Martial artist and action star Carlos Ray “Chuck” Norris has died at the age of 86.
His family confirmed his “sudden passing” in a statement released on Friday, March 20, 2026, stating that he died peacefully Thursday morning surrounded by loved ones.
While his family requested privacy regarding the exact circumstances, reports indicate Norris suffered an unspecified medical emergency on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai and was hospitalized shortly before his death.
Born in Ryan, Oklahoma on March 10, 1940, Chuck Norris took up martial arts while serving in the U.S Air Force in South Korea.
He left the Air Force in 1962 and set up a marital arts studio in Los Angeles, funding his calling in reaching and delivery roundhouse kicks.
An evangelical Christian, he was born into a family of three boys raised mainly by their Irish mother after her divorce from their father.
He had two sons from his first marriage to his high school sweet heart, Dianne Holechek, which lasted 30 years, and a son and daughter with his second wife O’Kelly.
Norris also had a daughter from an affair during his first marriage.
As his acting career grew, he became a legendary martial arts figure, winning six world professional middleweight karate championships from 1968 to 1974 and earning black belts in multiple disciplines.
-9News Nigeria.
