Walker, Texas Ranger Star Chuck Norris Dead At 86

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Hollywood's best-known "Tough guy" Chuck Norris has died at the age of 86, per TMZ. The actor's cause of death was not revealed in a statement from his family. Norris had already been a martial artist and athlete before turning to a Hollywood career, starting out with judo while he was in the Air Force and stationed in South Korea. During that same period, he also started tang soo du. He earned a black belt in the discipline and eventually began teaching karate, first to interested learners on his Air Force base and then at his own karate studios. He even created a karate form, now called the Chuck Norris System.

Fast-forward to 1964, Norris started competing. In 1968, that led to him meeting Bruce Lee. In a 2015 Facebook post, Norris explained, " ... I was fighting for, and won, the World Middle Weight Karate Championship at Madison Square Garden." Lee later offered him the opportunity to feature in the film he was the stunt coordinator for, "The Wrecking Crew." 

Granted, speaking to Black Belt, Norris joked that the legendary martial artist wasn't super hands-on the day he arrived on set. "Before he went off to do something else, he said: 'Oh, you know how to do the fight scenes. You don't need me here.' But I was as nervous as can be," he recounted, adding that he struggled to deliver his line. Not that that was a dealbreaker for the director. "Of course, they didn't care. Then I did the fight with Dean Martin, and it was fine," he said. The rest was history; Norris' career only took off from there. In addition to working with Lee again, he also became the star of "Walker: Texas Ranger," which ran from the early '90s to 2001. 

Chuck Norris was first married to his high school girlfriend Dianne Kay Holechek in 1958. They stayed together for 30 years, welcoming sons Mike and Eric Norris. The couple divorced in 1989, and around that time, the actor learned he'd also fathered a daughter, Dina Norris, when he'd had an affair years prior. Chuck went on the record as saying he never got any tests to prove that Dina was his daughter when she reached out, writing in his autobiography "Against All Odds: My Story," "I went to her, wrapped my arms around her, and we both started crying. At that moment, it was as if I had known her all my life" (via Hollywood Life). Speaking to ET about meeting his love child when she was already 26, Chuck shared that Dina had learned he was her father as a teenager, but her mother had convinced her not to reach out, lest it, " ... interfere with [Chuck's] family." While Chuck met his daughter later in life, they seemingly had a good relationship, even vacationing together. 

Chuck remarried in 1998, walking down the aisle with Gena O'Kelley. They also became parents together, to twins Danilee and Dakota Norris. Many may have been surprised by the age gap between Chuck and O'Kelley (she was 23 years younger than him). Despite that, he regularly shared pictures of them enjoying the outdoors together to his Instagram. The star also made no secret of the fact that he prioritized physical activity. Speaking to Men's Health at the age of 85, he explained, "I try to stay very active, and I believe that a body that keeps moving, moves — and one that stops, stops."

We're keeping the extended Norris family in our thoughts as they process his loss.