1. Lenny Montana was of Italian-American heritage and was fluent in both English and Italian.
24 Facts About Lenny Montana
1. 2.
Lenny Montana's wrestling career began in neighboring New Jersey in 1953.
3.
Lenny Montana soon won the NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship, defeating Dave Sims on October 1,1953, in Kansas City.
4.
Lenny Montana worked as a bouncer during this time to earn extra money.
5.
Later that year, Lenny Montana won the NWA Texas World Tag Team titles with Joe Christie, under the Len Crosby name.
6.
Lenny Montana moved to the Tampa Bay area and began to wrestle under The Zebra Kid alias.
7.
Things came to a head when Lenny Montana defeated Eddie Graham in a NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship title match on May 1,1962.
8.
Lenny Montana went on to form a powerful partnership with Tarzan Tyler, in which they won three titles.
9.
Lenny Montana was due to be Gorilla Monsoon's tag team partner in 1964 but, at the last minute, Monsoon took on The African Savage as his partner instead.
10.
Lenny Montana had been interested in acting and was meeting with casting agents in Los Angeles at the same time as he was due to team up with Bison.
11.
Lenny Montana began to wrestle less and less, and went into semi-retirement, although he appeared in matches until his acting career took off in the early 1970s.
12.
Lenny Montana became involved with the Colombo crime family in the late 1960s.
13.
Lenny Montana was tall and very heavily built, and his talents were mostly as an enforcer and an arsonist.
14.
Lenny Montana told the cast and crew of The Godfather how he would tie a tampon to the tail of a mouse, dip it in kerosene, light it, and let the mouse run through a building, or he would put a lit candle in front of a cuckoo clock so that when the clock's bird popped out the candle would be knocked over and start a fire.
15.
In 1971, when Lenny Montana was acting as a bodyguard for a senior Colombo family member, he met Francis Ford Coppola and Al Ruddy.
16.
When Bettye McCartt, Ruddy's assistant, broke her watch, Lenny Montana offered to get her a new one.
17.
Lenny Montana was picked for the part after the original actor playing the character died of a stroke.
18.
Lenny Montana was very nervous about appearing opposite Marlon Brando.
19.
Lenny Montana had little screen time in the film, but his notable height and physique caught the eye of producers, and he appeared in several movies and television programs after The Godfather.
20.
Lenny Montana had the role of Saro, and an artist's rendition of Lenny Montana appeared on the film's poster.
21.
Lenny Montana was usually cast as "muscle" for hire or an intimidating mobster.
22.
Lenny Montana retired from acting after appearing in the B movie Blood Song, which he co-wrote.
23.
Lenny Montana died on May 12,1992, of a heart attack in Lindenhurst, New York.
24.
Lenny Montana is portrayed by Lou Ferrigno in the 2022 miniseries The Offer.