Mike Monty
Encyclopedia
Mike Monty was an American
character actor
, born in 1936 in Chattanooga, Tennessee
as Michael O'Donahue but he changed his name to Mike Monty late in life.
He left the United States for Italy
in the early 1960s, where he started a modest film career as a supporting actor, appearing mostly in spaghetti westerns, sexploitation
and horror. Many of his appearances were uncredited. Some were credited as Mike Monti, Michael Monty or Mike Monte.
One of the more infamous films he acted in during the 70s was the Nazi-exploitation epic Achtung! The Desert Tigers!, directed by Paolo Solvay and starring fellow American expatriates Richard Harrison
and Gordon Mitchell
(with whom Monty shared an apartment for several years in Italy). Solvay was notorious for recycling scenes from film to film. Achtung! The Desert Tigers was no exception to the rule, featuring footage from his World War II epic Quando Suana la Campana AKA When the Bell Tolls (1970).
In the early 1980s Monty relocated to the Philippines
, where he began a very prolific career in Z-movie actioners, many of them made for Silver Star Film Company (called Kinavesa in the Philippines), produced by K.Y. Lim. Over the decade, he appeared in countless low-budget Filipino features and some Italian productions shot in the archipelago, often cast as a military officer or a policeman, in parts very similar to Richard Crenna
in First Blood
. Although he wasn't a great actor, Monty was thin, straight-postured and gaunt, which translated well to military characters.
He made several films with fellow Filipino Exploitation
actors Romano Kristoff
, James Gaines
, Mike Cohen, Bruce Baron
, Ann Milhench, Gwendolyn Hung, Ronnie Patterson, and directors Teddy Page
(Teddy Chiu) and John Gale
(Jun Gallardo). One of his larger roles from the Filipino period was in the Rambo imitation Slash, directed by Gale and starring Kristoff and Hung. Monty also appeared in all of the films Richard Harrison made in the Philippines: as a POW in Intrusion Cambodia AKA Rescue Team, a police chief in Fireback and as a gangster in Blood Debts. The Silver Star films, otherwise fallen into obscurity, have become minor cult items among some bad movie fans.
His more well-known films from the 1980s were Italian productions such as The Atlantis Interceptors, directed by Ruggero Deodato
and starring former Peyton Place
star Christopher Connelly and Tony King, and Captain Yankee, directed by Antonio Margheriti
and starring Connelly and Lee Van Cleef
. Arguably one of Monty's better Philippines-shot films was the American low-budget Vietnam War
film Dog Tags for director Romano Scavolini. He also had a very small part in the Fred Williamson
vehicle Black Cobra 2.
His acting career dwindled with the near demise of the Filipino film industry at the turn of the 90s. Remaining in the Philippines, he kept occasionally appearing in Japan
ese productions shot in the Philippines and in some exploitation films shot in the archipel by Bruno Mattei
. He died of a heart attack
on August 4, 2006, in Rome
, Italy, while doing post-production work for a Mattei film.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
character actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
, born in 1936 in Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...
as Michael O'Donahue but he changed his name to Mike Monty late in life.
He left the United States for Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in the early 1960s, where he started a modest film career as a supporting actor, appearing mostly in spaghetti westerns, sexploitation
Sexploitation
Sexploitation, or "sex-exploitation", describes a class of independently produced, low-budget feature films generally associated with the 1960s and serving largely as a vehicle for the exhibition of non-explicit sexual situations and gratuitous nudity. The genre is a subgenre of exploitation films...
and horror. Many of his appearances were uncredited. Some were credited as Mike Monti, Michael Monty or Mike Monte.
One of the more infamous films he acted in during the 70s was the Nazi-exploitation epic Achtung! The Desert Tigers!, directed by Paolo Solvay and starring fellow American expatriates Richard Harrison
Richard Harrison (actor)
Richard Harrison is an American B-movie actor and occasionally a writer/director/producer.Harrison was very prolific and worked with most of the better-known names in European B-movies during the 1960s and 1970s, branching out to exploitation films shot all over the world in the early 1970s...
and Gordon Mitchell
Gordon Mitchell
Gordon Mitchell was an American actor and bodybuilder.-Biography:Charles Allen Pendleton was born in Denver, Colorado, and began working out in his Denver neighbourhood to deal with his tough companions. During World War II he served in the U.S...
(with whom Monty shared an apartment for several years in Italy). Solvay was notorious for recycling scenes from film to film. Achtung! The Desert Tigers was no exception to the rule, featuring footage from his World War II epic Quando Suana la Campana AKA When the Bell Tolls (1970).
In the early 1980s Monty relocated to the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, where he began a very prolific career in Z-movie actioners, many of them made for Silver Star Film Company (called Kinavesa in the Philippines), produced by K.Y. Lim. Over the decade, he appeared in countless low-budget Filipino features and some Italian productions shot in the archipelago, often cast as a military officer or a policeman, in parts very similar to Richard Crenna
Richard Crenna
Richard Donald Crenna was an American motion picture, television, and radio actor and occasional television director. He starred in such motion pictures as The Sand Pebbles, Wait Until Dark, Body Heat, the first three Rambo movies, Hot Shots! Part Deux, and The Flamingo Kid...
in First Blood
First Blood
First Blood is a 1982 action thriller film directed by Ted Kotcheff. The film stars Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo, a troubled and misunderstood Vietnam War veteran, with Sheriff Will Teasle as his nemesis and Colonel Samuel Trautman as his former commander and only ally...
. Although he wasn't a great actor, Monty was thin, straight-postured and gaunt, which translated well to military characters.
He made several films with fellow Filipino Exploitation
Exploitation
This article discusses the term exploitation in the meaning of using something in an unjust or cruel manner.- As unjust benefit :In political economy, economics, and sociology, exploitation involves a persistent social relationship in which certain persons are being mistreated or unfairly used for...
actors Romano Kristoff
Romano Kristoff
Romano Kristoff was a Spanish-born B-movie actor working in the Philippines in the 80's and early 90's. He was also credited as Rom Kristoff, Ron Kristoff, Run Kristoff, Ron Krastoff, and other similar variants...
, James Gaines
James Gaines
James Gaines, birth name James Larry M. Gaines Jr., is an African-American-Filipino character actor, writer and director with dual nationality, born on May 18, 1955, in Maui, Hawaii. He was sometimes also credited as Jaimes Gaines, Jim Gaines, and James Gainers...
, Mike Cohen, Bruce Baron
Bruce Baron
Bruce Baron is an American movie actor.Born in New York, he graduated from Cornell University . He starred in several Asian movies, playing over a dozen lead roles in Hong Kong and Manila productions, including among others, in Godfrey Ho's "Ninja" features and Filipino low-budget action films for...
, Ann Milhench, Gwendolyn Hung, Ronnie Patterson, and directors Teddy Page
Teddy Page
Teddy Page is a Filipino film director and occasional writer. Page, whose real name is Teddy Chiu, began his career as a young man in the early 1980s, directing low-budget action movies for producer K.Y...
(Teddy Chiu) and John Gale
John Gale (director)
John Gale, born Jun Gallardo, was a Filipino B-movie director, who started his career with martial arts movies in the 70's and continued to Z-movie actioners in the 80's, often produced by K.Y. Lim's Silver Star Film Company...
(Jun Gallardo). One of his larger roles from the Filipino period was in the Rambo imitation Slash, directed by Gale and starring Kristoff and Hung. Monty also appeared in all of the films Richard Harrison made in the Philippines: as a POW in Intrusion Cambodia AKA Rescue Team, a police chief in Fireback and as a gangster in Blood Debts. The Silver Star films, otherwise fallen into obscurity, have become minor cult items among some bad movie fans.
His more well-known films from the 1980s were Italian productions such as The Atlantis Interceptors, directed by Ruggero Deodato
Ruggero Deodato
Ruggero Deodato is an Italian film director and screen writer, best known for directing violent and gory horror films. Deodato is infamous for his 1980 film Cannibal Holocaust.- Biography :...
and starring former Peyton Place
Peyton Place (TV series)
Peyton Place is an American prime-time soap opera which aired on ABC in half-hour episodes from September 15, 1964 to June 2, 1969.Based upon the 1956 novel of the same name by Grace Metalious, the series was preceded by a 1957 film adaptation. A total of 514 episodes were broadcast, in...
star Christopher Connelly and Tony King, and Captain Yankee, directed by Antonio Margheriti
Antonio Margheriti
Antonio Margheriti , also known under the pseudonym Anthony M. Dawson, was a prolific Italian filmmaker. He was born in Rome and died in 2002 from a heart attack in Monterosi, Viterbo, near Rome at the age of 72....
and starring Connelly and Lee Van Cleef
Lee Van Cleef
Lee Van Cleef was an American film actor who appeared mostly in Western and action pictures. His sharp features and piercing eyes led to his being cast as a villain in scores of films such as High Noon, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and The Good The Bad and the Ugly.-Early life:Van Cleef was...
. Arguably one of Monty's better Philippines-shot films was the American low-budget Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
film Dog Tags for director Romano Scavolini. He also had a very small part in the Fred Williamson
Fred Williamson
Fred "The Hammer" Williamson is an American actor, architect, and former professional American football defensive back who played mainly in the American Football League during the 1960s.-Football career:...
vehicle Black Cobra 2.
His acting career dwindled with the near demise of the Filipino film industry at the turn of the 90s. Remaining in the Philippines, he kept occasionally appearing in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese productions shot in the Philippines and in some exploitation films shot in the archipel by Bruno Mattei
Bruno Mattei
Bruno Mattei was an Italian film director, screenwriter and editor who gained a cult following for a wide variety of exploitation films that covered many genres, ranging from women in prison to zombie films...
. He died of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
on August 4, 2006, in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Italy, while doing post-production work for a Mattei film.
Filmography
- They Called Him Trinity (1972)
- Dr. Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks (1974)
- Achtung! The Desert Tigers (1977)
- FirebackFirebackFireback is a Filipino low-budget action movie directed by Teddy Page and starring Richard Harrison, Bruce Baron, James Gaines, Ann Milhench, Gwendolyn Hung, Mike Monty, Ronnie Patterson, and Ruel Vernal.- Characters :...
(credited as a 1978 film on IMDb, more likely from the early '80s) - The Atlantis Interceptors (1983)
- Blood DebtsBlood DebtsBlood Debts is a Philippines action movie directed by Teddy Page starring Richard Harrison.-Plot:While enjoying a picnic, Sarah Collins and her boyfriend are surprised by a gang of juvenile hunters...
AKA Eliminator (1983) - Intrusion Cambodia AKA Rescue Team (1984)
- Slash (1984)
- Ninja's Force (1985)
- Captain Yankee (1985)
- Strike Commando (1987)
- Phantom Soldiers (1987)
- Black Cobra 2 (1988)
- Zombi 3Zombi 3Zombi 3 is the 1988 followup to Zombi 2, itself an unofficial sequel to 1978's Dawn of the Dead . Beyond its title, Zombi 3 has little to no relation with the characters or plotlines of Zombi, Zombi 2 or in fact any subsequent Zombi' films...
(1988) - Dog Tags (1990)
- Mondo Cannibale (2003)
- The Tomb (2004)