Erik visits an American grave, part 1.712

This is the grave of Lenny Montana, who is listed at the bottom of this stone, although it is covered in lichen or whatever.

Leonardo Passafaro was born in Brooklyn in 1926 and grew up in the Italian immigrant world of New York. He was a huge kid, about 6’8”, and went on to wrestle professionally. He spent the 50’s as a wrestler, becoming a titleholder, whatever that meant in a regular world, but if people find it entertaining, then it’s entertaining, whatever. I’ve been to a few lucha matches in Mexico and it’s entertaining enough. When he needed extra money, he made an intimidating bouncer. He also discovered another man who became a great professional wrestler named Eddie Shankey. Montana broke his leg in 1961 and that forced him out of the running for a while. He moved to Florida, kept wrestling, and just used his size to make a living. But that doesn’t usually last forever.

So Montana found a new job: an enforcer for the Colombo crime family. He was a huge guy and could easily beat up or intimidate most of the guys, but he had other specialties. One of them was arson. He did some time in Rikers and later became a bodyguard for various members of the family. In short, he was a villain.

When Francis Ford Coppola wanted to make The Godfather, Italian Americans got all confused, including Frank Sinatra, who was notoriously depicted with a very loose cover of a different name. They didn’t want it made. Discrimination against Italians, and of course we all know the Mafia doesn’t exist, wink wink. So the way they got it made was by giving the Mafiosi some vetoes on the set. So in 1971, during filming, Montana was hanging around the set guarding one of the Colombo pieces of shit. Now the guy the film’s makers had hired to play Luca Brasi had died of a heart attack (shocking, I know). So Coppola asked Montana if he would play the part. Montana had indeed expressed interest in acting. But despite the acting side of professional wrestling, which is real enough except you don’t have to deliver many lines, Montana had never actually done it. And his first scene was with Marlon Brando. Montana was in a complete panic – I mean, it was Marlon Brando! He practiced his limited lines over and over again and Coppola worked that into the film, as you see Brasi practicing his lines before he stumbles over them for Don Corleone.

Despite falling asleep with the fish The godfatherMontana became a go-to guy in the movies for giant villains. Now he could mostly act in the movies instead of being one in real life, although I’m sure he still did some work for the Colombo family when needed. He ended up appearing in quite a few movies over the next fifteen years, most of which are completely forgettable, but he did have a role in The acornHe also had some TV work, including Magnum PI, KojakAnd Strike Force, which is especially memorable because it stars a very young Richard Gere, even before Days of Heaven made him a movie star of sorts. Montana even wrote a script for himself called Blood Songwhich came out in 1982 and is described as “It follows a paralyzed young woman in a coastal Oregon town who is stalked by an axe-wielding psychopath from whom she once received a blood transfusion.” Quality stuff there. But hey, he made it!

This was Monana’s last film. He died in 1992 of a heart attack, at the age of 66.

Lenny Montana is buried in Saint Charles Cemetery in East Farmingdale, New York.

If you want this series to visit other stars, The godfatheryou can donate here to help cover the necessary costs. James Caan is in Mission Hills, California and Abe Vigoda is in Elmont, New York. Previous posts in this series are archived here and here .