Chuck Norris, the former martial arts champion and 1980s action-film hero who fought the bad guys in Code of Silence, Missing in Action and The Delta Force and upheld the law in the TV series Walker, Texas Ranger, died on Thursday, his family said in a statement on his Instagram account yesterday.
“While we would like to keep the circumstances private, please know that he was surrounded by his family and was at peace,” the statement read.
The six-time undefeated World Professional Middleweight Karate Champion, whose tough-guy image inspired satirical ‘facts’ that made him an Internet phenomenon, had been hospitalised in Hawaii on Thursday, the Variety reported.
Norris starred in more than two dozen films portraying silent loners, soldiers, lawmen, veterans and All-American heroes who captured criminals, released prisoners of war, rescued hostages and battled terrorists.
With his roundhouse kicks he fought martial arts icon Bruce Lee in Rome’s Colosseum in his 1973 film debut The Way of the Dragon.
Along with actor Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis he helped defeat villain Jean-Claude Van Damme in the 2012 blockbuster The Expendables 2.
The Time magazine described him as ‘the ultimate tough guy’.
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