November 27, 1940 - July 20, 1973
(Bruce Lee) was born November 27, 1940 in San Francisco USA. Although he was born in the United States, Lee was actually raised in Hong Kong. At a young age, Lee was deemed a “troublemaker” and fought continuously with the local street gangs. Even practicing his “Cha Cha” dance steps indoors couldn’t protect him from getting into mischief. Lee started his formal Wing Chun training under martial arts legend, Yip Man at the age of 13. From time to time, Lee was also taught by Yip Man's senior student, Wong Sheung Leung. Feared that Lee would get sent to prison if he didn’t stop getting in trouble, Lee’s parents sent him to America at the age of 18. With a 100-dollar bill in his pocket, Lee struggled his way from the time he set foot on his birthplace, San Francisco, California to the city of Seattle, Washington.
Lee attended the University of Washington and majored in Philosophy. Later, Lee opened up his first Jun Fan Gung Fu School and taught Chinese martial arts to the public on 4750 University Way. As time went on, Lee then married one of his students, Linda Emery, and moved to Oakland, California. Both moved in with Lee’s martial art friend, James Yimm Lee (no relation) and his family. With the success of the first school, Lee and James opened up a second Jun Fan Gung Fu School. James introduced Lee to Ed Parker (father of Kenpo Karate) and was asked to demonstrate Chinese Gung Fu in Ed Parker’s Long Beach International Karate Championship in 1964 and in 1967.
There are several stories that initiated Lee’s notorious fight with a San Francisco Chinese martial artist that was held in Lee’s 2nd Jun Fan Gung Fu school. Whatever the case may have been, Lee and the Chinese martial artist fought. Although the fight took too long to finish, Lee won the fight and started to re-evaluate his approach to unarmed combat. His conclusions were that traditional martial arts were too rigid and predictable in any fight situations. Lee also concluded that fighting should be simple and practical. Fights should be direct, efficient and more importantly, non-classical. In order for him to achieve this, Lee needed to be in top shape. He started to incorporate weight lifting and exercise into his martial arts training. He trained six to seven days a week. This later allowed him to develop the martial art, Jeet Kune Do, the way of the intercepting fist.
Lee’s demonstration of Chinese Gung Fu in Ed Parker’s Long Beach International Karate Championship, impressed a Hollywood producer by the name of William Dozier. He approached Lee and invited him to Hollywood for a screen test. Lee auditioned for the movie, “Charlie Chan’s Number One Son”. However, the movie was scrapped but Lee was given the role of “Kato” in the television series “the Green Hornet”. Lee accepted the role however the show lasted only one season. This followed guest appearances in television shows like “Ironside”, “Marlowe”, “Here Comes the Bride”, and Longstreet In order for Lee to film in Hollywood, Lee moved his wife and his new born son, Brandon, to Los Angeles. He then opened up his 3rd Jun Fan Gung Fu School on 628 College Street in the heart of Chinatown.
In 1970, Lee suffered a back injury due to an improper warm-up. This injury caused Lee to be bed ridden for a period of six months. During that time, Lee wrote extensively more on his many discoveries of Jeet Kune Do. He read books on philosophy and other martial arts to occupy his time when he was not writing. He bounced back to his martial art training and also continued to pursue his acting career.
Not being satisfied with the roles Hollywood was offering him or roles he auditioned for, Lee traveled to Hong Kong to visit his family. Not knowing that “the Green Hornet” was a popular show in Hong Kong, Lee was given a role in a movie. Lee agreed and filmed his first movie “the Big Boss” aka “Fist of Fury”. He then moved his wife Linda, his son Brandon, and his new born daughter Shannon to Hong Kong and filmed his second movie “Fist of Fury” aka “Chinese Connection”. Both movies were a big success however, Lee did not work well with the director of both movies and ventured on his own with movie producer, Raymond Chow. Both created “Concord Productions” and filmed “the Way of the Dragon” aka “Return of the Dragon” co-starring Karate champion, Lee’s student, and friend, Chuck Norris.
Lee began filming his fourth movie, “The Game of Death”, but was stopped when he was offered a role in an Hollywood produced martial arts movie called “Blood and Steel” which later was named “Enter the Dragon”. Lee agreed to star in the movie and spent months filming “Enter the Dragon” in Hong Kong. While doing dubbing work for "Enter the Dragon", Lee collapsed in the recording booth. Lee was quickly rushed to the hospital. Doctors treated Lee and concluded that he suffered an effect of Cerebral Edema, swelling of the brain.
On July 20, 1973, Lee suffered another Cerebral Edema attack while reading “the Game of Death” script with his co-star. Lee complained about a headache and took Equagesic, a mixture of asprin and muscle relaxants. Lee went to lie down and did not wake up for a dinner engagement he was suppose to attend. Lee’s co-star called Raymond Chow and rushed Lee to the hospital. Lee was pronounced dead on arrival. Doctors claimed that the Equagesic pill that Lee took, caused the brain to swell more causing Lee’s brain to cave in. Lee was 32 years old and was laid to rest back in Seattle, Washington at the Lakeview Cemetary by his wife Linda Lee, his son Brandon, and his daughter Shannon.
Decades later, Bruce Lee has been an inspiration to martial artist everywhere. His philosophy has inspired many minds and his martial art, jeet kune do, has been sought out to be studied from across nations. His movies continue to become classic giving Lee the right to be the greatest martial artist of the 20th century.
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