Lou Albano

"Captain" Lou Albano (born July 29, 1933 in Carmel, New York) is an American professional wrestler and one-time voice of the video game character Mario.

For most of his career, he was a notorious heel both as a wrestler and as a manager, working for the WWWF/WWF. During the late 1960s he was one of WWF's most reliable heel wrestlers. Then during the 1970s he was part of the WWF's Evil Trinity of managers with "Classy" Freddie Blassie and The Grand Wizard of Wrestling. For a time Albano continued to don the tights even though he was a manager, sometimes causing a member of one of his tag teams to sit out for the night, a practice that sometimes caused resentment.

Albano wore Hawaiian print shirts and rubber bands in his beard, and frequently interfered in his charges' matches physically. In 1982, he and Ray "The Crippler" Stevens turned on Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, causing Snuka to become a fan favorite. Stevens piledrove Snuka on the cement floor (kayfabe) back before there were mats on the arena floor outside the ring.

Lou also managed the Wild Samoans when they were WWF Tag Team Champions. In 1983 he caused a major blunder when, during a no-disqualification tag team title match, he attempted to hit Tony Atlas with a solid oak chair but instead hit one of his Wild Samoans, allowing Atlas and Rocky Johnson to become the World Wrestling Federation Tag Team Champions. He also had a memorable feud with pop star Cyndi Lauper in the mid-1980s during the "Rock n Wrestling" era around the time of WrestleMania I. Lou was later seen playing the father character in Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" video.

In 1985, Albano turned face, after "Rowdy" Roddy Piper attacked him in the ring. Albano aligned himself with face wrestlers, most notably Andre the Giant, Hillbilly Jim, the British Bulldogs and George "The Animal" Steele. Beginning that year, Albano was also one of the WWF wrestlers who appeared as characters in the Saturday morning cartoon Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n Wrestling. Albano's animated counterpart was also a face, allied with Hogan's "team" of face wrestlers who contended with a group of heel wrestlers in comedic situations. The animated Albano was a good-natured bumbler with a large appetite and questionable hygiene and manners, voice by actor George DiCenzo; Albano himself and other wrestlers would appear in live-action segments appearing between animated shorts.

For a brief time, Albano managed the acclaimed rock band NRBQ, and was celebrated in their song "Captain Lou" on the 1986 Lou and the Q album. He performed vocals on the album, and made a memorable "Crazy Eddie" style television commercial for it.

In a departure from his primarily villainous roles in the WWF, Albano played Mario in the live action segments of the Super Mario Bros. Super Show from 1989 to 1991, and voiced the character in the animated segments (in subsequent series, the character's voice was provided by Walker Boone). He also played the part of a "fixer" in the Brian De Palma movie Wise Guys. Albano also appeared in an episode of the television series 227 during its first season.

Albano was the manager of 16 tag team champions, in 1996, those achievements earned him induction into the WWE Hall Of Fame.

Overall, Lou Albano has managed over 50 wrestlers in his career.

Championships and accomplishments

*World Wide Wrestling Federation
**1-Time WWWF United States Tag Team Champion (with Tony Altimore)
*Pro Wrestling Illustrated
**Lou won the PWI Manager of the Year Award 3 times: 1974, 1981 and 1986. He was also awarded the 1994 PWI Editor's Award.
*Wrestling Observer Newsletter
**1981 Best Interviews (tied with Roddy Piper)

Championship succession