Birth name Lee
Jun-fan
Ancestry Shunde,
Guangdong, China
Origin Hong
Kong
Born 27
November 1940
Chinatown, San Francisco, USA
Died 20
July 1973 (aged 32)
Kowloon Tong, British Hong Kong
Occupation Martial
artist, martial arts instructor, actor,
film director, screenwriter
film director, screenwriter
Years active 1941–73
Spouse(s) Linda
Emery (1964–73)
Children Brandon
Lee (1965–93) , Shannon Lee (born 1969)
Parents Lee
Hoi-chuen (1901–65) , Grace Ho (1907–96)
Bruce Lee ( born Lee Jun-fan, 27 November 1940 – 20 July 1973) was a Hong Kong American martial artist, Hong Kong action
film actor, martial arts instructor, filmmaker, and the founder of Jeet Kune Do.
Lee was the son of Cantonese opera star Lee Hoi-Chuen. He is widely considered
by commentators, critics, media and other martial artists to be one of the most
influential martial artists of all time, and a pop culture icon of the 20th
century. He is often credited with helping to change the way Asians were
presented in American films.
Lee was born in
Chinatown, San Francisco on 27 November 1940 to parents from Hong Kong and was
raised in Kowloon with his family until his late teens. He was introduced to
the film industry by his father and appeared in several films as a child actor.
Lee moved to the United States at the age of 18 to receive his higher
education, and it was during this time that he began teaching martial arts. His
Hong Kong and Hollywood-produced films elevated the traditional Hong Kong
martial arts film to a new level of popularity and acclaim, sparking a surge of
interest in Chinese martial arts in the West in the 1970s. The direction and
tone of his films changed and influenced martial arts and martial arts films in
Hong Kong and the rest of the world.
He is noted for his
roles in five feature-length films: Lo Wei's The Big Boss (1971) and Fist of
Fury (1972); Way of the Dragon (1972), directed and written by Lee; Warner
Brothers' Enter the Dragon (1973) and The Game of Death (1973), both directed
by Robert Clouse. Lee became an iconic figure known throughout the world,
particularly among the Chinese, as he portrayed Chinese nationalism in his
films. He initially trained in Wing Chun and Boxing, but later rejected
well-defined martial art styles, favouring instead the use of techniques from
various sources, in the spirit of his personal martial arts philosophy, which
he dubbed Jeet Kune Do (The Way of the Intercepting Fist). Lee held dual nationality
of Hong Kong and the United States. He died in Kowloon Tong on 20 July 1973 at the age of 32.
Early life
Bruce Lee as a baby.
Bruce Lee was born on
27 November 1940, at the Chinese Hospital, in San Francisco's Chinatown.
According to the Chinese zodiac, Lee was born in both the hour and the year of
the Dragon, which according to tradition is a strong and fortuitous omen.
Bruce's father, Lee
Hoi-chuen, was Chinese, and his mother, Grace Ho, was half-Chinese and
half-Caucasian. Grace Ho was purportedly half-German Catholic, and she may have
been adopted. Grace Ho was the daughter of Ho Kom-tong and the niece of Sir
Robert Ho-tung, both notable Hong Kong businessmen and philanthropists. Bruce
was the fourth child of five children: Phoebe Lee, Agnes Lee, Peter Lee, and
Robert Lee. Lee and his parents returned to Hong Kong when he was three months
old.
Bruce Lee and his
family, when he was a child.
Lee's Cantonese birth
name was Lee Jun-fan . The name homophonically means "return again",
and was given to Lee by his mother, who felt he would return to the United
States once he came of age. Because of his mother's superstitious nature, she
had originally named him Sai-fon , which is a feminine name meaning "small
phoenix". The English name "Bruce" is thought to have been given
by the hospital attending physician, Dr. Mary Glover.
Lee had three other
Chinese names: Li Yuanxin , a family/clan name; Li Yuanjian , which he used as
a student name while he was attending La Salle College, and his Chinese screen
name Li Xiaolong ( Xiaolong means "little dragon").
Family
Lee's father, Lee
Hoi-chuen, was one of the leading Cantonese opera and film actors at the time,
and was embarking on a year-long opera tour with his family on the eve of the
Japanese invasion of Hong Kong. Lee Hoi-chuen had been touring the United States
for many years and performing at numerous Chinese communities there.
Although many of his
peers decided to stay in the United States, Lee Hoi-chuen returned to Hong Kong
after Bruce's birth. Within months, Hong Kong was invaded and the Lees lived
for three years and eight months under Japanese occupation. After the war
ended, Lee Hoi-chuen resumed his acting career and became a more popular actor
during Hong Kong's rebuilding years.
Lee's mother, Grace
Ho, was from one of the wealthiest and most powerful clans in Hong Kong, the
Ho-tungs. She was the niece of Sir Robert Ho-tung, the Eurasian patriarch of
the clan. As such, the young Bruce Lee grew up in an affluent and privileged
environment. Despite the advantage of his family's status, the neighborhood in
which Lee grew up became overcrowded, dangerous, and full of gang rivalries due
to an influx of refugees fleeing communist China for Hong Kong, at that time a
British Crown colony.
After Lee was
involved in several street fights, his parents decided that he needed to be
trained in the martial arts. Lee's first introduction to martial arts was
through his father, from whom he learned the fundamentals of Wu-style t'ai chi
ch'uan.
Wing Chun
Lee, before the age
of 18.
The largest influence
on Lee's martial arts development was his study of Wing Chun. Lee began
training in Wing Chun at the age of 13 under the Wing Chun teacher Yip Man in
1954, after losing a fight with rival gang members. Yip's regular classes
generally consisted of the forms practice, chi sao (sticking hands) drills,
wooden dummy techniques, and free-sparring. There was no set pattern to the
classes. Yip tried to keep his students from fighting in the street gangs of
Hong Kong by encouraging them to fight in organized competitions.
After a year into his
Wing Chun training, most of Yip Man's other students refused to train with Lee
after they learned of his mixed ancestry, as the Chinese were generally against
teaching their martial arts techniques to non-Asians. Lee's sparring partner,
Hawkins Cheung states, "Probably fewer than six people in the whole Wing
Chun clan were personally taught, or even partly taught, by Yip Man".
However, Lee showed a keen interest in Wing Chun, and continued to train
privately with Yip Man and Wong Shun Leung in 1955.
Leaving Hong Kong
Lee and his teacher
Ip Man.
After attending Tak
Sun School (several blocks from his home
at 218 Nathan Road, Kowloon), Lee entered the primary school division of La
Salle College at the age of 12. In around 1956, due to poor academic performance
(or possibly poor conduct as well), he was transferred to St. Francis Xavier's
College (high school) where he would be mentored by Brother Edward, a teacher
and coach of the school boxing team.
Lee in 1958, dancing
Cha-cha.
In the spring of 1959,
Lee got into yet another street fight and the police were called. Until his
late teens, Lee's street fights became more frequent and included beating the
son of a feared triad family. Eventually, Lee's father decided for him to leave
Hong Kong to pursue a safer and healthier avenue in the United States. His
parents confirmed the police's fear that this time Lee's opponent had an
organised crime background, and there was the possibility that a contract was
out for his life.
The police detective
came and he says "Excuse me Mr. Lee, your son is really fighting bad in
school. If he gets into just one more fight I might have to put him in
jail".
—Robert Lee
In April 1959, Lee's
parents decided to send him to the United States to stay with his older sister,
Agnes Lee , who was already living with family friends in San Francisco.
New life in America
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With son Brandon in
1966
At the age of 18, Lee
returned to the United States with $100 in his pocket. After living in San
Francisco for several months, he moved to Seattle in 1959, to continue his high
school education, where he also worked for Ruby Chow as a live-in waiter at her
restaurant.
Chow's husband was a
co-worker and friend of Lee's father. Lee's elder brother Peter Lee would also join him in Seattle for a short
stay before moving on to Minnesota to attend college. In December 1960, Lee
completed his high school education and received his diploma from Edison
Technical School (now Seattle Central Community College, located on Capitol
Hill in Seattle).
In March 1961, Lee
enrolled at the University of Washington, majoring in drama according to the
university's alumni association information,not in philosophy as claimed by Lee
himself and many others. Lee also studied philosophy, psychology, and various
other subjects. It was at the University of Washington that he met his future
wife Linda Emery, a fellow student studying to become a teacher, whom he
married in August 1964.
Lee had two children
with Linda Emery, Brandon Lee (1965–93) and Shannon Lee (born 1969).
Jun Fan Gung Fu
Lee began teaching
martial arts in the United States in 1959. He called what he taught Jun Fan
Gung Fu (literally Bruce Lee's Kung Fu). It was basically his approach to Wing
Chun. Lee taught friends he met in Seattle, starting with Judo practitioner
Jesse Glover, who continued to teach some of Lee's early techniques. Taky
Kimura became Lee's first Assistant Instructor and continued to teach his art
and philosophy after Lee's death. Lee opened his first martial arts school,
named the Lee Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute, in Seattle.
Lee dropped out of
college in the spring of 1964 and moved to Oakland to live with James Yimm Lee .
James Lee was twenty years senior to Bruce Lee and a well known Chinese martial
artist in the area. Together, they founded the second Jun Fan martial art
studio in Oakland. James Lee was also responsible for introducing Bruce Lee to
Ed Parker, American martial artist, and organizer of the Long Beach
International Karate Championships at which Bruce Lee was later
"discovered" by Hollywood.
Long Beach
International Karate Championships
At the invitation of
Ed Parker, Lee appeared in the 1964 Long Beach International Karate
Championships and performed repetitions of two-finger push-ups (using the thumb
and the index finger of one hand) with feet at approximately a shoulder-width
apart. In the same Long Beach event he also performed the "One inch
punch", the description of which is as follows: Lee stood upright, his
right foot forward with knees bent slightly, in front of a standing, stationary
partner. Lee's right arm was partly extended and his right fist approximately
an inch away from the partner's chest. Without retracting his right arm, Lee
then forcibly delivered the punch to his partner while largely maintaining his
posture, sending the partner backwards and falling into a chair said to be
placed behind the partner to prevent injury, though his partner's momentum soon
caused him to fall to the floor. His volunteer was Bob Baker of Stockton, California.
"I told Bruce not to do this type of demonstration again", Baker
recalled. "When he punched me that last time, I had to stay home from work
because the pain in my chest was unbearable".
It was at the 1964
championships where Lee first met Taekwondo master Jhoon Goo Rhee. The two
developed a friendship – a relationship from which they benefited as martial artists. Rhee taught
Lee the side kick in detail, and Lee taught Rhee the
"non-telegraphic" punch.
Lee appeared at the
1967 Long Beach International Karate Championships and performed various
demonstrations, including the famous "unstoppable punch" against USKA
world Karate champion Vic Moore. Lee told Moore that he was going to throw a
straight punch to the face, and all he had to do was to try to block it. Lee
took several steps back and asked if Moore was ready, when Moore nodded in
affirmation, Lee glided towards him until he was within striking range. He then
threw a straight punch directly at Moore's face, and stopped before impact. In
eight attempts, Moore failed to block any of the punches.
Fight with Wong Jack
Man
In Oakland,
California in 1964 at Chinatown, Lee had a controversial private match with
Wong Jack Man, a direct student of Ma Kin Fung known for his mastery of
Xingyiquan, Northern Shaolin, and T'ai chi ch'uan. According to Lee, the
Chinese community issued an ultimatum to him to stop teaching non-Chinese. When
he refused to comply, he was challenged to a combat match with Wong. The
arrangement was that if Lee lost, he would have to shut down his school; while
if he won, then Lee would be free to teach Caucasians or anyone else. Wong
denied this, stating that he requested to fight Lee after Lee issued an open
challenge during one of Lee's demonstrations at a Chinatown theatre, and that Wong
himself did not discriminate against Caucasians or other non-Chinese. Lee
commented, "That paper had all the names of the sifu from Chinatown, but
they don't scare me".
Individuals known to
have witnessed the match included Cadwell, James Lee (Bruce Lee's associate, no
relation), and William Chen, a teacher of T'ai chi ch'uan. Wong and witness
William Chen stated that the fight lasted an unusually long 20–25 minutes. According to
Bruce Lee, Linda Lee Cadwell, and James Yimm Lee, the fight lasted 3 minutes
with a decisive victory for Lee. "The fight ensued, it was a
no-holds-barred fight, it took three minutes. Bruce got this guy down to the
ground and said 'do you give up?' and the man said he gave up" – Linda Lee Cadwell.
Wong Jack Man
published his own account of the battle in the Chinese Pacific Weekly, a
Chinese-language newspaper in San Francisco, which contained another challenge
to Lee for a public rematch. Lee had no reciprocation to Wong's article, nor
were there any further public announcements by either, but Lee had continued to
teach Caucasians.
Jeet Kune Do
The Jeet Kune Do
emblem is a registered trademark held by the Bruce Lee Estate. The Chinese
characters around the Taijitu symbol read: "Using no way as way" and
"Having no limitation as limitation" The arrows represent the endless
interaction between yang and yin.
Jeet Kune Do
originated in 1967. After filming one season of The Green Hornet, Lee found
himself out of work and opened The Jun Fan Institute of Gung Fu. The
controversial match with Wong Jack Man influenced Lee's philosophy about
martial arts. Lee concluded that the fight had lasted too long and that he had
failed to live up to his potential using his Wing Chun techniques. He took the
view that traditional martial arts techniques were too rigid and formalistic to
be practical in scenarios of chaotic street fighting. Lee decided to develop a
system with an emphasis on "practicality, flexibility, speed, and
efficiency". He started to use different methods of training such as
weight training for strength, running for endurance, stretching for
flexibility, and many others which he constantly adapted, including fencing and
basic boxing techniques.
Lee emphasised what
he called "the style of no style". This consisted of getting rid of
the formalised approach which Lee claimed was indicative of traditional styles.
Lee felt the system he now called Jun Fan Gung Fu was even too restrictive, and
eventually evolved into a philosophy and martial art he would come to call Jeet
Kune Do or the Way of the Intercepting Fist. It is a term he would later
regret, because Jeet Kune Do implied specific parameters that styles connote;
whereas the idea of his martial art was to exist outside of parameters and
limitations.
Fitness and nutrition
Lee was renowned for
his physical fitness and vigorous, dedicated fitness regimen to become as
strong as he possibly could. After his match with Wong Jack Man in 1965, Lee
changed his approach toward martial arts training. Lee felt that many martial
artists of his time did not spend enough time on physical conditioning. Lee
included all elements of total fitness—muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance, and
flexibility. He tried traditional bodybuilding techniques to build bulky
muscles or mass. However, Lee was careful to admonish that mental and spiritual
preparation was fundamental to the success of physical training in martial arts
skills. In Tao of Jeet Kune Do, he wrote
Training is one of
the most neglected phases of athletics. Too much time is given to the
development of skill and too little to the development of the individual for
participation. ... JKD, ultimately is not a matter of petty techniques but of
highly developed spirituality and physique.
According to Linda
Lee Cadwell, soon after he moved to the United States, Lee started to take
nutrition seriously and developed an interest in health foods, high-protein
drinks and vitamin and mineral supplements. He later concluded that in order to
achieve a high-performance body, one could not fuel it with a diet of junk
food, and with "the wrong fuel" one's body would perform sluggishly
or sloppily. Lee also avoided baked goods and refined flour, describing them as
providing calories which did nothing for his body.
Acting career
Bruce Lee in The Kid.
Lee's father Lee
Hoi-chuen was a famous Cantonese opera star. Because of this, Lee was
introduced into films at a very young age and appeared in several films as a
child. Lee had his first role as a baby who was carried onto the stage in the
film Golden Gate Girl. By the time he was 18, he had appeared in twenty films.
While in the United
States from 1959 to 1964, Lee abandoned thoughts of a film career in favour of
pursuing martial arts. However, a martial arts exhibition on Long Beach in 1964
eventually led to the invitation by William Dozier for an audition for a part
in the pilot for "Number One Son". The show never aired, but Lee was
invited for the role of Kato alongside Van Williams in the TV series The Green
Hornet. The show lasted just one season, from 1966 to 1967. Lee also played
Kato in three crossover episodes of Batman. This was followed by guest
appearances in three television series: Ironside (1967), Here Come the Brides
(1969), and Blondie (1969).
At the time, two of
Lee's martial arts students were Hollywood script writer Stirling Silliphant
and actor James Coburn. In 1969 the three worked on a script for a film called
The Silent Flute, and went together on a location hunt to India. The project
was not realised at the time; but the 1978 film Circle of Iron, starring David
Carradine, was based on the same plot. In 2010, producer Paul Maslansky was
reported to plan and receive fundings for a film based on the original script
for The Silent Flute. In 1969, Lee made a brief appearance in the
Silliphant-penned film Marlowe where he played a henchman hired to intimidate private
detective Philip Marlowe, (played by James Garner), by smashing up his office
with leaping kicks and flashing punches, only to later accidentally jump off a
tall building while trying to kick Marlowe off. The same year he also
choreographed fight scenes for The Wrecking Crew starring Dean Martin, Sharon
Tate, and featuring Chuck Norris in his first role. In 1970, he was responsible
for fight choreography for A Walk in the Spring Rain starring Ingrid Bergman
and Anthony Quinn, again written by Silliphant. In 1971, Lee appeared in four
episodes of the television series Longstreet, written by Silliphant. Lee played
the martial arts instructor of the title character Mike Longstreet (played by
James Franciscus), and important aspects of his martial arts philosophy were
written into the script.
Publicity photo of
Williams and Lee for The Green Hornet.
According to
statements made by Lee, and also by Linda Lee Cadwell after Lee's death, in
1971 Lee pitched a television series of his own tentatively titled The Warrior,
discussions which were also confirmed by Warner Bros. In a 9 December 1971
television interview on The Pierre Berton Show, Lee stated that both Paramount
and Warner Brothers wanted him "to be in a modernized type of a thing, and
that they think the Western idea is out, whereas I want to do the
Western". According to Cadwell, however, Lee's concept was retooled and
renamed Kung Fu, but Warner Bros. gave Lee no credit.Warner Brothers states
that they had for some time been developing an identical concept, created by
two writers and producers, Ed Spielman and Howard Friedlander. According to
these sources, the reason Lee was not cast was in part because of his
ethnicity, but more so because he had a thick accent. The role of the Shaolin
monk in the Wild West, was eventually awarded to then-non-martial-artist David
Carradine. In The Pierre Berton Show interview, Lee stated he understood Warner
Brothers' attitudes towards casting in the series: "They think that
business wise it is a risk. I don't blame them. If the situation were reversed,
and an American star were to come to Hong Kong, and I was the man with the
money, I would have my own concerns as to whether the acceptance would be
there".
Producer Fred
Weintraub had advised Lee to return to Hong Kong and make a feature film which
he could showcase to executives in Hollywood. Not happy with his supporting
roles in the United States, Lee returned to Hong Kong. Unaware that The Green
Hornet had been played to success in Hong Kong and was unofficially referred to
as "The Kato Show", he was surprised to be recognised on the street
as the star of the show. After negotiating with both Shaw Brothers Studio and
Golden Harvest, Lee signed a film contract to star in two films produced by
Golden Harvest. Lee played his first leading role in The Big Boss (1971) which
proved to be an enormous box office success across Asia and catapulted him to
stardom. He soon followed up with Fist of Fury (1972) which broke the box
office records set previously by The Big Boss. Having finished his initial
two-year contract, Lee negotiated a new deal with Golden Harvest. Lee later
formed his own company, Concord Productions Inc., with Chow. For his third
film, Way of the Dragon (1972), he was given complete control of the film's production
as the writer, director, star, and choreographer of the fight scenes. In 1964,
at a demonstration in Long Beach, California, Lee had met Karate champion Chuck
Norris. In Way of the Dragon Lee introduced Norris to movie-goers as his
opponent in the final death fight at the Colosseum in Rome, today considered
one of Lee's most legendary fight scenes and one of the most memorable fight
scenes in martial arts film history. The role was originally offered to American
Karate champion Joe Lewis.
Bruce Lee's star at
the Avenue of Stars, Hong Kong.
In late 1972, Lee
began work on his fourth Golden Harvest Film, Game of Death. He began filming
some scenes including his fight sequence with 7′2″ American Basketball star Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar, a former student. Production was stopped when Warner Brothers
offered Lee the opportunity to star in Enter the Dragon, the first film to be
produced jointly by Golden Harvest and Warner Bros. Filming commenced in Hong
Kong in February 1973. One month into the filming, another production company,
Starseas Motion Pictures, promoted Bruce Lee as a leading actor in Fist of
Unicorn, although he had merely agreed to choreograph the fight sequences in
the film as a favour to his long-time friend Unicorn Chan. Lee planned to sue the
production company, but retained his friendship with Chan. However, only a few
months after the completion of Enter the Dragon, and six days before its 26
July 1973 release, Lee died. Enter the Dragon would go on to become one of the
year's highest grossing films and cement Lee as a martial arts legend. It was
made for US$850,000 in 1973 (equivalent to $4 million adjusted for inflation as
of 2007). To date, Enter the Dragon has grossed over $200 million worldwide.
The film sparked a brief fad in martial arts, epitomised in songs such as
"Kung Fu Fighting" and TV shows like Kung Fu.
Robert Clouse, the
director of Enter the Dragon and Golden Harvest revived Lee's unfinished film
Game of Death. Lee had shot over 100 minutes of footage, including out-takes,
for Game of Death before shooting was stopped to allow him to work on Enter the
Dragon. In addition to Abdul-Jabbar, George Lazenby, Hapkido master Ji Han-Jae
and another of Lee's students, Dan Inosanto, were also to appear in the film,
which was to culminate in Lee's character, Hai Tien (clad in the now-famous
yellow track suit) taking on a series of different challengers on each floor as
they make their way through a five-level pagoda. In a controversial move,
Robert Clouse finished the film using a look-alike and archive footage of Lee
from his other films with a new storyline and cast, which was released in 1978.
However, the cobbled-together film contained only fifteen minutes of actual
footage of Lee (he had printed many unsuccessful takes) while the rest had a
Lee look-alike, Kim Tai Chung, and Yuen Biao as stunt double. The unused
footage Lee had filmed was recovered 22 years later and included in the
documentary Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey.
Apart from Game of
Death, other future film projects were planned to feature Lee at the time. In
1972, after the success of The Big Boss and Fist of Fury, a third film was
planned by Raymond Chow at Golden Harvest to be directed by Lo Wei, titled
Yellow-Faced Tiger. However, at the time, Lee decided to direct and produce his
own script for Way of the Dragon instead. Although Lee had formed a production
company with Raymond Chow, a period film was also planned from September–November 1973 with the
competing Shaw Brothers Studio, to be directed by either Chor Yuen or Cheng
Kang, and written by Yi Kang and Chang Cheh, titled The Seven Sons of the Jade
Dragon. Lee had also worked on several scripts himself. A tape containing a
recording of Lee narrating the basic storyline to a film tentatively titled
Southern Fist/Northern Leg exists, showing some similarities with the canned
script for The Silent Flute (Circle of Iron). Another script had the title
Green Bamboo Warrior, set in San Francisco, planned to co-star Bolo Yeung and
to be produced by Andrew Vajna who later went on to produce First Blood. Photo
shoot costume tests were also organized for some of these planned film
projects.
Artistry
Philosophy
Lee is best known as
a martial artist, but he also studied drama and philosophy while a student at
the University of Washington. He was well-read and had an extensive library.
His own books on martial arts and fighting philosophy are known for their
philosophical assertions, both inside and outside of martial arts circles. His
eclectic philosophy often mirrored his fighting beliefs, though he was quick to
claim that his martial arts were solely a metaphor for such teachings. He
believed that any knowledge ultimately led to self-knowledge, and said that his
chosen method of self-expression was martial arts. His influences include
Taoism, Jiddu Krishnamurti, and Buddhism. On the other hand, Lee's philosophy
was very much in opposition to the conservative worldview advocated by
Confucianism. John Little states that Lee was an atheist. When asked in 1972
about his religious affiliation, he replied, "none whatsoever". In
1972, he was asked if he believed in God, and responded, "To be perfectly
frank, I really do not".
Poetry
Aside from martial
arts and philosophy which focus on the physical aspect and self-consciousness
for truths and principles, Lee also wrote poetry that reflected his emotion and
a stage in his life collectively. Many forms of art remain concordant with the
artist creating them. Lee's principal of self-expression was applied to his
poetry as well. His daughter Shannon Lee said "He did write poetry, he was
really the consummate artist". His poetic works originally handwritten on
paper, later on edited and published. John Little being the major author
(editor), for Bruce Lee's works. Linda Lee Cadwell (Bruce Lee's wife) shared
her husbands notes, poems and experiences with followers. She mentioned
"Lee's poems are, by American standards, rather dark-reflecting the
deeper, less exposed recesses of the human psyche". Most of Bruce Lee's
poems are categorized as anti-poetry or fall into a paradox. The mood in his
poems show the side of the man that can be compared with other poets such as
Robert Frost, one of many well-known poets expressing himself with dark poetic
works. The paradox taken from the Yin and Yang symbol in martial arts, also
integrated in his poetry. His martial arts, and philosophy contribute a great
part to his poetry. The free verse form of Lee's poetry reflect his famous
quote "Be formless ... shapeless, like water."
Death
Bruce Lee is buried
next to his son Brandon in Lakeview Cemetery, Seattle.
On 10 May 1973, Lee
collapsed in Golden Harvest studios in Hong Kong while doing dubbing work for
the movie Enter the Dragon. Suffering from seizures and headaches, he was
immediately rushed to Hong Kong Baptist Hospital where doctors diagnosed
cerebral edema. They were able to reduce the swelling through the
administration of mannitol. These same symptoms that occurred in his first
collapse were later repeated on the day of his death.
On 20 July 1973, Lee
was in Hong Kong, to have dinner with James Bond star George Lazenby, with whom
he intended to make a film. According to Lee's wife Linda, Lee met producer
Raymond Chow at 2 pm at home to discuss the making of the film Game of Death.
They worked until 4 pm and then drove together to the home of Lee's colleague
Betty Ting Pei, a Taiwanese actress. The three went over the script at Ting's
home, and then Chow left to attend a dinner meeting.
Later Lee complained
of a headache, and Ting gave him an analgesic (painkiller), Equagesic, which
contained both aspirin and the muscle relaxant meprobamate. Around 7:30 pm, he
went to lie down for a nap. When Lee did not turn up for dinner, Chow came to
the apartment but could not wake Lee up. A doctor was summoned, who spent ten
minutes attempting to revive him before sending him by ambulance to Queen
Elizabeth Hospital. Lee was dead by the time he reached the hospital.
There was no visible
external injury; however, according to autopsy reports, his brain had swollen
considerably, from 1,400 to 1,575 grams (a 13% increase). Lee was 32 years old.
The only substance found during the autopsy was Equagesic. On 15 October 2005,
Chow stated in an interview that Lee died from an allergic reaction to the
muscle relaxant (meprobamate) in Equagesic, which he described as a common
ingredient in painkillers. When the doctors announced Lee's death officially,
it was ruled a "death by misadventure".
Don Langford, Lee's
personal physician in Hong Kong, had treated Lee during his first collapse.
Controversy erupted when he stated, "Equagesic was not at all involved in
Bruce's first collapse".
Donald Teare, a
forensic scientist recommended by Scotland Yard who had overseen over 1,000
autopsies, was assigned to the Lee case. His conclusion was "death by
misadventure" caused by an acute cerebral edema due to a reaction to
compounds present in the combination medication Equagesic.
The preliminary
opinion of Peter Wu, the neurosurgeon who treated Lee during his first seizure,
was that the cause of death should have been attributed to either a reaction to
cannabis or Equagesic. However, Wu later backed off from this position, stating
that:
Professor Teare was a
forensic scientist recommended by Scotland Yard; he was brought in as an expert
on cannabis and we can't contradict his testimony. The dosage of cannabis is
neither precise nor predictable, but I've never known of anyone dying simply
from taking it.
At the 1975 San Diego
Comic-Con convention, Bruce Lee's friend Chuck Norris attributed it to a
reaction between the medication he had been taking since 1968 for a ruptured
disk in his back and the medication he was given for his headache on the night
of his death.
Lee's wife Linda
returned to her hometown of Seattle, and had him buried at lot 276 of Lakeview
Cemetery. Pallbearers at his funeral on 31 July 1973 included Taky Kimura,
Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Chuck Norris, George Lazenby, Dan Inosanto, Peter
Chin, and Lee's brother Robert.
Lee's iconic status
and untimely demise fed many theories about his death, including murder
involving the Triads and a supposed curse on him and his family. There is also
a theory that Bruce Lee used electrical muscle stimulation and that may have
exacerbated or resulted in his condition. Black Belt magazine in 1985 carried
the speculation that the death of Bruce Lee in 1973 may have been caused by
"a delayed reaction to a Dim Mak strike he received several weeks prior to
his collapse".
Legacy
Certified instructors
Bruce Lee personally
certified only three instructors: Taky Kimura, James Yimm Lee, and Dan
Inosanto. Inosanto holds the 3rd rank (Instructor) directly from Bruce Lee in
Jeet Kune Do, Jun Fan Gung Fu, and Bruce Lee's Tao of Chinese Gung Fu. Taky
Kimura holds a 5th rank in Jun Fan Gung Fu. James Yimm Lee held a 3rd rank in
Jun Fan Gung Fu. Ted Wong holds 2nd rank in Jeet Kune Do certified directly by
Bruce Lee and was later promoted to Instructor under Dan Inosanto; feeling that
Bruce would have wanted to promote him. Other Jeet Kune Do instructors since
Lee's death have been certified directly by Dan Inosanto, some with remaining
Bruce Lee signed certificates.
James Yimm Lee, a
close friend of Lee, certified a few students including Gary Dill who studied
Jeet Kune Do under James and received permission via a personal letter from him
in 1972 to pass on his learning of Jun Fan Gung Fu to others. Taky Kimura, to
date, has certified only one person in Jun Fan Gung Fu: his son Andy Kimura.
Dan Inosanto continued to teach and certify select students in Jeet Kune Do for
over 30 years, making it possible for thousands of martial arts practitioners
to trace their training lineage back to Bruce Lee. Prior to his death, Lee told
his then only two living instructors Kimura and Inosanto (James Yimm Lee had
died in 1972) to dismantle his schools.
Both Taky Kimura and
Dan Inosanto were allowed to teach small classes thereafter, under the
guideline "keep the numbers low, but the quality high". Bruce also
instructed several World Karate Champions including Chuck Norris, Joe Lewis,
and Mike Stone. Among the three of them, during their training with Bruce they
won every karate championship in the United States.
In Japan, Junichi
Okada is a certified Japanese instructor in Jeet Kune Do.
Hong Kong legacy
Bruce Lee statue in
Hong Kong
There are a number of
stories (perhaps apocryphal) surrounding Lee that are still repeated in Hong
Kong culture. One is that his early 1970s interview on the TVB show Enjoy
Yourself Tonight cleared the busy streets of Hong Kong as everyone was watching
the interview at home.
On 6 January 2009, it
was announced that Bruce's Hong Kong home (41 Cumberland Road, Kowloon, Hong
Kong) will be preserved and transformed into a tourist site by philanthropist
Yu Pang-lin.
Awards and honours
Bruce Lee was named
by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.
In April 2013, he was
posthumously awarded the prestigious Founders Award at The Asian Awards.
A Bruce Lee statue
was unveiled in Los Angeles' Chinatown on June 15, 2013. It stands at 7-foot
tall and was made in Guangzhou, China.
Martial arts lineage
Lee was trained in Wu
Tai Chi Chuan (also known as Ng-ga) and Jing Mo Tam Tui for the twelve sets.
Lee was trained in the martial arts Choy Li Fut, Western Boxing, Épée fencing, Judo, Praying Mantis kung fu, Hsing-I,
and Jujitsu.
When Bruce arrived in
the US he (already) had training in Wu Style Tai Chi, sometimes in Hong Kong
called Ng-ga. And he had of course training in western boxing. He had training
in fencing from his brother, that's Epee, that goes from toe to head. He had
training obviously in Wing Chun. And the other area was the training he had
received in Buk Pie, or Tam Toi, he was twelve sets in Tam Toi. And I believe
he had traded with a Choy Li Fut man.
Bruce Lee
Founder of Jeet Kune
Do
Certified by Bruce
Lee as instructors of
Jeet Kune Do
Taky Kimura
James Yimm Lee
Dan Inosanto
Notable students of
Jun Fan/Gung Fu/Jeet
Kune Do
Brandon Lee
Jesse Glover
Steve Golden
Larry Hartsell
Dan Inosanto
Yorinaga Nakamura
Taky Kimura
Richard Bustillo
Jerry Poteet
Ted Wong
James Yimm Lee
Rusty Stevens
Chuck Norris
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
James Coburn
Joe Lewis
Roman Polanski
Lee Marvin
Stirling Silliphant
Mike Stone
Selected filmography
Films
1969 Marlowe
1971 The Big Boss
1972 Fist of Fury
1973 Enter the Dragon Lee Released
Game of Death Billy Lo uncompleted
film
Television
Year Series Role Notes
1966 The Green Hornet Kato 26 episodes, 1966–1967
Batman Kato 3
episodes, 1966–1967
1967 Ironside Leon
Soo Episode: "Tagged for
Murder"
1969 Blondie Karate
Instructor Episode: "Pick on Someone
Your Own Size"
Here Come the Brides Lin Episode:
"Marriage Chinese Style"
1970 Enjoy Yourself Tonight Himself 2 episodes, 1970–1972 (Hong Kong)
1971 Longstreet Li
Tsung 4 episodes, 1971
The Pierre Berton
Show Himself Interview
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