Ricardo Montalban

Fantasy Island may have closed its port in 1984, but Ricardo Montalban carried on his refined tycoon image for years afterward. The Mexican native played a Machiavellian businessman on Dynasty II: The Colbys in 1985, spoofed an upscale crime boss in 1988's The Naked Gun, and touted ''fine Corinthian leather'' in Chrysler ads. But a 1993 spinal hemorrhage limited the actor's ability to walk — or work. (Aaron Spelling did, however, cast him in 1994's Heaven Help Us as an always-seated angel.) Now 76, Montalban lives in the Hollywood Hills with his wife of 52 years, Georgiana. He recently settled a seven-year, $10 million lawsuit against Columbia Pictures over Island profits. Though he made 40-plus films (Sweet Charity, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan), Island ''was the single most difficult job of my career,'' Montalban has said. ''Ninety-nine percent of my dialogue was exposition, and only actors appreciate how difficult that is.'' Even fantasies, it seems, require hard work.