Member AlbertV Posted October 1, 2015 Member Share Posted October 1, 2015 Okay, anyone who has seen No Retreat, No Surrender will know who Kurt McKinney is. Hailing from Louisville, Kentucky, he holds a black belt in taekwondo and competed in amateur kickboxing matches before deciding to become an actor. He also trains in Kung Fu, Jeet Kune Do, and of course, kickboxing. Would anyone imagine after his arrival he auditioned for the role of Joe Armstrong in American Ninja only to learn he was too young (he was 21 at the time). Ng See Yuen discovered him and he would go on to play Jason Stillwell in NRNS. After the film, he decided to go a different route of acting: soap operas. He found success as Ned Ashton on General Hospital and then as Matt Reardon in Guiding Light. He did return to martial arts films in 1997 when he starred opposite Cynthia Rothrock in Sworn to Justice. While he continued acting, Kurt found another passion: home improvement. Retiring from acting in 2011, Kurt is now the Vice President of Home Services Shop in Pleasantville, New York, which is where he also lives with his family. You can find out more about him at the Home Services Shop Page. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member J.J. Hayden Posted December 5, 2020 Member Share Posted December 5, 2020 Interesting info. It's a shame he didn't do more action films, but if he's happy with his career, fair play to him. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AslanBey Posted December 25, 2023 Member Share Posted December 25, 2023 A few days ago I randomly saw that "No retreat no surrender" is on amazon prime. As a kid we had that movie on vhs and I watched it probably 50 times (???). I gave it a rewatch. This time I paid attention for the story and dialogues too and a few times I thought: "what???". But I decided that I still love this movie and it is definitely a classic. Kurt McKinney was no childhood hero of mine like Jackie because I only knew this movie and we only had this one movie of him on vhs (interestingly we had 0 movies of jackie on vhs but his movies were on TV regularly, so...). But I knew Kurt ever since I can think, because of said vhs tape :). So it took me 30 years and the last rewatch to decide: "hey, now your martial arts movie knowledge is pretty good in comparison to 30 years ago and you can say that Kurt is pretty enjoyable. google some other movies of him and give them a chance." I googled and couldnt get good results. So I decided to search in the legendary kungfufandomforum just to find out that he only starred in one other martial arts movie... ??? Thats really sad... Of course it depends heavily on the director and choregrapher but Kurt looked (body, skills and acting) good in NRNS that I would think that he got more job offers after that movie. What a disappointment for me. Salute to you Jason... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Josh Baker Posted December 25, 2023 Member Share Posted December 25, 2023 6 hours ago, AslanBey said: A few days ago I randomly saw that "No retreat no surrender" is on amazon prime. As a kid we had that movie on vhs and I watched it probably 50 times (???). I gave it a rewatch. This time I paid attention for the story and dialogues too and a few times I thought: "what???". But I decided that I still love this movie and it is definitely a classic. Kurt McKinney was no childhood hero of mine like Jackie because I only knew this movie and we only had this one movie of him on vhs (interestingly we had 0 movies of jackie on vhs but his movies were on TV regularly, so...). But I knew Kurt ever since I can think, because of said vhs tape :). So it took me 30 years and the last rewatch to decide: "hey, now your martial arts movie knowledge is pretty good in comparison to 30 years ago and you can say that Kurt is pretty enjoyable. google some other movies of him and give them a chance." I googled and couldnt get good results. So I decided to search in the legendary kungfufandomforum just to find out that he only starred in one other martial arts movie... ??? Thats really sad... Of course it depends heavily on the director and choregrapher but Kurt looked (body, skills and acting) good in NRNS that I would think that he got more job offers after that movie. What a disappointment for me. Salute to you Jason... I saw his Art of Action episode with Scott Adkins, and he was supposed to be in American Ninja 3, but the plans fell through for whatever reason and it went to David Bradley instead. He's making a return to MA cinema next year, so I look forward to that. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted December 25, 2023 Author Member Share Posted December 25, 2023 (edited) 50 minutes ago, Josh Baker said: I saw his Art of Action episode with Scott Adkins, and he was supposed to be in American Ninja 3, but the plans fell through for whatever reason and it went to David Bradley instead. In a 1994 interview with Masters of Kung Fu magazine, American Ninja 3-6 (which was the original plan) were all going to be shot in South Africa, and he didn't want to be away that long from his wife so he opted not to play the American Ninja. This was after he was turned down to play Joe Armstrong bc he was deemed too young. Edited December 25, 2023 by AlbertV 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AslanBey Posted December 25, 2023 Member Share Posted December 25, 2023 5 hours ago, Josh Baker said: I saw his Art of Action episode with Scott Adkins, and he was supposed to be in American Ninja 3, but the plans fell through for whatever reason and it went to David Bradley instead. He's making a return to MA cinema next year, so I look forward to that. I know that episode but didnt watch it yet. Im going to watch it the next days I think. Do they talk also about the movie with cynthia? If so then I should first watch the movie. A return to MA sounds interesting indeed, but only to see him as a person. For MA reasons he is too old I think. Whats the name of the coming movie? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Josh Baker Posted December 25, 2023 Member Share Posted December 25, 2023 25 minutes ago, AslanBey said: I know that episode but didnt watch it yet. Im going to watch it the next days I think. Do they talk also about the movie with cynthia? If so then I should first watch the movie. A return to MA sounds interesting indeed, but only to see him as a person. For MA reasons he is too old I think. Whats the name of the coming movie? The name of the film is the Last Kumite. He probably isn't in it for that long. I think he's in his early 60s, so he should be able to pull off some moves, and it looks like he's kept in shape. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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