Lenny Montana
Birthday: 1926-03-13
Place of Birth: Brooklyn, New York, USA
Synopsis
Tall and solidly built, this Italian-American professional wrestler turned actor was born Lenny Passaforo in Brooklyn, New York, and is best remembered for his first on-screen role as the not too bright but ever loyal bodyguard Luca Brasi in The Godfather (1972). Montana didn't get a lot of screen time before being eliminated by the henchmen of opposing gangster Al Lettieri with a garrote and a knife; however, he caught the eye of casting agents and over the next ten years racked up roles in 16 movies. Usually cast as "muscle for hire", he was equally good at playing the intimidating thug or a buffoonish hoodlum, such as in Battle Creek Brawl (1980) and The Jerk (1979). His last film appearance was in the B-thriller Blood Song (1982), which he also co-wrote. He died in May 1992 of a heart attack while in Italy.
Acting
Blood Song
as Skipper
A psychopath escapes from a mental institution and starts a murder spree, which ends in the pursuing of a young handicapped girl, who once got a blood transfusion from him.
...All the Marbles
as Jerome
A two-bit promoter tries to take a women's wrestling team to the top.
The Big Brawl
as John
A young Asian American martial artist is forced to participate in a brutal formal street-fight competition.
Defiance
as Whacko
Tommy takes up temporary housing in a New York neighborhood plagued by a violent gang called the Souls. Tommy is waiting for his next assignment as a seaman and though he tries to avoid the gang and his neighbors, it does not work. Soon he is battling the Souls and not only changing their attitudes, but the attitudes of his previously intimidated neighbors as well.
Seven
as The Kahuna
A government agent discovers a plot by a cartel of seven gangsters to take over the state of Hawaii. He hires a team of seven hitmen to stop them.
