NEWSRicardo Montalban Dies at 88
Jan. 14 2009, Published 9:39 a.m. ET
Ricardo Montalban, the Mexican-born actor who played Mr. Rourke on Fantasy Island, has died of natural causes in his Beverly Hills home. He was 88.
Montalban passed away on Wednesday. His death was announced at an L.A. City Council meeting by member Eric Garcetti, whose district includes the Ricardo Montalban theater.
The actor's cause of death was not announced. However, radaronline.com quotes Montalban's son-in-law as saying he died from natural causes.
Montalban was born in Mexico City but was partially educated in the U.S. He began his career in the early 1940s playing bit parts on Broadway and lead roles in Latin films.
In 1947, MGM recruited him to Hollywood to become a romantic leading man.
Montalban is probably best known for the white-suited Rourke on Fantasy Island, as well as Kahn, Captain Kirk's nemesis in 1982's Star Trek: The Wrath of Kahn.
Want OK! each day? Sign up here!
More recently, he played Grandpa Cortez in the Spy Kids films.
The actor's death follows by one year that of his wife of 63 years, Georgiana Young, the younger sister of actress Loretta Young.
"She is the only love of my life," the actor said in 2004.
He is survived by four children and six grandchildren.
