Lenny Montana

Lenny Montana

Born: March 13, 1926
Died: May 12, 1992
in Brooklyn, New York, USA
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.

Movies for Lenny Montana...

Blood Song
Title: Blood Song
Character: Skipper
Released: October 1, 1982
Type: Movie
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.
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Pandemonium
Title: Pandemonium
Character: Coach
Released: April 1, 1982
Type: Movie
A former high school student who always wanted to be a cheerleader decides to reopen the cheerleading program at her former high school after years of closure for being targeted by a serial killer.
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Evilspeak
Title: Evilspeak
Character: Jake
Released: August 22, 1981
Type: Movie
Bullied by classmates, a pudgy military-school student fights back by computer with the devil.
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The Godfather 1901–1959: The Complete Epic
Title: The Godfather 1901–1959: The Complete Epic
Character: Luca Brasi (uncredited)
Released: March 24, 1981
Type: Movie
The Godfather 1901–1959: The Complete Epic is a reduced, 386-minute version of the 1977 television miniseries, "Mario Puzo's The Godfather: The Complete Novel for Television," released to video in 1981. Unlike the miniseries, which was presented in four segments (each with opening and closing credits), the Epic is presented as a single segment. In January 2016, HBO aired the Epic in its uncut and uncensored format, later making it available on its streaming platforms. The HBO showing contained most of the known deleted scenes, thereby lengthening the runtime of the Epic from its video release to 423 minutes.
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...All the Marbles
Title: ...All the Marbles
Character: Jerome
Released: March 1, 1981
Type: Movie
A two-bit promoter tries to take a women's wrestling team to the top.
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Title: Magnum, P.I.
Released: December 11, 1980
Type: TV
A private investigator who works when he wants, lives in a beachfront estate in Hawaii, drives a posh Ferrari, runs up an unlimited tab at a swank bar, and charms attractive women in peril - that's the lifestyle of Thomas Magnum, aka Magnum, P.I.
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Below the Belt
Title: Below the Belt
Character: The Geek
Released: December 1, 1980
Type: Movie
A close-up look at the turbulent world of women's professional wrestling as a New York City waitress decides to become a professional wrestler.
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The Big Brawl
Title: The Big Brawl
Character: John
Released: August 18, 1980
Type: Movie
A young Asian American martial artist is forced to participate in a brutal formal street-fight competition.
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Defiance
Title: Defiance
Character: Whacko
Released: March 14, 1980
Type: Movie
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.
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The Jerk
Title: The Jerk
Character: Con Man
Released: December 14, 1979
Type: Movie
After discovering he's not really black like the rest of his family, likable dimwit Navin Johnson sets off on a hilarious misadventure that takes him from rags to riches and back again. The slaphappy jerk strikes it rich, but life in the fast lane isn't all it's cracked up to be and, in the end, all that really matters to Johnson is his true love.
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Seven
Title: Seven
Character: The Kahuna
Released: September 7, 1979
Type: Movie
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.
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They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way
Title: They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way
Character: Brick
Released: December 1, 1978
Type: Movie
Dewey and Wallace are small-town lawmen who are ordered by the governor to go undercover as prison inmates to find out where a gang of thieves have hidden their loot. While they're undercover, however, the governor dies, and because no one else knows about the ruse Dewey and Wallace are stranded in prison.
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Matilda
Title: Matilda
Character: Hood #1
Released: June 22, 1978
Type: Movie
A small-time talent agent discovers an amazing boxing kangaroo and figures to use it as his stepping-stone into the big time.
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Fingers
Title: Fingers
Character: Luchino
Released: March 2, 1978
Type: Movie
A wanna-be concert pianist spends his days making a living by collecting debts for his Mafioso father, a lifestyle that could eventually ruin his dreams of a musical career.
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Contract on Cherry Street
Title: Contract on Cherry Street
Character: Phil Lombardi
Released: November 19, 1977
Type: Movie
A policeman devises an unorthodox plan for bringing criminals to justice after his partner is brutally gunned down.
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Title: Mario Puzo's The Godfather: The Complete Novel for Television
Character: Luca Brasi (uncredited)
Released: November 12, 1977
Type: TV
An adaptation of Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II, re-edited in chronological order with additional footage not seen in the first two films added.
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Patty
Title: Patty
Character: The Racketeer
Released: February 11, 1976
Type: Movie
Doctors and "experts" sit around the discuss the Patty Hearst kidnaping case, which is seen in flashbacks.
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Strike Force
Title: Strike Force
Character: Italian Dockworker
Released: April 12, 1975
Type: Movie
A New York City detective teams up with a federal agent and a state trooper to bust up a drug ring.
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Title: Kojak
Character: McCoy
Released: October 24, 1973
Type: TV
A bald, lollipop sucking police detective with a fiery righteous attitude battles crime in New York City.
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The Funny Face of the Godfather
Title: The Funny Face of the Godfather
Character: Saro
Released: May 3, 1973
Type: Movie
The Godfather Don Vito Monreale knows, by chance, the Italian-American singer Nick Bouillon. Since the two are alike, Don Vito decided to exploit this similarity in his favour.
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The Godfather Trilogy
Title: The Godfather Trilogy
Character: Luca Brasi
Released: November 2, 1972
Type: Movie
The Godfather Collection
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Title: Search
Released: September 13, 1972
Type: TV
Search is an American science fiction series that aired on Wednesday nights on NBC at 10 pm ET, from September 1972 to August 1973. It ran for 23 episodes, not including the two-hour pilot film originally titled Probe. When picked up for series production, the title had to be changed because Probe was the name of an existing PBS series. In the UK the series aired on BBC 1 under the title Search Control. The show was created by Leslie Stevens, and produced by Leslie Stevens, Robert Justman, John Strong and Tony Spinner. The high concept was described as "science fiction in today's world" and the episodes featured many high-tech elements which are considered common in current science fiction shows.
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The Godfather
Title: The Godfather
Character: Luca Brasi
Released: March 14, 1972
Type: Movie
Spanning the years 1945 to 1955, a chronicle of the fictional Italian-American Corleone crime family. When organized crime family patriarch, Vito Corleone barely survives an attempt on his life, his youngest son, Michael steps in to take care of the would-be killers, launching a campaign of bloody revenge.
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Change of Habit
Title: Change of Habit
Character: Grocer (uncredited)
Released: November 10, 1969
Type: Movie
Dr. John Carpenter takes the job of running a health center in a low-income district. He enlists three women to help out who — unbeknownst to him — are actually nuns in street clothes. The church wants to improve the neighborhood but fears that nuns in full habit would not be well received. Unaware of her unavailability, John falls for Sister Michelle, serenading her with his guitar — which, luckily for him, effectively wears away at her religious resolve.