Hollywood action star Chuck Norris has died at the age of 86, his family said, noting that "the circumstances are private, but know that he was surrounded by friends and passed away peacefully."
Norris was a martial artist, action film actor and Hollywood star. Before his acting career, he served in the US Air Force, during which time he was stationed in South Korea and began studying martial arts.
After returning to the US, Norris opened a karate school that attracted numerous celebrities. He later met Bruce Lee, and the two filmed a scene together in Lee's 1972 movie The Way of the Dragon. In the film, Norris plays a powerful karate fighter hired by a wealthy man to take on Lee.
The movie helped launch Norris to stardom. Encouraged by actor Steve McQueen, he went on to study acting at MGM Studios. From the late 1970s onward, he appeared in countless action films, including collaborations with Israeli producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus.
In the 1990s, Norris became widely known for his role as Cordell Walker in the television series Walker, Texas Ranger, which aired for eight years. The show addressed issues relevant to young audiences, promoting values such as morality, justice and compassion, as well as discouraging drug use and encouraging community involvement, all while showcasing Norris' martial arts skills. Norris himself said the character of Walker reflected his own personal values.
In 2024, he returned to the screen in Agent Recon, playing a "super-soldier" in an elite US unit battling a foreign force threatening humanity, offering fans nostalgic scenes of hand-to-hand combat and heavy gunfire and demonstrating that he remained active even at an advanced age.
During the 2000s, Norris also visited Israel and said he supported Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In popular culture, he holds a prominent place thanks to the "Chuck Norris jokes," which portray him as an unstoppable, larger-than-life figure.
