Cast
Bull Montana
Acting
Cast
Bull Montana
Known for
Acting
Born
1887-05-15
From
Voghera, Lombardy, Italy
Died
1950-01-24
Also known as Luigi Montagna, Lewis Montagna
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Lewis Montagna (born Luigi Montagna, May 16, 1887 – January 24, 1950), better known as Bull Montana, was an Italian-American professional wrestler and actor. Montagna was born on May 16, 1887 in Voghera, Italy and came to the United States as a child. He became a professional wrestler under the name of Bull Montana. He gravitated to films in 1917, appearing first in several of the vehicles of his close pal Douglas Fairbanks. In 1919 he appeared as a gruesome villain in Maurice Tourneur's masterpiece Victory alongside Lon Chaney. Numbered among his many friends was Abe "The Newsboy" Hollandersky, boxer, wrestler, and movie extra, who claimed Montagna offered to help him finance his 1930 autobiography. In the early 1920s Montana, as he was known, often wrestled with his friend Jack Dempsey prior to some of Dempsey's larger fights to help entertain the press and spectators. Montagna was usually cast as a thug, henchman or something not quite sympathetic, and sometimes not quite human (he was the apelike cave dweller in 1925's The Lost World opposite Wallace Beery as Arthur Conan Doyle's Professor Challenger). Tempering his on-screen brutishness with humor, Montana starred in his own series of two-reel comedies in the early 1920s, spoofing everyone from Robin Hood (Rob 'Em Good) to the Corsican Brothers (The Two Twins). He appeared in two Buster Keaton films including a role as a professional wrestler in the film Palooka from Paducah. He continued playing movie bits into the 1940s, notably as one of Buster Crabbe's antagonists in the 1936 series Flash Gordon. Like many mashed-face musclemen of the movies, Bull Montana is reputed to have been as gentle as a lamb in real life.
The Skyrocket
as Film Comedian
Big City
as Bull Montana
Flash Gordon
as Monkey Man
Hello, 'Frisco
as Bull Montana
The Lost World
as Ape Man
Painted People
as Ed Decker
Hard Luck
as Virginia's Husband
Victory
as Pedro
His Majesty, the American
as Undetermined Role
Gay and Devilish
as Tony
Hollywood
as Bull Montana
Treasure Island
as Morgan
Dick Turpin
as Bully Boy
Glorifying the American Girl
as Customer Requesting "Baby Face" (uncredited)
Johanna Enlists
as Brakeman (uncredited)
Easy to Make Money
as Charles 'Kid' Miller
On the Front Page
as Private Secretary
Loud Soup
as Convict
The Unpardonable Sin
as The Brute
Wild and Woolly
as Bartender (Uncredited)
In Again, Out Again
as Quenton Auburn - The Burglar
Tiger Rose
as Joe
The Adventures of Daredevil Jack
The Son of the Sheik
as Mountebank
Spaceship to the Unknown
as Monkey-Man (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Foolish Age
as Bubbs
What Women Love
as Jose
How to Handle Women
as The Turk
Palooka from Paducah
as Bullfrog Kraus
The Timber Queen
No Father to Guide Him
as Wanted Kidnapper in Photo (uncredited)
Crazy to Marry
as Dago Red (a crook)
Laughing at Danger
as Killer Murphy
Held to Answer
as 'Red' Lizard
Jealous Husbands
as Portland Kid
Cowardice Court
as Flash Morton
When the Clouds Roll By
as The Nightmare
The Fire Patrol
as Fireman
The Sting of Stings
as Bull Montana
He Comes Up Smiling
as Baron Bean
Vanishing Millions
as The Gorilla
Go and Get It
as The Gorilla
Fair Enough
as 'Happy' Flanigan
One Wild Week
as Red Mike
The Uneasy Three
Good Morning, Judge
as First Crook
Limousine Love
as The Chauffer
Snap Judgment
as Bull Montana
The Three Must-Get-Theres
as Li'l Cardinal Richie-Loo
The Border Legion
as Red Pierce
Down to Earth
as Wild Man
Brass Buttons
as Jake the Priest
Hearts Are Trumps
as Jake
The Fight Pest
Many Scrappy Returns
as Zozo's Husband
The Bashful Buccaneer
as Second Mate
Never Too Late
as Monte, an escaped convict
In for Thirty Days
as 'Hot Stove' Kelly