Mexican-American actor who created the role of Khan Noonien Singh in Space Seed and returned to it in The Wrath of Khan.
Ricardo Montalbán (1920–2009) was a Mexican and American actor whose career spanned seven decades. Born in Mexico City, he began in Mexican cinema before working in Hollywood musicals, dramas and westerns, and he later won an Emmy Award for the miniseries How the West Was Won.
In the first-season episode Space Seed (1967), Montalbán played Khan Noonien Singh, a genetically engineered tyrant from the late twentieth century found in suspended animation aboard the SS Botany Bay. At the end of the episode Kirk exiles Khan and his followers to Ceti Alpha V rather than prosecuting them.
Fifteen years later Montalbán reprised the role in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), playing a Khan embittered by years of hardship who seeks revenge on Kirk. The performance is widely regarded as one of the finest villains in the franchise. He was also known to television audiences as Mr. Roarke, the host of Fantasy Island.