THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, September 2, 1996 TAG: 9608310080
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Maddry
LENGTH: 85 lines
YOU WATCH the hulking, polite, and boyish man behind the counter of Brose's Sub Shop and you'd never dream that you were looking at the Red Skull of Death.
Charles Ambrose and his dad started Brose's on Virginia Beach Boulevard back in 1970. And he's been there ever since. Steady worker, soft-spoken, polite, serving up meatball or turkey subs.
As he has for years, Charles rises at 3 a.m. to the buzz of his clock. Then he slips into his black T-shirt with the rottweiler dawg on the front. Minutes later he is in the shop lighting the grill for the breakfast crowd.
He seems like such an average Joe you'd never dream that the 310-pound sub jockey is living two or three lives.
Or that the other lives he leads are the stuff dreams are made of. . . lifestyles most of us only read about in paperback novels.
There is Charles Ambrose the movie actor, the heavyweight karate champion, nightclub bouncer, and bodyguard. You have to really look around the sub shop to get a good fix on Charles. Peek behind the formica counter, down there on the floor. There are 15 trophies for karate championships Charles has won. He's a three-time heavyweight grand champion in karate. One association has ranked him the world champion in amateur karate.
For clues to his other lives, you have to check out the items on the sub shop walls. Over there is a color poster of a bikini-clad model.
Her name is Shari Walters. She and Charles were in the movie ``Navy SEALS.'' Charles had only a small part in that one. Like most of his films. But what the heck, it's show business.
``When I'm not here in the shop I'm often living my fantasies,'' Charles said.
Walters autographed the poster and gave it to him. ``Stay sweet, Charles,'' she wrote.
Sweet? It seems an odd message to pen to the man who is featured on the color poster near it which promoted the film ``Dragon Hunt.'' Charles was cast as The Red Skull of Death in that one. He stares menacingly from the poster with a turban on his head, a black scarf at his throat, a knife in his hand.
Further down the wall there is a nice photo of Charles with actress Debbie Shelton and a fellow who's face was certainly familiar.
``That's Ned Beatty, the actor,'' Charles said. ``We were in the movie `Blind Vision' together. ``Robert Vaughan also starred in that one. Remember him from `The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' ?''
All great people with great personalities, he told me. Some of ``Blind Vision'' was shot in Norfolk, back in 1993.
``I was before the cameras for 14 hours, cast as a computer operator. But when the film was edited I only appeared on screen for about 13 seconds,'' he said.
His former agent - Marty Terry of Talent Connection - said Charles has an interesting face that makes people stop and stare at him.
``But inside he's just a teddy bear,'' she said.
Charles served as a bodyguard for O.J. Simpson when he was last in Hampton Roads - only a few weeks before Nicole Brown Simpson was murdered. And he's done the same for Sweetpea Whitaker. But he never had to lift a finger to protect them, he said.
That's because Charles can - when he chooses - put a hard scowl on his face that says back off! And folks do. The message is given an exclamation point when Charles crosses his massive arms. They look like thighs inserted in the sleeves of his sport coat.
``I do security work at September's, a nightclub, most nights,'' he said. ``I usually don't have to say or do anything because people tend to behave around me.''
Charles always has a few karate tricks up his sleeves and irons in the fire. He's just finished a movie made by ETM Productions in Virginia Beach starring Curtis Bush, a five-time karate world champ.
``Curtis is the real star of that one but I do have a very prominent role,'' Charles said. ``We have a kind of karate fight to the death in Rogues Gallery down at Virginia Beach. I wind up covered with fake blood.''
He hopes that film will lead to even more movie jobs. Meanwhile he just keeps cranking out those Italian combo subs and keeps his fingers crossed. He's also formed a bodyguarding business with Dan Grenelle, another karate specialist. It has a nice Hollywood name. Mayhem & Chaos. The phone number is 499-3014. But don't mistake it for the sub shop and start talking about meatballs.
The big boys might take offense. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by V. W. Vaughan
[Charles Ambrose ...]
KEYWORDS: PROFILE by CNB