A few weeks back I met with Michael Dudikoff at his home in Rolling Hills Estates. As we sat in his office he told me a story about his father. At the time, this was our second meeting in the span of a week, and it would also be the second story he would tell me about the most influential man in his life: Mike Dudikoff Sr.
Michael's father came from the Bronx. Bounced around from orphanage to orphanage until he was old enough to enlist in the service, which happened to be at the onset of World War 2. During the war, he lost three fingers on his right hand - and as he was sailing home to the states, he met his soon-to-be wife, Rita, a beautiful pianist who entertained at USO parties.
It was love at first sight, and soon thereafter, the Dudikoff's settled in Redondo Beach, California. Michael's father immediately went to work at an automobile company and in a freak accident, he lost his other hand in a die cast machine. Michael talks about how his dad never complained and always had a kind word for everyone he encountered. He knew the South Bay extremely well and whenever someone needed directions he’d always help them out and then say, “Tell ‘em Mike sent you.”
Mike Sr. had grown accustomed to working hard for very little - but he always walked through the front door with his head held high and gave his hard earned wages to Rita so she could pay the bills. Part of me imagines Clint Eastwood would tell you that this is the stuff that real men are made of - not like the guys these days he affectionately refers to as the "pussy generation."
In the late seventies, Michael was discovered as a model and things slowly started to change. He began taking acting gigs, starting with a small role on the night time soap, Dallas, which led to a string of other jobs. When Michael first met with his agents they tried to convince him to change his last name, perhaps to his mother's maiden name. Michael said they would need to check with his father, so they called Mike Sr. on the speakerphone. To say the conversation was brief would be an understatement. They asked what they’d called to ask and the response came in the form of a “click” then a dial tone. The agents turned to Michael and after a brief pause, one of them said, "So it seems we'll be sticking with Dudikoff."
By the time the mid-80's rolled around Michael was making a "little money," as he likes to put it. Mounted on his home office wall are 25-30 mini posters of films he's starred in, an impressive resume by anyone's standards. As I sit there, Michael looks up at them and smiles. When he begins talking about the films, he almost sounds like a man talking about a different life.
I ask him to continue, and he does. He goes on to tell me about the travel and the people he's worked with - his impersonations are spot on and his comedic timing is impeccable - from Brian Dennehy to Joe Pesci. He's extremely accurate so it's nearly impossible to contain your laughter. But the stories always lead back to his father.
By the time American Ninja came out, Michael was traveling all over the world filming nonstop. He admits to me that he never had time to spend his per diem. Either that or no one would let him. So he would simply stash his money away in his suitcase. And this brings me to my original reason of wanting to pass along this story.
In 1989, when Michael had returned to California from shooting River of Death, he thought he would surprise his dad with a little visit. Michael trailed Mike Sr. on his motorcycle and hid from plain view as he watched him fill his car with gas. As he went inside to pay, Michael ran over to the car and placed $10,000 in rolled up cash on the ground directly in front of the driver's door before quickly returning to his hiding spot.
Michael snickered as he watched his dad pick up the money. He stood there for a moment just looking at it. The one hand with two fingers began to shake so bad he had trouble getting his key into the door to unlock the car. Before driving off, his dad looked suspiciously around but saw no signs of foul play. Michael proceeded to trail him to the first stoplight and then pulled up to the side of his car.
"Heya Mike, welcome home!" Then he adds, "you're not gonna believe it but I just found this big wad of money!"
Michael shakes his head in wonder. “No kidding? Wow! That looks like a lot a cash there..." This whole time his dad excitedly nods... "I'd say that looks like it's around... ten grand?"
And then it hits the Father and he grins at his Son...
"Why, you!!"
The Son smiles back to his Father, seeing his pride but also his gratitude. Then he races away on his motorcycle.
Michael tells me about another time, after filming American Ninja 2, he showed up in a brand new Cadillac his dad had wanted for decades and handed him the keys. He looks at me from across his desk, smiles, then tells me there's no better feeling than being able to make your father proud.
And these stories would go on and on all the way up to the time of his father’s death.
At Mike Senior’s funeral, one of his friends came up to Michael and said, “You know, your dad put 5,000 miles on that car alone by driving around and bragging to all of his friends that his son, Mikey Junior had bought it for him.”
Like his father, Michael Jr. loves to tell stories and he’s got a lot of them. As I was about to head home he told me to hold up because he had one more...
"One time, my dad was about to go to bed and I called him up to say goodnight," Michael began, "...and to tell him I loved him. Before I hung up, I told him to look in his bedside drawer. He didn't know it, but earlier in the day I'd snuck in and filled it all the way up to the top with cash. As I hung up the phone I could hear him in the background..."
"Why, you...!!!"
Written by, Patrick Carson - January, 2013
