Miklos 'Miki' Dora, 67; Rebel Surfer

He was known as "the King of Malibu," "Da Cat" and the "angry young man of surfing."

Miklos "Miki" Dora, an expatriate Southern California surfing legend whose graceful surfing style rivaled his reputation as a rebel, has died. He was 67.

Dora, who left California in the early 1970s and spent most of the next three decades living in South Africa and France, died of pancreatic cancer Thursday at his father's home in Montecito.

Dora, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer in July, had moved into his father's house a couple of months ago after leaving his home in Guethary, a European surfing mecca on France's Atlantic coast.

Described by friends as smart, witty and iconoclastic, the charismatic Dora was also known for being standoffish, secretive and something of a scam artist.

The latter trait backfired after he returned to America from France in 1981. He was arrested by the FBI for having fled the country in 1975 in violation of his parole after pleading guilty to writing a bad check for the purchase of ski equipment.

While serving time for that, he was sentenced to six months in federal prison after a Denver grand jury indicted him in 1982 for altering a credit card and using it on a two-year spending spree through Europe and Asia.

But Dora's run-ins with the law only added to his mystique, which was born on the waves off Malibu in the 1950s.

'The Muhammad Ali of Surfing'

Although the longboard-riding Dora competed in a few contests in the 1960s, he denounced competitions as being antithetical to the spirit of surfing.

"Everybody considered Miki to be the best surfer in the world," said Allan Carter, a friend who began surfing with Dora in the 1950s. "Miki was like the Muhammad Ali of surfing. He had dragonfly reflexes and this extraordinarily graceful style. It was beautiful to watch him surf."

"He's probably the most notable California surfer in the history of the sport," said Steve Pezman, publisher of the Surfer's Journal.

Colorful and unpredictable, Dora was a prankster who once shot Army rocket flares off the Malibu pier. Another time he mooned the judges at a Malibu surfing contest. On another occasion, he let loose a jarful of moths during a surf film to watch the moths engulf the projector.

"Miki was a paradox," Carter said. "He was reclusive on one hand and flamboyant on the other. He'd get comped with $500 tickets to an A-list party in Hollywood, and give the tickets away and walk in the back door. He was a wild character."