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Ray Norris Jr., known as Chuck Norris, (born March 10,
1940), is a martial artist, an American action movie
actor and Hollywood star.
Biography
A native of Ryan, Oklahoma, Norris has two younger brothers,
one of which is Hollywood producer Aaron Norris. Both
of Norris's parents are half Cherokee Indian and half
Irish.
When Norris was 12, his parents divorced and he relocated
to California with his mother and brothers. There, he
finished high school and soon married his girlfriend,
Diane Holechek. After marriage, in 1958 Norris joined
the United States Air Force as a Military Policeman
and was sent to Osan Air Base South Korea. It was in
South Korea that Norris acquired the nickname Chuck
and began his training in Tang Soo Do.
When he returned to the states he
continued to act as an MP at March Air Force Base
California.Norris was discharged in August of 1962
without ever seeing combat besides that provided on
base.
Norris has indicated in his own autobiography
that he has black belts in Tang Soo Do, Tae Kwon Do,
and is founder of Chun Kuk Do ("Universal Way").
Mr. Norris has also practiced Judo, Shinto-Ryu Karate,
and Brazilian jujutsu. He is also founder of The United
Fighting Arts Federation (UFAF).
Norris returned to the United States
in 1962, working for the Northrop corporation and
opening a karate school, which many celebrities, including
Steve McQueen attended. In 1963, his son Mike was
born. A daughter, Dina followed in 1964, and a second
son, Eric, in 1965. But another important moment happened
in 1964: at a demonstration in Long Beach, Norris
met the soon to be famous Bruce Lee, who would ingrain
Norris in martial arts history forever with his portrayal
as Lee's nemesis in The Way of the Dragon. But while
the two were publicly friendly, contrary to what many
(including Norris himself) state, they were not close
friends. Lee had repeatedly humiliated Norris during
a mock sparring session in the hotel hallway at the
Long Beach International Karate Championships in 1964.
And Norris had offended Lee when he publicly claimed
to be a better fighter than Lee.
When word got back to Lee, he called
Norris and openly challenged him, threatening to drive
to his school to fight (Norris was teaching his black
belt class at that time). According to eye witnesses,
Lee made Norris hold the phone receiver up and shout
in front of his black belts, "Bruce Lee is a
better fighter than me!" Later, Norris wrote
an apologetic letter to Lee; the original letter is
currently in the care of Lee's student, Dan Inosanto.
Yet despite these conflicts, the two managed to set
aside any differences in pursuit of their mutual film
aspirations and develop a friendly public persona
toward one another.
In 1968, Norris became Middleweight
Karate champion (non-contact), and in 1969, he won
Karate's triple crown for the most tournament wins
of the year, and the fighter of the year award by
Black Belt magazine. It was also in 1969 that Norris
made his acting debut, in the Dean Martin movie The
Wrecking Crew. The greatest tragedy of Norris's life
took place in 1970. His younger brother Weiland was
killed in Vietnam. Norris later dedicated his Missing
In Action films to his brother's memory. In 1972,
he acted alongside Lee in the movie Way of the Dragon,
and in 1974, McQueen encouraged him to begin acting
classes at the MGM Studio.
While at acting classes his voice
and drama coach was Jonathan Harris, of Lost In Space
fame. Harris taught Norris how to speak by putting
his fingers in Norris's mouth, and stretching his
mouth wide open. Norris describes Harris as the only
man in the world who could get away with doing that
to him.
Norris' first starring role was 1977's
Breaker, Breaker!, and subsequent films such as The
Octagon (1980), An Eye for an Eye (1981), and Lone
Wolf McQuade proved his increasing box office bankability.
In 1984, Norris starred in Missing in Action, the
first of a series of POW rescue fantasies produced
by Israeli cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus
and released under their Cannon Films banner. Over
the next four years, Norris became Cannon's most prominent
star, appearing in eight films, including Code of
Silence, The Delta Force and Firewalker, in which
he co-starred with Academy Award winner Louis Gossett,
Jr.During the 1970's he taught karate to Bob Barker,
host ofThe Price is Right.
Norris turned down the part of Sensei
Kreese in the first Karate Kid film stating that he
did not want his name and/or image associated with
a villainous or evil character.In 1988, after 30 years
of marriage, Norris and Holechek divorced.
In 1990, Norris founded the non-profit
organization Kick Drugs Out of America. It has since
been renamed KICKSTART.By the close of the 1980s,
Cannon Films had faded from prominence, and Norris'
star appeal seemed to go with it. He reprised his
Delta Force role for MGM, who had acquired the Cannon
library after the latter's Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Norris went on to make several more largely ignored
films before making a transition to television. In
1993, he began shooting the series Walker, Texas Ranger,
which lasted eight years on CBS and continued in heavy
syndication on other channels.
He married again in 1998, this time
to former model Gena O'Kelley, and she delivered twins
in 2001: Dakota Alan Norris, a boy, and Danilee Kelly
Norris, a girl. Norris also owns a house and property
on the Caribbean island of Anguilla.
Norris has portrayed an Army Major
in The Delta Force, Army Colonel in Missing in Action,
and a Marine Captain during flashback scenes in his
T.V. hit series Walker, Texas Ranger
United States President George W.
Bush has stated that Norris is his favorite actor.
Late Night with Conan O'Brien's parent
company, NBC, aquired Universal in early 2004, giving
O'Brian permission to show footage of Walker, Texas
Ranger without paying royalties. O'Brien and his writers
have since started showing footage of the show regularly
for comedic purposes. "The Walker, Texas Ranger
Lever" has been one of the most popular segments
on Late Night, with Norris himself showing up to parody
his show and use his martial arts on O'Brien
Filmography
The Wrecking Crew (1970)
Way of the Dragon (1972)
The Student Teachers (1973)
Slaughter in San Francisco (1974)
The Warrior Within (1976) (documentary)
Bruce Lee, the Legend (1977) (documentary)
Breaker! Breaker! (1977)
Good Guys Wear Black (1978)
Ray Charles and the Giant Sandwich (1978)
A Force of One (1979)
The Octagon (1980)
An Eye for an Eye (1981)
Silent Rage (1982)
Forced Vengeance (1982)
Lone Wolf McQuade (1983)
Missing in Action (1984)
Dodgeball (2004)
source from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
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