Richard Norton

Richard Norton died at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne on 30 March 2025, aged 75. His wife, Judy Green, announced his death on social media the same day, and tributes came from Chuck Norris and many colleagues in film and martial arts. No cause was given publicly at the time.

In findings handed down on 28 October 2026, Victorian Coroner David Ryan found that Norton went into cardiac arrest after injecting the unapproved peptides CJC1295 and Ipamorelin. A doctor had prescribed them to him on 19 March 2025 for fatigue, shoulder pain and loss of muscle mass. On 28 March he told a nurse he had been taking double the prescribed dose, and hours after a later injection he felt hot and flushed and became unresponsive. The coroner recommended that the Therapeutic Goods Administration review the benefits and risks of the peptides and consider restricting them to clinical trials, saying he was not satisfied it was appropriate for doctors to prescribe them. The Medical Board of Australia required the prescribing doctor to undertake further training in clinical record keeping.

Richard Norton was born on 6 January 1950 in Croydon, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. He began studying judo at the age of 11 and later took up Goju-ryu karate, earning his black belt at 17. In 1970 Bob Jones hired him as chief instructor at his Melbourne dojo, while Norton also worked as a security guard. Over the following decades he cross-trained in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under the Machado brothers, Chun Kuk Do under Chuck Norris, and kickboxing under Pete Cunningham and Benny Urquidez, as well as aikido, Muay Thai and kobudo.

With Bob Jones, Norton co-created Zen Do Kai, a hybrid self defence martial art aimed at the security industry that grew to more than 5,000 members. His security work led to jobs as a personal bodyguard for the Rolling Stones, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, David Bowie, ABBA, John Belushi, Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks, and he appeared briefly as a bodyguard in ABBA: The Movie in 1977.

His first proper screen role was in The Octagon (1980) opposite Chuck Norris, for whom he also worked as a stuntman. Fighting Stars magazine later ranked their final fight 13th among the greatest fight scenes of all time. He became known for Hong Kong action films including The Magic Crystal, Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars, Millionaire's Express, City Hunter and Mr. Nice Guy, where his villains often asked "Painful?" after landing a blow. He also starred with Cynthia Rothrock in China O'Brien, China O'Brien II and Lady Dragon, and faced Benny Urquidez, Don Wilson and Yasuaki Kurata on screen.

In 1993 he became fight coordinator on Walker, Texas Ranger, where he also appeared in several episodes. He went on to coordinate fights for The Condemned (2007), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), Suicide Squad (2016), Dark Phoenix (2019) and The Suicide Squad (2021), and trained leading actors for their fight scenes. He played the Prime Imperator in Mad Max: Fury Road and in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024). He also ran the Richard Norton Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu organisation and taught seminars around the world. In 2014 he was inducted into the Australasian Martial Arts Hall of Fame.

Norton married the Australian actress Judy Green in 1993, and they lived in Melbourne. He held a 5th degree black belt in Goju-ryu, an 8th degree in Chun Kuk Do, a 6th degree in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and a 10th degree in Zen Do Kai, and remained close to Chuck Norris for more than four decades.

Norton is remembered as one of the few Australians to build a lasting career in Hong Kong and American martial arts cinema, and as a fight choreographer whose work reached from low budget action films to major Hollywood productions. Zen Do Kai, the style he created with Bob Jones, is still taught in Australia. The coroner's findings into his death led to wider public debate in Australia about the prescription and online sale of unapproved peptides.