10 Mob Movie Actors Who Were Actually There
1. Lenny Montana - The Godfather
The cast of The Godfather was stacked with name actors as well as those who, while lacking in stature at the time, made impressive contributions in minor or supporting roles. Possibly the best from the latter category in terms of on-screen memorability and impact is Lenny Montana, who portrayed the nervous giant/mob enforcer of Don Vito Corleone, Luca Brasi.
Brasi's time in The Godfather is only brief, showing up at the very beginning of Coppola's film to pay his respects to Vito while Michael informs Kay of the hitman's reputation, only to be then taken out in a hit as he tries to infiltrate Solozzo's operation. "Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes" canonised the character as a genre icon, even while Montana himself pursued scarcely few assignments in the years following The Godfather's release in theatres.
It's perhaps no surprise that Montana acquitted himself so well in the role. The anxious yet all-too-deadly Brasi was cut from a similar cloth as Montana's pre-acting career, where he worked as an enforcer for the Colombo crime family following years spent as a prolific professional wrestler.
As detailed in the previously mentioned Vanity Fair long read, Montana came to set one day and instantly caught Coppola's eye. Producer on the film, Gray Frederickson, recounted how Montana would explain his various mob activities to the cast and crew, going so far as to discuss his arson strategies ("He’d tie tampons on the tail of a mouse, dip it in kerosene, light it, and let the mouse run through a building").
Although Montana was a titan of the ring (and the arson scene, evidently), he was understandably less confident about appearing in an acting role. The nervousness Brasi displays when he rehearses his speech to Vito was genuine for Montana, who was desperately trying to master his lines before sharing the screen with Brando. The end result gave us arguably the most authentic moments of Coppola's trilogy, with Montana conveying threat and vulnerability in a way only he could.