Lou Albano

Louis Vincent Albano (July 29, 1933 – October 14, 2009), often referred to as Captain Lou Albano, was an ex pro-wrestler who portrayed Mario in the live action segments of the The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! as well as voiced him in the cartoon. He worked alongside Danny Wells, who portrayed Luigi. He also appeared as a character in the show.

Biography
Albano started as a pro wrestler back in the 50's. He was turning 19 or 20 and he felt it was a way of making a living. People started throwing rocks and snowballs at him and he thought, "This is ridiculous, I'm gonna get myself killed." So he became a good guy or (as they call in wrestling) a babyface, he ended up breaking his back twice. So he decided to stop wrestling and work as a manager and he managed The Headshrinkers, Andre the Giant and he even appeared as the father figure in Cyndi Lauper's music video, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.

"Captain Lou is Missing"
Albano appeared as himself in the live-action segment "Captain Lou Is Missing". In the segment, Cyndi Lauper announced that Albano had gone missing when she had planned to go on a picnic lunch with him, and instead found rubber bands for his beard and a note that read "Dear Cyndi, I'm sorry that I'm not here but I've gone for good".

Cyndi formed a search party with Mario and Luigi at Mario Brothers Plumbing along with several volunteers and search teams stationed around the world, which ultimately failed. When Mario went out to pick some pizza, Albano showed up and met Luigi. When Cyndi asked him why he said he left, Albano saw his note and said that part of it had been cut off and the last part should've read "I've gone for good fried chicken. Back in an hour.". Albano then explained that he had gotten tired of waiting for Cyndi to arrive at his house afterwards, so he went out, saw fliers about his disappearance, and followed them all the way to Mario Brothers Plumbing.

Cyndi introduced Albano to Luigi, who was thrilled to meet him, although Luigi would've been happier if Mario had been there to meet him as well. When Albano and Cyndi left, Luigi figured that Mario was going to be very disappointed for not getting to meet hom, as he claimed Mario was Albano's biggest fan.

Although Albano never made an appearance in the Mario series beyond The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, he, along with several other famous people of Italian descent did receive a mention from the Gondolier during The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 episode "The Venice Menace".