It seems as though leaders of disparate communities worldwide — from entertainment to martial arts to politics — all issued moving reminiscences of Chuck Norris, who died Friday at age 86.
As the star of hit action films from "Invasion U.S.A." to "The Delta Force" to "Lone Wolf McQuade," Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris always brought his own mastery of martial arts to film and electrified audiences for two generations.
Having learned martial arts while a U.S. Air Force policeman stationed in South Korea, the young Norris soon earned several black belts — karate, judo, taekwondo among them — and even created his own discipline, Chun Duk Ko. Competing in international karate matches, Norris launched a chain of martial arts studios and his celebrity students included Steve McQueen, Priscilla Presley, and Donny and Marie Osmond.
Norris also developed a close friendship in the late 1960s with legendary karate champion Bruce Lee, famed for his hit martial arts films such as "Enter the Dragon" and as Kato, the Japanese valet and crime-fighting partner to the Green Hornet in the eponymous TV series. Friend McQueen urged Norris to get into films himself, and friend Lee cast him as the villain in his biggest-grossing film "Return of the Dragon" in 1972.
It was sadly poignant that Bruce Lee died unexpectedly at age 33 in 1973, and Chuck Norris essentially carried on his legacy as the most consequential figure in martial arts films in the 20th century. His best-known role was, of course, as the karate-chopping Cordell Walker in the long-running (1993–2001) TV series "Walker, Texas Ranger."
"Watch out, evil world, there is an angel of consequence at the gates," actor and Norris student Lorenzo Lamas wrote on social media.
On screen and in scores of interviews, devout Baptist Norris spoke of his faith in Jesus Christ and values as a Christian.
"Real men do live for Christ," he was fond of saying, "And it's important to make your peace in Christ while you're still alive."
In proclaiming his faith, Norris freely admitted his own shortcomings. Married at 18 to Dianne Kay Holecheck, his high school sweetheart from Torrance, California, the young Norris dated a woman named Johanna while in the Air Force. Unbeknownst to him, she became pregnant with his child. Divorced from his first wife in 1989 and with two sons, he met daughter Dina a year later and publicly acknowledged her in his 2004 autobiography. He married model Gena O'Kelley in 1998 and the couple had fraternal twins.
At the time of his death, Norris was the father of five children and 13 grandchildren. By all accounts, he was devoted to every one of them.
Norris never made any bones about being a conservative Republican. Republican presidents from Ronald Reagan on were fans, and many welcomed him to the White House. George H.W. Bush especially liked the martial artist and visited a Houston school with Norris that promoted his own anti-drug crusade.
On "Walker, Texas Ranger," Cordell Walker would occasionally be called out to take a call from "Gov. Bush" — George W., before he was president — to give him a highly sensitive assignment.
Even foreign leaders considered Norris a friend. Welcoming the actor to Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once said, "I think we can ask our security people to leave, we don't need them anymore!"
But Norris' favorite politician by far was his friend and fellow Baptist, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. Reporters in Iowa for the first-in-the-nation caucuses in 2008 were treated to what they dubbed "The Huck and Chuck Show:" the sight of Norris warming up the crowd for the man from Arkansas.
In a much-praised TV spot, Norris hailed Huckabee as a "principled conservative" and the candidate's rejoinder, "When Chuck Norris does a push-up, he's not pushing himself up — he's pushing the earth down."
Watching the two in action, more than a few reporters began to speculate whether Norris himself would ever go into politics. On the night of Huckabee's stunning upset win, I was with my colleague James Coomarasamy of the BBC at the governor's victory party in Des Moines. He spotted Norris and asked: "If Mike becomes president, would you consider becoming, say, secretary of defense?"
"No," Norris fired back without hesitation, "Politics is too tough a business for me."
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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