# KHAAAAANNN!!! GONNNE? (Ricardo Montalban) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 14, 2009, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khaaaaannn-gonnne-ricardo-montalban/481324 "2009-01-14T21:04:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khaaaaannn-gonnne-ricardo-montalban/481324/21 "2009-01-14T23:26:39Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Did anyone else know he starred with (swam with?) Esther Williams in three MGM musicals? Yes, I did. Montalban told Johnny Carson that he hated doing those movies. He didn’t want to be known as Mr. Esther Williams. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khaaaaannn-gonnne-ricardo-montalban/481324/22 "2009-01-15T00:09:05Z")
Did he keep his fine WOK physique? RIP, Khan. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khaaaaannn-gonnne-ricardo-montalban/481324/23 "2009-01-15T00:16:39Z")
I saw some old movie once and, to my surprise, I recognized the young shirtless guy in the field as Montalban. Hubba, hubba, that guy had a bod! ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khaaaaannn-gonnne-ricardo-montalban/481324/24 "2009-01-15T00:21:42Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Did anyone else know he starred with (swam with?) Esther Williams in three MGM musicals? I didn’t know he did three of them, but I did know that he duetted “Baby, it’s Cold Outside” with her in _Neptune’s Daughter_, which didn’t strike me as a Christmas movie. As for McGoohan, color me knocked over with a feather. I believed I had read of his death years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khaaaaannn-gonnne-ricardo-montalban/481324/25 "2009-01-15T00:25:19Z")
I look forward to seeing William “Glory Hog” Shatner whining in the press about not being invited to give Mr. Montalban’s eulogy. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khaaaaannn-gonnne-ricardo-montalban/481324/26 "2009-01-15T00:30:48Z")
He’s another one with a long Hollywood marriage. He was married to Georgiana for more than 50 years, until her death in 2007. And he only wanted $100k for playing KHAN in WOK. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khaaaaannn-gonnne-ricardo-montalban/481324/27 "2009-01-15T00:40:51Z")
I actually did yell “GONNNNNNE!” when I heard the news- I hope I wasn’t the only one geeky enough to do that. (I was alone.) ((And the guys on PTI used the word “gone” repeatedly in mentioning him.)) I wasn’t around in Montalban’s heyday but I’ll still remember him as Mr. Guitierrez in addition to Khan. That guy could say anything and make it sound suave. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khaaaaannn-gonnne-ricardo-montalban/481324/28 "2009-01-15T00:47:47Z")
I know its not original at all, but the sum total of the message I left on my sisters answering machine just now was “KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN is dead”. RIP I knew it was coming, I just didn’t know when. Way too old to be worth any real points in the death pool. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khaaaaannn-gonnne-ricardo-montalban/481324/29 "2009-01-15T00:53:53Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > I look forward to seeing William “Glory Hog” Shatner whining in the press about not being invited to give Mr. Montalban’s eulogy. I think eulogies are usually supposed to be longer than a single word. I am amazed looking at some of Montalban’s credits- he was in a freakin’ _Dora the Explorer_. But probably his most notable cartoon voice work was as Kim Possible’s wonderfully-named nemeisis Señor Senior, Sr. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khaaaaannn-gonnne-ricardo-montalban/481324/30 "2009-01-15T00:57:52Z")
I’m sorry he’s gone, but 88 is a very long life, and in addition to the infirmities of old age he had a lot of major back problems for the last few years that left him confined to a wheelchair, so while the man himself is no more at least at last he’s free of wait for it wait for it da PAIN! Da Pain! RIP Ricardo. Incidentally, he’s one of the few celebrities I don’t believe I ever read a bad word about. People absolutely loved him- apparently an all around great guy. And here’s a weird [“only in the 60s” clip](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snOsxN7prXA) of him and washed-up-Bama-born-Disney-star-turned-born-again-circuit-entertainer Dean Jones in “pajamas” (and introduced by Minnie Pearl [?!]) singing a Sammy Davis Jr. song (though not to diminish Ricardo’s legacy, [Sammy and Guinness](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OjkEOdZj3A) did it better). ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khaaaaannn-gonnne-ricardo-montalban/481324/31 "2009-01-15T00:59:42Z")
He played a Japanese man, opposite Marlon Brando, in 1957’s [Sayonara](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050933/). ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khaaaaannn-gonnne-ricardo-montalban/481324/32 "2009-01-15T01:06:14Z")
i had just seen the bio of him on biography channel on sunday. quite the interesting life. his back problems came about due to a bad fall in the movies. he also got frito lay to stop using the frito bandito in commercials. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khaaaaannn-gonnne-ricardo-montalban/481324/33 "2009-01-15T01:13:14Z")
There’s a [Ricardo Montalban Theatre](http://ricardomontalbantheatre.info/)in Hollywood. I’m not sure whether 1- it was named in his honor 2- he endowed it 3- it’s named for another Ricardo Montalban but assuming 1 or 2, either way it’s a nice legacy. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khaaaaannn-gonnne-ricardo-montalban/481324/34 "2009-01-15T01:22:09Z")
[Whoa!](http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2009_01_14.html#016521) > [@](#): > > Ricardo liked what we came up with and twenty minutes later, it was all taped and done. Before he left the stage, he made a special effort to seek out the writers and to thank us. I thanked him for being so cooperative and I said something like, “I guess we made you look a little vain in the sketch…” > > “Oh no,” he said. “That is not a problem. I just did not want people to think I would ever cheat on my wife. I don’t mind if they think I am a conceited asshole but I would not want them to think I would ever cheat on my wife.” **That** , ladies and gentlemen, is _class._ ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khaaaaannn-gonnne-ricardo-montalban/481324/35 "2009-01-15T01:22:43Z")
Some trivia: he got the “Corinthian leather” commercials by being in the right place at the right time, the place being in an L.A. theater and the time being when Agnes Moorehead was undergoing agressive cancer treatment. He and Moorehead were starring in the play _Don Juan in Hell_ (she had top billing as she was by far the bigger star even though he was Don Juan) and she had just agreed to do the commercials in a quasi ‘Endora elegant’ persona, but her increasing illness forced her to drop out pretty much at the last minute. E’er the professional, when she called her agent to say she couldn’t do it Ricardo was standing close by so she suggested him as she knew he needed work, and she loved his voice. Those commercials his own admission saved him from near destitution as the '70s weren’t a great time: he worked steadily but had a large family/college age kids/Hollywood lifestyle/D-list paychecks, but in addition to the coin they brought in the visibility led to his biggest payday as Mr. Roarke. One of his “biggest fans” was his niece by marriage Judy Davis, the adopted daughter of Loretta Young (whose sister was married to Ricardo) and in fact the illegitimate biological daughter of Young and Clark Gable. She was pretty much disowned by her mother when she went forward with the story of her true parentage and said (on an interview show) that Montalban and his wife were the only conduit she had to her mother and that they were responsible for the reconciliation (what there was of it- Young never fully forgave her it seems [something of a Norma Desmond who never quite realized how forgotten she was, she was mortified at her squeaky clean reputation being ruined by the [quite true] news she had an out of wedlock child by a married superstar getting out). Young lived with the Montalbans for most of her final illness as she needed constant care and didn’t want to enter a nursing home. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khaaaaannn-gonnne-ricardo-montalban/481324/36 "2009-01-15T01:30:08Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > [Whoa!](http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2009_01_14.html#016521) **That** , ladies and gentlemen, is _class._ What really speaks of a man who’s secure in himself was his suggestion > [@](#): > > He said, “I understand that to get a joke, you need to make fun of something about me and that is fine. Make fun of my age or my hair or my clothes or whatever you want. I trust you will make it funny.” Most actors- most _men_- would be 300x more comfortable doing a scene in which a gorgeous woman wants to have sex with them than they would doing one that made fun of their age or style. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khaaaaannn-gonnne-ricardo-montalban/481324/37 "2009-01-15T01:37:51Z")
At least he got Caesar to safety before he went. RIP, Armando. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khaaaaannn-gonnne-ricardo-montalban/481324/38 "2009-01-15T01:54:40Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > At least he got Caesar to safety before he went. > > RIP, Armando. How geeky am I that I know what movie you’re talking about? Sheesh, I saw them all in one day. The theater sold bananas in the lobby. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khaaaaannn-gonnne-ricardo-montalban/481324/39 "2009-01-15T02:13:58Z")
I actually feel a bit teary-eyed. Rest in peace, Mr. Montalban. ---
**Author:** ![DirkGntly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DirkGntly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DirkGntly)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khaaaaannn-gonnne-ricardo-montalban/481324/40 "2009-01-15T02:21:34Z")
Methinks the world is now lit a little less brightly… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khaaaaannn-gonnne-ricardo-montalban/481324.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khaaaaannn-gonnne-ricardo-montalban/481324.md?page=3)