He had some pretty awful views that he was pretty loud about, especially later in life. He also cheated on his wife at one point.

However, so as not to speak (purely) ill of the dead, I will say that he was an accomplished martial artist with a prolific film career.

My dad was a film reporter in the late '70s/early '80s, and told me that Chuck Norris had been one of the friendliest celebrities he had ever met.

My dad had some antiquated views himself too. People can have/be both, I suppose.

"Class act" is doing a lot of lifting there

What exactly made him a "class act"?

Was it the part where he wanted public schools to force the Bible on everyone's children, regardless of their family's faith?

Or was it the part where he attacked the Boy Scouts for lifting their ban on gay members, because he broadly hates the LGBTQ+ community?

Or, likewise, when he staunchly supported Prop 8, because he felt that the government should enforce strict "traditional family values", and deny consenting adults he doesn't like to marry each other?

Or was it when he said that a Black president would bring "1000 years of darkness"?

Or was it when he said that Muslims were going to destroy America with Sharia law, merely for existing?

Or was it the part where he supported aggressive ICE action against anyone perceived to be foreign?

Just trying to understand how someone this despicable deserves the compliment you gave him. The only good version of Chuck Norris I know about is the pretend version from memes.

Yeah, his support of the Obama "birther" conspiracy was super classy.