Director

Lenny Montana

Acting

Career Snapshot

Explained

These indicators come from TMDB. They are relative signals, not review ratings.

Directed credits

Emerging

Beginning to build directing work.

TMDB popularity

0.3

Low visibility

TMDB internal trend index. Higher usually means more searches and page activity now.

Directed movies: 0Directed series: 0All crew credits: 1

TMDB ID: 106811

IMDb ID: nm0598926

Known for: Acting

Born: March 13, 1926

Died: May 12, 1992

Age: 66

Place of birth: Brooklyn, New York, USA

Gender: Male

Adult content flag: No

Career span: 1969 - 2016

Years active: 48

Average TMDB rating: 6.4

Wikidata: Q1352034

Also known as

Lenny Passaforo

Frequent jobs

Screenplay (1)

TMDB TMDB IMDb IMDb W Wikidata

Biography

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