Biography
Beginnings
A native of Ryan, Oklahoma, Norris has two younger brothers, Wieland and Aaron Norris, the latter of whom is a Hollywood producer. Norris's great uncle is the American novelist Frank Norris. Norris was born to an alcoholic Cherokee Indian father and Irish mother.[1] When Norris was ten, his parents divorced[2] and he later relocated to Prairie Village, Kansas and then Torrance, California with his mother and brothers.[3] Norris describes his childhood as downbeat. He was unathletic, shy, and scholastically mediocre. Kids would taunt his mixed ethnicity — wistfully he wanted to beat up his tormenters.
Norris finished high school and soon married his girlfriend, Diane Holechek. In 1958 Norris joined the United States Air Force as a Military Policeman and was sent to Osan Air Base South Korea. It was in South Korea that Norris acquired the nickname Chuck and began his training in Tang Soo Do, an interest that would segue into black belts in Tang Soo Do and Tae Kwon Do, both Korean martial arts, Shinto-Ryu Karate, and a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu; and the founding of the Chun Kuk Do ("Universal Way") form and the education association (United Fighting Arts Federation). When he returned to the states he continued to act as an MP at March Air Force Base California. Norris was discharged in August of 1962 without seeing combat. He worked for the Northrop corporation and opened a chain of karate schools, which the son of Steve McQueen, Chad McQueen attended.[4]
Rise to fame
Chuck Norris.
In 1968, Norris became Middleweight Karate champion (non-contact), a title he held for seven consecutive years.[5] In 1969, he won Karate's triple crown for the most tournament wins of the year, and the fighter of the year award by Black Belt magazine. It was also in 1969 that Norris made his acting debut, in the Dean Martin movie The Wrecking Crew.
In 1970, his younger brother Weiland was killed in Vietnam. Norris later dedicated his Missing in Action films to his brother's memory.
At a martial arts demonstration in Long Beach, Norris met the soon-to-be famous Bruce Lee. In 1972, he acted as Bruce Lee's nemesis in the movie Way of the Dragon, and in 1974, McQueen encouraged him to begin acting classes at the MGM Studio.
Norris' first starring role was 1977's Breaker, Breaker!, and subsequent films such as The Octagon (1980), An Eye for an Eye (1981), and Lone Wolf McQuade proved his increasing box office bankability. In 1984, Norris starred in Missing in Action, the first of a series of POW rescue fantasies produced by Israeli cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus and released under their Cannon Films banner. Also in that year, he was offered the part of the sensei of the villain dojo in the movie The Karate Kid, but declined the part. He reportedly did not want to take part in depicting martial artists in an unfavorable light. [6].
Over the next four years, Norris became Cannon's most prominent star, appearing in eight films, including Code of Silence, The Delta Force, and Firewalker, in which he co-starred with Academy Award winner Louis Gossett, Jr.
Walker, Texas Ranger
Chuck Norris as Texas Ranger Cordell Walker in Walker, Texas Ranger
By the close of the 1980s, Cannon Films had faded from prominence, and Norris' star appeal seemed to go with it. He reprised his Delta Force role for MGM, who had acquired the Cannon library after the latter's Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Norris went on to make several more largely ignored films before making a transition to television. In 1993, he began shooting the series Walker, Texas Ranger, which lasted eight years on CBS and continued in heavy syndication on other channels.
On October 16th, 2005, CBS Premiered the Sunday night "Movie of the Week" Walker Texas Ranger: Trial By Fire. The production was a continuation of the series, and not scripted to be a reunion movie. Norris reprised his role as Cordell Walker for the movie. He has stated that future Walker Texas Ranger "Movie of the Week" projects are expected.
Family
In 1963, his son Mike was born; a second son, Eric, followed in 1965. After 30 years of marriage, Norris and Holechek divorced in 1988. He married again in 1998, this time to former model Gena O'Kelley, and she delivered twins in 2001: Dakota Alan Norris, a boy, and Danilee Kelly Norris, a girl.
Recent years
Norris, a born-again Christian, has spoken out with his wife in favor of teaching Bible elective classes in public schools. He has also authored the fictional "Justice Riders." In 2005 Norris founded the World Combat League.
Norris is a staunch conservative Republican and a prominent supporter of George W. Bush. He also is a card-carrying member of the NRA.
Despite his political views, Norris is close friends with Rosie O'Donnell and Whoopi Goldberg.
Norris is an avid golfer and participates in many celebrity golf events.
Norris has trained many celebrities in the martial arts. Bob Barker is one of these celebrities, and Norris appeared as a guest on a special primetime "The Price is Right" celebrating Bob's birthday. He helped his contestant win the pricing game.
Norris was originally in mind as the role of Red Foreman on the FOX sitcom "That 70's Show", but he was still filming Walker, Texas Ranger at the time, so Kurtwood Smith was cast instead.
Popular culture
Norris regained popularity as a cult icon during the mid-2000's, especially on the Internet. Among the more high-profile parodies and references are these instances:
Late Night with Conan O'Brien's parent company, NBC, acquired Universal in early 2004, giving O'Brien permission to show footage of Walker, Texas Ranger without paying royalties. O'Brien and his writers subsequently created a new segment in which O'Brien shows short, out of context clips for comedic purposes. The "Walker, Texas Ranger Lever" quickly became one of the most popular segments on Late Night, with Norris himself showing up to parody his show and using his martial arts on O'Brien. This segment has been credited as jump-starting the Norris craze and leading to enough interest to produce a Walker, Texas Ranger TV movie.
Norris is the object of an Internet phenomenon known as Chuck Norris Facts documenting and proclaiming fictional, often mock-heroic feats and characteristics, which began to circulate in late 2005. Norris has written his own response to the parody on his website, stating that he doesn't feel offended by them, and finds some of them funny. [7]. He recently read 10 of them on a The Best Damn Sports Show, Period, and said that his favorite one is "They once tried to carve Chuck Norris's face into Mount Rushmore, but the granite wasn't hard enough for his beard[8].
Norris was parodied in a Saturday Night Live short film entitled "The Young Chuck Norris", aired January 21, 2006. [9]
Chuck Norris in his Total Gym Fitness commercial.
Chuck Norris sponsors the infomercial, Total Gym Fitness, which usually airs in the late night or early morning hours.
During the March 10, 2006 show of ESPN's Pardon the Interruption, numerous references were made to Norris on his birthday, including all of the cut-out heads on the set, which are usually of current sports stars, being replaced with Chuck Norris heads. Also, several humorous comments in reference to Chuck Norris were made by co-host, Tony Kornheiser, in a similar tone to that featured on the Chuck Norris Facts website.
Norris served as a guest referee at the WWF's Survivor Series 1994 for the casket match between The Undertaker and the late Yokozuna. A similar match had taken place at Royal Rumble 1994 where ten other wrestlers beat down The Undertaker. Norris was called upon to ensure a similar situation didn't take place. As guest referee, he kicked then-WWF star Jeff Jarrett square in the stomach.
In the popular internet flash video and song accompaniying it, The Ultimate Showdown, Chuck is said to descend from the heavens. During the video's main plot, in which the various heroes of pop culture fight in a death duel, Chuck takes out both Batman/Bruce Wayne, and Indiana Jones before being mutilated by a group of random other pop icons.
Filmography
Chuck Norris in "Braddock: Missing in Action III".
The Wrecking Crew (1969)
Way of the Dragon (1972)
The Student Teachers (1973)
Slaughter in San Francisco (1974)
The Warrior Within (1976) (documentary)
Bruce Lee, the Legend (1977) (documentary)
Breaker! Breaker! (1977)
Good Guys Wear Black (1978)
A Force of One (1979)
The Octagon (1980)
An Eye for an Eye (1981)
Silent Rage (1982)
Forced Vengeance (1982)
Lone Wolf McQuade (1983)
Missing in Action (1984)
Invasion U.S.A. (1985)
The Delta Force (1986)
Sidekicks (1992)
Hellbound (1994)
Top Dog (1995)
Forest Warrior (1996)
Bells of Innocence (2003)
Dodgeball (2004)
The Contender (2005)
The Cutter (2005)
References
Against All Odds: My Story, an autobiography
The Justice Riders, Wild West novels
Notes
^ "At Dinner with: Chuck Norris", The New York Times, May 12, 1993
^ "Chuck Norris — Strong, Silent, Popular", The New York Times, September 1, 1985
^ "At Dinner with: Chuck Norris", The New York Times, May 12, 1993
^ Ibid.
^ "Chuck Norris — Strong, Silent, Popular", The New York Times, September 1, 1985
