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About Chuck Norris

Chuck Norris was born in Ryan, Oklahoma, the son of Wilma and Ray Norris. His father was a mechanic, bus driver, and truck driver. Norris’s paternal grandfather (an immigrant) and maternal grandmother were of Irish descent, while his paternal grandmother and maternal grandfather were Cherokee Native Americans. He has two younger brothers, Wieland (deceased) and Aaron (a Hollywood producer).

When Norris was sixteen, his parents divorced, and he later relocated to Prairie Village, Kansas and then Torrance, California, with his mother and brothers.

Norris describes his childhood as downbeat. He was nonathletic, shy, and scholastically mediocre. Other children teased him about his mixed ethnicity, and Norris daydreamed about beating up his tormentors. Norris mentioned in his autobiography that his father had a very serious problem with drinking and “wasn’t there” a lot for him growing up. Norris admitted that he loved his father but did not like him. He felt pity for the man because “that was just how he was, and he missed so much.”

In 1958 he joined the Air Force 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 (tangsudo), an interest that would lead to black belts in that art and the founding of the Chun Kuk Do form.

He also created the education associations United Fighting Arts Federation and “KickStart” (formerly “Kick Drugs Out of America”), a middle school and high school–based program intended to give at risk children a focus point in life through martial arts.

When he returned to the United States, he continued to act as an AP at March Air Force Base California. Norris was discharged in August of 1962. He worked for the Northrop Corporation and opened a chain of karate schools, which Chad McQueen, Steve McQueen’s son, attended.

Norris’s career in tournament karate began on a losing note. He was defeated in his first two tournaments, dropping decisions to Joe Lewis and Allan Steen and three matches at the International Karate Championships to Tony Tulleners.

In 1967, Norris began to demonstrate his skill and scored victories over Lewis, Skipper Mullins, Arnold Urquidez, Victor Moore, Ron Marchini, and Steve Sanders. In early 1968, Norris suffered the sixth and last loss of his career, losing an upset decision to Louis Delgado.

However, on November 24, 1968, he avenged his defeat to Delgado. With that win, he gained the Professional Middleweight Karate champion title. And he held it for six consecutive years. 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 martial artist Bruce Lee. In 1972, he acted as Bruce Lee’s nemesis in the movie Way of the Dragon, which is widely credited with launching him into stardom. In Asia, he is still known for this role. In 1974, McQueen encouraged him to begin acting classes at MGM.

Norris’s first starring role was 1977’s Breaker! Breaker!, which was a hit. Subsequent films such as The Octagon (1980), An Eye for an Eye (1981), and Lone Wolf McQuade proved his increasing box office popularity. 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.

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. Many of the films were produced by Chuck Norris’s brother Aaron, as were several episodes of Walker, Texas Ranger. In 1986, he was involved in the production of the Ruby Spears cartoon Karate Kommandos.

Norris made history in 1997, when he was the first Westerner in the documented history of Tae Kwon Do to be given the rank of 8th Degree Black Belt Grand Master. On July 1, 2000, Norris was presented the Golden Lifetime Achievement Award by the World Karate Union Hall of Fame.

Norris went on to make several largely ignored films before making a transition to television. He began shooting the series Walker, Texas Ranger, which lasted eight years on CBS and continued in heavy syndication on other channels.

On October 17, 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 “Cord” Walker for the movie. He had stated that future Walker, Texas Ranger “Movie of the Week” projects were expected, however, this was severely impaired by CBS’s 2006–2007 decision to no longer regularly schedule MOWs on Sunday night.

Norris lives in north Houston and owns a ranch between Navasota, Texas and Anderson, Texas. He also has a small residence in Los Angeles for when he does films or television shows.
 

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