close
close

first Drop

Com TW NOw News 2024

Chad McQueen, ‘Karate Kid’ actor and son of Steve McQueen, dies at 63
news

Chad McQueen, ‘Karate Kid’ actor and son of Steve McQueen, dies at 63

“The Karate Kid” actor Chad McQueen, the only son of Hollywood legend and race car driver Steve McQueen, died Wednesday. He was 63.

The father of three died at his Palm Desert home of organ failure after having not fully recovered from injuries sustained in a 2020 fall, his close friend and attorney told The Hollywood Reporter and The New York Times.

In a post on the actor’s Instagram page, signed by McQueen’s wife Jeanie and their two children, Madison and Chase, they asked for privacy as they “remember and celebrate his extraordinary life.” McQueen is also survived by a son from a previous marriage, Steven, who is known for his role on “The Vampire Diaries.”

“His remarkable journey as a loving father to us, along with his unwavering devotion to our mother, truly exemplified a life filled with love and dedication,” the Instagram post read. “His passion for racing not only highlighted his exceptional talent, but also served as a way to honor his father’s legacy, a testament to the values ​​instilled in him. He passed his passion, knowledge and dedication on to us, and we will continue not only his legacy, but that of our grandfathers as well.”

The surviving child of the late Steve McQueen and Filipino actress Neile Adams — his older sister, Terry, died of respiratory failure in 1998 at age 38 — McQueen followed in his father’s footsteps as an actor who at one point left the public eye to focus on racing. But while his father, once the world’s highest-paid actor, only took a break from acting to compete in motorcycle racing, McQueen retired from the entertainment world altogether to focus on it full-time.

However, his Hollywood career began in 1984, when he was cast as the antagonist, Dutch, in “The Karate Kid” and later reprised the role in “The Karate Kid Part II”. He produced and starred in projects such as “Martial Law”, “Death Ring” and “Red Line” before retiring from acting after one role in 2001.

RELATED STORY | James Earl Jones, legendary actor and voice of Darth Vader and Mufasa, dies at 93

He then competed in various forms of racing for many years, until an accident in 2006 ended his career. But in 2010, he founded McQueen Racing, a custom car and motorcycle company now run by Chase and Madison, according to the website.

Jon Hurwitz, one of the creators of the Netflix series “Karate Kid’s Cobra Kai,” said in a post on X that McQueen almost reprised his role as Dutch in the series, but “his racing injuries limited his options.”

“Dutch was perhaps the purest Cobra of them all. Ruthless and dangerous through and through. That’s what we loved about him. And it was all because of Chad McQueen’s performance,” Hurwitz wrote. “The fandom mourns a Karate Kid legend today.”