[1] Montagnani was born in Alessandria, Piedmont, and debuted as theatre actor thanks to the help of Erminio Macario.

In the 1980s he also participated to a TV show as Don Fumino, an easy-speaking Tuscan parish priest.

[2] Montagnani also intensively worked as dubber, dubbing actors such as Michel Piccoli, Charles Bronson and Philippe Noiret for the Italian version of movies.

[3] In his later years he participated to numerous commedia sexy all'italiana films, often pairing with Edwige Fenech, the most popular actress of the genre, and also with Alvaro Vitali as the comic sidekick.

[citation needed] In 1959, Montagnani married Eileen Jarvis, who was a member of the Bluebell Girls.