Richard Norton is an American and Australian actor, bodyguard, martial artist, martial artist, stunt performer, director of movie stunt scenes. He starred in films with such famous actors as: Chuck Norris, Cynthia Rothrock, Jackie Chan.
For fans of militants of the 80-90s, Norton is well known for his films: "American Ninja", "Lady Dragon", "Fighter", "City Hunter". Despite his age, he still continues his creative career. In addition to filming a movie, Norton worked for a long time as a bodyguard for the famous stars of show business: The Rolling Stones, ABBA, Fleetwood Mac, John Belushi, David Bowie, Linda Rondstad.
early years
Richard was born in Australia in January 1950. Back in school, he began to be seriously interested in martial arts and at the age of 12 he went in for judo, and a couple of years later he already had a brown belt. In addition, the young man began to practice karate-do, where he soon received a black belt and goju-ryu.
For some time, Richard even moonlighted in nightclubs as a security guard. But this was not the end of his passion for martial arts, and soon he began to master Zen to Kai, became the owner of the fourth dan and senior instructor in sports schools. Richard also studied with the master of Brazilian jiu-jitsu - Jean Machado.
The bodyguard of the stars
Already in his youth, Norton became one of the most famous specialists in Australia, owning martial arts, which allowed him to be not only a very popular teacher, but also a bodyguard. So in the early 70s, when the Rolling Stones toured in Australia, Norton was invited to lead the band's guard and become a personal bodyguard and martial arts teacher for Mick Jagger.
Richard's high professionalism and personal charm attracted more and more stars to him who want to hire him as a specialist. Among them were many celebrities: R. Gere, D. Belushi, D. Cocker, D. Bowie and others.
While still working as an instructor, Richard, together with his friend, decides to invite one of the famous actors to Australia, who is also interested in martial arts. The choice fell on Chuck Norris, who agreed to come and give some demonstrations. Chuck quickly made friends with Richard, appreciating his abilities and professionalism, and even offered him to move to the United States, but at that time Norton was not yet ready to leave his native country. And a few years later, singer Linda Ronstadt invited him as a personal bodyguard. He agrees and travels to America, planning to stay there for several months, and as a result remains for many years.
Movie career
Arriving in the United States, Norton meets Chuck Norris again, who offers him to try his hand at cinema. His debut was the role of the villain in the movie "Octagon", where he not only brilliantly performed his role, but also helped in the production of all the scenes of fights and stunts. From that moment, Richard began a successful career in cinema.
Further Norton's work was associated exclusively with adventure films and action movies. He starred several times with Chuck Norris in the films: Eye for an Eye, Walker - Texas Ranger, Forced Revenge. The popularity of paintings with Richard was very high in those years. He was recognized as one of the best actors who own various martial arts and an excellent specialist in stunt scenes.
Due to his fame and professionalism, Norton becomes a guest actor in a number of action films starring in China. The directors needed the image of a white man portraying a villain who is fluent in the art of fighting. So he is on the set with Jackie Chan. After a series of successful Hong Kong fighters, Norton is assigned the title of best martial artist, he becomes the most recognizable western actor in China.
A few years later he was offered another role in the film "Honor and Fury", where he met Cynthia Rothrock, who in the 90s was also one of the most famous actresses starring in action films. Thanks to these shootings, Richard's popularity has risen to an even higher level.
Today, Norton continues to work in the cinema, constantly improving his professional skills and is not only an actor, but also a director, director of tricks in many films. His creative biography has more than 40 films and series. He believes that he never competed with anyone and adhered to the principle of oriental practices, where you should not fight with the enemy, but with yourself.
