IMDB

Actor

1933-01-06 · Washington, District of Columbia, USA · Male

19 series in the catalog

Michael V. Lane (January 6, 1933 – June 1, 2015) was an American actor and professional wrestler. He is best known for his role as Toro Moreno in the 1956 film The Harder They Fall, a film noir based on the Primo Carnera boxing scandal.

Biography

Lane's size (height 6'8" or 2.03 m, weight 275 lbs or 125 kg) led him to work in the King Bros. Circus boxing tent and wrestling tent. He also wrestled professionally under the name "Tarzan Mike" in 1952–1959. While filming The Harder They Fall, Lane was given dramatic and boxing lessons to appear as the giant Toro Moreno, an outclassed boxer based on Primo Carnera.

Lane made numerous television appearances including a role as a country bumpkin who gets talked into boxing by Bret Maverick (James Garner) and Dandy Jim Buckley (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) in an epic 1957 episode of Maverick entitled "Stampede." Lane also had a regular role as Frank N. Stein in Monster Squad (1976).