Ortiz's acting career foundered during the 1950s, and in 1955 he advertised for work in movie trade publications. Ortiz was living in a small tract house in Tarzana, California with his wife and 19-month-old son. He told Aline Mosby of United Press International that a movie producer had promised to promote his career when he appeared on the radio program "This Is Your Life" in 1951, but that promised opportunities in film had not materialized and that he had only obtained work as an extra. His ad said that he was "willing and able to do anything.".