Table Talk 5

“Again at my table are Glen and Bernelle Hansen, both of whom started performing with Richard in 1972.Bernelle, as the Lamb’s Player’s stage manager did you have concerns with a visually impaired actor that would go to Tijuana and fight?”

Bernelle says mildly, with a touch of concern. “Jon, yes! The fact that Rick had been labeled ‘legally blind’ was cause for us to cringe when he would amazingly avoid injury despite his disability. When he would come back from some of his fights to earn his belts, he often sported a black eye or some other physical evidence that it had been a rough bout. It seemed that the fights were so horrendous that his life was always at stake.” 

“Yeah, Jon, if you’re going to learn something,” Hansen observes, “learn the real thing. If you’re going to learn Karate, learn it by going to a seedy part of Tijuana and learn full-contact Karate. Many times, I was his ride there, ouch!”