Chuck Norris, US roundhouse-kicking action star, dies at 86, family says
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
The actor Chuck Norris reportedly fell ill on March 19 on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.
PHOTO: AFP
LOS ANGELES - Chuck Norris, the US martial artist and Hollywood tough guy most famous for his role in the Walker, Texas Ranger television series, has died, his family said on March 20. He was 86.
Norris passed away on the morning of March 19, the family said on Instagram, after media reports that he had been hospitalised for an undisclosed condition while on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.
“To the world, he was a martial artist, actor, and a symbol of strength,” the statement read. “To us, he was a devoted husband, a loving father and grandfather, an incredible brother, and the heart of our family.”
The family said it would like to keep the details of Norris’s passing private, adding “please know that he was surrounded by his family and was at peace.”
Tributes quickly began pouring in.
“All of Texas mourns the passing of Chuck Norris. He was not only a martial arts champion, action icon, and the one and only Walker, Texas Ranger,” said Texas governor Greg Abbott.
“My heart and prayers are with his family. He will never be forgotten,” said fellow action movie star Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Norris could be outspoken about his conservative political views, and US President Donald Trump hailed him on March 20 as a “great supporter.”
“He was a really good, tough cookie. You didn’t want to fight him,” Mr Trump, who has cultivated deep connections with mixed martial arts and its fan base, told reporters at the White House.
Big screen icon
Born in Ryan, Oklahoma on March 10, 1940, Carlos Ray “Chuck” Norris took up martial arts while serving in the US Air Force in South Korea.
He left the Air Force in 1962 and set up a martial arts studio in Los Angeles, finding his calling in teaching and delivering roundhouse kicks.
His acting debut came with a cameo in a 1968 Dean Martin film, The Wrecking Crew. Four years later, his epic fight with the kung-fu superstar Bruce Lee in The Way of The Dragon helped turn Norris into an icon on big and small screen alike.
A slew of leading roles in karate films followed, from a US commando in Good Guys Wear Black, an all-American riposte to a slew of Hong Kong action flicks harnessing Lee’s fame, to the action horror feature Silent Rage.
The martial arts expert turned actor (centre) has starred in a slew of action films since his acting debut in 1968.
PHOTO: AFP
As his acting career grew, he became a legendary martial arts figure, winning six world professional middleweight karate championships from 1968 to 1974 and earning black belts in multiple disciplines.
Norris v Superman
In 1983, Norris slipped into the role of a taciturn Texas ranger waging war against an arms dealer in Lone Wolf McQuade, which provided the template for the cult TV series Walker, Texas Ranger.
The show ran for eight seasons and spawned countless action-man jokes and memes, one being that Chuck Norris and Superman had a fight, with the loser (Superman) forced to wear their underpants on the outside.
The success of the bearded, ass-kicking Ranger marked a stunning reversal of fortune for Norris, who grew up a shy, unathletic child, who “used to daydream about being strong... to beat up the bullies.”
By midday March 20 fans had begun placing flowers at Norris’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles.
Flowers lie over the star of actor Chuck Norris following his death, on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, California.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“We grew up on Chuck Norris because he was more like a father figure to us,” 59-year-old Los Angeles resident Mike Ravizza told AFP on Hollywood Boulevard.
“He’ll tell you what’s wrong, what’s right, what not to do, what to do – and he will fight everybody.”
An evangelical Christian, he was born into a family of three boys raised mainly by their Irish mother after her divorce from their alcoholic father.
He had two sons from his first marriage to his 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 dyed-in-the-wool Republican, he urged his compatriots to vote out Barack Obama in 2012. A year later, he offered his bare-chested support to Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu in a video.
On March 19, Mr Netanyahu called Norris “a great friend of Israel and a close personal friend.”
He added: “Chuck brought martial arts and the warmth of his character to millions around the world.”
In 2017, Norris recovered from two cardiac arrests. He was mired in controversy two years later by becoming the public face of arms company Glock, despite an epidemic of gun violence in the United States. AFP
