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Chuck Norris, the\u00a0martial arts grandmaster\u00a0and action star whose roles in \u201cWalker, Texas Ranger\u201d and other television shows and movies made him an iconic tough guy \u2014 sparking internet parodies and adoration from presidents \u2014 has died at 86.<\/p>\n
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Norris died Thursday, in what his family described as a \u201csudden passing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we would like to keep the circumstances private, please know that he was surrounded by his family and was at peace,\u201d the family said in a statement posted to social media.<\/p>\n
Before he would become a star in movies and on TV, Norris was wildly successful in competitive martial arts. He was a six-time undefeated World Professional Middleweight Karate champion. He also founded his own Korean-based American hard style of karate, known sometimes as Chun Kuk Do, and the United Fighting Arts Federation, which has awarded more than 3,300 Chuck Norris System black belts worldwide. Black Belt magazine ultimately credited Norris in its hall of fame with holding a 10th degree black belt, the highest possible honor.<\/p>\n
Born Carlos Ray Norris in Ryan, Oklahoma, on March 10, 1940, he grew up poor. At age 12, he moved with his family to Torrance, California, and\u00a0joined the U.S. Air Force\u00a0after high school, in 1958. It was during a deployment to Korea that he started training in martial arts, including judo and Tang Soo Do.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went out for gymnastics and football at North Torrance high,\u201d he told The Associated Press in 1982. \u201cI played some football, but I also spent a lot of time on the bench. I was never really athletic until I was in the service in Korea.\u201d<\/p>\n
After he was honorably discharged in 1962, he worked as a file clerk for Northrop Aircraft and\u00a0applied to be a police officer, but was put on a waitlist. Meanwhile, he opened a martial arts studio, which expanded to a chain, with students including such stars as\u00a0Bob Barker,\u00a0Priscilla Presley, Donnie and Marie Osmond, and Steve McQueen, whom he later credited with encouraging him to get into acting.<\/p>\n
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From one studio to another<\/h2>\n
Norris made his film debut as an uncredited bodyguard in the 1968 movie \u201cThe Wrecking Crew,\u201d which included a fight with Dean Martin. He had also crossed paths with Bruce Lee in martial arts circles. Their friendship \u2014 sometimes, as sparring partners \u2014 led to an iconic faceoff in the 1972 movie \u201cReturn of the Dragon,\u201d in which Lee fights and kills Norris’ character in Rome’s Colosseum.<\/p>\n
He went on to act in more than 20 movies, such as \u201cMissing in Action,\u201d \u201cThe Delta Force\u201d and \u201cSidekicks.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to project a certain image on the screen of a hero. I had seen a lot of anti-hero movies in which the lead was neither good nor bad. There was no one to root for,\u201d Norris said in 1982.<\/p>\n
In 1993, he took on his most famed role, as a crime-fighting lawman in TV’s \u201cWalker, Texas Ranger.\u201d The show ran for nine seasons, and in 2010, then-Gov. Rick Perry awarded him the title of honorary Texas Ranger. The Texas Senate later named him\u00a0an honorary Texan.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not violence for violence\u2019s sake, with no moral structure,\u201d Norris told the AP in 1996, speaking about the show. \u201cYou try to portray the proper meaning of what it\u2019s about \u2014 fighting injustice with justice, good vs. bad. \u2026 It\u2019s entertaining for the whole family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Norris also made a surprise comedic appearance as a decisive judge in the final match of the 2004 movie \u201cDodgeball.\u201d He only on occasion has taken acting roles in recent years, including 2012’s \u201cThe Expendables 2\u201d and the 2024 sci-fi action movie \u201cAgent Recon.\u201d He’s due to appear in \u201cZombie Plane,\u201d an upcoming film starring Vanilla Ice.<\/p>\n
Chuck Norris: the man, the meme, the legend<\/h2>\n
It was around the time of \u201cDodgeball\u201d that his toughman image became the stuff of legend, literally: \u201cChuck Norris Facts\u201d went viral online with such wildly hyperbolic statements as, \u201cChuck Norris had a staring contest with the sun — and won,\u201d and, \u201cThey wanted to put Chuck Norris on Mt. Rushmore, but the granite wasn\u2019t tough enough for his beard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Norris ultimately embraced the absurdity of the meme craze, putting together \u201cThe Official Chuck Norris Fact Book,\u201d which combined his favorites with supposedly true stories and the codes he aimed to live by. He would also write books on martial arts instruction, a memoir, political takes, Civil War-era historical fiction and more.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo some who know little of my martial arts or film careers but perhaps grew up with ‘Walker, Texas Ranger,’ it seems that I have become a somewhat mythical superhero icon,\u201d Norris wrote in the forward to the fact book. \u201cI am flattered and humbled.\u201d<\/p>\n
That book raised money for a nonprofit he founded with President George H.W. Bush that promoted martial arts instruction for kids.<\/p>\n
The intentionally outlandish statements featured in the 2008 Republican presidential primary, when Norris endorsed Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and shot an ad playing on the \u201cChuck Norris facts.\u201d<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump’s supporters later promoted Trump Facts in the same vein, and political pundits tried it as well, describing the commander-in-chief’s decision to\u00a0seize Venezuela’s sitting president, Nicolas Maduro,\u00a0as a \u201cChuck Norris Moment,\u201d and its initial effect on oil prices a \u201cChuck Norris Premium.\u201d<\/p>\n
Norris was outspoken about his Christian beliefs and his support for gun rights, and backed political candidates for years \u2014 he even went skydiving with Bush for the former president’s 80th birthday. As for Trump, Norris endorsed him in the 2016 general election and wrote guest columns praising him without explicitly endorsing him the in the days before the 2020 and 2024 elections.<\/p>\n
Norris has five surviving children: stunt performers Mike and Eric with his late ex-wife Dianne Holechek, twins Dakota and Danilee with his wife Gena Norris, and Dina, the result of an early 1960s \u201cone-night stand\u201d revealed in his autobiography.<\/p>\n
Norris celebrated his birthday just over a week before his death, posting a sparring video on Instagram.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n