
"Captain" Lou Albano was a fixture in pro wrestling for 30 years since, as part of the tag-team "The Sicilians," he won the U.S. Tag Team Championship in 1967. In the early 1970s, Albano transformed himself from a heavyweight wrestler into the brash, bombastic manager Captain Lou Albano. With a quick wit and a grating personality, Albano became wrestling's most villainous manager.
In the early 1980s, Albano appeared in Cyndi Lauper's music videos for her hit songs "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," "She Bop," and "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough." Capitalizing on his success in the music industry, Albano began appearing in television and film projects. In the late 1980s, Albano appeared in
Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling,
227,
Miami Vice, Brian De Palma's
Wiseguys, and the 1987 wrestling movie
Body Slam.
In March 1989, on
Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, Albano had his trademark beard shaved on the air in order to star as the iconic video game character Mario in
The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!. He starred in live action segments during interludes of the Mario cartoon, as well as providing the voice of his animated counterpart.
In his heyday as a fatguy wrestler (billed height and weight: 5'10", 350 pounds), Albano was majorly hot. But during the 1990s he shed 150 pounds following a health scare. In May 2005, he suffered a heart attack but later recovered. In 2008 he released his autobiography,
Often Imitated, Never Duplicated, with the foreword written by Cyndi Lauper.
Born in Rome, Italy, Albano was one of five children. Albano's brother, Carl, taught health for 32 years at Ridgewood High School in Ridgewood, New Jersey, and in his lectures often used his brother Lou as an example of the difference between crazy and unique.
I saw him wrestle in the Boston Garden once. I can't remember when that was, probably some time in the 1980s, but I remember I went JUST to see him. He died at age 76. He was a trooper.