A book I began in 2021

A book I began in 2021

Dec 27, 2024

Here's a Foreword to a Book I began in 2021. It’s a work in progress but you might enjoy this:

I’ve been in the business of being an actor, fight director, action coordinator, weapons expert and teacher for more than 43 years and counting.  I’ve trained people to ride, shoot guns and arrows and fight with swords of all nations both on the ground and from the back of a galloping horse. I’ve also taught combative skills with knives, spears, sticks and clubs as well as good old-fashioned brawling with fists and feet. The greater the number of arts I continue to study, the more I appreciate the fundamental concepts that connect the arts, the “ribbons of truth” as Bruce Lee called them. There are specific adjustments that maximize the effectiveness of each weapon and reference a distinctive culture or tradition, but the principles that unite the arts are universal. As one of my great teachers, Guro Dan Inosanto says, “no one nation has a monopoly on the truth.” The arts connect and compliment each other, both for the purposes of combative efficacy and of course to create dynamic dramatic illusions, my stock in trade. My experience with bladed weapons enabled me to look beyond the traditional and create a more efficient, more effective, more visual and more combatively viable method for working the whip, the first man-made tool to break the sound barrier. The variety of my studies pointed the way for me to create original knowledge for a 5000-year-old tool, a fact I’m very proud of. 

Teaching, performing and studying a broad spectrum of disciplines has taught me a very important lesson. Weapons are tools and your relation to them must be a partnership. Without you, they are inanimate, but once you pick them up, they become an extension of your will and your skill. You must listen and work with your partner to be effective. A 1200-pound horse or 700 mph super-sonic bullwhip are formidable assets, but only if you transform them from adversaries into allies. Force should not be the focus of your efforts, it’s what you achieve by working together. Slaves always revolt and always at the most inopportune and unexpected times. Working together, you and your partner can achieve far greater results than either of you can achieve alone. This is important in combat, in acting and when crafting a dynamic action story and if this smack of spirituality, so be it. 

I have taught or worked with such notables as Michelle Pfeiffer for her role as Cat woman in Batman Returns, Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones’ Crystal Skull, Jet Li in Fearless, Adrian Paul in Highlander, the Series (twice), Placido Domingo in numerous operatic productions, Lynn Thompson, the CEO of Cold Steel and many more. 

I was truly blessed to be the student of Olympian and Maestro, Ralph Faulkner, otherwise known as “The Boss” and Fencing Master to the Stars who trained such notables as Ronald Coleman, Cornel Wield, Errol Flynn, Jose Ferrer, Bo Derek, and many others including 6-time Olympic Fencer Janice York Romary. The second greatest influence on my work and skills set was Martial arts legend and teacher extraordinaire, Guru Dan Inosanto. They continue to inspire me to always aspire to excellence.

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