Happy Birthday Chuck Norris!

The legend that is Chuck Norris turns 74 today! For those that don’t know, Carlos Ray “Chuck” Norris is an American martial artist and actor.

It was whilst stationed in South Korea in 1958 with the US Air Force that he took an interest in Tang Soo Do (tangsudo), which led to the founding of the Chun Kuk Do (“Universal Way”) form. After being discharged from the Air Force he opened up a chain of karate schools.

In 1968 he won the Professional Middleweight Karate champion title, which he held for six straight years and in 1969, won Karate’s triple crown for the most tournament wins of the year. He is also the first man from the Western Hemisphere in the over 4,500 year tradition of Taekwondo to be awarded an eighth degree Black Belt Grand Master ranking.

He was a huge action actor in the 80’s, though his most notable role might well be fighting against Bruce Lee in Way of the Dragon (1972). Other notable films include Code of Silence (1985), The Delta Force (1986), and Firewalker (1986), as well as the long running TV series Walker, Texas Ranger from 1993 until 2001.

We found an interesting 45-min bio on YouTube:

TRAILERS

Code of Silence (1985)

The Delta Force (1986)