Ricardo Montalbán died in 1920.
Escape from the Planet of the Apes is a 1971 science fiction film directed by Don Taylor and written by Paul Dehn . Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino , KSG ( [ ˌmɒntəlˈbɑːn ] [ montalˈβan ] ; November 25 , 1920 -- January 14 , 2009 ) was a Mexican actor . Among his notable roles were Mr. Roarke on the television series Fantasy Island ( 1977 -- 1984 ) , and Khan Noonien Singh on the original Star Trek series beginning in 1967 and the film Star Trek II : The Wrath of Khan ( 1982 ) . He won an Emmy Award for his role in the miniseries How the West Was Won ( 1978 ) , and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild in 1993 . During the 1970s , he was a spokesman in automobile advertisements for Chrysler , including those in which he extolled the `` soft Corinthian leather '' used for the Cordoba 's interior .