Chuck Norris from A to Z
Carlos Ray Norris was born on March 10, 1940 to Wilma and Ray Lee Norris. Nobody at the time could have predicted that little Carlos Ray would grow up to become on of the most iconic martial artists and action stars of all-time… Chuck Norris!
Now to celebrate the iconic Chuck Norris’ milestone 85th birthday we take a look at his life and his career from A to Z..
Not only is Aaron Norris, Chuck’s younger brother and Norris Brothers Entertainment business partner, Aaron also became one of Chuck’s preferred directors beginning with 1988’s Braddock: Missing in Action III and ending with the 2005 TV Movie, Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial by Fire. In total, Aaron would direct 8 of Chuck’s films and 4 episodes of Walker, Texas Ranger.
Chuck would get his piece of the 1970s Trucksploitation craze in 1977’s Breaker! Breaker! Chuck played a mean mother trucker named J.D. Dawes, who goes looking for his missing brother in the corrupt town of Texas City, and finds himself at odds with the man who controls the town, Judge Joshua Trimmings (George Murdock).
Chuck’s first major film role came in 1972’s The Way of the Dragon. Chuck played Colt a world class martial artist flown into Rome by the mob to challenge Bruce Lee’s Tang Lung! A fight between two iconic martial artists required an equally iconic location as Colt battled Tang Lung in the Roman Colosseum!
1986’s The Delta Force is an action epic! Starring Chuck Norris, Lee Marvin and Steve James, The Delta Force was directed by Cannon guru, Menahem Golan and featured a score by Alan Silvestri. Chuck’s Col. Scott McCoy kicks a lot of terrorist ass in what was easily the pinnacle of his Cannon run!
Cannon loaned out Chuck Norris to Orion for the 1985 film, Code of Silence. In Code of Silence, Chuck played Eddie Cusack and honest cop who finds himself in the middle of a mob war and at odds with his brothers in blue, when he testifies against a cop who has lost his way… but he does get some help from the armed police drone known as the Prowler. Code of Silence felt different than any of Chuck’s other movies, in part because the movie was originally intended to be the fourth Dirty Harry movie before the script was purchased by Orion. Code of Silence also made excellent use of the Chicago backdrop.
In 1982’s Forced Vengeance, the owner of the Lucky Dragon casino is not so lucky after he refuses the mob’s offer to assume control of his casino. Enter the Lucky Dragon’s head of security, Josh Randall (Chuck Norris), who is forced into violence as he exacts revenge on those who murdered his boss/mentor/friend, while protecting his former employer’s daughter at the same time!
1978’s Good Guys Wear Black is one of a scant few Chuck Norris films that I have never seen before! Chuck plays Major John T. Booker, a member of a group of elite CIA assassins, known as The Black Tigers, that were ordered on a suicide mission during the Vietnam War… a suicide mission that Booker survived! Also starring James Franciscus, Anne Archer and Soon Tek-Oh. More than three decades later, Chuck would once again play a character named Booker in 2012’s The Expendables 2, one of the greatest cameos in movie history.
It is as close as we will get to seeing Chuck Norris battle Satan himself, it is 1994’s Hellbound. Chicago detectives, Frank Shatter (Chuck Norris) and Calvin Jackson (Calvin Levels) are investigating the murder of a rabbi. That investigation takes them all the way to Israel, where they tangle with Prosatanos, an emissary of Satan played by Christopher Neame, with the fate of the world at stake. Hellbound also starred Sheree J. Wilson and would mark the end of Chuck’s run with Cannon Films. I like to pop this one on in October along with 1982’s Silent Rage.
A few years back we ranked Chuck Norris’ Cannon filmography and not surprisingly at the top of the list was 1985’s Invasion U.S.A. Chuck plays Matt Hunter, a CIA operative who is called back into action to thwart a terrorist invasion on United States soil and settle an old score with Richard Lynch’s Rostov. Invasion U.S.A. is my personal favorite Chuck Norris movie and part of my Christmas movie rotation each and every year.
The writing of James Bruner is the “secret sauce” in some of Chuck Norris’ best movies. Bruner’s first Chuck Norris collab was 1981’s An Eye for an Eye… but he would go on to write some of Chuck’s finest films including Missing in Action, Invasion U.S.A. and The Delta Force.
Chuck Norris: Karate Kommandos was a cartoon mini-series that originally aired on September 15, 1986. While it only had five episodes, Karate Kommandos had its own toy line and even its own comic book. Plus, it is still the only place you can watch Chuck Norris fight ninjas in space!
Chuck Norris did not go into his long running television series, Walker, Texas Ranger, without some experience playing a Texas Ranger. Chuck’s first opportunity to portray a Texas Ranger came in 1983’s Lone Wolf McQuade, one of Chuck’s most beloved movies. Why is it a fan favorite? Maybe it’s the fact that J.J. McQuade uses Pearl beer like Popeye uses spinach. Maybe it’s McQuade’s badass Dodge Ramcharger. Maybe it’s the fact that McQuade gets to kick the ass of an argyle sweater wearing David Carradine.
One Chuck Norris movie I enjoy more and more upon every rewatch is 1986’s Firewalker! The buddy comedy stars Chuck Norris as Max Donigan and Louis Gossett Jr. as Leo Porter, a pair of treasure hunting adventurers who are hired by Melody Anderson’s Patricia Goodwin to track down a hoard of gold! The vibe in Firewalker is much different than any of Chuck’s other 80s output and that gave Chuck a chance to cut loose and show off his sense of humor.
Chuck Norris is synonymous with Cannon Films, but oddly enough his final starring role was for Nu Image’s The Cutter. The 2005 film had a supporting cast filled with familiar faces that included Joanna Pacula, Daniel Bernhardt, Deron McBee, Dean Cochran and Chuck’s dear, longtime, close, personal friend, Marshall R. Teague!
Chuck got in on the ground floor of the 80s ninja craze when he starred in 1980’s The Octagon, along with Lee Van Cleef, Tadashi Yamashita, and Richard Norton. If you ever thought a Chuck Norris movie needed a lot of inner monologue, then The Octagon is the movie for you!
The success of Walker, Texas Ranger provided Chuck the opportunity to star in some made for TV movies for CBS. Two of Chuck’s TV movies, 2000’s The President’s Man and 2001’s The President’s Man: A Line in the Sand, borrowed a bit from Remo Williams lore… with Chuck’s Joshua McCord being a secret agent who answers to only one man… the President of the United States! In both films, Chuck is training his replacement Deke Slater… with Dylan Neal playing Deke in the first film and Judson Mills taking over in the second.
It’s Chuck Norris vs. Billy Drago in 1990’s Delta Force 2: The Colombian Connection. Drago plays ruthless drug lord, Ramon Cota. After Cota manages to escape the law and return to his kingdom in the South American country of San Carlos… Scott McCoy goes in on a covert mission to bring Cota to justice. But McCoy would not have gotten very far if not for the assistance of Quiquina Esquilinta, a San Carlos native with her own very personal reasons to hate Ramon Cota.
The small town of Ryan, Oklahoma was the birthplace of Chuck Norris. The small town with a population of 667 (per the 2020 census) is located just north of the Texas state line in Jefferson County, Oklahoma.
Looking to avoid a repeat of the controversy from Royal Rumble 1994, World Wrestling Federation officials brought in Chuck Norris to serve as the special ringside enforcer when The Undertaker battled Yokozuna in the main event of Survivor Series 1994 in San Antonio, Texas! Chuck would end up facing off with behemoths Bam Bam Bigelow and King Kong Bundy, and he even had the chance to deliver a kick to “Double J” Jeff Jarrett! With Chuck on hand, justice was served and Undertaker was victorious!
The 1990s saw Chuck star in several family friendly action films including 1992’s Sidekicks, 1996’s Forest Warrior and 1995’s Top Dog where Chuck’s Lt. Jake Wilder is paired with a K9 partner named Reno. Wilder and Reno are investigating a plot by domestic terrorists to attack a conference promoting unity. In one of the worst cases of bad timing, Top Dog was released only 9 days after the very real Oklahoma City bombing.
Norris joined the United States Air Force in 1958, where he served as an Air Policeman (AP) at Osan Air Base in South Korea. Two important things happened to Norris while in South Korea… one he acquired the nickname “Chuck” and two he began his martial arts journey, training in Tang Soo do.
Vietnam served as the setting for Cannon’s Missing in Action trilogy. All three movies starred Chuck Norris as Col. James Braddock, and while these films may not have delivered in the continuity department from film to film, all three delivered the action. The Missing in Action films hold a special place in Chuck’s heart, as he starred in them as a tribute to his younger brother Wieland, who was killed in the Vietnam War.
Chances are if you turn your TV on right now, there’s an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger playing. The hit TV series ran on CBS from April 21, 1993 to May 19, 2001. Chuck played Texas Ranger Cordell Walker, who fought crime along side his partner James Trivette (Clarence Gilyard Jr.) Sheree J. North played the Assistant District Attorney (and eventually Walker’s love interest) Alex Cahill. Noble Willingham rounded out the cast as a former Texas Ranger and friend/mentor to Walker, CD Parker!
Chuck would get into the world of infomercials, when he endorsed the Total Gym XLS workout machine. You know you have a good product if Chuck Norris is endorsing it!
1974’s Yellow Faced Tiger aka Slaughter in San Francisco features a rare villainous role for Chuck Norris. Chuck plays Chuck Slaughter, a powerful drug kingpin in San Francisco (hence the American title of the film), who squares off with Don Wong, a former cop out for justice. Chuck was so dastardly in this role, it was jarring it made for an unpleasant first time watch… perhaps I’ll enjoy it more upon a rewatch.
Director Joe Zito was in the director’s chair for two of Chuck’s best Cannon films (and best films period)… 1984’s Missing in Action and 1985’s Invasion U.S.A.
