14 Actors Who Became Absolute Legends With Just One Movie

2. Ricardo Montalbán - Khan Noonien Singh (Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan)

Non-white actors have always been under-represented in Hollywood. Alongside the struggle to get more African-American actors on screen, Hispanic or Latino actors were generally pigeonholed into playing either 'the Latin lover' in musicals or Native Americans in westerns. Ricardo Montalbán did a great deal to improve the lot of Hispanic actors through his organisation Nosotros, but he himself deserved a much wider career in light of his great performance as the original Khan. Already a superstar in his native Mexico, Montalbán began his Hollywood career in westerns and musicals. His biggest success prior to Star Trek was a seven-year stint as Mr. Roarke on Fantasy Island. After the critical and commercial failure of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, new director Nicholas Meyer wanted to recapture the swashbuckling spirit of the original series. He re-watched all the old episodes, picked out Montalbán's original performance in 'Space Seed', and made the call. However hard Benedict Cumberbatch tried in Star Trek Into Darkness, Montalbán's performance remains both the definitive depiction of Khan and the all-round best Star Trek villain. He brings enormous passion to the role, creating a ruthless, near-tyrannical intensity founded on a believable, relatable motive (revenge for the death of his wife). Montalbán brought a great decency and humility, and his lack of subsequent success was more down to the vagaries of the Hollywood system than any lack of talent or commitment. What He Did Next: Montalbán continued to act in lower-profile roles, his most notable post-Trek being the villain in Naked Gun and the grandfather in the Spy Kids series. Suffering from a long-term spinal condition, he was partially paralysed in 1993 after lengthy surgery, but continued to act in voice roles until his death in 2009 aged 88.