Regardless of being on and off screen, Chuck Norris is one tough guy. Even though he has played many tough roles, he has also had some hard training, he has experienced some scary stuff in real life. Even though Chuck Norris has some flaws that fans choose to overlook, he’s still pretty cool.
Chuck Norris was a master of karate long before he became an actor, which is different from some actors who only learn martial arts for their roles. Bruce Lee and Steve McQueen told Chuck Norris he should become an actor, according to Looper.
But Chuck didn’t stop showing off his moves because he was acting. Even though the acting career put Chuck in the spotlight, he went on to become a Grand Master with an 8th-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. According to Looper, he was the first person in the Western Hemisphere to do it, which Chuck considered to be an honor.
But Chuck Norris’ fans would say he deserves all of that and more. He has been a staple in action movies for decades and has worked hard to get where he is now. Norris also happens to be one of many celebrities who were in the military before becoming famous.
Chuck’s time in the military changed his life, as he wrote for WND. Joining the U.S. Air Force “turned [his] life around.” The hardest thing he ever went through didn’t happen until a long time after he got home, though.
Chuck said that when he got out of the Air Force and moved back home, he started teaching martial arts to kids in his backyard. His younger brothers, Wieland and Aaron, joined the “lessons,” and they became popular in the Norris family’s neighborhood. At that time, the oldest Norris also worked at Northrop Aircraft.
But soon, they would grow up and make their own decisions. Aaron, who was the youngest, joined the military and was sent to Korea. The middle Norris boy, Wieland, went to Vietnam.
Wieland didn’t make it back from Vietnam. His mother-in-law called with the news. Chuck wrote about getting the call while he was at work as a referee. Wieland was named after his father’s favorite beer.
Upon hearing that his brother was gone, Chuck said,
If I had been kicked in the stomach by a dozen karate champions at the same time, it could not have impacted me more.
Further, Norris related,
I simply sat in shock, thinking about my little brother, Wieland, my best friend whom I would never see again in this life. Right there, in front of anyone who cared to see, I wept uncontrollably.
Chuck got the idea to be in movies like the “Missing in Action” series because of how much his brother meant to him. He dedicated these movies to his brother Wieland, who had a “premonition” that he wouldn’t live to be 28 and died a month before he turned 28.
