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On November 27, 1940, Lee Jun-fan became Bruce Lee, a martial artist, and actor from Hong Kong and the US. In 1973, he died. Jeet Kune Do's founder. This mixed martial arts ideology drew from numerous fighting techniques and helped build modern martial arts (MMA). Bruce Lee, a 20th-century pop culture phenomenon, is considered the most influential martial artist. He advanced Hong Kong action movies and shaped American Asian portrayals.
Lee was raised in British Hong Kong and born in San Francisco. As a young actor, his father introduced him to Hong Kong films. But these weren't martial arts movies. Street fighting, boxing, tai chi, and Wing Chun (under Yip Man) were his early martial arts training (neighborhood and rooftop fights). Because of his birthright status, Lee moved to Seattle in 1959. In 1961, he entered the University of Washington. Despite wanting to be an actor, he considered teaching martial arts in the US. His first martial arts school was in Seattle. After performing and speaking at the 1964 Long Beach International Karate Championships of California, he opened a second school in Oakland, California. After that, he moved to Los Angeles and taught. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Sharon Tate, and Chuck Norris were his students. His 1970s Hollywood and Hong Kong martial arts films boosted Hong Kong's popularity and sparked Western interest in Chinese martial arts. His films' tone and direction influenced martial arts and martial arts cinema worldwide.
There are five lengthy Hong Kong martial arts films from the early 1970s in which he appeared: Lo Wei's The Big Boss (1971) and Fist of Fury (1972); Lee's Way of the Dragon (1972), produced by Golden Harvest and written and directed by Lee; and Golden Harvest's Enter the Dragon (1973) and Warner Brothers' The Game of Death (1978), both directed by Robert Clouse.
Lee's films depicted Chinese nationalism and broke Asian stereotypes, making him famous worldwide, especially among Chinese people. His first forays into martial arts were Wing Chun, Tai Chi, Boxing, and Street Fighting. He then combined these with additional influences to develop Jeet Kune Do (The Way of the Intercepting Fist).
On July 20, 1973, 32-year-old Lee died. Lee's influence on movies, TV shows, comic books, anime, video games, and combat sports like judo, karate, mixed martial arts, and boxing continues today. Time's top 100 20th-century figures included Lee.
Bruce's parents, Lee Hoi-Chuen and Grace Ho were Eurasian.
Robert Hotung, Lee's great-uncle, was a successful Dutch-Jewish and Cantonese Hong Kong businessman. His maternal grandfather was Cantonese, and his maternal grandmother was English.
At nine, he co-starred with his father in The Kid, a 1950 comic book film. His first major part.
He has 20 cinema roles by 18. Lee entered Catholic La Salle College's primary school aged 12 after attending Tak Sun School, a few blocks from his home at 218 Nathan Road in Kowloon.
Due to his poor grades and maybe lousy conduct, he was transferred to St. Francis Xavier's College in 1956 to be monitored by Brother Edward, a teacher, and boxing coach.
After multiple street battles, Lee's parents thought he needed martial arts. Lee's friend William Cheung introduced him to Ip Man, although the Chinese martial arts society has traditionally refused to teach Westerners. Cheung helped Lee get into Wing Chun despite his mother's one-quarter European background. Yip Man taught Lee Wing Chun. Yip pushed his kids to fight in sanctioned competitions to avoid Hong Kong, street gangs. After a year of Wing Chun training, Yip Man's other pupils learned about Lee's mixed origin and quit studying with him since the Chinese opposed teaching martial arts to non-Asians. "Probably fewer than six men in the whole Wing Chun lineage were directly trained, or even partially taught, by Yip Man," said Hawkins Cheung, Lee's battle partner. Lee resumed private Wing Chun training with Yip Man, William Cheung, and Wong Shun-Leung.
Bruce upset reigning champion Gary Elms to win the 1958 Hong Kong schools boxing championship.
Lee won the Hong Kong Crown Colony Cha-Cha Championship that year.
Police remarked, "Mr. Lee, your kid fights a lot at school. If he fights again, I may jail him ".
In April 1959, Lee's parents sent him to live with his elder sister Agnes Lee in San Francisco with relatives and friends. In 1959, he moved to Seattle for high school. He was also Ruby Chow's live-in server. Lee's father knew Chow's husband. Lee's elder brother Peter Lee visited him in Seattle before going to college in Minnesota. Lee also taught martial arts that year. He called his courses Bruce Lee's Kung Fu or Jun Fan Gung Fu. Wing Chun's instruction was his. Lee taught his Seattle pals Judo methods, starting with Jesse Glover. Take Kimura, Lee's first assistant, who taught his art and ideas after his death. Lee's first martial arts school was in Seattle. Lee graduated high school at Seattle's Capitol Hill Edison Technical School. Lee studied theatre, philosophy, psychology, and other subjects at the University of Washington in March 1961. Despite Lee's and others' claims, a 1999 alumni magazine article said that Lee's major was theatre, not philosophy.
Lee quit school in 1964 to live with James Yimm Lee in Oakland. Bruce Lee's 20-year-old senior, James Lee, was a famous Chinese martial artist. They opened Oakland's second Jun Fan school. James Lee introduced Bruce Lee and Ed Parker. Parker invited Lee to do two-finger push-ups with feet shoulder-width apart during the 1964 Long Beach International Karate Championships (using one hand's thumb and index finger). He also delivered the "one-inch punch" in Long Beach. Lee faced a stationary partner with his right foot in front and his knees slightly bent. Lee's partly extended right hand was one inch (2.5 cm) from the partner's chest. Lee then hit volunteer Bob Baker. Baker was thrown backward and crashed on a chair, which prevented injuries, but his momentum led him to fall. Baker said, "I told Bruce not to repeat this act. After his final strike, my chest hurt so much I missed work ". At the 1964 finals, Lee met Taekwondo superstar Jhoon Goo Rhee. Friendship aided the two martial artists. Lee taught Rhee the sidekick and the "non-telegraphic" punch.
Lee fought Xingyiquan, Northern Shaolin, and T'ai chi ch'uan master Wong Jack-man in Oakland's Chinatown in 1964. The Chinese community gave Lee a deadline to quit teaching non-Chinese. After refusing, he fought Wong. If Lee won, he could teach anybody, even whites. Wong denied this, saying that Lee had said he could beat anybody in San Francisco at a Chinatown theater protest and that he did not discriminate against Whites or non-Chinese. That paper featured all Chinatown sifu. "They don't scare me," Lee said. Cadwell, T'ai chi ch'uan teacher William Chen and Bruce Lee's non-related colleague James Lee saw the bout.
Wong said Lee forcefully attacked him to kill him, even though he expected a hard but civil battle. Lee accepted Wong's handshake but reportedly used his hand like a spear to aim at Wong's eyes. Wong claimed he used illegal cufflinks instead of fatal force to murder Lee because he might have been imprisoned. Michael Dorgan's 1980 book Bruce Lee's Toughest Bout reports that Lee's "unusually winded" condition ended the fight.
According to Bruce Lee, Linda Lee Cadwell, and James Yimm Lee, Lee won the three-minute combat. Cadwell says, "The three-minute fight was all-out. Bruce knocked this guy down and said, "Do you give up?" The man said he did " Lee revealed in an interview a few weeks after the bout that he overcame an anonymous opponent, referring to Wong. Wong publicized his fight narrative in San Francisco's Chinese Pacific Weekly and offered a public rematch when Lee protested. Lee taught white pupils despite his propensity for rage. No more statements were made. Lee quit acting to learn martial arts. After a 1964 martial arts demonstration in Long Beach, television producer William Dozier invited the applicant to audition for the pilot episode of "Number One Son," a program about Lee Chan, Charlie Chan's son. Dozier noticed Lee's potential despite the show's failure.
The Green Hornet was the first popular American show to show Asian martial arts and introduce adult Bruce Lee to Americans. The director told Lee to fight with punches and fists. As a martial artist, Lee disagreed and fought with his favored technique. Lee had to slow down since his actions were too fast for the camera. Lee became acquainted with stuntman Gene LeBell throughout production. They practiced martial arts and shared their specialties. Lee wrote to thank Dozier for starting "my career in show business" when the program ended in 1967.
Lee stressed "the style of no style." This meant abandoning Lee's view of traditional styles' formality. Because even Jun Fan Gung Fu was too restrictive, Lee turned the system into Jeet Kune Do or the Way of the Intercepting Fist. Jeet Kune Do has certain limits, but its goal is to transcend them. He regretted saying that.
Lee taught James Coburn and Stirling Silliphant martial arts. In 1969, while writing The Silent Flute, the three searched India for locations. The unfinished 1978 film Circle of Iron starred David Carradine. In 2010, producer Paul Maslansky reportedly acquired funding for a film based on The Silent Flute's original screenplay. Lee portrayed a hoodlum paid to harass James Garner's Philip Marlowe in Silliphant's 1969 picture Marlowe. The hoodlum intimidates Marlowe by vandalizing. He was the karate advisor in the fourth Dean Martin-Matt Helm humorous spy film, The Wrecking Crew. Lee was featured in Here Come the Brides and Blondie that year.
He choreographed the battles for Silliphant's 1970 film A Walk in the Spring Rain, starring Ingrid Bergman and Anthony Quinn.
Producer Fred Weintraub advised Lee to return to Hong Kong and develop a feature film to impress Hollywood.
After being dissatisfied with US supporting roles, Lee returned to Hong Kong. He was surprised to be named the show's star as he was unaware that Hong Kong's "The Kato Show" had successfully performed The Green Hornet. Lee signed a two-film deal with Shaw Brothers Studio and Golden Harvest.
Lee's first leading part was in The Big Boss (1971), which made him famous throughout Asia. Fist of Fury (1972) followed, breaking The Big Boss's box office records. Lee and Golden Harvest re-signed after two years. Concord Production Inc. followed. He wrote, directed, performed in, and choreographed his third film, Way of the Dragon (1972). At a 1964 Long Beach, California performance, Lee met karate champion, Chuck Norris. Lee's fight with Norris in the Way of the Dragon, one of the finest martial arts and cinema battles, introduced the viewers to the actor. The first contender was American karate champion, Joe Lewis. Fist of Fury and Way of the Dragon grossed $100 million and $130 million worldwide.
Lee completed his fourth Golden Harvest film, Game of Death, in October 1972. He filmed various scenarios, including his fight with his old classmate Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 7'2". (218 cm). The first film Concord, Golden Harvest, and Warner Bros., filmed jointly Enter the Dragon, was stopped in November 1972 when Warner Brothers cast Lee. Hong Kong shooting began in February 1973 and ended in April 1973. After one month of shooting, Starseas Motion Pictures promoted Bruce Lee to feature in Fist of Unicorns despite him just choreographing the fight sequences for his old friend Unicorn Chan. Lee stayed close to Chan despite his intentions to sue the producer. Lee died a few months after Enter the Dragon was completed and six days before its July 26, 1973 debut. Enter the Dragon, the year's highest-grossing film made Bruce Lee a martial arts icon. In 1973, it cost US$850,000, approximately $4 million adjusted for inflation in 2007. Enter the Dragon is estimated to have grossed $400 million worldwide, which, adjusted for inflation, would be over $2 billion by 2022. "Kung Fu Fighting" and other TV programs sparked a brief martial arts fad after the movie.
Game of Death wasn't Lee's only future film. Raymond Chow at Golden Harvest wanted Lo Wei to direct Yellow-Faced Tiger, a third film after The Big Boss and Fist of Fury. Lee directed and produced Way of the Dragon. The rival Shaw Brothers Studio planned the historical drama The Seven Sons of the Jade Dragon, directed by Chor Yuen or Cheng Kang and scripted by Yi Kang and Chang Cheh, from September to November 1973. Lee operated a producing firm with Raymond Chow.
In 2015, Perfect Storm Entertainment and Shannon Lee, daughter of Bruce Lee, announced that Justin Lin would direct and produce the Cinemax series The Warrior.
Cape Town, South Africa, began shooting on October 22, 2017. Season one has 10 episodes. Cinemax renewed it for a second season in April.
On March 25, 2021, Jason Kothari secured the rights to make The Silent Flute into a miniseries with John Fusco as executive producer and screenwriter.
Brother Edward, the head coach of the St. Francis Xavier's College boxing team, taught Lee how to fight between 1956 and 1958. Lee upset incumbent champion Gary Elms in the 1958 final round with knockdowns. Lee won the Hong Kong school boxing tournament. After immigrating to the US, Muhammad Ali had a significant effect on Lee. Lee studied Ali's footwork in the 1960s and adopted it.
Lee demonstrated his Jeet Kune Do martial arts at the Long Beach International Karate Championships in 1964 and 1968. The 1968 performance was more documented. Lee smacks numerous volunteers with rapid eye strikes and the one-inch punch before they can block. He also does blindfolded chi sao exercises against an opponent, seeking vulnerabilities and scoring with punches and takedowns. Lee then fights a competitor in a full-contact leather helmet bout. Lee uses his Jeet Kune Do concept of economic mobility and Ali-inspired footwork to avoid injury while counter-attacking with back fists and straight punches. He rapidly sweeps and head kicks and stops assaults with stop-hit side kicks. The opponent attempts to attack Lee multiple times, but Lee blocks his spin kicks. In 1995, Black Belt magazine said, "the action is as quick and savage as anything in Lee's flicks."
Master taekwondo Jhoon Goo Rhee and Lee first met in the 1964 championships. Lee taught Rhee the "non-telegraphic" punch, while Rhee taught Lee the sidekick. Lee's "accupunch" style was adopted by Rhee for American taekwondo. The "accupunch" is a fast, hard-to-block punch based on human response time. Before the opponent can complete the brain-to-wrist communication, punch.
Lee commonly used the oblique kick, which became popular in mixed martial arts.
In Jeet Kune Do, it's called the jeet tek (also known as a "stop kick" or "intercepting kick").
Glover believes only Lee considered judo useless for grabbing the opponent.
Lee liked Glover's osoto gari during their first training session but didn't like being held by him. Lee developed anti-grappling methods in Seattle to protect himself from opponents who attempted to tackle or knock him down. Glover recalls that Lee "definitely would not go to the ground if he had the chance to grab you standing up." Lee told LeBell he wanted to use judo. Jeet Kune Do and the osoto gari contained judo throws, armlocks, and chokeholds.
In Way of the Dragon, Lee's character armbars Chuck Norris after applying a neck hold fashioned by LeBell,[52] and Enter the Dragon's prologue depicts Lee's arm barring Sammo Hung. In action choreography, Lee considered grappling was of little value since it needed visual difference.
In Game of Death, Lee and Han-Jae wrestle with the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar figure.
Lee's grappling training was also influenced by the Great Gama, an Indian/Pakistani pehlwani wrestling champion. Lee adopted Gama's exercises.
When Lee returned to Hong Kong in the early 1970s, locals frequently challenged him to street fights because of his reputation as "the fastest fist in the east." He occasionally accepted these challenges and participated in street fights, which prompted some criticism from the press at the time that portrayed him as violent.
After coming to the nation, Linda Lee Cadwell said Lee got interested in healthy foods, high-protein drinks, and vitamin and mineral supplements. He also focused on nutrition. He decided that keeping a high-performance car's engine was like acquiring a high-performance body. Just as one couldn't run a vehicle on low-octane gasoline, one couldn't run their body on junk food, and with "the inappropriate fuel," their bodies would work slowly or carelessly. Lee avoided processed flour and baked goods since they provided little nutritional value. He was noted for eating rice, fish, and vegetables. Lee avoided dairy products and ate powdered milk. Dan Inosanto said Lee meditated first.
Lee had three more Chinese names: Lee Yuen-cham, a family or clan name; Lee Yuen-Kam, his La Salle College name; and Lee Siu-lung (; Siu-lung means "small dragon" in Chinese).
Lee's given name, Jun-fan, was a component of his grandfather's name, Lee Jun-biu. [Note] Lee's Chinese character for Jun was changed to the homonym to avoid breaching the naming convention.
Lee Hoi-Chuen, a famous Cantonese opera and film performer, was on an annual opera tour with his family on the eve of the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong. Lee Hoi-Chuen has performed in Chinese communities for years.
Unlike his peers, Lee Hoi-Chuen returned to Hong Kong after Bruce's birth. Hong Kong was conquered after three years and eight months of Japanese control by the Lee dynasty. As Hong Kong rebuilt, Lee Hoi-acting Chuen's career grew in popularity.
Lee's mother, Grace Ho, was from Hong Kong's wealthiest and most potent Ho-tung clan. She was Sir Robert Ho-half-niece. tung's Bruce Lee grew up rich. Despite his family's riches, an influx of communist Chinese migrants to Hong Kong, then a British Crown Colony, made Lee's area crowded, hazardous, and full of gang rivalries.
Grace Ho may be the daughter of Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist Ho Kom-tong (Ho Gumtong) and Sir Robert Ho-half-sister. tung's
Bruce was the fourth of Phoebe, Agnes, Peter, and Robert Lee.
Grace's parents are unknown. He had Brandon in 1966. Grace was Catholic and had a German father, according to Linda Lee's 1989 memoir, The Bruce Lee Story. Bruce Lee: Fighting Spirit author Bruce Thomas thinks Grace had a Chinese mother and a German father. Eric Peter Ho, Lee's relative, hypothesizes that Grace was born in Shanghai to a Eurasian mother, Cheung King-sin, in his 2010 book Tracing My Children's Lineage. Eric Peter Ho said Grace Lee's father was Ho Kom Tong and her mother was a mixed-race Shanghainese. Grace Lee said her father was Chinese, and her mother was English. Fredda Dudley Balling says Grace Lee is three-quarters Chinese and one-quarter British.
In Matthew Polly's 2018 book Bruce Lee: A Life, Ho Kom-tong, Bruce Lee's adopted grandpa, is his maternal grandfather. Rotterdam Jewish trader Charles Maurice Bosman was Ho's Kom-father. He was the Dutch consul general in Hong Kong with the Dutch East India Company. Sze Tai gave him six children, including Ho Kom Tong. Bosman left his family for California. Ho Kom Tong was a rich businessman with a wife, 13 concubines, and a British mistress who had Grace Ho.
Hong Kong's Thunderbirds and his younger brother Robert Lee Jun-fai are famous musicians and singers.
Several English-language singles were performed. Lee's Irene Ryder duet was published. Lee Jun-fai lived in Los Angeles with Lee. Lee Jun-fai dedicated his posthumous album and song, The Ballad of Bruce Lee, to Lee. While attending the University of Washington, he met Linda Emery, a fellow teaching student. They married secretly in August 1964 since many US states still forbade interracial marriage. Shannon Lee and Brandon Lee are Linda's children (1965-1993). (born 1969). After Lee's 1973 death, she promoted Jeet Kune Do. Her 1975 book Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew inspired the 1993 film Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. 1989's The Bruce Lee Story. She departed in 2001.
Brandon, eight, lost Lee. Lee taught Brandon martial arts on the sets while alive. This prompted Brandon to study acting. Brandon Lee had early success in action films, including Legacy of Rage (1986), Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991), and Rapid Fire (1992). The Crow prop gun accidentally hit 28-year-old Brandon Lee, who died in 1993.
Shannon lost Lee at four. She learned Jeet Kune Did through her father's student Richard Bustillo, but she started practicing in the late 1990s. Ted Wong taught her Jeet Kune Do for action movies.
Bruce Lee influenced several action film filmmakers, including Hong Kong's Jackie Chan, John Woo, and Hollywood's Quentin Tarantino and Brett Ratner.
Lee inspired 1970s US full-contact kickboxing contests by Joe Lewis and Benny Urquidez.
Pioneer Jhoon Goo Rhee introduced Lee's "accupunch" to American taekwondo. Rhee taught Muhammad Ali, who defeated Richard Dunn in 1975. Heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson said, "everyone aspired to be Bruce Lee" in the 1970s. Lee also inspired UFC pound-for-pound champion, Jon Jones. Jones is known for using Lee's knee-oblique kick. Lee influenced UFC champions, Uriah Hall and Anderson Silva. Many UFC fighters consider Lee the "godfather" or "grandfather" of MMA.
2. 1972: Fist of Fury Special Jury Award
3. 1994: Hong Kong Film Award for Lifetime Achievement
4. 1999: Named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century
5. 2004: Star of the Century Award
On July 20, 1973, Lee went to Hong Kong to film alongside George Lazenby. According to Linda Lee, Lee visited producer Raymond Chow at his residence around 2 p.m. to discuss shooting Game of Death. After working till 4 p.m., Lee and Betty Ting Pei went to her residence. Chow departed for a dinner meeting after discussing the script at Ting's residence.
Ting offered Lee Equagesic, a painkiller with meprobamate and aspirin after Lee complained of a headache. He napped at 7:30. After Lee missed supper, Chow tried to wake him up. After 10 minutes, an ambulance took Lee to Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Lee, 32, died upon arrival.
Despite no visible lesions, postmortem statistics showed that Lee's brain had grown from 1,400 to 1,575 grams (13%). The autopsy revealed eugenic. In an October 15, 2005 interview, Chow stated that Lee died from an allergic reaction to the sedative meprobamate, sometimes present in painkillers. Doctors declared Lee's death "death by misadventure."
Linda buried Lee at Lake View Cemetery in Seattle after visiting her homeland.
On July 25, 1973, Taky Kimura, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Dan Inosanto, Peter Chin, and Lee's brother Robert were his pallbearers.
Media speculations abounded after Lee's death. Lee's stardom and tragic death sparked many nonsensical theories and hypotheses. He and his family were cursed and accused of triad murder.
The Lee case went to Scotland Yard-recommended forensic expert Donald Teare, who had conducted 1,000 autopsies. "Death by misadventure" due to Equagesic-induced cerebral edema was his verdict. It would be "irresponsible and improper" to suggest that cannabis caused Bruce's May 10 fall or July 20 death. Teare ruled, despite initial concerns that Lee's stomach cannabis may have killed him. Dr. R. R. Lycette, Queen Elizabeth Hospital's clinical pathologist, said cannabis did not cause the death during the coroner hearing.
In a 2018 biography, Matthew Polly consulted medical specialists and theorized that overexertion and heat stroke caused Lee's fatal cerebral edema. Because heat stroke was little understood, it was not considered. In the second part of 1972, Lee had his underarm sweat glands removed to prevent sweating on camera. Polly felt that Lee overheated while exercising in the heat on May 10 and July 20, 1973, producing a heat stroke that exacerbated the cerebral edema that killed him.
Researchers examined Lee's death scenarios. In a December 2022 Clinical Kidney Journal article, hyponatremia caused his deadly cerebral edema. The authors noted that Lee was at risk for hyponatremia owing to excessive water intake, insufficient solute intake, alcohol drinking, and use of one or more medications that impair kidney function. Lee's pre-death symptoms also resembled fatal hyponatremia.
Lee was raised in British Hong Kong and born in San Francisco. As a young actor, his father introduced him to Hong Kong films. But these weren't martial arts movies. Street fighting, boxing, tai chi, and Wing Chun (under Yip Man) were his early martial arts training (neighborhood and rooftop fights). Because of his birthright status, Lee moved to Seattle in 1959. In 1961, he entered the University of Washington. Despite wanting to be an actor, he considered teaching martial arts in the US. His first martial arts school was in Seattle. After performing and speaking at the 1964 Long Beach International Karate Championships of California, he opened a second school in Oakland, California. After that, he moved to Los Angeles and taught. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Sharon Tate, and Chuck Norris were his students. His 1970s Hollywood and Hong Kong martial arts films boosted Hong Kong's popularity and sparked Western interest in Chinese martial arts. His films' tone and direction influenced martial arts and martial arts cinema worldwide.
There are five lengthy Hong Kong martial arts films from the early 1970s in which he appeared: Lo Wei's The Big Boss (1971) and Fist of Fury (1972); Lee's Way of the Dragon (1972), produced by Golden Harvest and written and directed by Lee; and Golden Harvest's Enter the Dragon (1973) and Warner Brothers' The Game of Death (1978), both directed by Robert Clouse.
Lee's films depicted Chinese nationalism and broke Asian stereotypes, making him famous worldwide, especially among Chinese people. His first forays into martial arts were Wing Chun, Tai Chi, Boxing, and Street Fighting. He then combined these with additional influences to develop Jeet Kune Do (The Way of the Intercepting Fist).
On July 20, 1973, 32-year-old Lee died. Lee's influence on movies, TV shows, comic books, anime, video games, and combat sports like judo, karate, mixed martial arts, and boxing continues today. Time's top 100 20th-century figures included Lee.
Early Life
Bruce Lee's father, Hong Kong Cantonese opera singer Lee Hoi-Chuen, was famous. While on an opera tour overseas in December 1939, his parents visited Chinatown in San Francisco. On November 27, 1940, he entered this world. granting him dual US-Hong Kong citizenship. The Lee family returned to Hong Kong with the four-month-old in April 1941. After Japan invaded Hong Kong in December 1941, the Lee family suffered for four years.Bruce's parents, Lee Hoi-Chuen and Grace Ho were Eurasian.
Robert Hotung, Lee's great-uncle, was a successful Dutch-Jewish and Cantonese Hong Kong businessman. His maternal grandfather was Cantonese, and his maternal grandmother was English.
Career and Education
1940–1958: Early roles, schooling, and martial arts initiation
Cantonese opera star Lee Hoi-Chuen was Lee's father. Junior Lee appeared in many films as a kid. Lee debuted as a newborn in Golden Gate Girl. Since he was born in the Dragon hour and year, he became Lee the Little Dragon.At nine, he co-starred with his father in The Kid, a 1950 comic book film. His first major part.
He has 20 cinema roles by 18. Lee entered Catholic La Salle College's primary school aged 12 after attending Tak Sun School, a few blocks from his home at 218 Nathan Road in Kowloon.
Due to his poor grades and maybe lousy conduct, he was transferred to St. Francis Xavier's College in 1956 to be monitored by Brother Edward, a teacher, and boxing coach.
After multiple street battles, Lee's parents thought he needed martial arts. Lee's friend William Cheung introduced him to Ip Man, although the Chinese martial arts society has traditionally refused to teach Westerners. Cheung helped Lee get into Wing Chun despite his mother's one-quarter European background. Yip Man taught Lee Wing Chun. Yip pushed his kids to fight in sanctioned competitions to avoid Hong Kong, street gangs. After a year of Wing Chun training, Yip Man's other pupils learned about Lee's mixed origin and quit studying with him since the Chinese opposed teaching martial arts to non-Asians. "Probably fewer than six men in the whole Wing Chun lineage were directly trained, or even partially taught, by Yip Man," said Hawkins Cheung, Lee's battle partner. Lee resumed private Wing Chun training with Yip Man, William Cheung, and Wong Shun-Leung.
Bruce upset reigning champion Gary Elms to win the 1958 Hong Kong schools boxing championship.
Lee won the Hong Kong Crown Colony Cha-Cha Championship that year.
1959–1964: Continuous studies and martial arts breakthrough
In his street fights, Lee routinely overcame the son of a notorious triad family, wich intensified until his late teens. Lee fought Choy Li Fut students on a rooftop in 1958. Bruce struck another youngster who had unjustly hit him so hard that he knocked out one of his teeth, prompting the boy's parents to file a police complaint. Lee's mother had to sign documents at a police station promising to take full responsibility for Bruce's actions if he was returned to her. She advised Bruce, an American citizen, to return to the nation without telling her husband. Lee's father agreed that he would unlikely attend college in Hong Kong.Police remarked, "Mr. Lee, your kid fights a lot at school. If he fights again, I may jail him ".
In April 1959, Lee's parents sent him to live with his elder sister Agnes Lee in San Francisco with relatives and friends. In 1959, he moved to Seattle for high school. He was also Ruby Chow's live-in server. Lee's father knew Chow's husband. Lee's elder brother Peter Lee visited him in Seattle before going to college in Minnesota. Lee also taught martial arts that year. He called his courses Bruce Lee's Kung Fu or Jun Fan Gung Fu. Wing Chun's instruction was his. Lee taught his Seattle pals Judo methods, starting with Jesse Glover. Take Kimura, Lee's first assistant, who taught his art and ideas after his death. Lee's first martial arts school was in Seattle. Lee graduated high school at Seattle's Capitol Hill Edison Technical School. Lee studied theatre, philosophy, psychology, and other subjects at the University of Washington in March 1961. Despite Lee's and others' claims, a 1999 alumni magazine article said that Lee's major was theatre, not philosophy.
Lee quit school in 1964 to live with James Yimm Lee in Oakland. Bruce Lee's 20-year-old senior, James Lee, was a famous Chinese martial artist. They opened Oakland's second Jun Fan school. James Lee introduced Bruce Lee and Ed Parker. Parker invited Lee to do two-finger push-ups with feet shoulder-width apart during the 1964 Long Beach International Karate Championships (using one hand's thumb and index finger). He also delivered the "one-inch punch" in Long Beach. Lee faced a stationary partner with his right foot in front and his knees slightly bent. Lee's partly extended right hand was one inch (2.5 cm) from the partner's chest. Lee then hit volunteer Bob Baker. Baker was thrown backward and crashed on a chair, which prevented injuries, but his momentum led him to fall. Baker said, "I told Bruce not to repeat this act. After his final strike, my chest hurt so much I missed work ". At the 1964 finals, Lee met Taekwondo superstar Jhoon Goo Rhee. Friendship aided the two martial artists. Lee taught Rhee the sidekick and the "non-telegraphic" punch.
Lee fought Xingyiquan, Northern Shaolin, and T'ai chi ch'uan master Wong Jack-man in Oakland's Chinatown in 1964. The Chinese community gave Lee a deadline to quit teaching non-Chinese. After refusing, he fought Wong. If Lee won, he could teach anybody, even whites. Wong denied this, saying that Lee had said he could beat anybody in San Francisco at a Chinatown theater protest and that he did not discriminate against Whites or non-Chinese. That paper featured all Chinatown sifu. "They don't scare me," Lee said. Cadwell, T'ai chi ch'uan teacher William Chen and Bruce Lee's non-related colleague James Lee saw the bout.
Wong and William Chen reported a 20–25-minute battle.
Wong said Lee forcefully attacked him to kill him, even though he expected a hard but civil battle. Lee accepted Wong's handshake but reportedly used his hand like a spear to aim at Wong's eyes. Wong claimed he used illegal cufflinks instead of fatal force to murder Lee because he might have been imprisoned. Michael Dorgan's 1980 book Bruce Lee's Toughest Bout reports that Lee's "unusually winded" condition ended the fight.
According to Bruce Lee, Linda Lee Cadwell, and James Yimm Lee, Lee won the three-minute combat. Cadwell says, "The three-minute fight was all-out. Bruce knocked this guy down and said, "Do you give up?" The man said he did " Lee revealed in an interview a few weeks after the bout that he overcame an anonymous opponent, referring to Wong. Wong publicized his fight narrative in San Francisco's Chinese Pacific Weekly and offered a public rematch when Lee protested. Lee taught white pupils despite his propensity for rage. No more statements were made. Lee quit acting to learn martial arts. After a 1964 martial arts demonstration in Long Beach, television producer William Dozier invited the applicant to audition for the pilot episode of "Number One Son," a program about Lee Chan, Charlie Chan's son. Dozier noticed Lee's potential despite the show's failure.
1966–1970: American roles and creation Jeet Kune Do
Lee played Kato against Van Williams in the 1966–1967 television series The Green Hornet, produced and narrated by William Dozier[46] and based on the radio show of the same name. One season, 26 episodes, aired from September 1966 until March 1967. Lee and Williams appeared in three Batman episodes, another William Dozier-produced show.The Green Hornet was the first popular American show to show Asian martial arts and introduce adult Bruce Lee to Americans. The director told Lee to fight with punches and fists. As a martial artist, Lee disagreed and fought with his favored technique. Lee had to slow down since his actions were too fast for the camera. Lee became acquainted with stuntman Gene LeBell throughout production. They practiced martial arts and shared their specialties. Lee wrote to thank Dozier for starting "my career in show business" when the program ended in 1967.
The 1967 Ironside episode featured Lee.
Jeet Kune Did debut 1967. Lee started The Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute after being fired from The Green Hornet after one season. Lee's martial arts outlook changed after the Wong Jack-man battle. Lee concluded that the battle had lasted too long and that he still needed to fully exploit his Wing Chun talents. He thought traditional martial arts were too rigid for chaotic street combat. Lee went with a strategy that emphasized "pragmatism, adaptability, speed, and efficiency." He trained in fencing, bare boxing, weightlifting, jogging, and stretching.Lee stressed "the style of no style." This meant abandoning Lee's view of traditional styles' formality. Because even Jun Fan Gung Fu was too restrictive, Lee turned the system into Jeet Kune Do or the Way of the Intercepting Fist. Jeet Kune Do has certain limits, but its goal is to transcend them. He regretted saying that.
Lee taught James Coburn and Stirling Silliphant martial arts. In 1969, while writing The Silent Flute, the three searched India for locations. The unfinished 1978 film Circle of Iron starred David Carradine. In 2010, producer Paul Maslansky reportedly acquired funding for a film based on The Silent Flute's original screenplay. Lee portrayed a hoodlum paid to harass James Garner's Philip Marlowe in Silliphant's 1969 picture Marlowe. The hoodlum intimidates Marlowe by vandalizing. He was the karate advisor in the fourth Dean Martin-Matt Helm humorous spy film, The Wrecking Crew. Lee was featured in Here Come the Brides and Blondie that year.
He choreographed the battles for Silliphant's 1970 film A Walk in the Spring Rain, starring Ingrid Bergman and Anthony Quinn.
1971–1973: Hong Kong films and Hollywood breakthrough
Four 1971 Silliphant's Longstreet episodes featured Lee. While playing Mike Longstreet's martial arts master Li Tsung, Lee incorporated his martial arts beliefs into the screenplay (played by James Franciscus). After Lee died, Linda Lee Cadwell said that Lee proposed a television series called The Warrior in 1971. Warner Bros. confirmed project negotiations. "They believe the Western notion is gone, but I want to perform the Western," Lee said on The Pierre Berton Show on December 9, 1971. According to Cadwell, Warner Bros. renamed Lee's notion of Kung Fu without crediting him. [66] Lee's biographer Matthew Polly and two writers and producers, Ed Spielman and Howard Friedlander created the concept in 1969 [68], and Warner Brothers say they had been working on it. Lee's thick accent stopped him from getting cast, while Fred Weintraub says it was his race. In Wild West, non-martial artist David Carradine played the Shaolin monk. Lee told The Pierre Berton Show he understood Warner Brothers' casting views: "Profitability is a concern. No faults. If I had money and an American star visited Hong Kong, I would worry about their reception ".Producer Fred Weintraub advised Lee to return to Hong Kong and develop a feature film to impress Hollywood.
After being dissatisfied with US supporting roles, Lee returned to Hong Kong. He was surprised to be named the show's star as he was unaware that Hong Kong's "The Kato Show" had successfully performed The Green Hornet. Lee signed a two-film deal with Shaw Brothers Studio and Golden Harvest.
Lee's first leading part was in The Big Boss (1971), which made him famous throughout Asia. Fist of Fury (1972) followed, breaking The Big Boss's box office records. Lee and Golden Harvest re-signed after two years. Concord Production Inc. followed. He wrote, directed, performed in, and choreographed his third film, Way of the Dragon (1972). At a 1964 Long Beach, California performance, Lee met karate champion, Chuck Norris. Lee's fight with Norris in the Way of the Dragon, one of the finest martial arts and cinema battles, introduced the viewers to the actor. The first contender was American karate champion, Joe Lewis. Fist of Fury and Way of the Dragon grossed $100 million and $130 million worldwide.
Lee completed his fourth Golden Harvest film, Game of Death, in October 1972. He filmed various scenarios, including his fight with his old classmate Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 7'2". (218 cm). The first film Concord, Golden Harvest, and Warner Bros., filmed jointly Enter the Dragon, was stopped in November 1972 when Warner Brothers cast Lee. Hong Kong shooting began in February 1973 and ended in April 1973. After one month of shooting, Starseas Motion Pictures promoted Bruce Lee to feature in Fist of Unicorns despite him just choreographing the fight sequences for his old friend Unicorn Chan. Lee stayed close to Chan despite his intentions to sue the producer. Lee died a few months after Enter the Dragon was completed and six days before its July 26, 1973 debut. Enter the Dragon, the year's highest-grossing film made Bruce Lee a martial arts icon. In 1973, it cost US$850,000, approximately $4 million adjusted for inflation in 2007. Enter the Dragon is estimated to have grossed $400 million worldwide, which, adjusted for inflation, would be over $2 billion by 2022. "Kung Fu Fighting" and other TV programs sparked a brief martial arts fad after the movie.
1978–present: Posthumous work
Enter the Dragon director Robert Clouse, and Golden Harvest resurrected Lee's unfinished Game of Death. Lee had taped around 100 minutes of Game of Death footage, including outtakes, before focusing on Enter the Dragon. George Lazenby, Ji Han-Jae, and Dan Inosanto joined Abdul-Jabbar in the film. The movie's conclusion saw Lee's character Hai Tien (wearing the now-famous yellow tracksuit) fighting opponents on each story of a five-level pagoda. In 1978, Robert Clouse controversially remade the film using a doppelganger and vintage Bruce Lee footage. However, the clumsily put-together movie only included fifteen minutes of actual Lee footage (he had printed several terrible takes); the rest was Kim Tai Chung, a Lee doppelganger, and Yuen Biao, a stunt double. Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey featured footage from 22 years earlier.Game of Death wasn't Lee's only future film. Raymond Chow at Golden Harvest wanted Lo Wei to direct Yellow-Faced Tiger, a third film after The Big Boss and Fist of Fury. Lee directed and produced Way of the Dragon. The rival Shaw Brothers Studio planned the historical drama The Seven Sons of the Jade Dragon, directed by Chor Yuen or Cheng Kang and scripted by Yi Kang and Chang Cheh, from September to November 1973. Lee operated a producing firm with Raymond Chow.
In 2015, Perfect Storm Entertainment and Shannon Lee, daughter of Bruce Lee, announced that Justin Lin would direct and produce the Cinemax series The Warrior.
Cape Town, South Africa, began shooting on October 22, 2017. Season one has 10 episodes. Cinemax renewed it for a second season in April.
On March 25, 2021, Jason Kothari secured the rights to make The Silent Flute into a miniseries with John Fusco as executive producer and screenwriter.
Unproduced works
Lee also contributed to several scripts. Lee's narration of the movie's main plot with the working title Southern Fist/Northern Leg is captured on tape, and it bears some resemblance to the canned script for The Silent Flute (Circle of Iron). Another script, Green Bamboo Warrior, with a San Francisco setting and Bolo Yeung as a co-star, was in the works. It was to be produced by Andrew Vajna. Photoshoot costume trials were also planned for some of these envisioned film projects.Martial arts and fitness
Striking
First introduced to martial arts by his father, Lee learned Wu-style t'ai chi ch'uan. As a teenager, Lee was involved in street brawls in Hong Kong gang warfare. Wing Chun most influenced Lee's martial arts development. After losing against a rival gang, 16-year-old Lee studied Wing Chun with Yip Man. Forms, chi sao (sticking hands) exercises, wooden dummy techniques, and free sparring were Yip's usual instructions. The lessons needed more organization. Lee also learned about the Northern and Southern Praying Mantis, the Eagle Claw, Tan Tui, Law Hon, Mizongyi, Wa K'ung, Monkey, Southern Dragon, the Fujian White Crane, the Choy Li Fut, Hung Gar, the Choy Gar, Fut Gar, the Mok Gar, the Yau Kung Moon, the Li Gar, and the Lau Gar. [Quotation required to confirm] Page not foundBrother Edward, the head coach of the St. Francis Xavier's College boxing team, taught Lee how to fight between 1956 and 1958. Lee upset incumbent champion Gary Elms in the 1958 final round with knockdowns. Lee won the Hong Kong school boxing tournament. After immigrating to the US, Muhammad Ali had a significant effect on Lee. Lee studied Ali's footwork in the 1960s and adopted it.
Lee demonstrated his Jeet Kune Do martial arts at the Long Beach International Karate Championships in 1964 and 1968. The 1968 performance was more documented. Lee smacks numerous volunteers with rapid eye strikes and the one-inch punch before they can block. He also does blindfolded chi sao exercises against an opponent, seeking vulnerabilities and scoring with punches and takedowns. Lee then fights a competitor in a full-contact leather helmet bout. Lee uses his Jeet Kune Do concept of economic mobility and Ali-inspired footwork to avoid injury while counter-attacking with back fists and straight punches. He rapidly sweeps and head kicks and stops assaults with stop-hit side kicks. The opponent attempts to attack Lee multiple times, but Lee blocks his spin kicks. In 1995, Black Belt magazine said, "the action is as quick and savage as anything in Lee's flicks."
Master taekwondo Jhoon Goo Rhee and Lee first met in the 1964 championships. Lee taught Rhee the "non-telegraphic" punch, while Rhee taught Lee the sidekick. Lee's "accupunch" style was adopted by Rhee for American taekwondo. The "accupunch" is a fast, hard-to-block punch based on human response time. Before the opponent can complete the brain-to-wrist communication, punch.
Lee commonly used the oblique kick, which became popular in mixed martial arts.
In Jeet Kune Do, it's called the jeet tek (also known as a "stop kick" or "intercepting kick").
Grappling
Lee enjoyed grappling. Gene LeBell, Fred Sato, Jesse Glover, Taky Kimura, Hayward Nishioka, and Wally Jay taught Lee judo in Seattle and California. He taught and learned, and many early pupils became judo and martial arts experts. After making friends with LeBell on The Green Hornet, Lee offered to teach him hitting in exchange for grappling. Lee's Tao of Jeet Kune Do includes judo and catch wrestling techniques taught to LeBell by Lou Thesz and Ed Lewis. Hapkido instructor Ji Han-Jae taught him grappling.Glover believes only Lee considered judo useless for grabbing the opponent.
Lee liked Glover's osoto gari during their first training session but didn't like being held by him. Lee developed anti-grappling methods in Seattle to protect himself from opponents who attempted to tackle or knock him down. Glover recalls that Lee "definitely would not go to the ground if he had the chance to grab you standing up." Lee told LeBell he wanted to use judo. Jeet Kune Do and the osoto gari contained judo throws, armlocks, and chokeholds.
In Way of the Dragon, Lee's character armbars Chuck Norris after applying a neck hold fashioned by LeBell,[52] and Enter the Dragon's prologue depicts Lee's arm barring Sammo Hung. In action choreography, Lee considered grappling was of little value since it needed visual difference.
In Game of Death, Lee and Han-Jae wrestle with the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar figure.
Lee's grappling training was also influenced by the Great Gama, an Indian/Pakistani pehlwani wrestling champion. Lee adopted Gama's exercises.
Street fighting
Hong Kong's rooftop fight culture, a kind of street fighting culture, had a significant impact on Lee. Many young Hongkongers learned martial arts for self-defense in the middle of the 20th century due to rising crime in the city and a lack of manpower for the Hong Kong Police. 400 or more martial arts schools in Hong Kong taught various kinds of martial arts in the 1960s. To evade punishment from British colonial authorities, rival martial arts school gangs challenged each other to rooftop brawls in the 1950s and 1960s, giving rise to a rooftop battle scene in Hong Kong's street fighting tradition. Lee frequently took part in these rooftop brawls in Hong Kong and developed his hybrid martial arts style by fusing techniques from other martial arts systems.When Lee returned to Hong Kong in the early 1970s, locals frequently challenged him to street fights because of his reputation as "the fastest fist in the east." He occasionally accepted these challenges and participated in street fights, which prompted some criticism from the press at the time that portrayed him as violent.
Fitness
Lee was known for his physical fitness and vigor at the time [better source required]. 172 cm (5 ft 8 in) tall and 64 kg (141 lb). Lee changed his martial arts style after his 1965 match with Wong Jack-man. Lee believed many martial artists required more excellent physical training. Lee addressed flexibility, cardio, strength, and endurance. He used typical bodybuilding techniques to gain muscle, but not too much since it may impact his flexibility and quickness. Lee believed martial arts training requires mental and spiritual preparation for equilibrium. In Tao of Jeet Kune Do, he said training is the most neglected part of sports. Skills and participant progress are prioritized. JKD emphasizes spirituality and fitness above mundane tasks.After coming to the nation, Linda Lee Cadwell said Lee got interested in healthy foods, high-protein drinks, and vitamin and mineral supplements. He also focused on nutrition. He decided that keeping a high-performance car's engine was like acquiring a high-performance body. Just as one couldn't run a vehicle on low-octane gasoline, one couldn't run their body on junk food, and with "the inappropriate fuel," their bodies would work slowly or carelessly. Lee avoided processed flour and baked goods since they provided little nutritional value. He was noted for eating rice, fish, and vegetables. Lee avoided dairy products and ate powdered milk. Dan Inosanto said Lee meditated first.
Personal Life
Lee was born Lee Jun-fan in Cantonese. His mother named him Lee, which means "return," since she anticipated he would return to the US as an adult. Since she was superstitious, his mother named him "little phoenix" Sai-fon. Dr. Mary Glover, the hospital attending physician, may have named the patient "Bruce."Lee had three more Chinese names: Lee Yuen-cham, a family or clan name; Lee Yuen-Kam, his La Salle College name; and Lee Siu-lung (; Siu-lung means "small dragon" in Chinese).
Lee's given name, Jun-fan, was a component of his grandfather's name, Lee Jun-biu. [Note] Lee's Chinese character for Jun was changed to the homonym to avoid breaching the naming convention.
Lee Hoi-Chuen, a famous Cantonese opera and film performer, was on an annual opera tour with his family on the eve of the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong. Lee Hoi-Chuen has performed in Chinese communities for years.
Unlike his peers, Lee Hoi-Chuen returned to Hong Kong after Bruce's birth. Hong Kong was conquered after three years and eight months of Japanese control by the Lee dynasty. As Hong Kong rebuilt, Lee Hoi-acting Chuen's career grew in popularity.
Lee's mother, Grace Ho, was from Hong Kong's wealthiest and most potent Ho-tung clan. She was Sir Robert Ho-half-niece. tung's Bruce Lee grew up rich. Despite his family's riches, an influx of communist Chinese migrants to Hong Kong, then a British Crown Colony, made Lee's area crowded, hazardous, and full of gang rivalries.
Grace Ho may be the daughter of Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist Ho Kom-tong (Ho Gumtong) and Sir Robert Ho-half-sister. tung's
Bruce was the fourth of Phoebe, Agnes, Peter, and Robert Lee.
Grace's parents are unknown. He had Brandon in 1966. Grace was Catholic and had a German father, according to Linda Lee's 1989 memoir, The Bruce Lee Story. Bruce Lee: Fighting Spirit author Bruce Thomas thinks Grace had a Chinese mother and a German father. Eric Peter Ho, Lee's relative, hypothesizes that Grace was born in Shanghai to a Eurasian mother, Cheung King-sin, in his 2010 book Tracing My Children's Lineage. Eric Peter Ho said Grace Lee's father was Ho Kom Tong and her mother was a mixed-race Shanghainese. Grace Lee said her father was Chinese, and her mother was English. Fredda Dudley Balling says Grace Lee is three-quarters Chinese and one-quarter British.
In Matthew Polly's 2018 book Bruce Lee: A Life, Ho Kom-tong, Bruce Lee's adopted grandpa, is his maternal grandfather. Rotterdam Jewish trader Charles Maurice Bosman was Ho's Kom-father. He was the Dutch consul general in Hong Kong with the Dutch East India Company. Sze Tai gave him six children, including Ho Kom Tong. Bosman left his family for California. Ho Kom Tong was a rich businessman with a wife, 13 concubines, and a British mistress who had Grace Ho.
Hong Kong's Thunderbirds and his younger brother Robert Lee Jun-fai are famous musicians and singers.
Several English-language singles were performed. Lee's Irene Ryder duet was published. Lee Jun-fai lived in Los Angeles with Lee. Lee Jun-fai dedicated his posthumous album and song, The Ballad of Bruce Lee, to Lee. While attending the University of Washington, he met Linda Emery, a fellow teaching student. They married secretly in August 1964 since many US states still forbade interracial marriage. Shannon Lee and Brandon Lee are Linda's children (1965-1993). (born 1969). After Lee's 1973 death, she promoted Jeet Kune Do. Her 1975 book Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew inspired the 1993 film Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. 1989's The Bruce Lee Story. She departed in 2001.
Brandon, eight, lost Lee. Lee taught Brandon martial arts on the sets while alive. This prompted Brandon to study acting. Brandon Lee had early success in action films, including Legacy of Rage (1986), Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991), and Rapid Fire (1992). The Crow prop gun accidentally hit 28-year-old Brandon Lee, who died in 1993.
Shannon lost Lee at four. She learned Jeet Kune Did through her father's student Richard Bustillo, but she started practicing in the late 1990s. Ted Wong taught her Jeet Kune Do for action movies.
Action films
Lee started the 1970s "kung fu craze." He popularized kung fu to the West via American television series like The Green Hornet and Kung Fu before the 1973 "kung fu craze" with Hong Kong martial arts flicks. Lee's success launched the careers of Western martial arts stars like Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, and Chuck Norris. From the 1980s to the 1990s, Western action movies and TV shows used Asian martial arts increasingly. Enter the Dragon is an action classic. According to Vice's Sascha Matuszak, Enter the Dragon's portrayal of African-Americans, Asians, and martial arts was innovative. He remarked that "Enter the Dragon" is referenced in all forms of media. Lee's battle sequences in films like Enter the Dragon influenced Kuan-Hsing Chen and Beng Huat Chua's "elemental narrative of good versus evil in such a spectacle-saturated way."Bruce Lee influenced several action film filmmakers, including Hong Kong's Jackie Chan, John Woo, and Hollywood's Quentin Tarantino and Brett Ratner.
Martial arts and combat sport
Jeet Kune Do, Lee's combination martial arts philosophy, is largely credited with spawning modern mixed martial arts (MMA). Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do style popularized mixed martial arts in the West. "The greatest warrior is neither Judo, Karate, or Boxer," Lee stated. "The finest fighter can adapt to any style, is formless, has their own, and does not follow the system of styles." "If you look at the way Bruce Lee trained, the way he fought, and many of the things he said, he felt the ultimate style was no style," said UFC founder Dana White. "Everything is borrowed. Take what works from each discipline and reject the rest. Lee popularized martial arts. Many combat sportsmen, including boxing champion Manny Pacquiao and UFC champion Conor McGregor, have likened themselves to Lee and said they think he would have succeeded in the UFC. Lee allegedly helped Sugar Ray Leonard polish his jab.Lee inspired 1970s US full-contact kickboxing contests by Joe Lewis and Benny Urquidez.
Pioneer Jhoon Goo Rhee introduced Lee's "accupunch" to American taekwondo. Rhee taught Muhammad Ali, who defeated Richard Dunn in 1975. Heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson said, "everyone aspired to be Bruce Lee" in the 1970s. Lee also inspired UFC pound-for-pound champion, Jon Jones. Jones is known for using Lee's knee-oblique kick. Lee influenced UFC champions, Uriah Hall and Anderson Silva. Many UFC fighters consider Lee the "godfather" or "grandfather" of MMA.
Awards
1. 1972: Golden Horse Awards Best Mandarin Film2. 1972: Fist of Fury Special Jury Award
3. 1994: Hong Kong Film Award for Lifetime Achievement
4. 1999: Named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century
5. 2004: Star of the Century Award
Death
Lee fainted during an automatic speech replacement session for Enter the Dragon on May 10, 1973, at Golden Harvest Film Studio in Hong Kong. Convulsions and headaches sent him to Hong Kong Baptist Hospital, where doctors found cerebral edema. Mannitol reduced edema. After his fall, his headache and cerebral edema reappeared on his dying day.On July 20, 1973, Lee went to Hong Kong to film alongside George Lazenby. According to Linda Lee, Lee visited producer Raymond Chow at his residence around 2 p.m. to discuss shooting Game of Death. After working till 4 p.m., Lee and Betty Ting Pei went to her residence. Chow departed for a dinner meeting after discussing the script at Ting's residence.
Ting offered Lee Equagesic, a painkiller with meprobamate and aspirin after Lee complained of a headache. He napped at 7:30. After Lee missed supper, Chow tried to wake him up. After 10 minutes, an ambulance took Lee to Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Lee, 32, died upon arrival.
Despite no visible lesions, postmortem statistics showed that Lee's brain had grown from 1,400 to 1,575 grams (13%). The autopsy revealed eugenic. In an October 15, 2005 interview, Chow stated that Lee died from an allergic reaction to the sedative meprobamate, sometimes present in painkillers. Doctors declared Lee's death "death by misadventure."
Linda buried Lee at Lake View Cemetery in Seattle after visiting her homeland.
On July 25, 1973, Taky Kimura, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Dan Inosanto, Peter Chin, and Lee's brother Robert were his pallbearers.
Media speculations abounded after Lee's death. Lee's stardom and tragic death sparked many nonsensical theories and hypotheses. He and his family were cursed and accused of triad murder.
The Lee case went to Scotland Yard-recommended forensic expert Donald Teare, who had conducted 1,000 autopsies. "Death by misadventure" due to Equagesic-induced cerebral edema was his verdict. It would be "irresponsible and improper" to suggest that cannabis caused Bruce's May 10 fall or July 20 death. Teare ruled, despite initial concerns that Lee's stomach cannabis may have killed him. Dr. R. R. Lycette, Queen Elizabeth Hospital's clinical pathologist, said cannabis did not cause the death during the coroner hearing.
In a 2018 biography, Matthew Polly consulted medical specialists and theorized that overexertion and heat stroke caused Lee's fatal cerebral edema. Because heat stroke was little understood, it was not considered. In the second part of 1972, Lee had his underarm sweat glands removed to prevent sweating on camera. Polly felt that Lee overheated while exercising in the heat on May 10 and July 20, 1973, producing a heat stroke that exacerbated the cerebral edema that killed him.
Researchers examined Lee's death scenarios. In a December 2022 Clinical Kidney Journal article, hyponatremia caused his deadly cerebral edema. The authors noted that Lee was at risk for hyponatremia owing to excessive water intake, insufficient solute intake, alcohol drinking, and use of one or more medications that impair kidney function. Lee's pre-death symptoms also resembled fatal hyponatremia.
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