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Bull Montana
Acting
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 o…
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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.
Biography expanded
BODY OF WORK
Bull Montana's Filmography
Select any movie to open its full Movies Mates details page.
Spaceship to the Unknown
as Monkey-Man (archive footage) (uncredited)
Big City
as Bull Montana
Flash Gordon
as Monkey Man
Never Too Late
as Monte, an escaped convict
Palooka from Paducah
as Bullfrog Kraus
Tiger Rose
as Joe
Glorifying the American Girl
as Customer Requesting "Baby Face" (uncredited)
Loud Soup
as Convict
How to Handle Women
as The Turk
No Poster
The Fight Pest
Good Morning, Judge
as First Crook
Limousine Love
as The Chauffer
The Sting of Stings
as Bull Montana
Many Scrappy Returns
as Zozo's Husband
On the Front Page
as Private Secretary
The Son of the Sheik
as Mountebank
The Skyrocket
as Film Comedian
Vanishing Millions
as The Gorilla
The Uneasy Three
The Bashful Buccaneer
as Second Mate
No Father to Guide Him
as Wanted Kidnapper in Photo (uncredited)
The Lost World
as Ape Man
Dick Turpin
as Bully Boy
Laughing at Danger
as Killer Murphy
No Poster
Hello, 'Frisco
as Bull Montana
The Fire Patrol
as Fireman
Painted People
as Ed Decker
Held to Answer
as 'Red' Lizard
Jealous Husbands
as Portland Kid
Hollywood
as Bull Montana
The Three Must-Get-Theres
as Li'l Cardinal Richie-Loo
The Timber Queen
Gay and Devilish
as Tony
The Foolish Age
as Bubbs
Crazy to Marry
as Dago Red (a crook)
No Poster
One Wild Week
as Red Mike
Hard Luck
as Virginia's Husband
No Poster
Hearts Are Trumps
as Jake
Go and Get It
as The Gorilla
The Adventures of Daredevil Jack
What Women Love
as Jose
Treasure Island
as Morgan
When the Clouds Roll By
as The Nightmare
Victory
as Pedro
His Majesty, the American
as Undetermined Role
Easy to Make Money
as Charles 'Kid' Miller
Cowardice Court
as Flash Morton
Brass Buttons
as Jake the Priest
The Unpardonable Sin
as The Brute
In for Thirty Days
as 'Hot Stove' Kelly
No Poster
Fair Enough
as 'Happy' Flanigan
Johanna Enlists
as Brakeman (uncredited)
He Comes Up Smiling
as Baron Bean
The Border Legion
as Red Pierce
Snap Judgment
as Bull Montana
Down to Earth
as Wild Man
Wild and Woolly
as Bartender (Uncredited)
In Again, Out Again
as Quenton Auburn - The Burglar