Bull Montana

Acting

Biography

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.

Filmography Movies

Acting

MOVIE

The Lost World

6.8(0.2K)

The first film adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic novel about a land where prehistoric creatures still roam.

Gay and Devilish

7.0(0.0K)

Doris May plays Fanchon Browne, a poor girl about to enter into a marriage of convenience with wealthy old Peter Armitage (Otis Harlan). When she falls in love with Armitage's handsome nephew Peter (Cullen Landis), Fanchon is in quite a quandary.

The Unpardonable Sin

10.0(0.0K)

Based on the Rupert Hughes novel, this film concerns the German atrocities committed in Belgium at the beginning of the Great War.

Treasure Island

7.0(0.0K)

Young Jim Hawkins is caught up with the pirate Long John Silver in search of the buried treasure of the buccaneer Captain Flint, in this adaptation of the classic novel by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Good Morning, Judge

8.0(0.0K)

Freddie, a rich young idler, meets Julia Harrington, a wealthy social service worker who runs a haven for reformed criminals. By telling her he is a hardened criminal, he is allowed to stay at the mission.

Crazy to Marry

7.8(0.0K)

A doctor who believes he can cure criminals takes on a big challenge.

The Timber Queen

9.0(0.0K)

The Timber Queen follows Ruth Rowland as the inheritor of a wealthy timber business who tries to stay independent of a cruel man who wants to marry her and steal her wealth. The UCLA Film and Television Archive has preserved episodes one, four, eight and nine, and distributor Harpodeon has preserved episode twelve.

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The Timber Queen

MOVIE

The Border Legion

Cowhand Jim Cleve is wrongly accused of murder and rescued by Jack Kells, leader of a band of Idaho outlaws known as the Border Legion. But when the Legion takes Joan Randall prisoner and leaves Cleve to guard her, he realizes that he cannot remain part of an outlaw band and decides to rescue Joan.

Tiger Rose

7.0(0.0K)

A mountie pursues a man wanted for murder.

Many Scrappy Returns

9.0(0.0K)

Charley and his wife (Eugenia Gilbert) decide to teach a lesson to his brother (Eugene Pallette) who constantly battles with his wife (Anita Garvin). Through a misunderstanding, it isn’t long before the Chase’s knife-wielding barbarian of a cook (Bull Montana) thinks Charley has designs on his wife (Valentina Zimina).

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Many Scrappy Returns

Zozo's Husband