Goodbye to Chuck Norris, the action hero and tough guy of B movies

He died at the hands of Bruce Lee in the Roman Colosseum, embodied action heroes in medium and low budget movies in Hollywood during the eighties, and in the nineties became a ranger fighting crime in the city of Dallas, while his image of a tough and invincible man became the subject of internet memes that appealed to his immortality and toughness. The actor, producer, screenwriter, and martial arts champion Chuck Norris passed away this Thursday at the age of 86 after being urgently hospitalized this week in Hawaii.

It was his relatives who announced the death through a post on his Instagram account: "With great sorrow, our family announces the sudden passing of our beloved Chuck Norris, which occurred yesterday morning. Although we prefer to maintain privacy regarding the circumstances, we want you to know that he was surrounded by his family and that he passed away peacefully. 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 of people around the world and left a lasting impact on so many lives," they added.

A post shared by Chuck Norris (@chucknorris)

Born on March 10, 1940, in Ryan, Oklahoma, Carlos Ray Norris joined the United States Air Force in 1958 and was stationed in South Korea. There, he acquired the nickname 'Chuck' and, unlike other action movie stars who haven’t fought a real battle, began to take an interest in martial arts. He trained in tang soo do, a Korean version of taekwondo, and added karate, jiu-jitsu, judo, and boxing among other combat forms to his repertoire.

Upon returning to the United States, he founded his own school and began competing in various tournaments until he became a world champion. His good performance on the mat not only provided him the publicity necessary to open a chain of karate schools attended by celebrities like Michael Landon, Priscilla Presley, or Steve McQueen - he even developed his own martial art, chun kuk do - but also put him in touch with Bruce Lee, with whom he struck up a friendship that eventually led him to play Colt, the antagonist in 'Enter the Dragon' (1972). The fight they had at the end of the film in the Roman Colosseum would become one of the most famous in cinema history and would consolidate Norris as an efficient action hero in the seventies and eighties. Only on one more occasion would he again play the villain and, consequently, lose, in 'The Tiger from San Francisco' (1974).

Despite his limited acting skills, Norris, with his red beard and jeans, cultivated a public image of a disciplined and strong man, as well as a staunch defender of the homeland and family. Values that he often transferred to his characters in films like 'Silent Rage' (1982), 'Lone Wolf McQuade' (1983), 'Missing in Action' (1984), 'Code of Silence' (1985), or 'Delta Force' (1986). None of them, except perhaps 'Missing in Action', which he starred in for Cannon and led to two more installments, ever reached the heights of genre classics like 'Rambo: First Blood' or 'Predator', but they did delight millions of viewers, eager for thrills and adrenaline, who also gave these titles a second life in video stores around the world.

In the nineties, when his figure seemed to be fading among other great references of action cinema like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, or Bruce Willis, he was reborn with 'Walker, Texas Ranger', a television series that began in 1993 and remained on air until 2001, totaling 203 episodes and a television movie in 2005. Broadcast in our country by Telecinco, in the series Norris played Cordell Walker, a ranger expert in martial arts and a Vietnam veteran who fought crime and defended justice in the streets of Dallas. The success of the production made him an international star, but it was also key in elevating his figure to the altars of pop culture.

In the mid-2000s, Conan O'Brien began to parody the TV show on 'The Tonight Show' and soon the internet users found there a vein for humor around the image of a tough, virile, and solitary man that Norris had built for himself. 'Chuck Norris doesn't do push-ups, he pushes the Earth down' or 'Death had a near Chuck Norris experience' are just some of the jokes that ran through cyberspace when social networks like Twitter or Facebook were more friendly corners. The actor and sportsman found them so amusing, he gathered those he liked most in 'The Official Chick Norris Fact Book'. However, as he hurried to point out on World Net Daily, the conservative blog where he usually expressed his opinions, in the history of the planet "there has only been one superman, and it's not me."

Indeed, Norris was a devout Christian, as he made clear in 'Against All Odds: My Story', the autobiography in which, in addition to reviewing his life and career, he explained how faith in Jesus Christ had helped him overcome personal difficulties. A declared conservative and Republican, Norris displayed his patriotism on and off the screen. He verbally confronted Obama and publicly supported Donald Trump's candidacy against the "monumental consequences" that another Clinton presidency, this time Hillary's, would entail. His passion for the Republican Party was such that his agent had to deny that he participated in the assault on the Capitol in 2021.

Married twice, Norris had five children, one of them from an extramarital relationship while serving in the United States Air Force. Born in 1962, but he did not meet her until 1990 and publicly recognized her when he published his memoirs in 2004. He leaves behind a half-century of acting work, including his participation in the second installment of 'The Expendables' (2012), the franchise that pays tribute to eighties action cinema by bringing together many of its stars. The actor remained active until the end, proof of which is that his last movie, 'Zombie Plane', alongside Vanilla Ice, is yet to be released and that last March 10 he celebrated his birthday with an Instagram video where he was doing what he does best: handing out wax.