Chuck Norris: A Life in Pictures

Skip to content Skip to site index Chuck Norris: A Life in Pictures The actor, known for his skills as a martial artist, often played the warrior onscreen. Credit... Robert Voets/CBS, via Getty Images Supported by SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Share full article By The New York Times March 20, 2026 Millions of fans loved the heroics of the actor Chuck Norris, who died on Thursday at 86, even though movie critics were less enamored of his acting. He developed an interest in martial arts while in the Air Force and earned a black belt in karate before Bruce Lee helped him land some bit parts in movies. Norris’s first significant appearance was in “The Way of the Dragon” (1972), with Lee. In addition to his martial arts-based movies, he was known for starring in the TV series “Walker, Texas Ranger,” which aired from 1993 to 2001. People “want to believe in me,” he said in the book “The Secret of Inner Strength: My Story,” “just as I believed in John Wayne when I was a boy.” Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris on the set of “The Way of the Dragon” (1972). Norris was one of many opponents finished off by Lee, and this bit part was his first big role in the movies. A 1977 assessment in The New York Times of Norris’s performance in “Breaker! Breaker!” was that he was “about as emotional as a statue.” Norris on the set of “Octagon” (1979). His most fertile period onscreen stretched from the late 1970s to the early 2000s. Norris, circa 1978, practicing kung fu-style moves with a trainer in his backyard in the Palos Verdes region of California. From 1968 to 1974, he was the world’s reigning middleweight karate champion. The actor Ricky Schroder with Norris at the Cannes Film Festival in 1980. Norris and Barbara Carrera in “Lone Wolf McQuade” (1983). Norris starred in the action thriller “Invasion U.S.A.” in 1985. In 1990, Norris jogged with former President George Bush, center, in Washington. Norris’s beard became part of his signature look. Norris, with the checkered flag, after winning the New ...