Chuck Norris, the square-jawed martial artist and Hollywood action hero who became a symbol of rugged American masculinity as the star of the CBS series “Walker, Texas Ranger” and later as a popular internet meme, died Thursday, his family said.
He was 86.
“It is with heavy hearts that our family shares the sudden passing of our beloved Chuck Norris yesterday morning,” Norris’ family said in a post on Instagram on Friday. “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. 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,” Norris’ family added.
He was best known for his nine-season run as Texas Ranger Sgt. Cordell Walker, a steely-eyed former Marine who dispensed Lone Star justice with roundhouse kicks and a decidedly old-school moral code. The series remains a staple of syndicated television.
Norris rose to prominence as a martial arts champion and trainer before going on to appear in a string of movies, most notably the Bruce Lee classic “The Way of the Dragon” as well as the 1980s thrillers “Lone Wolf McQuade,” “Missing in Action,” “Code of Silence” and “The Delta Force.”
He was also a vocal advocate for conservative political causes, Republican candidates and his own Christian beliefs. President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters Friday, described Norris as a “tough cookie.”
“We didn’t want to fight him,” Trump said.
In a post on X, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Norris “electrified generations of conservatives.”
Carlos Ray “Chuck” Norris was born March 10, 1940, in Ryan, Oklahoma, the son of a homemaker mother and a World War II veteran father whom he described as an alcoholic. In interviews decades later, Norris recalled feeling shy and unathletic as a child, describing his early years in stark terms.
“Most people see a person in his success mode and they say, ‘Boy, was he lucky. He was a karate star. Then he did movies.’ But it was extremely difficult. Extremely difficult,” Norris told The Los Angeles Times in September 1988.
He went on to join the United States Air Force. He was stationed in South Korea, where he embraced the nickname “Chuck” and started studying tang soo do, a Korean martial art tradition. When he returned to the U.S., he competed in martial arts competitions and won a series of key championships.
Norris earned a reputation as a karate trainer to the stars. He struck up a friendship with Bruce Lee, which led to Norris’ first on-screen role as the Hong Kong star’s opponent in “The Way of the Dragon.” In that seminal kung fu film’s climactic scene, Lee and Norris’ characters face off inside the Colosseum in Rome.
Hollywood icon Steve McQueen urged Norris to take acting classes and pivot to leading roles. Norris soon started racking up credits in independently produced ‘70s action flicks such as “Breaker! Breaker!,” “Good Guys Wear Black” and “A Force of One.”
In the ‘80s, Norris teamed up with major Hollywood studios on more high-profile projects, signing a three-picture deal with MGM before teaming up with the Cannon Group on titles such as “Invasion U.S.A.,” “Missing in Action” and “Firewalker.” Norris’ mainstream success in film helped boost his international profile.
Reagan-era action star Dolph Lundgren, who appeared with Norris in “The Expendables 2,” praised the late actor in an Instagram post. “Ever since I was a young martial artist and later getting into movies, I always looked up to him as a role model,” Lundgren wrote.
Norris reached the height of his fame as “Walker, Texas Ranger,” a role that cemented his place in American popular culture. In the title role, Norris embodied the archetype of the stoic but good-hearted Old West lawman.
In an interview in the ‘90s, Norris said he was drawn to a “modern-day Western story” with a clear-cut moral message.
“When you are fighting good against evil, when the good guys are taking on the bad guys and winning, then I think that’s good,” Norris told an interviewer. “Unfortunately in our society, in reality, that’s not always the case.”
Sheree Wilson, who played Alex Cahill Walker, an assistant district attorney and later wife to the Texas Ranger, told NBC News her working relationship with Norris over the series’ nine years “filled my heart with such joy.”
“I feel so deeply for his family because they were everything to him,” Wilson added. “When you have a work family your heart and soul don’t know the difference. It’s with such deep respect and profound gratitude that I got to play with him for all those years.”
Nia Peeples, who starred in the final two seasons of “Walker, Texas Ranger” as Ranger Sydney Cooke, said Norris found success in his acting career “not merely due to his knack for action or his tremendous martial arts skill — and certainly not for his thespian-prowess. But because of his heart.”
Judson Mills, who played Ranger Francis Gage, likewise remembered Norris as a “true gentleman in every sense of the word.”
“Chuck was one of those rare individuals who was truly the icon he was made out to be — quiet, humble, kind, wise, and gentle,” Mills said.
In the 2000s, Norris found new cultural life as an internet meme as online spaces filled up with so-called “Chuck Norris facts” — hyperbolic and satirical claims about his physical prowess and tough-guy persona. (“Chuck Norris doesn’t read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.”)
The United States Marine Corps paid tribute to Norris with a nod to that meme style.
“Chuck Norris didn’t join the Marine Corps ... the Marine Corps applied to him,” it wrote, adding that the actor became an honorary Marine in 2007.
In recent years, Norris took on greater stature in conservative politics.
He endorsed and campaigned for Republican presidential candidates such as former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. He wrote columns for WorldNetDaily, a right-wing opinion website, and published a book called “Black Belt Patriotism: How to Reawaken America.”
Norris published a total of nine books, including a fitness guide and two memoirs: 1987’s “The Secret of Inner Strength: My Story” and 2004’s “Against All Odds: My Story.”
Norris is survived by his wife, Gena O’Kelley, and five children, including Mike Norris, an actor, and Eric Norris, a former stock car racing driver and stuntman; he was previously married to Dianne Holechek.
Dakota and Danilee Norris, twins and Norris’ two youngest children, each eulogized their father in posts on Instagram.
“He may have a warrior exterior, but his heart was so full of love and I’m so grateful that is something he and my mom passed down to me,” Danilee Norris wrote in part.
Dakota Norris wrote: “You made sure I knew how much you loved me. Honest to God, I don’t think there was a single day that went by where you didn’t say it. I’m so proud to be your son.”
