Robert Wall


Robert Alan Wall is an American actor and martial artist.

Career

Training

He has studied Okinawan martial arts under Gordon Doversola. In 1966, Wall along with karate champion, Joe Lewis, opened the Sherman Oaks Karate Studio in Sherman Oaks, California. In 1968, Lewis sold his share of the studio to Chuck Norris. Robert Wall is featured in a number of films, most notably three appearances with Bruce Lee: the 1972 film Way of the Dragon, as O'Harra in Enter the Dragon in 1973, and Game of Death, Bruce Lee's incomplete film re-cut in 1978. He has small roles in Norris films, such as Code of Silence, Firewalker, and Hero and the Terror.
Wall has studied several arts under many notable masters. They include Judo under Gene LeBell, Okinawan Shorin-Ryu under Joe Lewis, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under the Machado Brothers.

Conflict with Steven Seagal

Wall is particularly famous for his public rivalry with Steven Seagal, which provoked a series of challenges between the two between 1988 and 1992. It started when Seagal made disparaging commentaries about Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris and other American martial artists in interviews, culminating in two articles in the Black Belt magazine where he claimed he would fight to the death anybody who believed they could defeat him.
Indignant at Seagal's slights of Lee and American martial artists as well by his boasts, Wall gathered a group of martial artists willing to answer the challenge, who were nicknamed the "Dirty Dozen" in a reference to the 1967 war film The Dirty Dozen. Those also included Benny Urquidez, Bill Wallace, Howard Jackson, Roger Carpenter, Allen Steen, Jim Harrison, Dennis Alexio, Richard Norton, Billy Robertson, Pat Burleson and William "Blinky" Rodriguez, with Gene LeBell and Gerard Finot as potential members and Karyn Turner as a possible promoter for one or more matches.
The Dirty Dozen were controversial in the martial arts community, with some deriding them as an overreaction and a promotion of violence. LeBell later revealed the affair was hurting him professionally and forced him to withdraw, while Urquidez and Burleson became reportedly unhappy with the group's concept. However, several other members claimed to be content with the campaign alone, with Rodriguez declaring, "just by not accepting the challenge, Seagal tells us where he's at."

Recent career

In 2009, Wall starred as a bodyguard in the film Blood and Bone.

Personal

Wall is a 9th degree black belt under Chuck Norris and the co-founder and CEO of a martial arts organization known as World Black Belt Inc. In 1975, Wall authored the book Who's Who in the Martial Arts and Directory of Black Belts, the first book of its kind for martial artists.

Filmography