Carlos Montalbán (June 5, 1903 – March 28, 1991) was a prominent Mexican character actor.
He was born in Mexico City, in the Federal District, to Spanish immigrant parents, Ricarda (née Merino) and Jenaro Montalbán, who worked as a store manager. Carlos was the elder sibling of the well-known actor Ricardo Montalbán. While he may not have achieved the same level of fame as his younger brother, he gained recognition for his role as "El Exigenté" in a popular series of coffee commercials for Savarin Coffee during the 1960s. Montalbán also portrayed two distinct characters named "Vargas": first in Jack Lemmon's comedy The Out-of-Towners (1970) and then in Woody Allen's Bananas (1971). His most celebrated American film performance came in the boxing drama The Harder They Fall (1956), where he played the compassionate manager of a heavyweight boxer.
In addition to his work in film, Montalbán was an accomplished voice-over artist and announcer. He is particularly remembered for being the official Spanish-language voice of Marlboro cigarettes, a role that brought him international recognition.
This biography is based on information available from the Wikipedia article on Carlos Montalbán, which is licensed under CC-BY-SA, with contributions from various authors.
