Ricardo Montalbán, 88

Ricardo Montalbán, 88, died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles. Building on a series of film roles as a suave entertainer, the Mexico City-native became world famous during his seven-year stint as the enigmatic Mr. Roarke in the original Fantasy Island.

But Montalbán is even better known to sci-fi fans as Khan Noonien Singh, the fascinating villain of the 1967 Star Trek episode "Space Seed" and the feature film follow-up, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982). Star Trek II is considered one of the best Star Trek films, and Montalbán's performance ("He tasks me. He tasks me and I shall have him!") has a great deal to do with its popularity.

Montalbán's busy career involved dozens of stage and screen roles, including star turns in big MGM musicals in the 1950s and later opposite many of Hollywood's most glamorous leading ladies. He earned an Emmy Award in 1978 for his role in How the West Was Won. Following Fantasy Island, he had a regular role on TV's The Colbys from 1985 to 1987. Montalbán was mostly confined to a wheelchair following a spinal operation in 1993; however, he still worked lending his voice for animated films and TV shows (including a self-mocking recurring role on Freakazoid), and even appeared on-screen in the Spy Kids sequels.

Montalbán, who during his run on Fantasy Island was just about the only leading actor of Hispanic origin on American network television, worked hard to leverage his fame to advance the visibility of Hispanic performing artists. In 1970, he founded the non-profit organization Nosotros whose goal is "to help fulfill the goals of persons of Spanish-speaking origin in the motion picture and television industry." The historic Doolittle Theatre near the intersection of Hollywood Blvd. and Vine became the Ricardo Montalbán Theatre in 2004, the culmination of Montalbán's dream to create a facility to train and support visionary artists and talents. The theater was the first major theater facility in the United States to carry the name of a Latino performing artist.