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On the
morning of November 27, 1940 (in the Chinese year of the Dragon),
Lee Jun Fan was born in San Francisco. The mother, Grace had not
planned on an American name, and the father, at the time, was
performing a popular Chinese opera in New York. So it was one of
the Hospital employee who thought of the name Bruce. The mother
concurred and from then on it was Bruce Lee. A legend was born.
Shortly afterward, the family
Bruce's Hong Kong film career began when he was only six years old. The director of his father's latest film saw him on the set and was so impressed that he offered him a part in his father's film. This was the beginning, leading to over twenty motion picture roles and steadily increasing popularity among Hong Kong audiences.
Bruce started training in the martial arts mainly to overcome his fear of being humiliated in a street fight. As a teenager he began to get into more and more fights for no reason at all. And if he didn't win he was furious. As a result, under the great master Yip Man's Wing Chun (meaning "beautiful springtime") teachings, Bruce became a proficient martial artist, not to mention a feared street fighter. However, Bruce actually had more than one teacher. As time went by, Bruce grew. His enthusiasm towards martial arts was more apparent. He was young, energetic and competitive. He soon became acquainted with Wing-chun's basic Kung Fu. Since he was very clever, Mr Yip loved him very much and taught him many secret techniques in Win Chun Kung Fu. He became an expert in Wing Chun Kung Fu.
When Bruce was about fourteen, he discovered that "dancing" could be a great deal of fun. He had a real Knack for it and rapidly became quite polished, never lacking eager partners. Much of the balance and footwork became evident in his later fighting style. His favorite was the Cha Cha, and he spent many hours practicing extremely complex dance routines. He eventually became the Hong Kong Cha Cha Champion.
At the age of 19, Bruce was becoming more and more involved in street fighting. So in 1959 his parents decide to sent him to live with friends in the United States, Where he would finish high school. While he was staying in Seattle, Bruce was allowed to live in the restaurant's attic in exchange for his services as a busboy and waiter. Bruce finished high school and went on to college. By day he attended the University of Washington and nights he was working in the restaurant. After a few months of this, he decided that this lifestyle was not for him. He quit his job at the restaurant and began teaching Kung-fu. At the age of twenty-two, Bruce authored an extremely unique text which he titled "CHINESE GUNG-FU: The Philosophical Art of SELF-DEFENSE." This book reflected his
preoccupation with spiritual as well as physical development.
Before Bruce finished his Bachelor Degree in Philosophy, he meet Linda Emery, a pretty blonde coed, enrolled in his class and in 1964 they were married. Shortly afterward, they moved to California. In 1965, Bruce's son, Brandon, was born. Couples years later his daughter Shannon was born.
When Bruce debuted to the world giving a demostration of Martial Arts at Ed Parker's 1964 internationals, Ed was getting it all down on film. Fate intervened a few years later while Ed was teaching Jay Sebring (one of the people later killed along with Sharon Tate in the Sharon Tate murders). Jay mentioned that his friend Bill Dozier (the producer of "Batman 1966 T.V. series") had bought the rights to the "Green Hornet" and needed a Kato. Parker showed Dozier the film on Bruce and the rest is history. As Kato on the popular T.V. series "The Green Hornet", Bruce introduced millions to the beauty, creativity and power of the martial arts.
Bruce felt certain that "The Green Hornet" was going to be his "Big Break," but after the series went off the air after only one season, Bruce found that parts calling for orientals were few and far between. He landed a small role in "Marlowe," a feature film starring James Garner, and also appeared in a few episodes of "Longstreet," a television series starring James Franciscus, but for the most part his career was going nowhere. Then, he decide to opened up three Knoons (schools) designed for only the most serious of martial arts students. It was here that he developed and taught what was to become JEET KUNE DO. Which he had a group of students like Steve McQueen, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Coburn, Dan Inosanto, Etc.
In the U.S. Bruce knew many good friends in the field of martial arts. One of them was an expert in the nunchaku and Ka-li - Mr. Dan Inosanto. (Bruce Lee is the one in the center without shirt and Dan is the one whom is in the Bruce's right.) They exchanged their techniques. In short while, Bruce grasped the essential points in the use of the nunchaku and Ka-li. The beginning of the seventies saw Bruce spending more and more time between Hollywood and Hong Kong. Offers began pouring in from many different sources and he was continually in transit firming up commitments and scouting locations for future projects. In constant demand, his fees escalated accordingly to such astronomical rates as $275.00 per hour. However the perpetuation of Jeet Kune Do was still very important to him so before he embarked for good on his glamorous new profession abroad, he turned the responsability of his teaching over to his head instructor and friend, Dan Inosanto.
In 1970, Bruce Lee sustained a rather severe injury to his back. His doctors ordered him to discontinue the practice of martial arts and to remain in bed to allow his back to heal. "This was probably the most trying and dispiriting time in Bruce's life" (Linda Lee Commented). Bruce stayed in bed, virtually flat on his back for six months, but he couldn't keep his mind from working - the result was the book of Tao of Jeet Kune Do. The bulk of these writings was done at that time, but many scattered notes were recorded at earlier and later times. Bruce Lee had decided to finish the book in 1971 but his film work keept him from completing it. Bruce also vacillated about the advisability of publishing his work because he felt it might be used for wrong purposes. Bruce intended that the book were a record of one man's way of thinking and as a guide, not set of instructions. This book was printed for the first time in 1975 (Not when Bruce was alive like suggest the film of Universal Studios DRAGON - The Bruce Lee Story). As a matter of fact, the book was incomplete and was finished by Bruce Lee's wife Linda Lee, Gilbert L. Johnson & Dan Inosanto.
After the "Green Hornet" and "LongStreet" television series, Bruce was asked to star in the television series "Kung-Fu." But Bruce was later turned down by the producers of the "Kung-Fu" TV series, because they thought Bruce was too "Oriental" looking for mainstream american audiences. Then, after a little while, he went to Hong Kong to make a series of action movies, which propelled him into international superstardom. As time went on, Bruce was determined to upgrade his films. Eventually he incorporated his philosophy and Jeet Kune Do into his films. Bruce Lee only made 4 films about Martial Arts and another one incomplete (Game of Death). That's made 5 of them
The Big Boss was a typical low budget "chop-suey" film. Bruce was reluctant to have this film shown in the western market because of it's lack of sophistication. His charisma and martial arts ability overshadowed any short comings in the film and instantly catapulted him to superstar status.
The Chinese Connection (Fist of Fury) With the box office success of The Big Boss behind him, Bruce asserted more of himself in each succeeding film. In The Chinese Connection his fight scenes were flawless and believable. His simple and direct fighting style of Jeet Kune Do would set the standard for all martial arts films to come.
Return of The Dragon (Way of the Dragon) Return of The Dragon originally titled Way of The Dragon, was his third film, was a total Bruce Lee production. He wrote it, directed it, cast it and chose the locations. It was unheard of for a Chinese production company to go the expense of filming in the famed Coliseum in Rome. Chuck Norris, the famous American martial artist, was flown in to make the fight scenes still more exciting and to give this film a true international flavor.
Enter The Dragon is considered by many to be the ultimate martial arts film of all time. Major motion picture stars along with American cinematography techniques were futured. Bruce also showed his weapons ability with the nunchaku and the Filipino double sticks. This was also the only film using his own voice in English.
"The Game of Death" was to be his crowing achievement and would have been if he were around to complete it. He wanted to show his gratitude to his former students and instructors by including them in this film. Dan Inosanto was his Filipino-Style opponent, Taky Kimura, unable to attend, was to have been his preying Mantis opponent and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was his unknown style opponent.
The circumstances surrounding Bruce Lee's death in July 20 of 1973 unleashed a storm of discontent which swept across Asia, and throughout the rest of the world, leaving in its wake a tangled welter of claims and counterclaims regarding the causes of his dying. His physical fitness was too well known for people to accept that he might have simply died of natural causes. (I'm personally think it was a natural causes.)
No one had any premotions of the disaster to come when Bruce went to a meeting with Raymond Chow (Bruce's Producer) at Betty Ting Pei's apartment to talk about finish The Game of Death script, which contained a major role for Betty. Raymond had left them late in the afternoon, planning to meet again later for dinner. Bruce complained of a headache and Betty gave him Equagesic, an aspirin compound she often used herself. Bruce went to lie down in the bedroom. Raymond called in midevening to find out why they had not shown up at the restaurant and Betty told him Bruce was asleep. Chow went back to Betty's apartment and attempted to rouse Bruce, without success. They began to get alarmed and Betty called her doctor, who tried unsuccessfully for several minutes to revive him. They called for an ambulance.
Bruce Lee the "Little Dragon," was dead on arrival at the hospital. Emergency treatment was used to try to stimulate his heart and breathing, but there was no life. Linda arrived with Chow to be with Bruce at the end, but they were too late. How Bruce died is a matter of public record---a brain aneurysm in the vicinity of the cerebral edema, which surfaced in May of 1973. Whether it was present from birth or caused later by a blow to the head is pure conjecture. In any case, he was living on borrowed time with a damaged blood vessel in his head capable of exploding at any moment. The medicine prescribed for him, Dilantin, was not to deal with the problem of edema or aneurysm, but for the epilectic convulsions brought about by the edema. So a cerebral aneurysm claimed him as he slept, unfortunately in Betty Ting Pei's apartment. That Bruce suffered a severe brain trauma two months earlier was known to many people. That a weakness was present, whether congenital or brought about through stress or a hard blow to the head, was a matter of knowledge to many in Hong Kong, particulary in the film industry.
Hong Kong is stunned by the announcement of Lee's death. Thousands line the streets to honour his symbolic burial parade and scores of spectators were injured in the crush. Steel barriers were erected along the coffin's route to restrain the crowd.
Bruce Lee was buried in Lake View Cemetery in Seattle U.S.A. Then, Brandon Lee was buried next to his father on April 3, 1993. To this day, 24 years after the Bruce death, fresh flowers are found on his gravestone and his son every day.
