Chuck Norris, 1940 – 2026

Hilariously macho actor Chuck Norris, 86, died on March 19. With his squinty eyes and weirdly felt-like beard, Norris starred as Walker, Texas Ranger from 1993-2001. He was an Air Force vet who held just about every martial-arts black belts that they make, and by 1968 he’d moved into acting. Norris appeared in such movies and TV shows as The Way of the Dragon (requested by Bruce Lee himself), Breaker! Breaker!, Lone Wolf McQuade, Missing in Action, Code of Silence, The Delta Force, Invasion USA, Firewalker—by the time Walker came around, he was already a huge action star (not muscly-huge, thank goodness). Post-Walker, Norris continued doing films and TV shows, many times in cameos, and occasionally making fun of his public image (his favorite “Chuck Norris Fact” was “Before the Boogie Man goes to sleep, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris”). He also had many half-baked religious and political opinions, but we shall brush over those. One of his more sensible theories was that “There has always been violence on the screen, and certain groups claim that some antisocial behavior can be traced to these violent films. I believe that's hogwash. The violence on television news programs is much more harmful because it's real. We all have the potential to be violent, but we must learn to control these impulses.”