Norris died March 19 at the age of 86
One of Hollywood’s biggest action stars of the 1970s and 1980s has died.
Chuck Norris died March 19 at the age of 86 in Hawaii after a sudden hospitalization.
As it turns out, the Ryan, Okla., native, former member of the Unites States Air Force and black belt in multiple martial arts disciplines had ties to rural and ranch life in his adult years.
Since at least 2011 Norris and his wife Gena have lived on Lone Wolf Ranch, a 1,000-acre property in Navasota, Texas, named after Norris’s 1983 movie Lone Wolf McQuade.
Some social media videos showed cattle on the ranch.
But dogs are the main characters on the property.
“The Norris family ranch isn’t just a home—it’s a haven where dogs are cherished as guardians, heroes, and beloved family members,” says the website for the family’s Lone Wolf Ranch Pet Food.
The family also founded CForce, a water bottling company, close to the ranch.
Agriculture also played a role in Norris’s life on screen.
Multiple episodes of Walker, Texas Ranger, where he played the titular character Cordell Walker, had to do with ag or related disputes.
In season two, for example, the episode Mustangs saw Walker investigate a scheme to kill wild mustangs. It’s in this episode a rival farmer kills Walker’s friend Hank Sweet.
In Plague in the fifth season, an ag company tests tainted feed on a dairy farm, causing the spread of a deadly virus.
And in season six’s Last of a Breed, Walker pursues a man who kills farmers to take over their land.
The late Hollywood actor also expressed his concerns with modern agriculture.
In multiple columns, like one in July 2014, Norris suggested GMOs and some herbicides are harmful to human health.
His column prompted a response from Bill Horan, an Iowa farmer.
“Norris is especially feeble on a subject that I happen to know well: weed and pest control. I’m familiar with weeds and pests the way characters Norris plays are familiar with villains in black hats,” Horan wrote.