The motto of a very special man. Rangi Nikora Nicholls. “Who dares”, and that is what Rangi did all his life, gave everything his best.

Rangi sadly passed away June the 24th 1996 age 57, while working on the series, “The Man from Snowy River” in Victoria.

Rangi and Tina Turner on ‘Mad Max’ Rangi was responsible for stunts and safety as well as a bodyguard.

Rangi Nichols – Soldier, stuntman, actor, unarmed combat instructor.
While working on ‘Mad Max Beyond Thunderdrome’.

I have for many years wanted to write this article on Rangi, a man I hold in the highest regard. My association with Rangi was brought about by a common factor, we both were actively involved as instructors of Military Elite Forces Close Combat and both promoted dirty tricks brigade practices when it came to urban self defence.

When I first broke into instructing in Australia, it was Rangi that put work my way and gave me the referrals that were worth their weight in gold. See, Rangi was proud of his Special Forces background and all those involved with his former unit. He would always do what he could to help his mates, he was a friend for life whose great achievements and hangman personality as one of his former army buddies recalls, will always be remembered.

To Rangi’s wife, Katherine and children Inia and Talayna, I thank you for all your assistance with material for this article and only hope I can do justice to Rangi.

THE BEGINNING

As a child Rangi was orphaned and brought up on a farm up the Wanganui River. It was here he ran free and barefoot, always involved in any physical pursuits. Rangi enjoyed many and varied activities, as a young boy he dived from trees to swim in the Wanganui River, rode horses, and of course was always trying to ride faster and jump higher. These activities set him in good stead for his future career in stunt work and the movie industry. Rangi excelled at all sports and had a definite love for his culture and the arts, enjoying the singing and dancing of life in Jerusalem. As a youth myself I once stayed at Jerusalem hunting and fishing and generally enjoying the freedom of the outdoors. It was as if the big cities didn’t exist and the freedom to enjoy the land and the people was everything, free of all the city hassles and rules and regulations.

It was at the age of ten that Rangi began his martial arts training that led to black belts in both Judo and Shotokan Karate helping him in his involvement in the making of many a Kung Fu movie which included ‘The Man from Hong Kong’.

Rangi bears the weight of his partner as they cross the gap.

While at school Rangi excelled at all sports especially boxing, where he enjoyed the challenge of being pitted against an opponent one on one. It was this always push yourself to the limits mentality that saw him through his life conquer all challenges.

At the age of sixteen, to get away from farm work and get a taste of the challenge of adventure, Rangi altered his birth certificate to read that he was eighteen and joined the Army with his goal from the outset to make it into the ranks of the crack New Zealand SAS and that is exactly what he did.

In Rangi’s words, he found out what the extremes of life were all about in his seven years of service with the SAS, after that everything in civilian life was a breeze.

He was fiercely proud of his being SAS and of his fellow SAS buddies. I remember him talking of telling over-confident martial arts students, “you may be able to do well in tournaments and look good, but in real combat that amounts for little” and that he’d served with blokes that had no formal martial arts training but you would have to kill to beat in a fight. Men with hearts of lions and battle proven skills to match.

Rangi saw action in Vietnam in some of the hot spots behind enemy lines. He didn’t like to speak of the details and horrors of war he experienced, other than the cruelty of the enemy, booby trapping innocent children or filling the bellies of live animals with explosives, stitching them up and using them as living weapons of war, this senseless sacrifice of the innocent disgusted him. On getting out of the Army, Rangi spent some time as a mercenary and a bodyguard before finding his career in acting and stunt work.

His search for knowledge never stopped. Rangi completed a Physical Education Diploma at Otago University and a Bachelor Degree of Arts at Canterbury and later went on to acting training at the Ensemble Theatre, Sydney and Lee Strasberg School of Drama, Hollywood.

Rangi’s SAS background and University qualifications gave him the ability to put his hand to all forms of work and instructing. At different stages of his life he was a P.E. teacher, a spring board and tower diving instructor, self defence and unarmed combat instructor, trained foreign armies and Border Police in many armed and unarmed subjects such as escape and evasion, weapon handling, demolition and psychological warfare to list but a few.

Rangi underwent stunt training with some of Australia’s best, Peter Armstrong, Herb Nelson, Bob Woodham and Grant Page. He fitted in well to the dangers of stunt work with his SAS background and brought to the industry his unique style. Rangi’s careful planning and priority for safety made him one of the best in the business. As Rangi stated, “there is just no room for mistakes or carelessness in the stunt work industry”, planning and preparation and countless checks and practice runs were the trade mark of Rangi, the true professional.

Rangi the person had a great sense of humour and was full of surprises, usually much to the surprise or downright shock of his family, friends, students or colleagues. The element of surprise was one of Rangi’s major weapons, whether soldiering, teaching self defence or unarmed combat, testing students or just playing pranks on friends. His involvement in the movie industry was truly spread far and wide. He was an actor, stuntman, safety officer and coordinator.

Rangi was a master of setting up fight and weapons scenes, he had stage combat down to a fine art. You name the weapon and Rangi could use it proficiently in the air, on land or under water. He could use explosives or fire with precision and realistic effects that would convince the most seasoned movie critic that the death and devastation was real and could not be faked.

In ‘Crocodile Dundee’, it was Rangi that hurled that sword of a knife and lodged it right on target and it was all in a days work, combining his years of training and expertise to create the ultimate effect for the movie goers. Rangi was multi talented and shared many interests and past times, motorcycle riding, golf, chess, you name it and he would just do it. Rangi was also multilingual, speaking English, Maori, Malay/Indonesian, Thai and Vietnamese.

Rangi’s film industry credits include over 128 movies and features. 16 mini series, 270 television episodes, 280 commercials and 128 live shows.

He was involved in some big name productions such as Mad Max Beyond Thunderdrome, Mission Impossible, Star Trackers, Dead Calm, Last Frontier, Fugitive, Crocodile Dundee, Howling III, Fist of Steel, Man from HongKong, Fields of Fire II, and many more.

Rangi pictured as a double on ‘Les Patterson Saves the World’. Rangi was also the safety coordinator.

Rangi loved the challenge of death defying stunts and in his career had pulled off some of the most daring; he once parachuted off the Sydney Harbour Bridge and, in a Coca Cola commercial leapt 110 feet into water below. He has jumped a motor cycle off a sixty foot cliff into the water below. Jumped off over 100 feet landing on cardboard boxes. Rangi has been set alight, hit by cars, thrown from horses, vaulted every obstacle in his path and was always keen to beat the next challenge.

Rangi has portrayed characters in movies of many races, Italians, Mexicans, Spaniards and even Asians but never a Maori. He has always been a true entertainer and in his early days in both New Zealand and Australia had been an entertainer on the Night Club circuit, he loved to bring pleasure to people and was in his element on stage or on the movie set.

I’m sure readers will enjoy accounts of Rangi’s teachings at his Sydney School of Hard Knocks and would do well to learn from his real life experiences and words of wisdom. Rangi named his operation ‘Who Dares’, after the SAS motto he held so high. ‘Who Dares Wins’. Rangi described his Unarmed Combat as going way beyond the acceptable practices of the Martial Arts and entering the world of dirty fighting. Consider this, Rangi says, “while attackers may not be scared of you physically, they sure as hell won’t like your shit in their face.” Rangi states he can shit on command, consider this he says, “you are surrounded by several attackers and the inevitable seems likely, when you shit yourself, put your hand down your pants, grasp a handful of shit and throw it in their faces, you’ll see them run for cover, gasp in horror, vomit and generally be distracted from their original intentions to the point where you can escape or attack.” Rangi’s number one rule for students is, “ if you can run away and save your hide, do so, as you by doing so have deprived the attackers of their pleasure and thus have by being streetwise, won the encounter.”

Rangi specialised in teaching the use of everyday items as weapons turning aerosol cans into flame throwers and the like. Rangi stated with intent and knowledge, one could turn a harmless item into a deadly weapon. Rangi’s students training came not in the gymnasium but in the danger areas of Sydney in parks, derelict buildings or tunnels in the spots where vicious rapes, assaults and murders had previously occurred.

The training was usually in the dark of night and often Rangi’s assistants would be waiting in hiding to jump the nervous student to show him what its really like and see if he gets it right. Rangi was a firm believer in taking out an assailant’s knee. That will stop the most determined attacker in his tracks he says.

Rangi advocated the Military Close Combat practice of disarm and disable your attacker for civilian situations and for the Military life and death role, dispose of the threat before it disposes of you.

As Rangi taught, “see how good the attacker is when you break his punching arm or kicking leg or dislocate the elbow of his weapons holding arm or tear his shoulder out of its socket.” Rangi had simple tried and true methods to combat all threats.

Rangi told his students, “Should you face a bad-arse martial artist in the street, use an obstacle as a barrier, for example a lamp post or vehicle and see how his punches and kicks contend’ with hard wood or steel, or get him in a confined space like a telephone box or toilet where his long range skills are useless and the reality of real Close Quarter Combat will come into play.” Rangi’s courses went a lot further than just fight skills. He taught climbing, hang gliding, diving, survival and bush craft.

Rangi’s students were not easy targets when you consider they could be seen running through the streets, vaulting cars and all kinds of urban obstacles. He taught his students to be friends of the night, to be able to be comfortable in the darkness and how to use it to their advantage. Rangi spoke to me once of the down right dangerous and stupid self defence being taught to women by instructors often with no background in the realms of real violence. They think practicing in class, girl to girl will prepare them for the horrors of a deranged sexual predator who outweighs and out powers them by miles and is prepared for their punches, knees and cat fighting that could only lead to endangering their safety even more.

Rangi had a realistic way of showing women students of the dangers of such threats. He would in one of his practical night training scenario sessions, take her to an abandoned building and instruct her to go in where his assistant would be in waiting to grab her, throw her down and begin to take her clothing off. It’s a harsh reality and the conclusion was always ‘the same, tears and the realism that even in a controlled set-up, their studio skills were of no value, women need to learn real life saving skills, Rangi stated, not peace of mind ploys.

The good news for the women was Rangi would give them the skills required to make them formidable and show them the dirty tricks they need to defeat their attacker. In Rangi’s early days as a stunt man, he thought he would never find the happiness of marriage and family, simply by the nature of his work. But his wife Katherine, son Inia and daugther, Talayna became the centre of his life and work and as I sit and read the eulogy written by Rangi’s son Inia, its very apparent that Rangi was the most important man in the world to his family and them to him. As the saying goes, behind every great man there’s an equally great woman and that is very apparent when you meet Katherine Nicholls, she is as Rangi was, a professional and is as committed as Rangi was to the family business. Katherine’s understanding of the business and her determination to continue is I’m sure what Rangi would have wished for. ‘Who Dares’ lives on through Rangi’s work and achievements and Katherine and the families efforts. I see how everything Rangi stood for and worked so hard to achieve will be always very much alive and that his legacy through his family, students and films will always be part of our lives.

Finally to you Rangi, from all your Kiwi buddies, we bid you farewell and are all honoured to have been a part of your life.