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Ricardo Montalbán said that the production team of Fantasy Island became like a family
"The star of the show feels a certain responsibility to help maintain a happy but disciplined set."
You don’t become a success without reckoning with more than a few hard truths. Of course, Ricardo Montalbán’s journey to greatness wasn’t an overnight process. The actor spent years carving out a name for himself in Mexican film before turning his attentions toward television. Montalbán starred in the popular series, Fantasy Island.
In his memoir, Reflections: A Life in Two Worlds, the actor described the physical and mental shifts that playing Mr. Roarke required of him.
“Fantasy Island has required certain adjustments in my life,” wrote Montalbán. “I don’t get to see my wife. I rise at five, leave the house at six, and I’m seldom home until eight or nine in the evening. But that’s the way a television series is, and I can’t complain. I tell myself, ‘This is what I want to do: to act.’”
But in place of these sacrifices, Montalbán was gifted a whole new life, with new people.
“I had to make another adjustment at the studio,” wrote the actor. “The entire production team of Fantasy Island became another family, with many diverse personalities. The star of the show feels a certain responsibility to help maintain a happy but disciplined set. The greater the privilege, the greater the responsibility. So I carry on my shoulders the responsibility of setting the tone so there will be no tension. Talented people cannot do their best work when they are tense.”
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