Professor Toru Tanaka (Dead)
Charles "Charlie" J. Kalani, Jr.
1930 - 2000
"Professor Toru Tanaka" Video
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Charlie Kalani was a former college football player, U.S. Army veteran and Judo instructor before he entered professional wrestling in 1967. Adopting the name Professor Toru Tanaka, he utilized his martial arts training to full advantage in the ring. Tanaka captured tag team titles in 1969, 1972, 1973 and 1977 with a variety of partners such as Mr. Fuji. Tanaka also appeared in several forgettable action flicks such as Revenge of the Ninja (1983), Catch the Heat (1987), Dead Heat (1988) and Alligator II: The Mutation (1991). Tanaka died of heart failure in 2000.
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Gerry - 2009-11-09 14:17:05
I saw Tanaka after a match in Ottawa, in a restaurant with Mr Fugi, My friends and I were stting right next to him, he was eating a extra large pizza and a jug pitcher of beer to himself, Fugi was eating spaghetti and a normal size Labbatts beer, he is a big man with a big appetite.
icegenesys - 2010-01-13 11:27:40
also known as "OddJob" from the James Bond movies.
Ernie - 2010-02-15 01:20:04
To icegenesys: Tanaka was NOT Odd Job - that was Tosh Togo (aka Harold Sakata). However, the Prof was in "Pee Wee's Big Adventure", "Missing In Action" and "Volunteers" w/John Candy and Tom Hanks, as well as a couple of David Lee Roth's Videos.
Ernie - 2010-02-17 23:39:35
True anecdote about the Professor: one night in May 1973 the Booster club at my hometown (Brockton MA) high school put on a WWWF show in the school's gym which featured Tanaka and Mr. Fuji against Gorilla Monsoon and Tony Garea. (Strangely enough, just a couple of weeks later Garea and Haystacks Calhoun would win the tag team belts from Tanaka and Fuji in Hamburg PA.) Before the start of the match, a kid I went to school with wadded up and threw a paper soda cup at Tanaka which barely glanced off the Prof's chest. Tanaka leaped out through the ropes and went over to the kid, grabbed him by his shirt and lifted him up off his feet! He broke character and started cussing the kid out, saying "Why you gotta do that? I ain't even getting paid for this. If you were a few years older I'd kick your little ass!" Needless to say, the kid was practically soiling himself over the prospect of the 6 foot tall, 280 lbs. behemoth ripping him a new one. I don't know which was funnier: the look on the kid's face as his life flashed before his eyes, or the fact that Monsoon, Garea and Fuji were all in the ring laughing quietly to themselves.
Hardy - 2010-05-25 13:33:39
prof tanaka also played in one james bond movie can you name it?????production
Jason - 2010-06-23 13:55:39
I have heard a rumor that Prof.Tanaka was related to Pat Tanaka, a wrestler during the Late 80's-Mid 90's or so. Is it true?
Ernie - 2010-07-15 08:38:44
Pat Tanaka is actually the son of former wrestler Hisao Tanaka, who wrestled under the name of "Duke Keomuka". Toru Tanaka's real name is the one given in the header on his bio: Charlie Kalani Jr.
big boy - 2009-07-26 06:46:00
it is sad that he died he was good playing the running man