Honolulu, United States. Chuck Norris, the former martial arts champion and 1980s action-film star known for “Missing in Action,” “The Delta Force” and TV series “Walker, Texas Ranger,” died on Thursday, his family said. The family statement was posted on his Instagram account on Friday.
Family statement
“While we would like to keep the circumstances private, please know that he was surrounded by his family and was at peace,” the statement said.
Career in film and television
Norris, a six-time undefeated World Professional Middleweight Karate Champion, starred in more than two dozen films, often portraying silent loners, soldiers, lawmen, veterans and All-American heroes who captured criminals, released prisoners of war, rescued hostages and battled terrorists.
With his roundhouse kicks he fought Bruce Lee in Rome’s Colosseum in his 1973 film debut “The Way of the Dragon.” In 2012, he appeared in “The Expendables 2” alongside Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis, in which the group helped defeat villain Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Time magazine described Norris as “the ultimate tough guy,” writing in 1985 that “in his strictly wham-bam B-movie genre, Norris, a former karate champion, has become the undisputed superstar.”
From 1993 to 2001, Norris played Sergeant Cordell Walker, described as an upstanding lawman, former Marine and martial arts expert, in “Walker, Texas Ranger.”
Hospitalization and online notoriety
Variety reported that Norris had been hospitalized in Hawaii on Thursday.
Norris became an online cult figure in 2005 when an American student created what became “Chuck Norris Facts,” a series of online jokes about his physical prowess and masculinity that became widely shared and inspired several books.
What performances of Chuck Norris stand out most to you?
