Died at 86
male
Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris (March 10, 1940 – March 19, 2026) was an American martial artist and actor. He was a black belt in Karate, Taekwondo, Tang Soo Do, Brazilian jiu jitsu, and judo. After serving in the United States Air Force, Norris won many martial arts championships and later founded his own discipline, Chun Kuk Do. Shortly after, in Hollywood, Norris trained celebrities in martial arts. Norris went on to appear in a minor role in The Wrecking Crew (1968). Friend and fellow martial artist Bruce Lee invited him to play one of the main villains in The Way of the Dragon (1972). While Norris continued acting, friend and student Steve McQueen suggested he take it seriously. Norris took the starring role in the action film Breaker! Breaker! (1977), which turned a profit. His second lead, Good Guys Wear Black (1978), became a hit, and he soon became a popular action film star. Norris went on to star in a streak of bankable independently made action and martial arts films, with A Force of One (1979), The Octagon (1980), and An Eye for an Eye (1981). This made Norris an international celebrity. He went on to make studio films like Silent Rage (1982) with Columbia, Forced Vengeance (1982) with MGM, and Lone Wolf McQuade (1983) with Orion. This led Cannon Films to sign Norris into a multiple film deal, starting with Missing in Action (1984), which proved to be very successful and launched a trilogy. Norris started to work almost exclusively on high-profile action films with Cannon, becoming its leading star during the 1980s. Films with Cannon include Invasion U.S.A (1985), The Delta Force (1986), and Firewalker (1986), among others. Apart from the Cannon films, Norris made Code of Silence (1985), which was received as one of his best films. In the 1990s, he played the title role in the long-running CBS television series Walker, Texas Ranger from 1993 to 2001. Until 2006, Norris continued taking lead roles in action movies. His last appearance in a major film release was in The Expendables 2 (2012). Throughout his film and TV career, Norris diversified from his regular endeavors. As a writer, he is a New York Times bestselling author of books on martial arts, exercise, philosophy, his conservative politics, Christian western fiction, self-help, and biographies, and he also serves as a columnist for WorldNetDaily. Norris also appeared in several commercials endorsing several products, most notably being one of the main spokespersons for the Total Gym infomercials. In 2005, Norris found new fame on the Internet when Chuck Norris facts became an Internet meme documenting humorous, fictional, and often absurd feats of strength and endurance. Although Norris himself did not produce the "facts", he was hired to endorse many products that incorporated Chuck Norris facts in advertising. The phenomenon resulted in six books, some of them New York Times bestsellers, as well as two video games, and several appearances on talk shows, such as Late Night with Conan O'Brien, in which he read the "facts" or participated in sketches. Description above from the Wikipedia article Chuck Norris, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Old man Gordon Tielemans has been running the Sierra Isabella family ranch for 60 years, which was named after his grandfather, who named it after his wife. The Tielemens family gained great fame in the area and supplied all the towns in the area, leading to many enemies. Now Gordon is old, so when he receives an order worth not to be refused, it is clear to him that he alone is not enough to do it with his younger brother and his two sons. He doesn't have any more men available because the last three expeditions ended in a bloody shootout when the wagons were stopped by Milton's gang who took over the town of Hotpoint years ago and now they have the whole area under their thumb, raiding all supplies of food, leather, wood, alcohol. They have an unrivaled environment, where everything is imported only by their affiliated or owned companies. Gang is run by Sam Milton, and his brother is sheriff of Albertown. Gordon procures 10 men to supplement them and help them get the wagons to Cedarwood. Along the way they are attacked many times and loses some men, everything is complicated by the situation when they notice the Hartword family under attack by Indians. During this heroic war, all 3 wagons are damaged, so Gordon, accompanied by his sons, has to go down to Rolling station on horseback and agree with his old friend Abe that he will send a train for them, on which they will load all and take it to Cedarwood. of course, even a train ride is not without a gang attack.
