Lee Jun-fan (李振藩;
Hanyu Pinyin: Lǐ Zhènfán; literally means invigorate San
Francisco based on the Chinese name of his birthplace 三藩市)
Bruce was born in his father's absence (he went on a Chinese opera
tour.) His mother named him (李炫金)
for the meaning of brighten San Francisco based on the Chinese
alias of his birthplace 舊金山.
The nurses at the hospital gave him an English name Bruce. His
Chinese name was changed within a few months when his father returned,
due to a conflict with his grandfather's name. In Chinese culture, it is
taboo to give a child a name that is the same as an ancestor's.
Bruce's brother before him was stillborn
at birth. The Chinese believe baby boys are often stolen by demons. Boys
are sometimes called a girls name to fool these demons. In his
childhood, Bruce was called Sai Fung (細鳳
a typical girl's name) by his family
members in response to his brother's death and prevent a similar fate.
Biography
The greatest icon of martial arts cinema,
and a key figure of modern popular culture. Had it not been for the
amazing Bruce Lee and his incredible movies in the early 1970s, it's
arguable whether or not the martial arts film genre would have ever
penetrated and influenced mainstream western cinema & audiences the
way it has over the past three decades.
The influence of Asian martial arts cinema can be seen today in so many
other film genres including comedies, action, drama, science fiction,
horror and animation.....and they all have their roots in the phenomenon
that was Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee was born "Lee Juan Fan" in November 1940 in San
Francisco, the son of Lee Hoi Chuen, a singer with the Cantonese Opera.
Approximately, one year later the family returned to Kowloon in Hong
Kong and at the age of 5, a young Bruce begins appearing in children's
roles in minor films including The Birth of Mankind (1946) and Fu gui fu
yun (1948). At the age of 12, Bruce commenced attending La Salle
College, and was later beaten up by a street gang, which inspires him to
take up martial arts training under the tuition of "Sifu Yip
Man" who schools Bruce in wing chun kung fu for a period of
approximately five years (this was the only formalized martial arts
training ever undertaken by Lee). The talented & athletic Bruce also
took up cha-cha dancing, and at the age of 18 won a major dance
championship in Hong Kong.
However, his temper and quick fists saw him fall foul of the HK police
on numerous occasions, and his parents suggested that he head off to the
United States. Lee landed in San Francisco's Chinatown in 1959 and
worked in a relative's restaurant, however he eventually made his way to
Seattle, Washington where he enrolled at university to study philosophy,
and found the time to practice his beloved kung fu techniques. In 1963,
Lee met Linda Emery (later his wife) and in addition he opened his first
kung fu school at 4750 University Way. During the early half of the
1960s, Lee became associated with many key martial arts identities in
the USA including kenpo karate expert Ed Parker and tae kwon do master
Jhoon Rhee. He made guest appearances at notable martial arts events
including the Long Beach Nationals. Through one of these tournaments,
Bruce met Hollywood hair stylist Jay Sebring who introduced him to TV
producer William Dozier. Based on the runaway success of
"Batman", Dozier was keen to bring the cartoon character of
"The Green Hornet" to TV and was on the lookout for an
Oriental actor to play the Green Hornet's sidekick, "Kato".
Around this time, Bruce also opened a second kung fu school in Oakland,
California and relocated to Oakland to be closer to Hollywood.
Bruce's screen test was successful, and "The Green Hornet"
starring Van Williams went to air in early 1966 to mixed success.
However, the show was surprisingly terminated after only one season (30
episodes), but by this time he was receiving more fan mail than the
show's star. He then opened a third branch of his kung fu school in Los
Angeles, and began providing personalized martial arts training to film
stars including Steve McQueen and James Coburn. In addition, he refined
his prior knowledge of wing chun, plus incorporating aspects of other
fighting styles such as traditional boxing and okinawan karate. He also
developed his own unique style "Jeet Kune Do" (Way of the
Intercepting Fist). Another film opportunity then comes his way, as he
landed the small role of a stand over man named "Winslow Wong"
intimidating private eye James Garner in Marlowe (1969). Wong paid a
visit to Garner and proceeded to demolish the investigator's office with
his fists and feet, finishing off with a spectacular high kick that
shattered the light fitting. With this further exposure of his talents,
Bruce then scored several guest appearances as a martial arts instructor
to blind private eye James Franciscus on the TV series "Longstreet"
(1971).
With his minor success in Hollywood and money in his pockets, Bruce
returned for a visit to Hong Kong and was approached by film producer
Raymond Chow who had recently started "Golden Harvest"
productions. Chow was keen to utilize Lee's strong popularity amongst
young Chinese fans, and offered him the lead role in _Tang sha da xiong
(1971)_ ( aka "Fists of Fury", aka "The Big Boss").
The film was directed by Wei Lo, shot in Thailand, on a very low budget
and in terrible living conditions for cast and crew. However when it
opened in Hong Kong, the film was an enormous hit! Young Chinese flocked
in their thousands to see this ground breaking film starring a tough,
athletic Chinese hero who dispensed justice with his fists and feet.
Chow knew he had struck box office gold with Lee, and quickly assembled
another script entitled Jing wu men (1972) (aka "The Chinese
Connection", aka "Fist of Fury"). The second film (with a
slightly improved budget) was again directed by Wei Lo and was set in
Shanghai in the year 1900, with Lee returning to his school to find his
beloved master has been poisoned by the local Japanese karate school.
Once again, he uncovered the evil doers and set about seeking revenge on
those responsible for murdering his teacher. The film featured several
superb fight sequences, and at the film's conclusion, Lee refuses to
surrender to the Japanese law and seemingly leaps to his death in a hail
of police bullets!
Once more, Hong Kong streets were jammed back with thousands of fervent
Chinese movie fans who could not get enough of the fearless Bruce Lee,
and his second film went on to break the box office records set by the
first! Lee then set up his own production company, Concord Productions,
and set about guiding his film career personally by writing, directing
and acting in his next film, Meng long guojiang (1972) (aka "Way of
the Dragon", aka "Return of The Dragon"). A bigger
budget, meant better locations and opponents, with the new film set in
Rome, Italy and additionally starring hapkido expert Ing-Sik Whang,
karate legend Robert Wall and seven times US karate champion Chuck
Norris. Bruce played a seemingly simple country boy sent to assist at a
cousin's restaurant in Rome, and finds his cousins are being bullied by
local thugs for protection.
By now, Lee's remarkable success in the Orient had come to the attention
of Hollywood film executives and a script was hastily written pitching
him as a secret agent penetrating an island fortress. Warner Bros.
financed the film, and also insisted on B-movie tough guy John Saxon
co-starring alongside Lee to give the film more Western appeal. The film
culminated with another show stopping fight sequence between Lee and the
key villain, Han, in a maze of mirrors. Shooting was completed in and
around Hong Kong in early 1973 and in the subsequent weeks, Bruce was
involved in completing over dubs and looping for the final cut. Various
reports from friends and co-workers cite how he was not feeling well
during this period, and on July 20th 1973 he lay down at the apartment
of actress Betty Ting Pei after taking a headache tablet, and was later
unable to be revived. A doctor was called, and he was then taken to
hospital by ambulance and pronounced dead that evening. The official
finding was death was due to a cerebral edema, caused by a reaction to
the headache tablet. In other words, death by misadventure.
Chinese movie fans were absolutely shattered that their virile idol, had
passed away at such a young age, and nearly 30,000 fans filed past his
coffin in Hong Kong. A second, much smaller ceremony was held in
Seattle, Washington and Bruce was laid to rest at Lake View Cemetary in
Seattle with pall bearers including Steve McQueen, James Coburn and Dan
Inosanto. Enter the Dragon (1973) was later released in the mainland
United States, and was a huge hit with American audiences, which then
prompted National General films to actively distribute his three prior
movies to US theaters...each of them was a box office smash. Bruce Lee
was an international film star after he had died!
Fans worldwide were still hungry for more Bruce Lee films, and thus
remaining footage (completed before his death) of Lee fighting several
opponents including Dan Inosanto, Hugh O'Brian and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
was crafted into another film titled Game of Death (1978). The film used
a look alike actor and shadowy camera work to be substituted for the
real Lee in numerous scenes. The film is a poor addition to the line up,
and is only saved by the final twenty minutes and the footage of the
real Bruce Lee battling his way up the tower. Amazingly, this same
shoddy process was used to create Si wang ta (1981) (aka "Game of
Death II"), with more look alike and stunt doubles interwoven with
a few brief minutes of footage of the real Bruce Lee.
Tragically, his son Brandon Lee, an actor and martial artist like his
father, was killed in a freak accident on the set of The Crow (1994).
Bruce Lee was not only an amazing athlete and martial artist, but he
possessed genuine superstar charisma and through a handful of films he
left behind an indelible impression on the tapestry of modern cinema.
Bruce Lee Martial
arts style
After studying and becoming dissatisfied
with existing classical schools of martial arts, Lee began the process
of creating his own style: Jun Fan Gung Fu, a modification of
Wing Chun blended with Western Boxing, and Fencing. His schools were
called Jun Fan Gung Fu Institutes. Later, in order to apply a more
descriptive name, he renamed it Jeet
Kune Do (Way of the Intercepting Fist). JKD
was a further refinement of his style which incorporated elements from
many styles to create a more streamlined and practical martial art, as
well as a comprehensive system of fitness training. JKD is also defined
as his personal philosophy of how martial arts should be effectively
practiced (and according to others also as a self-help philosophy).
There is often some discrepancy between
Lee Jun Fan Gung Fu (a.k.a. "original JKD") and JKD Concepts,
which explore other styles not previously incorporated into Jeet
Kune Do by Lee. Depending on the instructor a person trains under,
the name of "the style of JKD" is usually specific to a time
period in Lee's process although many of the techniques are often the
same. Perhaps a reason why Lee himself later regretted even giving a
name to his philosophy/fighting style (Jeet
Kune Do) thereby making it just another "martial art
style." Lee saw loyalty to a particular martial arts style as being
dogmatic, analogous to the practice of organized religion or
ethnocentrism. This and Lee's other revolutionary ideas about martial
arts and his teaching of non-Asian students gave Lee many enemies in the
martial arts community of the 1960s/70s (culminating in many challenges
by other martial artists Lee poignantly answered). Yet, much of the
dispute about JKD instruction is not so much the names, but the
credibility of the instructors teaching these 'JKD' fighting systems.
Dan Inosanto — receiving the highest
certification in Lee's art (notable exception is Taky Kimura, senior
most instructor in Jun Fan Gung Fu) — is widely regarded as the senior
most JKD instructor under Bruce Lee. All other instructors (again except
Taky Kimura and the late James Lee [no relation to Bruce Lee]) are
certified under Inosanto, even Bruce's other original students. Kimura,
to date, has certified only one person in Jun Fan Gung Fu — his son
and heir, Andy Kimura. James Lee, a very close and personal friend of
Bruce, never certified anyone before his untimely passing. Inosanto
often serves not only as the leading instructor and historian of Jeet
Kune Do Concepts; he also teaches and practices other styles such as
Kali, Silat, Muay Thai, and Brazilian Jujitsu.
Lee frequently gave demonstrations of his
two-finger pushups and his famous "one inch punch", a mastered
technique in which he could deliver a devastating blow yet have his fist
travel a mere one inch (2.54 cm) in distance before striking an
opponent. He was an all-rounder, being well educated both academically
(he was a philosophy major at the University of Washington) and in the
field of martial arts. His studies of Wing Chun Gung Fu sparked his
enthusiasm and understanding of martial arts. In fact, Wing Chun was the
only martial art Lee formally studied, under the guidance of Yip Man.
Throughout his life Lee studied many styles of martial arts through an
extensive literature research and contacts with other martial artists.
Many contemporary martial arts instructors, in an effort to promote
themselves or their schools, make dubious claims about learning from or
teaching Bruce Lee. This was a major reason why he put rigid standards
forth to earn certification in what he taught.
It is a well known fact that Lee used
every known technique and resource in aiding his fitness including
electric current as an aid to strength training, because of the leanness
the muscles gained in working against themselves. However, this muscle
stimulator was only one of many pieces of equipment and exercise
routines Lee used to achieve his on-screen physical appearance. His
obsession with physical fitness is seen in his personal notes and diary.
Lee tracked the evolution of his training in his diary, which has been
recollected and published in The Bruce Lee Library by John
Little a "martial arts historian" from Bruce Lee's Estate.
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