The Very Vegas Publicity Stunt that Helped Make Chuck Norris a Star
Posted on: March 20, 2026, 05:11h.
Last updated on: March 20, 2026, 06:09h.
- A 1967 Las Vegas publicity stunt help launch Chuck Norris’s Hollywood career
- Two decades later, the actor and fighter also effectively planted the seeds for UFC
- Norris died on Thursday, March 19, at age 86, reportedly following a medical emergency while training in Hawaii
As the world honors Chuck Norris — who died on March 19 at age 86 — by remembering his role in popularizing martial arts in American pop culture, we remember a very fateful intersection he had with Las Vegas in 1967 that helped give him that platform.
Six years before his showdown with Bruce Lee in Way of the Dragon, Norris was a 26-year-old entrepreneur hungry to scale his chain of three Tang Soo Do karate schools in Southern California.
Dick Douglas, a wealthy lounge drummer with a green belt, flew Norris into Las Vegas every couple of weeks to instruct a class at his backyard dojo on Palma Vista Avenue by the Las Vegas Country Club.
Quickly realizing the built-in demand for his services in the desert, the reigning professional middleweight karate champion opened the Las Vegas Tang Soo Do (later referred to as the Chuck Norris Karate Studios) in July 1967. It was on the North Strip next to the Susie Creamcheese boutique, across from what is now Resorts World. (The footprints of both storefronts have been occupied since 1972 by the Peppermill Restaurant and its parking lot.)
New Martial in Town
In the ’60s, the majority of America still considered martial arts a dark and dangerous unknown. Desiring a pop-cultural hook to sell his school to the masses, Norris turned to one of the greatest entertainment marketing engines in the world: the Las Vegas News Bureau, the PR arm of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
Bureau photographer Don English thought of his friend, Debbie Reynolds. At the time, the resident queen of the Stardust wanted to up her pop-cultural relevance by appearing playful and “with it.” So he orchestrated a photo shoot featuring the diminutive 35-year-old former star of Singing in the Rain battling karate’s hottest young champ.
The iconic photo that resulted — part of a series shot in the presidential suite of the Stardust and on its pool deck — showed Reynolds play-executing an upward elbow strike to Norris’ chin. English concocted the narrative that Reynolds had taken up karate to improve her stage stamina.
When the photo went out over the Associated Press wire, it promoted the idea that the martial arts were safe and sophisticated enough for Hollywood, creating the bridge of acceptance that TV’s future “Walker, Texas Ranger” eventually crossed to join Reynolds among Hollywood’s elite.
In the short term, it led to invitations for Norris to personally train Priscilla Presley, Steve McQueen, Donny and Marie Osmond, Michael Landon and James Garner in L.A.
Norris grew his Las Vegas school into the global headquarters for his United Fighting Arts Federation (UFAF). Since 1979, he has returned to Las Vegas every July to oversee the UFAF International Training Conference and World Championship, a forum to test the next generation of black belts.
In fact, it was during one UFAF conference — in a Riviera ballroom in July 1988 — that Norris arguably planted the seeds for UFC.
Norris introduced his instructors to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu by way of the Gracie family (fighters Rorion, Rickson, and Royce), with whom Norris had been training since 1980.
One by one, the brothers took each of Norris’ highest-ranking black belts — including Dick Douglas — to the ground, proving that traditional striking was useless once a fight became a grapple.
The UFAF conference continues to this day, scheduled to take place at the Rio from July 16-19, 2026.
Norris died on Thursday, “surrounded by his family,” according to a message posted on his Instagram account. No cause of death was announced, though TMZ reported that he was training on the Hawaiian island of Kauai the day before when he suffered a “medical emergency.”
Norris celebrated his 86th birthday only 10 days before his death by posting a video to social media showing him sparring with a trainer.
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