Professional wrestler Louis Vincent Albano, known by his ring name, Captain Lou Albano, has died at the age of 76.
The WWE pro wrestling star and 1980’s pop culture icon was at home with his family under hospice care at the time of his death on Wednesday.
Albano, credited with creating the first “Wrestlemania” in 1985, began his wrestling career in 1953 after briefly attending the University of Tennessee on a football scholarship. He left school to join the Army, and met two WWF wrestlers while working as a bar bouncer in Canada.
He gained mainstream attention in the 1980’s after playing Cyndi Lauper’s father in the video “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.” (see video below)
In 2008, Albano released his autobiography, “Often Imitated, Never Duplicated,” with the foreword written by Lauper.
Watch Captain Lou Albano in Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” video:
