Ted Vollrath(1936-2001)
- Actor
Ted Vollrath was born in 1936 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Vollrath
served in the US Marines and fought in the Korean war. Ted had to have
both of his legs amputated because of severe injuries received in
combat. He began training in the martial arts in 1967 and was the first
person to earn a black belt in karate while training out of a
wheelchair. Vollrath eventually became a karate Grand Master and
acquired black belts in several different styles of the martial arts.
In 1971 Ted founded the Martial Arts for the Handicapable Incorporated;
this organization is dedicated to teaching the martial arts to disabled
people. Vollrath made his sole foray into feature film acting with a
solid performance as Lou, a vicious and lethal enforcer for a drug
dealer in the positively jaw-dropping low-budget action exploitation
oddity "Mr. No-Legs." Ted put on an impressively vigorous and exciting
display of his martial arts prowess in a simply incredible protracted
set piece which occurs halfway through the picture. Moreover, Vollrath
also appeared in the documentary "Let Me Live in Your World." Ted
Vollrath died on November 18, 2001.
