As the world world now knows, we lost an absolute icon and legend in Chuck Norris on March 19 at the age of 86, a week and a half after his birthday in Kauai, Hawaii.

Born Carlos Ray Norris on March 10, 1940 in Ryan, Oklahoma, to Wilma Lee and Ray Dee Norris. The eldest of three brothers, Chuck and his brothers moved to Prairie Village, Kansas when he was 16 after his parents divorced.

In 1958, Norris joined the U.S. Air Force and it was while he was stationed in South Korea that he found his first passion: martial arts. It was there when he was given his nickname that would be his iconic name and began training in Tang Soo Do. Upon his return to the U.S., he remained with the Air Force until 1962 and opened up a martial arts studio while possibly finding work as a policeman in Torrance, California.

It was then that his prolific career as a tournament fighter began, taking on the likes of Tonny Tulleners, Joe Lewis, Allen Steen, and Vic Moore. In 1967, he defeated Lewis at New York City’s Madison Square Garden in S. Henry Cho’s All-American Karate Championships. It was then his school had expanded and soon after, he met the man who would help find his second passion — acting — and like Norris, was a martial artist as well. His name was Bruce Lee.

Lee was “karate advisor” (a term later to be known as fight choreographer) for the 1968 film The Wrecking Crew, a spy spoof starring Dean Martin. Norris made his acting debut as a thug but a few years later, history would be made.

In 1972, after Joe Lewis turned down the role, Norris would play Colt, an American karate champion who faces off against Lee’s Tang Lung in Lee’s directorial debut The Way of the Dragon (Return of the Dragon). Their duel is regarded decades later as one of the best martial arts fights seen on the screen.

Norris would appear as the villain in another Golden Harvest film, Yellow-Faced Tiger in 1974 opposite newcomer Don Wong and future Hong Kong icon Sylvia Chang. However, the film wouldn’t see a U.S. release until Norris’ star took off when it was released as Slaughter in San Francisco (after his character of Chuck Slaughter) and also, Karate Cop when it was released on VHS in 1992 from the defunct MNTEX distribution label.

In 1977, Norris made his lead role debut in Breaker! Breaker! as a truck driver who must head to a corrupt town to rescue his brother. This was the first collaboration between Chuck and his brother Aaron, who would go on to be his fight choreographer for a number of years. A year later, Good Guys Wear Black would have one of Norris’ most famous scenes where he does a jumping kick through a car windshield.

The Octagon would be one of Norris’ most well-known films with its depiction of ninjas before Cannon Films made them extremely popular in the United States. The film has him play a retired martial artist whose past comes back to haunt him when the titular organization causes chaos.

Sporting both his trademark moustache and a clean shaven look for the next few years, we got to see Norris in films like An Eye for an Eye, Forced Vengeance, and Silent Rage, his first horror-inspired film where he takes on an invincible serial killer (Hero and the Terror from 1988 would be his second one).

In 1984, Norris signed on with Cannon Films and would become their “golden boy”. It all started with Missing in Action, a Vietnam War-themed action films. Now, here’s where things got interesting. Originally, Lance Hool was directed a version of the film. However, Joseph Zito had directed a version of the film as well. Cannon decided to release Zito’s film as the first film with Hool’s version released as the prequel Missing in Action 2: The Beginning in 1985.

Norris was offered the role of American Ninja Joe Armstrong, but turned it down and it went to “second golden boy” Michael Dudikoff. Norris continued with films such as Invasion USA, Firewalker, Code of Silence, and The Delta Force in the 1980s.

After Cannon Films folded, Norris found a new outlet: television. He would be a co-creator and star of the series Walker: Texas Ranger. Released in 1993, the series ran for nine seasons from 1993-2001, the series was one of CBS’ staple series during the decade. Fans of old and new flocked every Saturday night to see Norris kick his way to justice.

Norris sporadically continued to make films during the series run, including Forest Warrior, Top Dog, and The President’s Man.

Norris decided to take a break from films after 2005’s The Cutter to focus on a new endeavor: fight promotion. He founded the World Combat League (2005-2008), a team competition made up of kickboxing teams from different cities. Some of the competitors would end up joining the MMA ranks and compete in various promotions including the UFC and StrikeForce. The company folded in 2008.

Norris would appear in an extended cameo in The Expendables 2 and continue to focus on martial arts and family. In 2023, two new film projects were announced with Norris. The first was Agent Recon, the latest of Derek Ting‘s action sci-fi franchise, where he played Alastair, a cybernetic replica of Ting’s former mentor. The second was Zombie Plane where in the tradition of Nicolas Cage, Jackie Chan, and his old friend Jean-Claude Van Damme, would play a parody version of himself.

Agent Recon was released in 2024 and Zombie Plane, which is Norris’ final film, will be released in the Fall of 2026.

Chuck Norris is survived by his brother Aaron, wife Gena, sons Mike, Eric, Dakota, and daughters Dina and Danilee.

Indie World Cinema sends its sincerest condolences to the Norris family.

And to end this tribute to the icon, here’s a classic Norris joke:
When God said “Let There Be Light”, Chuck Norris said, “Say Please!”

R.I.P. Carlos Ray “Chuck” Norris. Here’s a tribute video from the late great Tony “KingofKungFu2002” Coates: