Pallade Veneta - Chuck Norris, action man who inspired endless memes, dead at 86: family

"It is with heavy hearts that our family shares the sudden passing of our beloved Chuck Norris yesterday morning," the family said in a statement on Instagram.

"To the world, he was a martial artist, actor, and a symbol of strength. To us, he was a devoted husband, a loving father and grandfather, an incredible brother, and the heart of our family."

US media reported Thursday that Norris had been hospitalized for an undisclosed condition while on the island of Kauai, several days after he celebrated his 86th birthday with a video of him boxing on social media and saying "I don't age. I level up."

In the statement, the family said it would like to keep the details of his passing private, adding "please know that he was surrounded by his family and was at peace.

The martial arts expert turned actor starred in a slew of action films since his acting debut with a cameo in a 1968 Dean Martin film "The Wrecking Crew."

Four years later, his epic fight with the kung-fu superstar Bruce Lee in "The Way of The Dragon" helped turn Norris into an icon on big and small screen alike.

- Big screen icon -

It was a spell at an airbase in South Korea while serving as a young man in the US Air Force that gave Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris the martial arts bug.

Acquiring a taste for tang soo do, a Korean martial art based on karate, would see Norris, born in Ryan, Oklahoma on March 10, 1940, propel many an opponent to the mat -- and himself to screen idol status.

His epic fight with martial arts superstar Bruce Lee in the classic 1972 kung-fu movie "The Way of The Dragon" -- which ended up grossing 1,000 times its $130,000 budget -- helped turn Norris into big- and small-screen star.

Yet Norris, who idolized John Wayne as a child, became an actor as an afterthought.

He left the Air Force in 1962 and set up a martial arts studio in Los Angeles, finding his calling in teaching and delivering roundhouse kicks.

By 1967, with a US karate championship title earned at Madison Square Garden under his belt, Norris was the go-to instructor for celebrities like Steve McQueen, Priscilla Presley and Donny Osmond.

The success of "The Way of the Dragon" four years later prompted Norris to take acting classes.

A slew of leading roles in karate films followed, from a US commando in "Good Guys Wear Black", an all-American riposte to a slew of Hong Kong action flicks harnessing Lee's fame, to the action horror feature "Silent Rage".

- Chuck Norris v Superman -

In 1983, he slipped into the role of a taciturn Texas ranger waging war against an arms dealer in "Lone Wolf McQuade", which provided the template for the cult TV series "Walker, Texas Ranger".

The show ran for eight seasons and spawned countless action-man jokes and memes, one being that Chuck Norris and Superman had a fight, with the loser (Superman) forced to wear their underpants on the outside.

The success of the bearded, ass-kicking Ranger marked a stunning reversal of fortune for Norris, who grew up a shy, unathletic child, who "used to daydream about being strong...to beat up the bullies".

An evangelical Christian, he was born into a family of three boys raised mainly by their Irish mother after her divorce from their alcoholic father.

He had two sons from his first marriage to his high school sweetheart Dianne Holechek, which lasted 30 years, and a son and a daughter with his second wife Gena O'Kelley.

Norris also had a daughter from an affair during his first marriage.

A dyed-in-the-wool Republican, he urged his compatriots to vote out Barack Obama in 2012. A year later, he offered his bare-chested support to Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu in a video.

In 2017, he recovered from two cardiac arrests, then became mired in controversy two years later when he became the public face of arms company Glock, despite an epidemic of gun violence in the US.

H.Ercolani--PV