We Lost Two...
Ricardo Montalban, the suave leading man who was one of the first Mexican-born actors to make it big in Hollywood and who was best known for his role as Mr. Roarke on TV's "Fantasy Island," has died. He was 88.
When major film roles dried up for him in the 1970s, he turned to stage and eventually TV, where he was familiar to millions as the mysterious host whose signature line, “Welcome to Fantasy Island,” opened the hit ABC show that aired from 1978 to 1984.
While making "Fantasy Island," Montalban also gave one of his best movie performances -- as Khan Noonien Singh in the “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” (1982), a follow-up to a beloved 1967 “Star Trek” television episode that also featured Montalban.
New Yorker magazine critic Pauline Kael said Montalban's performance as Khan "was the only validation he has ever had of his power to command the big screen."
It never seems to fail that when we loose one of our wonderful actors.. we loose another.
Patrick McGoohan dies at 80; TV's 'Secret Agent' and 'Prisoner'
CBS
(from the web)
The actor often played villains on TV and in movies. But he gained his greatest fame as the TV spy John Drake. He also won two Emmys for 'Columbo.'
Patrick McGoohan, a two-time Emmy Award-winning actor who starred as a British spy in the 1960s TV series "Secret Agent" and gained cult status later in the decade as the star of the enigmatic series "The Prisoner," has died. He was 80.
It was the height of James Bond mania in 1965 when McGoohan showed up on American TV screens in "Secret Agent," a British-produced series in which he played John Drake, a special security agent working as a spy for the British government.
But it was McGoohan's next British-produced series, “The Prisoner,” on CBS in 1968 and 1969, that became a cult classic that spawned fan clubs, conventions and college study.
As a guest star on Peter Falk's TV detective series "Columbo," McGoohan won Emmys in 1975 and 1990.
Falk once described McGoohan, who also occasionally worked as a director and writer on the "Columbo" mysteries, as being "mesmerizing" as an actor.
"There are many very, very talented people in this business, but there are only a handful of genuinely original people," Falk told the Hollywood Reporter in 2004. "I think Patrick McGoohan belongs in that small select group of truly original people."
It's sad when we loose such fabulous actors. It's good we have the movies to remember them.... and remember them we will.
14 Comments:
Oh, that is so sad :(
Ricardo Montalban was a permanent icon for me. I can't believe he's gone.
Long and interesting lives both of them, but still a sad loss. In my mind RM will always be Khan.
RIP :(
I've seen several posts in memory of these two great men the past few days but as usual, yours is the best. They will be missed!
animewookie: as much as I watched Fantasy Island Ricardo was great as Khan!
Cath: me too! but he really was good "back in the day" of black and white movies too!!
Nymeth & Tink: yep..we loose them faster than we can make such great actors anymore.
I forgot McGoohan was in Braveheart. He was great...so very evil...in that!
Ricardo will always have a place in my heart. I remember watching Fantasy Island with my parents when I was a kid. Each and every week that was one of the shows we all caught together. I also will always remember him because as an adult he played such a memorable role in my favorite of the Star Trek films.
carl: I almost didn't hear about either of them dying!It really is a sad.
I just heard about this last night :( 2009 is not starting out too good for hollywood, huh? I heard about a couple of authors dying today too...what's with that!
I don't want to hear it... oh no I don't.
Chris: no it's not starting out good.
pam: me either.
DesLily -
I'd heard about Ricardo but not about Patrick...
And I'd completely forgotten how amazingly goregous Ricardo was! Oh my. Thanks for the reminder!
We also lost Andrew Wyeth, the painter. I hope I got that name right. Once again, losing famous people in threes...
cjh
CJ; oh yeah! I thought Ricardo was gorgeous young and old! lol And yes I heard about the painter but didn't catch "who".. thanks for adding him.
So very very sad....! It feels like someone else dies every day now.....I don't like it, at all!
I LOVED Ricardo....he was so attractive and with such a GOOD SWEET Face....And so very talented, too! And from everything I've ever heard, a truly lovely lovely man.
I liked McGoohan, too....He was good in EVRERYTHING he ever did....and then some!
RIP to both these terrific men.
naomi: it seems incredible how many we seem to be loosing and how fast!
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