Who has counted twice to infinity, beat more people than Ikea, eats Chinese with a (!) Chopstick and drinks from the water pipe – on ex !? Around the American actor and martial artist Chuck Norris (80), such a joke cult has developed that even a Fips Asmussen (81) has to go green with envy. Ironically, the always hypermasculine roles of Chuck Norris, who celebrates his 80th birthday on March 10th, have made him a joke over the years. His life is anything but a comedy – and some of his views are not to be laughed at either.
The dramas of his life
Norris was born Carlos Ray on March 10, 1940 and has both Irish and Cherokee roots. He himself is now granted a long life at 80 years – not like his younger brothers: Wieland, who saw the light of day three years later, died at the age of 27 as a soldier in the Vietnam War.
Just a year later, the next stroke of fate: Father Ray Norris lost his life in a traffic accident. And the fact that Norris has not taken on roles for several years is also due to a tragedy: his second wife Gena O'Kelley (57) is seriously ill, suffering from kidney problems and nerve pain. Since then, he has been taking care of his loved one self-sacrificingly, instead of beating up villains on screen or on TV. From 2005 until today he was seen only once: in 2012 in the action film "The Expendables 2".
Out of money to become an action star
Incidentally, Norris ended up in the Hollywood business out of sheer lack of money. As a member of the US military police in Korea, he came into contact with the martial arts Tang Soo Do and Taekwondo and from then on trained ironly. He was the first man from the West to achieve the highest rank (8th Dan) in Taekwondo. Back in the USA, he then founded his own combat school, which was to become a whole chain.
However, this threatened bankruptcy after a few years and ultimately led to Norris having to go into debt. How good that a certain Bruce Lee (1940-1973) introduced his good friend to the film business shortly before …
From whipping boy to Texas Ranger
In 1972 Norris appeared in "The Death Claw Strikes Again", in which Lee was responsible for the main role as well as the director. Norris was allowed to distribute some juicy bells as an adversary (with impressive hair on the chest, back and shoulders), but in the end had to give up the "death claw" to the pipe whistle.
It was another 20 years before Norris got his star role as "Walker, Texas Ranger" after "The Death Claw Strikes Again". The television series, which produced eight seasons and a television film from 1993 to 2001, is his most famous work – and arguably the birthplace of all of Chuck Norris' jokes today. As the title hero, he stopped a running chainsaw with his bare fingers in the more than 200 episodes, gave cheesy sermons and distributed roundhouse kicks in between in the quantity discount.
No joke: Without Norris, but with "Supernatural" star Jared Padalecki (37) "Walker, Texas Ranger" should get a reboot. How that should approach the foreign shame charm of the original, however, is as little known as the start date.
Against evolution and Obama
Here are two other facts that do not necessarily make you laugh: Chuck Norris is a follower of creationism, so he believes in the history of creation and therefore not in the theory of evolution. He also warned in 2012 as a fervent supporter of the Republican Party in a video that the "socialist" Barack Obama (58) would be re-elected – otherwise "our great country as we know it could be lost forever". One last joke: Chuck Norris doesn't paint the devil on the wall – the devil paints Chuck Norris on the wall.