Biography
Below: Photo, Tiger age 22. Founder of Guerra Ving Tsun Kuen 10th level. Guerra Ving Tsun Kung Fu was founded in 1985 when Guerra Si-fu began to merge his two studies of Ving Tsun, one from Leung Tings Wing Tsun and the other from White Crane Wing Chun from his Si-fu Tan of Kaoshiung, Taiwan. Guerra Si-fu is also the legendary fierce fighter of Soryu Karate and a Sensei of Soryu Karate 7th Dan.
MOVIE INTERESTS
Grandmaster Richard M. Guerra was involved in the motion picture industry as early as 1976, when he was cast as an extra in the movie "Small Town in Texas", starring, Timothy Bottoms and Bo Hopkins. Guerra would hang around movie sets learning hands on how movies were made.
In 1988 he set out to write a screenplay. He was obsessed at writing stories, but wrote his first script in the wrong format, wrong fonts, etc. This was when Austin was unknown as a movie friendly city. His friends and students thought of him as crazy. "Movies are made only in Hollywood.", they would tell him. But the stubborn Guerra persisted until one day his student Murillo Cappello, who was the evening hotel manager at The Sheraton, told Guerra that a movie producer was staying at The Sheraton. This was Mr. Goldstein, who would receive fax messages from a movie studio executive by the name Max E. Youngstein. This is how Youngstein and Guerra Sensei were introduced via Mr. Cappello and Mr. Goldstein. Max Youngstein had been in the industry about 50 years and had an extensive curriculum vitae. Max took the rough and tough Guerra and groomed him into a Hollywood style screenwriter and educated him what to what makes a script a viable property for the film industry.
In 1988 Guerra flew to Los Angeles and met Max in person. He later met Max's wife, also a movie studio executive, and developed a long lasting friendship with the Youngsteins, until Max passed away in June 1997. This hurt Guerra Sensei. He had lost a great friend and his mentor. Youngstien had planned on having Guerra study hands on under Richard Condon the author of "The Manchurian Candidate", starring Laurence Harvey, so Guerra could hone his writing skills further, but Mr. Condon had died a year later when Guerra was about to make the relocation to Dallas where Mr. Condon was based to study under him.
Earlier in 1980 Guerra had written his first screenplay "Tne Bamboo Cross" a Vietnam war epic which was to star Curtis Blow,the father of rap music. He later starred in the movie "Crush Groove". The production company was based in Houston, Texas and had 3 million dollars for Guerra for the production of "The Bamboo Cross". But Guerra threw a tantrum and was not happy with the preproduction planning of the finances and threw the production staff out of his office and lost the 3 million dollar investment.
Later a Hollywood writer tried to steal the story line and script but Guerra, who could get pretty mean, made a surprise visit to Hollywood where this so-called well educated writer lived. Guerra was about to sue for damages and 5 million dollars if this writer did not cease with his plagiarism of Guerra's screenplay. Also he had planned placing a full page ad in the "Hollywood Reporter" and in the industry paper "Variety" so everyone in Hollywood would know how much of a scumbag this smart alec writer was. The writer begged Guerra not to sue and the writer never did anything again against Guerra's agreement.
Spencer Aldridge, a casting director of the Other Place Talent Agency, thought of Guerra as crazy for his unorthodox methods in dealing with production companies in this manner, yet Guerra never flinched in his determination that no one was going to steal his work, or cheat him out of his fair share in anything.
Aldridge threw his arms up and wept, "But Richard, you threw away 3 million dollars!! Are you crazy??"
"Yes", replied Guerra, "I wont make a pact with those devils!"
Aldridge then finally knew Guerra was a shrewed businessman, and very intelligent. He once was kicked out 10 u.t. film students off the set of " THE BAMBOO CROSS " TRAILER HE WAS PRODUCING AND DIRECTING Starring JIMMY STAMPS As U.S. NAVY S.E.A.L James BRAVO And Veronica Espadas as Caramela Torres , The u.t students were telling him that he was breaking the rules of movie making that it could not be done his way - But Guerra sent them packing immediatly -so he finished the trailer with friends and some of his students , he had been offered 195,000.00 dollars for the rights straight to the spanish speacking market from a video distributor based in Los Angeles Ca, But Guerra decided to wait- maybe he could raise the production money himself, but it was too stressful for him to follow through on raising capital for the production, he finally show cased the trailer at the u.t film school- those who saw it were impressed they thought the quality was great that it had been shot on 16 mm film- but Guerra told them no -it was all on hi- 8 video- A MAZING ! WAS THEIR RESPONSE. GUERRA decided to MOVE AWAY FROM THE VIETNAM story due to nightmares he began experiancing and later wrote the script 'EL TIGRE' Instead it was a more fun story for him to write and is based on mexican illegal immigration and discrimination of Mexicans in the United States Which introduces THE MEXICAN MARTIAL ART OF " YAO MACHTIA ' FROM THE ANCIENT AZTECA CULTURE
It was Max who had estimated Guerra's script at 350,000 dollars. "El Tigre", the script, was set asideWhen Max died a and Guerra never touched the script again. Max's associate, Cheryl Christiansen, became Guerra's confidant and producers rep if Guerra had ever wanted to market "El Tigre" again, or any script written by him.
He chose a quiet life, hardly mentioning his love for writing stories, and his creative ability to package a screenplay. Instead, he concentrated on producing and directing some of the first ever videos in the world on Wing Tsun Kung Fu, using 3/4 inch video cameras and multi-camera set ups and choreagraphy, utilizing the technical experience of Dusty Sexton and Abe Cortez.
In spiritual matters, his spiritual strength comes from his belief in the Almighty God.
As a Sephardic Jew he has found a profound Jpeace that has transformed him into a peaceful E gentle soul. Although misunderstood by many, his kindness must not be mistaken for weakness. Some have scorned him, despised him and rejected him, yet this warrior continues his journey in this life touching in S some way the simple message of love and salvation. Whether through his teaching, or in the simple sharing of experiences of what God has done in his life. Even being the victim of an assault by a gang of 15 anti-Semites who beat his face and body, leaving him for dead on the streets of Austin, Texas in 2001. Yet he rose to face his attackers after they beat the right side of his face to pulp, suffering two broken ribs and a collapsed lung.
The tenacity and fierce fighting spirit instilled in him at an early U age though Soryu Karate Master Joe Alvarado physically made a difference, but God Almighty strengthened him in the midst of this horrendous attack, yet Guerra prevailed, becoming wiser and stronger as a result of this event. His attackers, all fifteen of them, ran away, some limping, and some pulling their cohorts to escape the law of Justice. When the police and ambulance arrived, they thought he hat been hit by an automobile.
Master Guerra has survived many more hardships than you can ever imagine and this is his true story. The years have matured him, and the hardships of life have made him into a true leader, one that understands and one who can forgive from the depths of his heart those who have wronged him.
In more than 40 years in the arts, he has realized in retrospect that it was Almighty God who directed his steps to the martial arts. "Now I understand the blessings God gave me...to go through my experiences had it not been for The Lord. Amen." ELO SENOR ES DIOS TODO PODEROSO, ADONAI
