Ben's Friend: Lee Montgomery

Today's posts did not start out to be all 'rat' themed. After watching Willard, I was inspired to seek out more of Bruce Davison's work and it was only going to be one post. But... after watching Ben, it was clear there was much more to explore. The actor playing Ben's friend, little Danny Garrison was familiar to me initially, but after a google, I discovered it wasn't the first time I enjoyed Lee Montgomery on screen.

With Meredith Baxter in Ben (1972)

In my quest to watch the entire collection of Bette Davis, I watched Burnt Offerings about a year ago. Davis played several mysterious and eccentric older ladies in horror films late in her career and Burnt Offerings is one of the better ones. The film has developed a bit of a cult following, especially after it's 2015 Blu-ray release.

Burnt Offerings (1976)

In Burnt Offerings with Oliver Reed (above) and Bette Davis (below)

I also remember Lee from his brief appearances on Dallas. Lee played Christopher Atkins room mate Jerry in the shows sixth season, and I bought the season on DVD in order to make some caps of the many appearances of Atkins' blue speedo. Unfortunately Montgomery never joined him in the pool, but I remember wondering who he was as he looked incredibly hot in the scene in which he wore his sunglasses up on his head.

Dallas (1984)

In addition to Dallas, Montgomery made a number of guest appearances on TV in the seventies and eighties. Some of his most notable appearances included roles on; Fame, Columbo, Family Ties, CHiPs, Kojak, Adam-12 and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The actor also had a few more features on his resume, the last of which was The Legend of Wolf Lodge in 1998. According to wiki, Montgomery retired from acting and has been working in real estate in California. He has resurfaced at a few Hollywood Collector Shows and in an interview on the special features of the Burnt Offerings Blu-ray.

Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1985)

Montgomery is maybe best know for his role alongside Helen Hunt, Jonathan Silverman and Sarah Jessica Parker in the totally eighties flick Girls Just Want To Have Fun. Based on the 1983 song by Cyndi Lauper, Lauper's version of the hit song isn't actually a part of the film. Due to licensing reasons, a dubbed version is used.

Montgomery plays the perfect 80's rom com hunk. Not only incredibly hot, he also dances and plays basketball shirtless. The directly also wisely let the young actor keep his chest hair which was clearly a hit given all the images when you google Montgomery's name.