Ricardo Montalban

 In the Blu-ray special feature "The Captain's Log", Ricardo Montalban says that once he committed to "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" (1982), he realized that he had trouble getting back into the character Khan. After years of playing Mr. Roarke on "Fantasy Island," he found that he was "stuck" in that character. He requested a tape of the original "Star Trek" episode "Space Seed" from Paramount, and proceeded to watch it repeatedly. By the third or fourth watching, he had recaptured the essence of Khan's character.

It has been widely debated that Montalban's chest was actually a prosthetic piece that he wore during the film. In the director's commentary on the Blu-ray, director Nicholas Meyer is quoted as saying that this was, in fact, Montalban's actual chest and that he was a very muscular man who worked out. During publicity for the film, during an appearance on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson," Montalban explained that he was able to achieve the look seen in the film by doing push-ups. "A lot of push-ups."

Montalban was offered substantially more money to reprise Khan than he eventually agreed to. Although his initial offer was never disclosed, he agreed to a salary of $100K, which, given his star power at the time, and the studio's understanding that the film could not be made without him, was considered an exceptionally generous gift to the cash strapped production.

When Khan shows Chekov and Captain Terrell the Ceti eels (the only native inhabitants of this destroyed planet) for the first time, he tells that these eels were responsible for the deaths of twelve of his people, including his "beloved wife." Although he never mentions her name, or goes into any more detail about her, this was confirmed by the producers that his wife was in fact the former Enterprise historian, Lieutenant Marla McGivers, who was seduced by Khan, and helps him commandeer the ship in "Space Seed." Madlyn Rhue was to reprise her role as Marla McGivers, but she suffered with multiple sclerosis, and was confined to a wheelchair, so the role was written out of the script, by explaining she had died during the years of exile. Rhue did perform on television through 1996, despite her disability.

Montalban said in promo interviews for the film about how he realized early on in his career that a good villain does not see himself as villainous. He may do villainous things, but the character feels that he is doing them for righteous reasons. Likewise with heroes, Montalban said he always tried to find a flaw in the character because no one is completely good or completely evil.

Happy Birthday, Ricardo Montalban!