Charles Kalani

Professional wrestling career

Kalani got into professional wrestling in 1958, making his debut in his home state of Hawaii during his service with the military. In 1966 after retiring from the military, Kalani began wrestling full time. San Francisco promoter Roy Shire approached Kalani in 1967, launching his career in earnest. He also worked for World Championship Wrestling in Australia.

Kalani adopted the heel gimmick of Professor Toru Tanaka (or simply Professor Tanaka), a Japanese villain from Hiroshima (though Kalani was actually of Hawaiian and Chinese origin). One of the characteristics of his gimmick was that he threw ceremonial salt in his opponents' eyes after "blessing" each corner of the ring, a tactic that is most commonly associated with Japanese villain wrestlers. Tanaka did play the stereotypical Japanese villain with the requisite knowledge of martial arts. He employed a combination of power skills, martial arts, and his feared Japanese sleeper submission hold. Tanaka's most famous tag team partner was Harry Fujiwara (better known as Mr. Fuji), whom he knew from high school in Hawaii. In his book, Listen, You Pencil Neck Geeks, Freddie Blassie explored the relationship between the two "Japanese" heels.

Tanaka had a long successful run with the WWF in 1967, including being #1 contender to champion Bruno Sammartino. Sammartino was the one who requested Tanaka (who was working in Australia) to the WWF's owner at the time, Vince McMahon Sr. In their first Madison Square Garden meeting, Tanaka was disqualified for throwing salt. He was pinned by Sammartino in a rematch six months later, and Tanaka occasionally teamed with Gorilla Monsoon. Tanaka also main evented the Garden in tag matches, twice with Gorilla Monsoon vs. Sammartino and Spyros Arion (Tanaka and his partner winning the first via disqualification; losing the second in a Texas Death Match); a year later with Monsoon against Sammartino and Victor Rivera. Monsoon & Tanaka had other Garden matches, including victories over Al Costello & Dr. Bill Miller; and Bobo Brazil and Earl Maynard.

Tanaka subsequently teamed with Mitsu Arakawa in the WWF in 1969, acquiring the International Tag Team Championship; losing it at Madison Square Garden to Tony Marino and Victor Rivera. He left the WWWF in 1970 and worked in Texas. In 1971, he returned to the WWWF. The team of Tanaka and Mr. Fuji won three WWF World Tag Team Championships, with Blassie as manager for the third reign and The Grand Wizard as manager for the first two. They first won the belts from Sonny King and Chief Jay Strongbow on June 27, 1972, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at a House show. They lost the belts to Haystacks Calhoun and Tony Garea on May 30, 1973, again at a Hamburg house show, but regained them on September 11, 1973, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, before losing them again to Tony Garea and Dean Ho on November 14, 1973, again in Hamburg. Their third win came on September 27, 1977, at a Philadelphia house show when they defeated Tony Garea and Larry Zbyszko in a tournament final for the vacant belts, holding them until March 14, 1978, when they lost the titles to Dino Bravo and Dominic DeNucci in Philadelphia. This third reign set a record for number of championship reigns which would not be bettered until The New Age Outlaws won a fourth reign in 1999.

After WWWF, Tanaka returned to Japan, Hawaii and other territories until retiring in 1986.

Other media While wrestling with the World Wrestling Council, Professor Tanaka was also featured in a television commercial for the Sello Rojo brand of rice in Puerto Rico. His other appearance in a commercial was for Colgate toothpaste with Pat Morita. Tanaka was seen as an extra in a few of David Lee Roth's music videos in the mid-1980s, as well as a product tester on NBC's "Fight Back! With David Horowitz". By the early 1980s, Kalani's body could not handle the beatings in the ring any longer, and he moved into the film world on a more permanent basis. His first film was the 1981 Chuck Norris vehicle An Eye for an Eye and his last film was 1995's Hard Justice (starring David Bradley and Charles Napier). He appeared opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Running Man as "Sub-Zero", the red-armor clad "stalker" who is a sadistic hockey-samurai with a scythe that "slices his enemies limb from limb into quivering, bloody sushi".

Other notable roles include The Perfect Weapon, 3 Ninjas, Black Rain, Darkman, Pee-wee's Big Adventure, and Last Action Hero.

Tanaka was one of three semi-retired professional wrestlers to compete in a tug-of-war match with two other wrestlers teamed up against a large group of children on the Nickelodeon series Wild and Crazy Kids in the early 1990s.

Death Kalani died of heart failure on August 22, 2000. His ashes were spread in the ocean near Haleʻiwa, Hawaii. He is survived by his wife Doris Kalani and his three children: Cheryle Kalani, Carl Kalani and Karen Kalani Beck.

Filmography 1981 An Eye for an Eye as "The Professor" 1981-1982 Fantasy Island (season 5/episode 20) as Magog 1982 Cassie & Co. - Gorky's Army as Kiro 1982 Little House on the Prairie (A new beginning; "Alden's Dilemma" Season 9 aired first on December 6, 1982) as Japanese Sumo (uncredited) 1982 Slapstick of Another Kind 1983 Angel Of H.E.A.T. 1983 Off the Wall as Banzai Wrestler #1 1983 Revenge of the Ninja as Sumo Servant 1983 Tales of the Gold Monkey (season 1/episode 17) as Sumo Wrestler #1 1984 Airwolf (TV Series) as Bandit Leader 1984 The A-Team (TV Series) as Ling, The Bodyguard 1984 Chattanooga Choo Choo as Hashimoto 1985 Missing in Action 2: The Beginning as Lao 1985 Pee-wee's Big Adventure as The Butler California Pro Wrestling CPW Heavyweight Championship (1 time) NWA American Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Thunderbolt Patterson NWA Brass Knuckles Championship (Texas version) (4 times) NWA Hollywood Wrestling NWA Americas Heavyweight Championship (1 time) NWA Americas Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Dr. Hiro Ota NWA New Zealand NWA British Empire/Commonwealth Championship (2 times) Southeastern Championship Wrestling NWA Southeastern Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Mr. Fuji World Championship Wrestling (Australia) IWA World Heavyweight Championship (2 times) IWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Skull Murphy World Wide Wrestling Federation/WWE WWWF International Tag Team Championship (1 time, inaugural) - with Mitsu Arakawa WWWF World Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Mr. Fuji WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2019) 1Records do not show which NWA affiliate Tanaka worked for when his two reigns with the title began. While usually defended in Southeastern Championship Wrestling, it was occasionally used in other promotions.