Chuck Norris rose from undefeated karate success to TV stardom and the internet’s best-known “facts.”
Before becoming 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 3300 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 honour.. 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 joined the US Air Force after high school, in 1958.. It was during a deployment to Korea that he started training in martial arts, including judo and Tang Soo Do.. After he was honourably discharged in 1962, Norris worked
as a file clerk for Northrop Aircraft and applied 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 Bob Barker, Priscilla Presley, Donny and Marie Osmond, and Steve McQueen, whom he later credited with encouraging him to get into acting.. Norris made his film debut as an uncredited bodyguard in the 1968 movie The Wrecking
Crew, which included a fight with Dean Martin.. He had also crossed paths with Bruce Lee in martial arts circles.. Their friendship — sometimes, as sparring partners — led to a famous faceoff in the 1972 movie Way of the Dragon, in which Lee fights and kills Norris’ character in Rome’s Colosseum.. Norris went on to act in more than 20 movies, such as Missing in Action, The Delta Force and Sidekicks.. In 1993 Norris
took on his most famed role, as a crime-fighting lawman in TV’s Walker, Texas Ranger.. The show ran for nine seasons, and in 2010, then Governor Rick Perry awarded him the title of honorary Texas Ranger.. The Texas Senate later named him an honorary Texan.. Norris also made a surprise comedic appearance as a decisive judge in the final match of the 2004 movie Dodgeball.. He only on occasion had taken acting roles in recent
years, including 2012’s The Expendables 2 and the 2024 sci-fi action movie Agent Recon.. Norris ultimately embraced the absurdity of the meme craze, putting together The Official Chuck Norris Fact Book, which combined his favourites 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.. The ‘‘Fact Book’’ raised money for a non-profit he
founded with President George H.. W.. Bush that promoted martial arts instruction for children.. Norris was outspoken about his Christian beliefs and his support for gun rights, and backed political candidates for years — he even went skydiving with Bush for the former president’s 80th birthday.. Norris endorsed Donald Trump in the 2016 general election and wrote guest columns praising him without explicitly endorsing him in the days before the 2020 and 2024 elections.. Norris
died on March 19 aged 86.. He is survived by five 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 ‘‘one-night stand’’ revealed in his autobiography.. — AP Chuck Norris facts • Chuck Norris doesn’t read books.. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.. • Time waits for no man.. Unless
that man is Chuck Norris.. • The flu gets a Chuck Norris shot every year.. •The dinosaurs looked at Chuck Norris the wrong way once.. You know what happened to them.. • Chuck Norris does not use spell check.. If he happens to misspell a word, Oxford will change the spelling.. • Chuck Norris counted to infinity …. twice.
Chuck Norris, martial arts champion, Walker Texas Ranger, karate, The Official Chuck Norris Fact Book, internet memes