stman
03-04-2012, 07:47 AM
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If I mention the name of Lenny Montana, you likely would not recognize the name. If I told you that he portrayed Don Vito Corleone's menacing enforcer, Luca Brasi, you would recall this intimidating looking figure. Lenny Montana was a wrestler by profession. He acquired this first acting role in an interesting way. After his wrestling career, Lenny worked as an arsonist and actual enforcer for the Colombo family. After a stint in Rikers, he became a bodyguard for senior family members.
The production of The Godfather initially faced strong opposition from the Italian American Civil Rights League, an organization formed by Joe Colombo. After an agreement was reached between producer Al Ruddy, Francis Ford Coppola, and Colombo to remove the mention of the word Mafia from the film's script., the League was behind the production and mobsters were frequent visitors to the set.
It was on one of these visits to the set, in his duty as a bodyguard, that Coppola and Ruddy noticed the imposing 6'6" 320lb Montana and he was quickly cast as Luca Brasi. His habit of constantly rehearsing his lines and his awkward delivery were written into the script.
Although his screen time was short, he caught the eye of other producers and was cast in numerous TV and movie roles after The Godfather. In real life Montana did not end up sleeping with the fishes. He died of a heart attack in 1992 at age 66 while visiting Italy. He is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY.
If I mention the name of Lenny Montana, you likely would not recognize the name. If I told you that he portrayed Don Vito Corleone's menacing enforcer, Luca Brasi, you would recall this intimidating looking figure. Lenny Montana was a wrestler by profession. He acquired this first acting role in an interesting way. After his wrestling career, Lenny worked as an arsonist and actual enforcer for the Colombo family. After a stint in Rikers, he became a bodyguard for senior family members.
The production of The Godfather initially faced strong opposition from the Italian American Civil Rights League, an organization formed by Joe Colombo. After an agreement was reached between producer Al Ruddy, Francis Ford Coppola, and Colombo to remove the mention of the word Mafia from the film's script., the League was behind the production and mobsters were frequent visitors to the set.
It was on one of these visits to the set, in his duty as a bodyguard, that Coppola and Ruddy noticed the imposing 6'6" 320lb Montana and he was quickly cast as Luca Brasi. His habit of constantly rehearsing his lines and his awkward delivery were written into the script.
Although his screen time was short, he caught the eye of other producers and was cast in numerous TV and movie roles after The Godfather. In real life Montana did not end up sleeping with the fishes. He died of a heart attack in 1992 at age 66 while visiting Italy. He is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY.