1887-05-15 Voghera, Lombardy, Italy
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.
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Spaceship to the Unknown | Monkey-Man (archive footage) (uncredited) | 1966-01-01 |
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Big City | Bull Montana | 1937-09-03 |
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Palooka from Paducah | Bullfrog Kraus | 1935-01-11 |
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Never Too Late | Monte, an escaped convict | 1935-11-27 |
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Tiger Rose | Joe | 1929-12-21 |
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Loud Soup | Convict | 1929-03-16 |
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Glorifying the American Girl | Customer Requesting "Baby Face" (uncredited) | 1929-12-07 |
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The Fight Pest | 1928-05-12 | |
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Limousine Love | The Chauffer | 1928-04-13 |
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How to Handle Women | The Turk | 1928-10-14 |
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Good Morning, Judge | First Crook | 1928-04-29 |
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The Sting of Stings | Bull Montana | 1927-09-03 |
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Many Scrappy Returns | Zozo's Husband | 1927-01-09 |
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On the Front Page | Private Secretary | 1926-11-28 |
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The Son of the Sheik | Mountebank | 1926-09-05 |
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The Skyrocket | Film Comedian | 1926-02-14 |
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The Lost World | Ape Man | 1925-02-02 |
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No Father to Guide Him | Wanted Kidnapper in Photo (uncredited) | 1925-09-05 |
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The Uneasy Three | 1925-11-15 | |
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Dick Turpin | Bully Boy | 1925-02-01 |
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Painted People | Ed Decker | 1924-01-28 |
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Hello, 'Frisco | Bull Montana | 1924-09-28 |
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Laughing at Danger | Killer Murphy | 1924-11-23 |
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The Fire Patrol | Fireman | 1924-08-14 |
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Held to Answer | 'Red' Lizard | 1923-11-22 |
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Hollywood | Bull Montana | 1923-08-19 |
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The Timber Queen | 1922-07-16 | |
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The Three Must-Get-Theres | Li'l Cardinal Richie-Loo | 1922-08-22 |
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Gay and Devilish | Tony | 1922-05-14 |
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Hard Luck | Virginia's Husband | 1921-03-14 |
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One Wild Week | Red Mike | 1921-04-08 |
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The Foolish Age | Bubbs | 1921-10-16 |
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Crazy to Marry | Dago Red (a crook) | 1921-08-28 |
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The Adventures of Daredevil Jack | 1920-06-30 | |
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Treasure Island | Morgan | 1920-01-02 |
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Go and Get It | The Gorilla | 1920-07-18 |
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Brass Buttons | Jake the Priest | 1919-04-06 |
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His Majesty, the American | Undetermined Role | 1919-09-01 |
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When the Clouds Roll By | The Nightmare | 1919-12-28 |
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Victory | Pedro | 1919-12-07 |
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Cowardice Court | Flash Morton | 1919-06-15 |
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The Unpardonable Sin | The Brute | 1919-04-01 |
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The Border Legion | Red Pierce | 1918-07-28 |
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He Comes Up Smiling | Baron Bean | 1918-09-09 |
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Johanna Enlists | Brakeman (uncredited) | 1918-09-14 |
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Down to Earth | Wild Man | 1917-08-16 |
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Snap Judgment | Bull Montana | 1917-11-19 |
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Wild and Woolly | Bartender (Uncredited) | 1917-06-24 |
