Chuck Norris, the beloved martial arts legend and actor, has passed away at the age of 86, leaving behind a legacy of inspiration and strength.
Image: FILE
Chuck Norris, the US martial artist and Hollywood icon best known for his role in Walker, Texas Ranger, has died, his family announced Friday. He was 86.
“It is with heavy hearts that our family shares the sudden passing of our beloved Chuck Norris yesterday morning,” the family said in a statement on Instagram. “To the world, he was a martial artist, actor, and a symbol of strength. To us, he was a devoted husband, a loving father and grandfather, an incredible brother, and the heart of our family.”
US media reported Thursday that Norris had been hospitalised for an undisclosed condition while on the island of Kauai, just days after celebrating his 86th birthday with a video of himself boxing on social media and saying, “I don't age. I level up.”
The family requested privacy regarding the details of his passing, adding: “Please know that he was surrounded by his family and was at peace.”
Norris, born Carlos Ray Norris in Ryan, Oklahoma, on March 10, 1940, first found his passion for martial arts during a stint at a US Air Force airbase in South Korea. There he discovered tang soo do, a Korean martial art based on karate, which would shape his future as both a fighter and an actor.
He debuted on screen with a cameo in the 1968 Dean Martin film The Wrecking Crew. Four years later, his legendary fight with kung-fu superstar Bruce Lee in The Way of the Dragon helped cement his status as a global action icon.
Though he idolised John Wayne as a child, acting came as a secondary pursuit. After leaving the Air Force in 1962, Norris opened a martial arts studio in Los Angeles, teaching stars including Steve McQueen, Priscilla Presley, and Donny Osmond. By 1967, after winning a US karate championship at Madison Square Garden, he was firmly established as a top instructor.
Leading roles followed, from the US commando in Good Guys Wear Black to the action-horror film Silent Rage. In 1983, he played a taciturn Texas ranger waging war on arms dealers in Lone Wolf McQuade, a role that became the blueprint for the long-running TV series Walker, Texas Ranger. The show ran for eight seasons and spawned countless jokes and memes, including the famed one pitting Norris against Superman.
The success of the bearded, roundhouse-kicking Ranger marked a dramatic transformation for Norris, who grew up a shy, unathletic child who “used to daydream about being strong...to beat up the bullies.”
He had two sons from his first marriage to high school sweetheart Dianne Holechek, which lasted 30 years, and a son and a daughter with his second wife, Gena O’Kelley. Norris also had a daughter from an affair during his first marriage.
A committed Republican, he urged Americans to vote out Barack Obama in 2012 and publicly supported Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu a year later. Norris recovered from two cardiac arrests in 2017 and became embroiled in controversy in 2019 when he endorsed firearms manufacturer Glock amid a wave of gun violence in the US.