40 Handsome Portrait Photos of Ricardo Cortez in the 1920s and ’30s

Born 1900 in New York City, American actor and film director Ricardo Cortez began his career playing romantic leads, and when sound cinema arrived, his strong delivery and New York accent made him an ideal heavy. While his main focus was character acting, he occasionally was able to play leading men.

Cortez appeared in over 100 films. He played opposite Joan Crawford in Montana Moon (1930), and was the first actor to portray Sam Spade in the original pre-code version of The Maltese Falcon (1931), co-starred with Charles Farrell and Bette Davis in The Big Shakedown (1934), and with Al Jolson and Dolores del Río in Wonder Bar (1934). In 1936, he replaced Warren William as Perry Mason in The Case of the Black Cat.

Cortez directed seven films for 20th Century Fox from 1938 through 1940. His first film as director was Inside Story, which was assigned to him in the spring of 1938 but was not released until 1939. He also directed Chasing Danger, The Escape (1939), Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence (1939), City of Chance (1940), Free, Blonde and 21 (1940), and Girl in 313 (1940).

After retiring from the film business in the late 1950s, Cortez returned to New York, and began working as a stockbroker for Salomon Brothers on Wall Street. He died in Doctors Hospital in New York City in 1977 at the age of 77.

Cortez has a star at 1500 Vine Street in the Motion Pictures section of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was dedicated on February 8, 1960. Take a look at these vintage photos to see portraits of a young and handsome Ricardo Cortez in the 1920s and 1930s.