and was considered a strong contender to Valentino’s reign. He was resentful from the start, deeply offended to be paired with a Swedish actress he deemed “chubby and dumb,” who didn’t speak a word of English.
That “chubby” actress was Greta Garbo. Torrent, Garbo’s first American film, was the only one where her name appeared second in the credits. Nevertheless, the film became a major success, propelling Garbo’s career and establishing her as one of cinema’s great legends. Soon, she had the clout to choose her co-stars, and Cortez never appeared in another of her films.
In 1926, Cortez married actress Alma Rubens, a major silent film star. Like many stars of the era, Rubens had a self-destructive side that led her to drugs like cocaine and heroin, contributing to a tumultuous marriage. In one of her disturbed states, Alma told newspapers:
“Many people who followed my career on screen and stage thought I was Jewish. This belief was reinforced when I married Ricardo Cortez, my third husband, the only man I truly loved, and from whom I’m now trying to divorce. Cortez is not the gallant Spanish gentleman I believed him to be; he’s actually the son of a Jewish butcher who had a shop on First Avenue in New York. His real name is Jacob Krantz.”
Alma, who would die at 33 from drug-related issues and an erratic lifestyle, seemed intent on damaging Cortez’s career. By this time, sound had arrived in films, and like many stars, Cortez was waiting to see how the transition would unfold. His audience, who had come to love him as a Latin lover, wouldn’t accept a leading man with a distinctly New York accent. The solution was to reinvent his image from a Latin heartthrob to a versatile actor.
Cortez appeared in over 100 films, working with major stars like Louise Dresser, Adolphe Menjou, Betty Bronson, Lon Chaney, Bebe Daniels, Barbara Stanwyck, Mary Astor, and Joan Crawford, among many others.
By the mid-1930s, substantial roles became scarcer, and the actor began directing B-movies between 1939 and 1940. Dissatisfied with the work, he eventually retired from cinema and returned to his roots, building a successful career on Wall Street. His final appearance was in an episode of Bonanza in 1960.
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