Bruce Jun Fan Lee (Photo ©National General Pictures) was born on November 27, 1940, in San Francisco, California, USA.
His father Lee Hoi-chuen was a famous Cantonese opera and movie actor, so his family moved to Hong Kong to follow him in his work when Bruce was just born. Bruce appeared in various movies from his early age.
After some months, Japan started its military occupation, and the Lee family had to live under the invaders’ rule until the end of World War II.
During the years following the war, Hong Kong became chaotic, also because of the many people fleeing from communist China. Despite the fact that Bruce Lee belonged to a privileged family because his mother came from one of the most powerful clans in the city, he had to use force to defend himself. As a consequence, his parents agreed to have him trained in some martial arts.
Bruce Lee started to devote himself to martial arts, though sometimes there were problems because his mother was partly of German descent: for this reason, many Chinese didn’t consider him one of them and didn’t want him to be taught martial arts.
Bruce Lee’s skills got him on one side a school title as a boxing champion, but on the other side, his fights started getting him into trouble with elements of criminality and with the police, too. His parents decided to send him to the USA, where his older sister Agnes Lee was already living with some family friends in San Francisco.
In the USA, Bruce Lee studied at the Edison Technical School and then at the University of Washington. There, he met Linda Emery, who became his wife in 1964.
In 1959, Bruce Lee started teaching martial arts, precisely his interpretation of the Kung Fu style Wing Chun.
In 1964, Bruce Lee abandoned university and devoted himself to martial arts fights with great success.
Bruce Lee didn’t think about following in his father’s footsteps and becoming an actor, but he found himself almost accidentally involved in acting with some roles in movies and TV shows.
Bruce Lee claimed he had the idea that, some years later, was reworked to create the famous TV show “Kung Fu” with David Carradine as the protagonis,t stating that he wasn’t cast as the protagonist because he was Chinese but according to other sources the idea was created by the show producers and Bruce Lee wasn’t cast because of his thick accent.
In August 1970, Bruce Lee had a serious training accident that forced him to rest for various months. During that period, Lee went on with his philosophy study, which he had started in college, particularly focusing on religions but also on the theoretical side of fighting. Doctors had told him that he wouldn’t be able to practice martial arts anymore, but he fully recovered.
During the following years, Bruce Lee succeded in becoming the protagonist of various movies such as “The Big Boss” in 1971, “Fist of Fury” in 1972, “The Way of the Dragon” in 1972, and “Enter the Dragon” in 1973.
In 1973, Bruce Lee had a serious health problem in May, when he collapsed and had nausea and a very high fever. He was diagnosed with cerebral edema, but he recovered. On July 20 of the same year, Bruce Lee had a new crisis and was found in his apartment unconscious. He was urgently brought to the hospital, but he arrived there already dead.
A hypersensitivity to a painkiller Bruce Lee had taken for a headache was considered a possible cause of the cerebral edema that killed him. The hashish he took was considered a possible contributory cause, and someone speculated that there was a combination of effects from hashish and the painkiller. Many people started developing various theories about the real death causes, also creating some theories about a possible conspiracy against Bruce Lee.
In 1978, “Game of Death/Xi wang youxi” was released, a movie that included material shot by Bruce Lee before his death.
Bruce Lee developed a very intense physical training system, much harder than most of the other martial arts practitioners, also using culturism training techniques. Physical training was very important to him, but mental and spiritual training were very important as well.
After the death of the person, the legend of Bruce Lee remains. He’s loved in China (Statue photo ©Johnson Lau) for the nationalistic elements in his movies, but also all around the world, where he keeps on being seen as a martial arts icon.
