Chuck Norris died yesterday, having just passed his 86th birthday on March 10. He was born Carlos Ray Norris; he was a shy child who did not do particularly well in either athletics or academics. This would begin to change when he joined the Air Force, when he began learning martial arts in earnest. After he was honorably discharged, he opened a martial arts studio and began competing in tournaments. Being something of a martial arts jack-of-all-trades, it took him a while to start doing so, but once he hit his stride, he began dominating in karate tournaments. This led him to become friends with Bruce Lee, which in turn resulted in his first movie role with Lee, The Way of the Dragon. His significant break began in 1978, with Good Guys Wear Black, a low-budget movie (it cost $1 million) that made relatively good profit and created a demand for Norris as the first major non-Bruce-Lee martial arts actor in America. Then followed a bunch of action movies, most of which did quite well. One of the successes was Lone Wolf McQuaid, in 1983, in which he played a Texas Ranger; this is likely the first glimmering seed of his hit television show, begun in 1993, Walker, Texas Ranger, which throughout its eight seasons was one of the most popular shows on television.
Most people too young to remember any of this mostly know Chuck Norris from 'Chuck Norris Facts':
Chuck Norris was pulled over by a cop once; he let the cop go with a warning.
The one time Chuck Norris was wrong was when he thought he made a mistake.
Ghosts tell stories about Chuck Norris to scare each other.
There is no survival of the fittest, only creatures Chuck Norris allows to live.
Legends live forever, which is almost as long as Chuck Norris.
But, in the context, perhaps the best one is the one Norris himself alluded to a few days before his death:
Chuck Norris doesn't age; he just levels up.
