{"id":1166328,"date":"2024-08-21T20:06:11","date_gmt":"2024-08-21T20:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.muscleandfitness.com\/?p=1166328"},"modified":"2024-08-21T22:06:04","modified_gmt":"2024-08-21T22:06:04","slug":"martin-kove-explains-how-karate-and-perspective-are-keys-for-longevity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.muscleandfitness.com\/athletes-celebrities\/news\/martin-kove-explains-how-karate-and-perspective-are-keys-for-longevity\/","title":{"rendered":"Martin Kove Explains How Karate and Perspective Are Keys for Longevity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Martin Kove is perhaps best known for his role as sensei John Kreese in The Karate Kid<\/em> and Cobra Kai<\/em> franchises.<\/a> He\u2019s also remembered as the CIA mercenary, Ericson in Rambo: First Blood Part II<\/em>. But with a career in film and television spanning more than 50 years, Kove is still fired up about going to work on the right projects.<\/p>\n

The 77-year-old actor talks exclusively to M&F<\/em> about reprising the iconic Kreese, his friendship with Sylvester Stallone, and how karate and a sense of perspective shows him the way.<\/p>\n

Martin Kove has been learning from the best in the business for his entire career and one of his first films paired him up with the legendary actor, Sean Connery.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was not only one of my first jobs, it was one of my best,\u201d says the Brooklyn native. \u201cI\u2019m in the business two years, and I get a call to be his stand in, in The Anderson Tapes<\/em> (1971).\u201d Looking up to his hero, Kove would later ask Connery for his advice, as the young upstart mulled over the offers for his future acting career. Should he go back to school or get out there and build up his portfolio?<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said to me, \u2018Young man, if you can do antiquity, you can do anything,\u2019 meaning if I can do the classics, why bother going back to school?\u201d<\/p>\n

Years later, the two would meet again but this time it was on the tennis court rather than a movie set. Of course, Kove relished scoring points over the Scottish superstar. \u201cAnd he\u2019s screaming (expletives) and yelling, and I\u2019m cracking up, hysterical, and I say to myself, \u2018Wow, I\u2019m playing tennis with James Bond, and he curses just like me,\u201d he laughs. Kove has continued to work with the who\u2019s who of showbiz ever since.<\/p>\n\n

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\n\t\t\tInterview: \u2018Cobra Kai\u2019 Star Martin Kove <\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t

The 1970s tough guy is still kicking ass in the streaming generation.<\/p>\n\t\t\n\t\tRead article<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n

Martin Kove Has Learned To Roll With The Punches<\/h3>\n

By 1975, with a number of movies and television spots under his belt, Kove joined the cast of Capone, a move that also starred his old friend Sylvester Stallone. \u201cWe had an old German clockmaker, and he was our personal manager in the early \u201870s,\u201d shares Kove. \u201cHe would get Sly jobs, like the occasional usher in a theater, and he would get me a job like Santa Claus in a department store. [laughs]\u201d<\/p>\n

The two would work together once again on Death Race 2000 and later Rambo: First Blood Part II, but during our chat, Kove shares a little-known fact: He almost joined the Rocky series too. \u201cWe got in the ring, and, I don\u2019t remember if it was Rocky II,<\/em> or Rocky III<\/em> casting, but I was there, and Carl Weathers was there, and I made the mistake of getting in the ring (Kove smirks), it was a very short bout, you know, because (Sly) hits hard, and it\u2019s OK, back in those days you expected that, but you can\u2019t go in there expecting to beat him because he\u2019s good, and Carl (was) good too. Sly trains a lot, he still does, and working with him on Rambo, we had a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

More recently, as Stallone wrapped the forthcoming second series of Tulsa King<\/a>, Kove sent over some Cuban cigars as a gesture to his longtime pal. \u201cHe\u2019s wonderful \u2026 very creative,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The \u201880s were a heady time for Kove, since he not only appeared in Rambo II, three Karate Kid movies, and numerous other projects, but also took a major role in Cagney & Lacey. Like Sly, Kove has never been afraid to train hard<\/a>, and learned Okinawa-te Karate under the revered black belt, Gorden Doversola Shihan.<\/p>\n

While shooting the famous car window punching scene for The Karate Kid Part II, Kove had to power through the glass himself because the special effects failed. \u201cIt hurt, and it was tough,\u201d he shares, explaining that he never liked the resulting \u2018honk\u2019 of the nose given to him by Mr. Miyagi, because he was so invested in the Kreese character, and felt it took his power away. Still, the dedicated actor understood the cleverness of it, and gave cinema one of its most physical and yet comedic scenes.<\/p>\n

Martin Kove Says Karate Is Great for Focus as He Also Provides Youngers With Perspective<\/p>\n

From then, until now, Kove has rarely been off our screens with appearances in numerous projects including Walker, Texas Ranger, The Goldbergs, and in 2018, he agreed to return as John Kreese in the exciting Karate Kid spin-off series, Cobra Kai.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they came to me for the series, I said I was not interested in playing him as he was in Karate Kid I<\/em>,\u201d he tells M&F. \u201cI said I wanted to play him with a bit more vulnerability. And, if you write him tough and hard, let\u2019s find out why he is that way\u2026my character has a great arc now.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A post shared by MARTIN KOVE (@martinkove)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/div>\n