Moviefone Editorial

Tag: bruce-lee

Martial Artist and Actor Chuck Norris Dead at 86
Chuck Norris in ‘Walker, Texas Ranger’. Photo: Columbia Pictures Television.

Preview:
- Chuck Norris has died at the age of 86.
- He was best known for his starring role in Walker, Texas Ranger and for a string of action films that defined an era of tough, no-nonsense heroes.
- Over a career spanning more than five decades, he became a global symbol of strength, discipline, and resilience.
Chuck Norris, the martial artist and actor who rose to fame through high-octane action films and later became a household name as Cordell Walker in ‘Walker, Texas Ranger’, has died at the age of 86.
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Norris’s family released a statement:

“To the world, he was a martial artist, actor, and a symbol of strength. To us, he was a devoted husband, a loving father and grandfather, an incredible brother, and the heart of our family. He lived his life with faith, purpose, and an unwavering commitment to the people he loved. Through his work, discipline, and kindness, he inspired millions around the world and left a lasting impact on so many lives.”

Related Article: ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and ‘Euphoria’ Star Eric Dane Dead at 53

Chuck Norris: Early Life and Breakthrough

(L to R) Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris in ‘The Way of the Dragon’. Photo: Golden Harvest.

Born March 10, 1940, in Ryan, Oklahoma, Carlos Ray Norris developed an early interest in martial arts while serving in the United States Air Force. After being stationed in South Korea, he began training intensively, eventually earning black belts in multiple disciplines and becoming a champion in competitive karate.

His transition to Hollywood came in the late 1960s after meeting Bruce Lee, who cast him in the 1972 film ‘The Way of the Dragon’. Their iconic coliseum fight scene remains one of the most celebrated moments in martial arts cinema.

Norris went on to establish himself as a leading action star in films such as ‘Good Guys Wear Black’ and ‘Missing in Action’, where his stoic demeanor and formidable physical presence resonated with audiences worldwide.

Chuck Norris: A Career of Endurance

(L to R) Sylvester Stallone and Chuck Norris in ‘The Expendables 2’. Photo: Lionsgate.

In 1993, Norris took on his most enduring role as Cordell Walker in ‘Walker, Texas Ranger.’ Blending crime drama with moral storytelling and martial arts action, the series ran for eight seasons and became a defining part of his legacy.

Beyond acting, Norris became a cultural phenomenon. Internet humor transformed him into a larger-than-life figure through “Chuck Norris facts,” a viral trend that playfully exaggerated his toughness and invincibility. Rather than resist it, Norris embraced the joke, further endearing himself to fans across generations.

He also authored books, supported charitable causes, and promoted martial arts education, emphasizing discipline, respect, and perseverance.

Chuck Norris: Off Screen

Chuck Norris in ‘Missing in Action’. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Away from the spotlight, Norris was known for his deep religious faith, philanthropy, and devotion to family. He co-founded youth programs aimed at building character and opportunity through martial arts training, leaving a lasting impact beyond entertainment.

He often spoke about the importance of integrity, humility, and inner strength — values that defined both his personal life and public persona.

Norris leaves behind a legacy that transcends film and television — from martial arts dojos to pop culture mythology — and a life defined by discipline, resilience, and unmistakable presence.

(L to R) Chuck Norris and Lee Marvin in ‘The Delta Force’. Photo: The Cannon Group.

Selected Movies and TV Shows Featuring Chuck Norris:
- ‘The Way of the Dragon’ (1972)
- ‘Breaker! Breaker!’ (1977)
- ‘Good Guys Wear Black’ (1978)
- ‘An Eye for an Eye’ (1981)
- ‘Lone Wolf McQuade’ (1983)
- ‘Missing in Action’ (1984)
- ‘Invasion U.S.A.’ (1985)
- ‘The Delta Force’ (1986)
- ‘Walker, Texas Ranger’ (1993)
- ‘Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story’ (2004)
- ‘The Expendables 2‘ (2012)
- ‘Agent Recon’ (2024)
Buy Chuck Norris Movies and TV on Amazon
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March 20, 2026
Ang Lee Making Movie About Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee in 1973’s ‘Enter the Dragon.’

They may share a surname, but Ang Lee is in no way related to Bruce Lee. Yet the director of movies such as ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’, ‘The Ice Storm’ and ‘Brokeback Mountain’ clearly feels inspired by the martial arts icon.

And he’s now realizing a long-held (albeit kept quiet) plan to make a movie about Bruce Lee’s rise to stardom and the obstacles he faced in his career. Ang has also found the person he wants to play Bruce – the director’s own son, Mason.

According to Deadline, it’s all finally coming together at Sony after a few years of development that included Mason––who has appeared in some of his father’s work, such as ‘Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk’, but also ploughed his own acting career––training through lockdown and beyond to be in fighting shape.

And he’ll need to be. Lee arrived in the U.S. at the age of 18 and became an accomplished teacher to actors like Steve McQueen and many others. He approached it like a scientist, mixing and matching the best qualities of all kinds of styles that he melded into Jeet Kune Do.

(L to R) Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris in 1972’s ‘The Way of the Dragon.’

The charismatic, handsome Lee became one of the first Chinese American actors to crack primetime television when he played the sidekick Kato in ‘The Green Hornet’, yet much of his early career was marked by the frustrations he endured as a trailblazer who was not content to be a supporting player.

The setbacks included when white actor David Carradine was tapped to play the Chinese monk in ‘Kung Fu’ over Lee in 1972—said by some to have originated the concept—because TV execs felt audiences weren’t ready for a series led by an Asian actor.

And while he found huge success in Hong Kong movies, he died tragically young at 32, just before ‘Enter The Dragon’ was to make him an even bigger star in the States.

“Accepted as neither fully American nor fully Chinese, Bruce Lee was a bridge between East and West who introduced Chinese Kung Fu to the world, a scientist of combat and an iconic performing artist who revolutionized both the martial arts and action cinema,” Ang Lee tells Deadline. “I feel compelled to tell the story of this brilliant, unique human being who yearned for belonging, possessed tremendous power in a 135-pound-frame, and who, through tireless hard work, made impossible dreams into reality.” Jean Castelli, Alex Law and Mabel Cheung and Wells Tower all wrote earlier versions of the screenplay, which is now in the hands of ‘Foxcatcher’s Dan Futterman.

“Bruce Lee is a longtime passion project for Ang and a deeply emotional story depicting the triumphs and conflicts of one of the foremost real-life action heroes of our time,” Sony’s Elizabeth Gabler says in a statement. “All of us at Sony and 3000 Pictures are proud to help Ang and his filmmaking team create what we believe will be an extraordinary theatrical event.”

(L to R) Bruce Lee and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1972’s ‘Game of Death.’
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November 30, 2022
Quentin Tarantino Defends Bruce Lee Portrayal in ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’

Sony

Quentin Tarantino is defending the portrayal of Bruce Lee in his latest film, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”

Friends and family of the late actor, including his daughter Shannon, have blasted the movie for turning the iconic star into “an arrogant punching bag.”

In the film, Lee (Mike Moh) tells bystanders on the set of “The Green Hornet” that he could “cripple” Cassius Clay (later known as Muhammad Ali). Stuntman Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) then challenges him to a best “two out of three” fight. They trade rounds, but are interrupted before they can duke it out in the third round.

Shannon Lee complained that her father “comes across as an arrogant asshole who was full of hot air.” She added, “It was really uncomfortable to sit in the theater and listen to people laugh at my father.”

But in recent interviews in Russia, Tarantino said that Lee was “kind of an arrogant guy.”

The director also noted that the portrayal was rooted in fact.

“The way he was talking, I didn’t just make a lot of that up,” Tarantino said. “I heard him say things like that, to that effect. If people are saying, ‘Well he never said he could beat up Muhammad Ali,’ well yeah, he did. Not only did he say that, but his wife, Linda Lee, said that in her first biography I ever read … She absolutely said it.”

As to criticism that Lee would ever lose to Brad Pitt, well, Tarantino noted that he doesn’t — he cedes one round to Cliff Booth. There’s a difference.

“Could Cliff beat up Bruce Lee? Brad would not be able to beat up Bruce Lee, but Cliff maybe could,” Tarantino said.

“If you ask me the question, ‘Who would win in a fight: Bruce Lee or Dracula?’ It’s the same question. It’s a fictional character. If I say Cliff can beat Bruce Lee up, he’s a fictional character so he could beat Bruce Lee up.”

August 13, 2019
Bruce Lee’s Daughter Hates How Tarantino Portrayed Her Father in ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’

Sony

Bruce Lee‘s daughter, Shannon Lee, says she was “uncomfortable” watching how Quentin Tarantino portrayed her late father in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and hated that the director turned the martial arts legend into “an arrogant punching bag.”

In the movie, if you haven’t seen it, Lee (played by Mike Moh) is boasting to everyone on the set of “The Green Hornet” that he’s invincible and that he could even “cripple” Cassius Clay (as boxing great Muhammad Ali was known at the time.) That’s when stuntman Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) challenges him to a best “two out of three” fight.

Lee wins the first round, laying out Booth with a kick to the chest, but in the next round, Booth throws Lee so hard against a car, it leaves a dent. They are interrupted before they can fight the third round.

Sony

Shannon Lee told The Wrap, “I understand that the two characters [Booth and DiCaprio’s Rick Dalton] are antiheroes and this is sort of like a rage fantasy of what would happen… and they’re portraying a period of time that clearly had a lot of racism and exclusion.”

She added: “I understand they want to make the Brad Pitt character this super bad-ass who could beat up Bruce Lee. But they didn’t need to treat him in the way that white Hollywood did when he was alive.”

She thought maybe Tarantino was trying to make a point about how Lee was stereotyped during his lifetime,”but it doesn’t come across that way.”

Shannon Lee is upset that in the film, her father “comes across as an arrogant asshole who was full of hot air.” She said, “It was really uncomfortable to sit in the theater and listen to people laugh at my father.”

She didn’t have an issue with Moh, who plays her father, but says, “I think he was directed to be a caricature.”

Matthew Polly, the author of “Bruce Lee: A Life” also had an issue with how the future “Enter the Dragon” star was portrayed.

“Bruce Lee was often a cocky, strutting, braggart, but Tarantino took those traits and exaggerated them to the point of an ‘SNL’ caricature,” Polly said.

He added that he thinks Tarantino didn’t do his homework on Bruce Lee: “Bruce revered Cassius Clay; he never trash-talked him in real life. Bruce never used jumping kicks in an actual fight. And even if he did, there wasn’t a stuntman in Hollywood fast enough to catch his leg and throw him into a car.”

[Via The Wrap]

July 30, 2019
13 Things You Never Knew About ‘Kill Bill: Vol. 1’ on its 15th Anniversary

Miramax

15 years ago, Quentin Tarantino delivered what many consider to be one of the finest martial arts movies of all time in “Kill Bill: Vol. 1.” It is also considered one of Tarantino’s best.

It’s a movie that’s certainly held up over the years. From the movie’s unusual influences to a bit of Tarantino universe connectivity, here are some fun facts you might not know about “Kill Bill.”

1. The film’s original tagline was “In 2003, Uma Thurman Will Kill Bill,”: which technically became untrue after the film was split into two parts and the second half was pushed back to 2004.

2. The Bride’s distinctive yellow and black outfit was designed as an homage to Bruce Lee‘s iconic costume in 1979’s “Game of Death.”

3. While the shift to black and white footage during the final battle is a stylistic homage to classic martial arts films, it was also necessary in order for the film to achieve an R-rating in the US. The Japanese version of “Kill Bill” doesn’t include that color change.

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4. Originally, the Gogo Yubari character was written as twin assassins named Gogo and Yuki.

5. The sunglasses The Bride takes from Buck should be familiar to Tarantino fans. They were previously worn by Christian Slater in 1993’s “True Romance.”

Miramax

6. The tune whistled by Daryl Hannah‘s Elle is the theme music from 1968’s “Twisted Nerve.”

7. The sequence where The Bride slices a baseball in half was achieved naturally, with no visual effects or trickery. However, it was stuntwoman Zoe Bell, not Uma Thurman, who actually achieved the feat.

8. Apart from his hands, David Carradine‘s Bill is never actually shown on camera during the entire film. We only hear his voice and don’t see his face until “Vol. 2.”

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9. Tarantino (above, right) has a small cameo in the film as one of the Crazy 88 members killed by The Bride in the climax.

10. David Carradine revealed that it was Bill himself who killed O-Ren Ishii’s father in the animated flashback scene.

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11. Elle’s codename “California Mountain Kingsnake” is the only one not named after a venomous snake. That’s intentional, reflecting her failed attempt to poison The Bride in the hospital.

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12. Exactly four minutes and 59 seconds pass between O-Ren’s threat of “You won’t last five minutes,” and the end of her fight with The Bride.

13. Between “Kill Bill” and its sequel, over 450 gallons of fake blood were used during production.

October 8, 2018