His family announced today that Norris has died. He had been admitted to a hospital for an unspecified medical emergency, but they didn’t offer any details beyond that. He was 86 years old.
In tribute, I offer two nuggets. The first is a quote from a local stuntman named Freddie Poole. I did a Q&A with Poole earlier this year and asked him if he could beat up Chuck Norris. Poole’s answer: “Chuck is one of my mentors. I love Chuck dearly. Chuck is one of the people that inspired me to start martial arts. I was watching his movies with my dad when I was a kid. Then my first stunt work was on Walker, Texas Ranger. I’m 21 years old, green as can be, and I get a call to work with a living legend and one of my childhood idols. I remember showing up at like 6 in the morning. I met the stunt coordinator, Eric Norris. I met the fight coordinator, Victor Quintero. These guys are like my brothers now. And they just walked us through the beats. It wasn’t a big, sophisticated fight. It was literally Chuck walks into a room and takes five guys out. It’s one of the highlights of my life to be knocked out on-screen by Chuck Norris.”
The other thing I’ll offer is this scene from 1972’s The Way of the Dragon in which Norris fights Bruce Lee at the Colosseum while a cat watches. My favorite move: when Lee pulls out a fistful of Norris’ chest hair…