Ricardo Montalban died yesterday “from complications related to old age” at the age of 88.  He was best known for roles as Khan in Star Trek, Mr. Roarke on Fantasy Island, and being the most debonaire Mexican that ever lived.

Beginning in the 1940s, Mr. Montalban starred in dozens of films with some of the greatest names in movies, including Clark Gable and Lana Turner. When major film roles dried up for him in the 1970s, he turned to stage and eventually TV, where he became familiar to millions as the mysterious host whose signature line, “Welcome to Fantasy Island,” opened the hit show that ran from 1978 to 1984.

From the 1950s and decades on, Mr. Montalban appeared in several films. In the late 1970s, he won an Emmy for his performance as Chief Satangkai in the television miniseries “How the West Was Won.”

While making “Fantasy Island,” Mr. Montalban also gave one of his best movie performances – as Khan Noonien Singh in the 1982 film “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,” a follow-up to a beloved 1967 “Star Trek” television episode that also featured Mr. Montalban.

Between Khan and Chief Satangkai, Montalban showed the world he was capable of playing either kind of Indian.  There isn’t much more you could ask of a Latino actor in the 50s.

Within the entertainment industry, Mr. Montalban was widely respected for his efforts to create opportunities for Latinos. On Wednesday, actor Edward James Olmos, star of “Battlestar Galactica,” called Mr. Montalban “one of the true giants of arts and culture.  He was a stellar artist and a consummate person and performer with a tremendous understanding of culture … and the ability to express it in his work,” Olmos said. [SF Chron]

Olmos later added, “That’s right, ‘Olmos’, make sure you get that in there, right next to ‘still alive.’”