Chuck Norris, who turned a talent and expertise in the martial arts into a hugely successful Hollywood career that including his long-running signature series Walker, Texas Ranger, died Thursday. He was 86.
His death was announced by his family on Instagram. Norris was hospitalized on Thursday in Hawaii.
“It is with heavy hearts that our family shares the sudden passing of our beloved Chuck Norris yesterday morning,” the family posted today. “While we would like to keep the circumstances private, please know that he was surrounded by his family and was at peace.
“To the world, he was a martial artist, actor, and a symbol of strength,” the statement continues. “To us, he was a devoted husband, a loving father and grandfather, an incredible brother, and the heart of our family. He lived his life with faith, purpose, and an unwavering commitment to the people he loved. Through his work, discipline, and kindness, he inspired millions around the world and left a lasting impact on so many lives.”
Born Carlos Ray Norris on March 10, 1940, in Ryan, Oklahoma, Norris served in the U.S. Air Force as a young man before dedicating himself to training in martial arts. During that time, he developed a friendship with martial arts icon Bruce Lee and moved to Hollywood to train film stars in combat. He later moved in front of the camera and began one of the great action movie star careers.
Aside from a 1970 appearance on the TV dramedy Room 222, Norris’ acting career initially focused on the big screen, with 1972’s The Way of the Dragon with Lee considered his breakthrough. The pic’s climactic fight scene between Norris’ Colt and Lee’s Tang in Rome’s Colosseum is considered a genre classic.
The following years and decades would see his feature film credits grow, with entries including Breaker! Breaker! (1978), Good Guys Wear Black (1978), The Octagon (1980), An Eye for an Eye (1981), Lone Wolf McQuade (1983), Code of Silence (1985), Invasion U.S.A. (1985), The Delta Force (1986), Delta Force 2: The Colombian Connection (1990) and the 1984-88 Missing in Action trilogy in which he played a Vietnam-era American prisoner of war who returns to that country to rescue other POWs.
Although many of Norris’ films, and his often wooden acting style, weren’t critical favorites, he developed a strong fan base that grew from a cult following impressed by his martial arts skills to millions of people thrilled with his action stories.
His signature role came in 1993 when CBS began airing Walker, Texas Ranger, an action series inspired by Norris’ Lone Wolf McQuade. In the series, he played Texas Ranger Sgt. Cordell Walker, ex-Marine and Vietnam vet raised on a Cherokee reservation after his parents were murdered. With a combination of martial arts moves and Cherokee hunting skills, Walker was a crime-solving crusader for justice, moral values and a good butt-kicking.
The hit series ran for nine seasons, wrapping up in 2001, and spawned both a standalone TV reunion movie (Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial by Fire in 2005) and a four-season 2021 CW reboot starring Jared Padalecki.
As with many of his projects, Norris also served as a writer and producer on his series. His stuntman-brother Aaron was a director on the show.
Although known for his earnest and usually stoic performance style and screen persona, Norris occasionally let fans know he was in on all the jokes about his strongman reputation, most notably when he played himself in the 2004 comedy Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. In 2012, he played a mercenary in star-laden The Expendables 2.
Still, he took his place in show business and the world at large with considerable intent. In his 1988 memoir The Secret of Inner Strength: My Story, he wrote that his fans “want and need someone to identify with, a man who is self-reliant, stands on his own two feet, and is not afraid to face adversity.” He added, “They want to believe in me, just as I believed in John Wayne when I was a boy.”
One of Hollywood’s most outspoken Republican conservative voices, Norris supported the Prop 8 ban on same-sex marriage, indulged in Obama birther conspiracies, had an endorsement deal with the Glock gun manufacturer and in 2021 supported the (failed) recall effort to unseat California’s Democratic governor Gavin Newsom.
Norris’ politically conservative leanings were outlined in his 2008 nonfiction book Black Belt Patriotism: How to Reawaken America (Regnery Publishing). Other writings include memoirs The Secret Power Within: Zen Solutions to Real Problems (1997), and Against All Odds: My Story (2005).
Norris received a number of black belts for his martial arts prowess, including taekwondo, judo, jiu-jitsu and others. He won the Professional Middleweight Karate championship in 1968, a title he’d hold for six consecutive years, and was named Black Belt magazine’s Fighter of the Year in 1969. Norris got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1989 and was among the inaugural class of the Martial Arts History Hall of Fame in 1999.
Norris is survived by wife Gena O’Kelley; children Mike, Eric, Dina, Danilee and Dakota; brother Aaron Norris; and numerous grandchildren.
