Thursday, January 15, 2009

"For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee"

Sadly, Ricardo Montalban passed away yesterday at the ripe old age of 88. He was a hero of mine from his days playing Mr. Rourke and Khan.

I actually have a bit of history with the man. As a White House correspondence writer, I was tasked with writing a letter to Montalban from President Clinton congratulating him on receiving a lifetime acting award. I poured my heart into that letter, figuring I probably wouldn't get too many other opportunities to publicly declare my love for the man and his work.

It apparently paid off. A few weeks later, our office received a signed letter from Ricardo Montalban describing how touched he was by the president's words. If memory serves, he mentioned that he wept.

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