Lee Montague
Leonard Goldberg (16 October 1927 – 30 March 2025), known professionally as Lee Montague, was an English actor noted for his roles in film and television, usually playing tough guys.
Lee Montague
- Name
- Lee Montague
- Birth Name
- Leonard Goldberg
- Born
- 16 October 1927
- Birthplace
- Bow, London, England
- Died
- 30 March 2025
- Education
- Old Vic Theatre School
- Occupation
- Actor
- Nationality
- United Kingdom
- Fields
- acting · film acting
- Honours
- British Academy Television Award for Best Actor
- Languages
- English
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Born In · outgoing
London
Place
Pencil sketch by George Henry Harlow, 1814, http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/largerimage.php?mkey=mw05495

Died In · outgoing
London
Place
Pencil sketch by George Henry Harlow, 1814, http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/largerimage.php?mkey=mw05495
Citizen Of · outgoing
United Kingdom
Place
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q1345576 · wikipedia · Lee Montague
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Lee Montague • Birth Name — Leonard Goldberg • Born — 16 October 1927 • Birthplace — Bow, London, England • Died — 30 March 2025 • Education — Old Vic Theatre School • Occupation — Actor • Years Active — 1951–2017 • Children — 2
Early life
Early life
Montague was born in Bow, London. His family was Jewish: his father was a tailor from Russia, and his mother was from Lithuania.
Career
Career
Montague was a student of the Old Vic Theatre School. Montague's film credits include The Camp on Blood Island, Billy Budd, The Secret of Blood Island, Deadlier Than the Male, Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Jesus of Nazareth, Mahler and The Legacy. His theatre credits include: Who Saw Him Die by Tudor Gates staged in 1974 at London's Theatre Royal Haymarket in which he played the part of John Rawlings, the nemesis of former police Superintendent Pratt played by Stratford Johns. On Broadway, he portrayed Gregory Hawke in The Climate of Eden (1952), and Ed in Entertaining Mr. Sloane (1965). Montague's television credits include: Somerset Maugham TV Theatre, Espionage, The Four Just Men, Danger Man, The Baron, The Troubleshooters, Department S, Dixon of Dock Green, The Sweeney, Holocaust, Space: 1999, Minder, The Chinese Detective, Bergerac, Bird of Prey, Dempsey and Makepeace, Jekyll & Hyde, Casualty and Waking the Dead. In the sitcom Seconds Out, he had a regular part as the manager of a boxer played by Robert Lindsay. In Bergerac, he played Henri Dupont in several episodes. Montague was the first storyteller on the BBC children's programme Jackanory in 1965, and he narrated in fifteen episodes between 1965 and 1966.
Personal life and death
Personal life and death
Montague lived in South End Green, Hampstead, in north west London, for 65 years. He was known locally for helping to save Keats Library. He was married to Ruth Goring, an actress, for 67 years, until her death in 2023. He had two children. On 30 March 2025, Montague died at the age of 97.
Selected filmography
Selected filmography
• Moulin Rouge (1952) • The Silent Enemy (1958) • The Camp on Blood Island (1958) • Blind Date (1959) • The Savage Innocents (1960) • Foxhole in Cairo (1960) • Edgar Wallace Mysteries (1961) Episode: Man at the Carlton Tower • The Secret Partner (1961) • The Singer Not the Song (1961) • Billy Budd (1962) • Operation Snatch (1962) • Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color: The Horse Without A Head (1963) (Two Episodes) • Edgar Wallace Mysteries (1963) Episode: Five to One (film) • The Secret of Blood Island (1964) • You Must Be Joking! (1965) • Deadlier Than the Male (1967) • How I Won the War (1967) • Nobody Runs Forever (1968) • The Spy Killer (1969) • Morning Story (1970) as Danny Robbins • Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1972) • Eagle in a Cage (1972) • The Best Pair of Legs in the Business (1973) • Alan Dale in Regan - pilot of The Sweeney (1974). TV film. • Mahler (1974) • Jesus of Nazareth (1977, TV series) • Eleanor Marx (1977, TV series) • Brass Target (1978) - Lucky Luciano • Holocaust (1978) • The Legacy (1978) • The London Connection (1979) • If You Go Down in the Woods Today (1981) • Henri Dupont in Bergerac(1983) TV series • Pope John Paul II (1984) • Lady Jane (1986) • Madame Sousatzka (1988)
Selected theatre performances
Selected theatre performances
• Dr Prentice in What the Butler Saw by Joe Orton. Directed by Braham Murray at the Royal Exchange, Manchester. (1977) • Mr Antrobus in The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder. Directed by Richard Negri and James Maxwell at the Royal Exchange, Manchester. (1977) • Barney Cashman in Last of the Red Hot Lovers by Neil Simon. British premiere directed by Eric Thompson at the Royal Exchange, Manchester. (1979) • Cyprien in Court in the Act by Maurice Hennequin. British premiere directed by Braham Murray at the Royal Exchange, Manchester. (1986) • Alfredo Mezzabotta in Doctor Heart by Peter Muller. British premiere directed by Braham Murray at the Royal Exchange, Manchester. (1991)
Identity and overview
Identity and overview
The following is established of the heading itself.
Where the work is held
Collections and holdings
Institutional holdings are recorded as follows.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Lee Montague, revision 1365770331 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Lee Montague. BFI.
- 2.Lee Montague, consistently impressive character actor and the first storyteller on Jackanory. The Telegraph. 2025-04-03. 0307-1235.
- 3.Lee Montague obituary. The Guardian. 3 April 2025.
- 4.Mullin, Michael. Design by Motley. Associated University Presse. 115. 1997. 9780874135695.
- 5.Production of Who Saw Him Die? | Theatricalia. theatricalia.com.
- 6.The Broadway League. Lee Montague. Internet Broadway Database.
- 7.Today's Viewing Highlights. The Province. 27. August 11, 1971.
- 8.(TV listing). The Morning Call. 26. June 7, 1965.
- 9.Lee Montague. www.aveleyman.com.
- 10.Seconds Out − BBC1 Sitcom. British Comedy Guide.
- 11.Thanks for Everything (1987). BFI.
- 12.Bergerac. BBC Genome. 3187. 87. 14 December 1984.
- 13.McGown, Alistair. Jackanory (1965–96). BFI Screenonline. British Film Institute.
- 14.Tom Thumb (1965). BFI.
- 15.Galton, Bridget. 'A consummate gentleman': Tributes to actor and library saviour Lee Montague, 97. Ham & High. 2025-04-02.
- 16.Keats Community Library. Lee Montague 1927–2025.
References
Citations
References
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reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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