Developing story: Chuck Norris, veteran action hero, martial arts…

Chuck Norris, the veteran, world martial arts champion, action hero and Internet meme inspirer of the early 2000s whose rough behavior was immortalized in the hit show “Walker, Texas Ranger,” has died.

He was 86 years old.

“It is with heavy hearts that our family shares the sudden passing of our beloved Chuck Norris yesterday morning,” read a message credited to the Norris family posted on Instagram and Facebook Friday morning. “While we would like to keep the circumstances private, please know that he was surrounded by his family and was at peace.”

Norris had an unidentified medical emergency Thursday in Hawaii, according to news reports. The family thanked fans for their prayers during his hospitalization.

“He lived his life with faith, purpose, and an unwavering commitment to the people he loved,” the post read. “Through his work, his discipline and his kindness, he inspired millions of people around the world and left a lasting impact on so many lives.”

■ Beginnings

The ultimate tough guy, Norris’ first memorable acting role was as Bruce Lee’s formidable adversary in 1972’s “The Way of the Dragon,” before landing his first leading role five years later as a truck driver searching for his missing brother in “Breaker! Breaker!”

Throughout the ’70s and ’80s, Norris made a name for himself as a rugged action hero in films like “Missing in Action” and “Delta Force,” marking his place in pop culture with a consistently stoic appearance and lines like “My kind of problem doesn’t go on vacation” (from 1983’s “Lone Wolf McQuade”).

With his film career cooling in the 1990s, Norris moved on to television. He won new fans with his long-running series “Walker, Texas Ranger,” which ran from 1993 to 2001.

On the show, Norris played Cordell Walker, a veteran Texas Ranger who fights crime in Dallas and throughout the Lone Star State. Norris was nominated for a TV Guide Award for Favorite Actor in a Drama in 1999.

■ Master martial arts

Carlos Ray “Chuck” Norris was born in Ryan, Oklahoma, to Irish American and Cherokee Native American parents. After his parents’ divorce, Norris, his mother and two younger brothers moved to Prairie Village, Kansas, and then Torrance, California, according to his profile on the Walk of Fame.

Norris became acquainted with the world of martial arts while stationed in Korea with the U.S. Air Force in the late 1950s, according to the military. “I started training there, then I came back, left the service and started teaching. And to attract students to my school, I became a karate fighter,” Norris once told Mike Douglas on CNN’s “People Now” program.

He also founded his own style of karate, the Chuck Norris System™, originally based on his Tang Soo Do training while serving in Korea.

Among Norris’s many students were Priscilla Presley, the Osmonds, Steve McQueen and Bob Barker, who famously said he suffered cracked ribs after being kicked in the side by Norris during practice.

“I retired as a world karate champion and I was looking for something to get involved in, a new goal for myself. And I thought about acting,” Norris told CNN in 1982. “I talked to Steve McQueen about it and he encouraged me to pursue it. He said if I applied myself like I did with martial arts, maybe I’d have a chance.” [CNN]

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