If you’re a lover of martial arts cinema, then you’ve for sure seen perhaps the greatest kung-fu movie of all time, Enter the Dragon. And, if you’ve seen Enter the Dragon, you’ll for sure remember Bruce Lee fighting this dude with a massive scar down the side of his face, who Lee memorably dispatches by leaping onto him in slow motion and breaking his neck. That man was none other than the legendary Bob Wall, who THR is reporting has died at 82. The family revealed no cause of death.
Wall’s character in Enter the Dragon, O’Hara, was not actually his first collaboration with Lee. Wall also played a heavy alongside long-time pal Chuck Norris in Lee’s Way of the Dragon. In addition, Wall was always considered one of the legends of martial arts and showed up as thugs in a ton of classics, including Black Belt Jones, Invasion U.S.A, Code of Silence, Firewalker and more. His last role was in the DTV gem Blood and Bone opposite Michael Jai White, where his character was named O’Hara in tribute to his role in Enter the Dragon.
Wall also infamously co-starred in Robert Clouse’s version of Game of Death, which was so bad we did an episode of WTF Happened to This Movie about it (see below), where he “fought” the character Bruce Lee was supposed to be playing, Billy Lo, but was actually a double.
Indeed, Wall was a legendary figure in the martial arts community, and it’s sad to see him pass on. It’s a shame that all of the stars of Enter the Dragon, including John Saxon and Jim Kelly have all left us.