Bull Montana
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- May 15, 1887
- Died
- January 24, 1950 (aged 62)
- Birthplace
- Voghera, Lombardy, Italy
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.
Known For
Photos
Filmography
Spaceship to the Unknown
Movie · as Monkey-Man (archive footage) (uncredited)
Big City
Movie · as Bull Montana
Flash Gordon
Movie · as Monkey Man
Palooka from Paducah
Movie · as Bullfrog Kraus
Never Too Late
Movie · as Monte, an escaped convict
Tiger Rose
Movie · as Joe
Loud Soup
Movie · as Convict
Glorifying the American Girl
Movie · as Customer Requesting "Baby Face" (uncredited)
Good Morning, Judge
Movie · as First Crook
The Fight Pest
Movie
How to Handle Women
Movie · as The Turk
Limousine Love
Movie · as The Chauffer
Many Scrappy Returns
Movie · as Zozo's Husband
The Sting of Stings
Movie · as Bull Montana
The Skyrocket
Movie · as Film Comedian
The Son of the Sheik
Movie · as Mountebank
On the Front Page
Movie · as Private Secretary
Vanishing Millions
Movie · as The Gorilla
The Lost World
Movie · as Ape Man
The Uneasy Three
Movie
Dick Turpin
Movie · as Bully Boy
No Father to Guide Him
Movie · as Wanted Kidnapper in Photo (uncredited)
The Bashful Buccaneer
Movie · as Second Mate
The Fire Patrol
Movie · as Fireman
Painted People
Movie · as Ed Decker
Hello, 'Frisco
Movie · as Bull Montana
Laughing at Danger
Movie · as Killer Murphy
Hollywood
Movie · as Bull Montana
Held to Answer
Movie · as 'Red' Lizard
Jealous Husbands
Movie · as Portland Kid
Breaking Into Society
Movie · as Tim O'Toole
Gay and Devilish
Movie · as Tony
The Timber Queen
Movie
The Three Must-Get-Theres
Movie · as Li'l Cardinal Richie-Loo
Crazy to Marry
Movie · as Dago Red (a crook)
One Wild Week
Movie · as Red Mike
Hard Luck
Movie · as Virginia's Husband
The Foolish Age
Movie · as Bubbs
Treasure Island
Movie · as Morgan
Go and Get It
Movie · as The Gorilla
The Adventures of Daredevil Jack
Movie
What Women Love
Movie · as Jose
Hearts Are Trumps
Movie · as Jake
The Unpardonable Sin
Movie · as The Brute
When the Clouds Roll By
Movie · as The Nightmare
Victory
Movie · as Pedro
His Majesty, the American
Movie · as Undetermined Role
Brass Buttons
Movie · as Jake the Priest
Cowardice Court
Movie · as Flash Morton
Easy to Make Money
Movie · as Charles 'Kid' Miller
In for Thirty Days
Movie · as 'Hot Stove' Kelly
The Border Legion
Movie · as Red Pierce
He Comes Up Smiling
Movie · as Baron Bean
Johanna Enlists
Movie · as Brakeman (uncredited)
Fair Enough
Movie · as 'Happy' Flanigan
Down to Earth
Movie · as Wild Man
Wild and Woolly
Movie · as Bartender (Uncredited)
Snap Judgment
Movie · as Bull Montana
In Again, Out Again
Movie · as Quenton Auburn - The Burglar