Chuck Norris - The Picture Encyclopedia of Cultural Images

Chuck Norris - The Picture Encyclopedia of Cultural Images

Chuck Norris, originally Carlos Ray Norris, was born in 1940 as a son of Native American father and Irish mother. He spent part of his early childhood on the prairie, and was often mocked by other kids for his mixed origins, shyness, and weak build.

After finishing high school, in 1958, Chuck Norris joined the Air Force as a military policeman, and was shortly transferred to South Korea. Here he learned various forms of martial arts including Tae Kwon Do and Karate. After his discharge in 1962, he learned further schools of martial arts, opened a chain of karate schools, and established his own fighting style, Chun Kuk Do (“Universal Way.”)

Chuck Norris had a significant career in martial arts between 1965 and 1970. He won 65 out of his 70 matches during these years, and held the title of Professional Middle-weight Karate Champion for six years starting from 1968. Chuck Norris met Bruce Lee during this period at a martial arts presentation.

The movie career of Chuck Norris started in 1972 with the martial arts movie Way of the Dragon in which he co-starred Bruce Lee. He began to take acting classes, and in 1974 made his debut in a leading role in Breaker! Breaker!, an action movie. Chuck Norris rose to fame during the late 70’s and remained the top star of the Cannon film company until the end of the 80’s. Most of his movies, whether they were crime or action, involved martial arts. He is probably most famous for his Vietnam movies, the Missing in Action series (1984, 1985 and 1988), and The Delta Force series (1986 and 1990).

With the declining of Cannon, Chuck Norris lost some of his fame too, but was rediscovered in 1993 with the TV series Walker, Texas Ranger. Walker lasted eight seasons, and was mostly a crime-action-martial arts series. It turned Chuck Norris towards his origins, to the stories of Native Americans. After the series ended in 2001, TV movies were made to pick up the storyline, also starring Chuck Norris in the role of Walker.

In the early 2000’s, Chuck Norris became an icon, in no small part due to the internet. In 2005, the famous Chuck Norris Facts appeared, which are based mostly on the role the actor played during his early movie career. The facts are all about how powerful Chuck Norris is, and while he did not take a pro or contra position regarding them, these facts made him famous once more.

In recent years, Chuck Norris has been working on a book about Native Americans. He made a minor appearance as himself in Dodgeball, a True Underdog Story, which role was based on his iconic status. It is likely that he will remain in the center of interest for the months to come, partially because of the Chuck Norris Facts, the Walker TV films, and also because of his work as a writer.

Picture 1: Chuck Norris