Chuck Norris, dead at 86, was a certain type of hairy 1980s American man. For the uninitiated, here are a few jokes that Gen Xers and millennials used to make in middle school about the all-American martial arts star of their youth. You can still see some shared on social media: The flu gets a Chuck Norris shot every year. The chief export of Chuck Norris is pain. There is no chin behind Chuck Norris’ beard, only another fist. And perhaps most timely for our world today: Chuck Norris doesn’t worry about high gas prices, his vehicles run on fear.
The legendary martial arts master and actor died on Friday, after years of being the epitome of toughness and dodging death with jokes that ludicrously snowballed with higher stakes of death-defying physical and mental fortitude.
But his physical and mental fortitude weren’t the only things the action star is known for: he’s amassed a $70 million fortune in his five-decade long career, and has poured significantly into giving back to the community. But most strikingly, he stayed true to his ever-increasingly tough-guy persona by offering CBS an offer they couldn’t refuse after taking on the network for refusing to honor their contract.
Beyond the courtroom, Norris’s current income draws from a wide range of sources—including endorsement deals, real estate, and his brand ventures—putting his estimated annual earnings at around $30 million.
