Bruce Lee: Martial Artist-Philosopher-Actor

*** Bruce fans have won their fight with the owner of Bruce's former home. He had turned it into a "love hotel" renting out rooms on an hourly basis. He will now team up with the folks in Hong Kong and turn the home into a museum featuring everything martial arts.

Rest of the story here:

Bruce Lee's Home Will Turn Into a Museum.

*** China has developed a 50 part TV series based on Bruce's life called "The Legend of Bruce Lee." It was shot in Italy, China, Hong Kong, USA and other locations. Kung Fu Hustle movie actor Danny Chow portrays Bruce in the show.

The series will spotlight Bruce's hard times he suffered in his Hollywood years as well the injuries he suffered.

The series premiered Oct. 12 '08 but can't be easily seen in the West right now since it's on CCTV 1, China's main TV channel.

More info here at Kung Fu Cinema about The Legend of Bruce Lee TV Series.

Bruce Lee was born on November 27th 1940 and died July 20th 1973.

Bruce's family consisted of his father (Lee Hou-Cheun) who was Chinese and his mother (Gracie Lee) who was half Chinese and half German-making Bruce three quarters Chinese and a quarter Caucasian.

His siblings were:

- Phoebe (adopted)
- Peter
- Wu Ngan (unofficially adopted)
- Agnes
- Robert (the youngest)

* Note: It was his sister "Agnes" who nicknamed him "The Little Dragon."

Bruce was born in San Francisco in 1940. His father was a performer in a Chinese Opera Show that was touring San Francisco when his mother gave birth to him. His parents named him "Lee Jun Fan" which translates in English to "Return Again" because they had a feeling he would go back to San Francisco at some point in his life after bringing him back home to Hong Kong. A nurse at the hospital suggested before they leave that they give their new American born baby an "English Christian Name" to avoid problems with the American birth certificate. The nurse suggested "Bruce Lee" and his parents agreed.

Bruce was a working child actor in Hong Kong and appeared in over 20 films. School wasn't his thing and he would hang out and get into trouble-he was a self-admitted "Punk" and went looking to pick fights.

His father taught him Tai Chi but tough-kid Bruce was bored with it and picked up an interest in "Wing Chun". He attended Yip Man's School of Wing Chun and became a very good student. Yip Man encouraged Bruce to study the philosophy behind Kung Fu.

Bruce continued to get into fights and got arrested. His parents thought it would be best if he went back to San Francisco and start a new chapter in his young life. At the age of 19 Bruce Lee Returned to San Francisco as was predicted by his parents!

After arriving back in the United States in '59, Bruce continues to practice martial arts and works in a restaurant. In 1961 he moves to Washington State and attends the University of Washington where he studies Philosophy.

His martial arts skills continued to grow and mature.

1963-Important Year in Bruce's Life

Bruce began to teach his knowledge of martial arts to fellow students at the University. This was the year that Bruce opened his own teaching studio called "Jun Fan Gung-Fu." Here at his institute he taught students his developing martial arts style. This style taught students a direct more realistic way to fight, breaking with the classical martial arts traditions. The traditionalists did not like him teaching Chinese martial arts to non-Chinese people. He rebeled against that also and accepted students of any race.

At the same time, one of his fellow University students was a young woman named "Linda Emery." She became one of his students and would go on to become his girlfriend and later his wife. Linda encouraged Bruce to move his studio Jun Fan Gung-Fu to a location close to the University campus. It became very popular and he opened up another location in Oakland California.

The year 1964 brought Jhoon Rhee into his life when he was 24. Jhoon Rhee is considered by many to be the father of "Tai Kwan Do" in America. Rhee brought Bruce along to tournaments and encouraged him to show off his stunning martial arts skills. When they appeared at the "International Karate Championships" in Long Beach, Bruce demonstrated his soon to famous "Two-Finger-Push-ups" and "One-Inch-Punch", shown in the video below.

The right people were very impressed by Bruce's skills. As a result of that performance, he was introduced to William Dozier who was the producer of "Batman" the TV show. He got him a screen test for a new show called "The Green Hornet".

The local Chinese masters in Oakland continued to be very unhappy with Bruce and challenged him to fight their boy "Wong Jack Man" a local Gung-Fu expert who was respected by the traditionalists. The fight went Bruce's way. But, Bruce was concerned about the time it took to defeat him. Bruce began to rethink his techniques. He continued to develop new strategies for what would turn into Jeet Kune Do.

Year 1965 was another eventful year for Bruce. His studio in Oakland was not doing as well as it had been doing do to the fact he demanded that serious and committed pupils only.

Early that in the year he was signed to play the character of "Kato" on the TV show "The Green Hornet."

The beginning of February started off great with wife Linda giving birth to his only son "Brandon". Not long after that joyful time, Bruce received word that his father "Hou-Cheun" had died at the age of 64 years old. Bruce flew back to Hong Kong with Linda and Brandon to settle his father's estate and introduce his Linda and Brandon to his family.

Early March of '66 he moved Linda and Brandon to a new home in the Westwood area of Los Angeles. Twentieth Century Fox arranged for Bruce to take acting lessons in preparation for his "Kato" role. Unfortunately, the show lacked appeal and only 26 episodes were filmed. Despite lackluster ratings young people were amazed at Bruce's Kung Fu skills he demonstrated in the show. He was asked to appear in parades and exhibitions to demonstrate his fighting abilities and Bruce for the first time tasted a little fame.

During filming of The Green Hornet he received $400 a week and was given a red porsche. After the show was canceled he became a struggling young actor and appeared in the TV show "Ironside" and a few other minor shows. He did manage to get a minor role in a James Garner film called "Marlowe." Bruce found that although his fighting skills dazzled everyone-his acting skills didn't dazzle anyone!

He was getting known in the Hollywood acting community-not for his acting-but for his amazing athleticism and fighting skills. A few well known actors asked Bruce if they could get lessons. Stars like Steve McQueen and James Coburn took lessons and became good friends with Bruce. Bruce also had "Private" students such as Karate star "Chuck Norris", "Mike Stone" and "Joe Lewis."

Around this time he also became friends with well knowns martial artist "Dan Inosanto". Inosanto helped Bruce open up a third studio in the Los Angeles area.

About Life:

* Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successfull personality and duplicate it.

* Ever since I was a child I have had this instinctive urge for expansion and growth. To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one's potential.

* "Life itself is your teacher, and you are in a state of constant learning."

* I'm not in this world to live up to your expectations and you're not in this world to live up to mine.

* Knowledge will give you power, but character respect.

* Faith makes it possible to achieve that which man's mind can conceive and believe.

* If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done.

* To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities.

* A quick temper will make a fool of you soon
enough.

* If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.

* It's not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.

Additional drama comes into Bruce's life.

In April of 1969 Linda gives birth to their daughter "Shannon." Her birth picks up his spirits after the cancellation of The Green Hornet. Bruce continues to train serious students and celebrities at this time. He also continues his famous intense workouts he's known for.

Unfortunately, during one of these workouts, specifically lifting weights-Bruce severely injures his back. The doctor tells him one of his nerves in his back was injured and he would have to stay in bed recovering for months. He was also told that the chances of him practicing Kung Fu ever again were slim to none. Linda was forced to take a job as a receptionist for an answering service to pay the bills while he recovered and looked after the kids. Hard times had struck Bruce and his family.

Bruce, not being a quitter in any sense of the word, decided he would examine his relationship with his martial arts philosophy and in particular his Jeet Kune Do. He got out a pen and wrote enough notes to fill up eight notebooks. He studied and examined his own mind regarding JKD and recorded his thoughts, ideas and philosophy. This was a quiet time of looking into his own soul and soul of Jeet Kune Do. These evaluations and discoveries were later put into book form by Linda and called "The Tao of Jeet Kune Do".

He also continued to slowly bring his body back into condition-despite what doctors had told him. Within a year of suffering the injury he was back and doing full workout sessions again. Even though he continues his strenuous workouts he also has to deal with the pain in his back that will never really go away.

Denied His Own TV Show

Now that Bruce had physically recovered, he was looking to get back into acting. He had come up with an idea for a TV show about an Asian man who practices Kung Fu and roams around the old American west searching for a new life and adventure. It would give him his own vehicle to not only be the star of his own TV series, but to really show off to American TV audiences his fighting skills within the context of each episode. Excited, he brought this idea to Warner Bros Studios who did in fact like the idea! Unfortunately, they did not like the idea of Bruce playing the lead role of "Caine." No doubt several factors were in the mix, Bruce wasn't a big enough star yet, fearing audiences would reject an Asian man in a lead role and they would end up losing money. Bruce was right, the series became a hit but with actor "David Carradine" playing "Caine"who had been changed to a character who was half Chinese and half Caucasian. Bruce was devastated, hurt and insulted by this naturally.

Surprise Stardom

Dejected, but never defeated, Bruce takes his son Brandon and visits Hong Kong. To his surprise, Bruce learns he is a star there. The local entertainment industry took the TV show "The Green Hornet" and renamed it "Kato" after Bruce's much beloved character! He was well known in Asia and he loved the attention. He put on dazzling martial arts demonstrations and started to earn the attention of various TV and movie producers who no doubt had money signs in their eyes!

Budding Hong Kong film producer "Raymond Chow" was eager to get Bruce to star in his upcoming films. Chow offered Bruce $15,000 to commit to doing two upcoming films. One of these films was "The Big Boss" and was to be filmed in Thailand. Bruce, now aware of his stardom in Asia, agreed to do the films.

Things were starting to finally go Bruce's way.......

The Hong Kong Movies

Bruce starts filming Chow's "The Big Boss" in Thailand and soon encounters problem after problem. He suffered a bad ankle sprain and a case of the flu in addition to dealing with the not-so-nice filming conditions on the outdoor set. Despite all these negatives, filming wraps and Bruce gets back home to Linda and the kids.

He soon discovers that word has gotten around he's in demand in Asia. Hollywood decides to jump on the bandwagon and offers for TV shows and movies start to come Bruce's way. Even Warner Bros. studios offered him $25,000 to possibly use him in one of their TV shows. One producer offers to give him a blank check!

Bruce takes Linda and Shannon and returns to Hong Kong to be present at the premiere of "The Big Boss." At the end of the film the audience gives him a standing ovation and rousing cheers. Bruce is now considered a national treasure and idol. Even more offers pour in for his acting services.

On a Roll...

Bruce, despite all the tempting offers, fulfills his contract with "Chow" and films "Fists of Fury." The film was a big hit with audiences. This would be the first time Bruce used Nunchucks as a weapon on film.

New Opportunities

Bruce becomes partners with "Raymond Chow". He also decided he wanted a say in filming conditions and how the films should be made. He studied film production books and and got heavily into how films are made from a technical point of view. With his new found film knowledge Bruce directs and stars in "Way of The Dragon." He asks his friend fellow martial artist "Chuck Norris" to be his foe in the movie. Their fight scene is considered one of the best in the history of the Martial Art genre.

This was an exhausting but thrilling time for Bruce. Long work hours on the set, sometimes he would shoot scenes till 3 in the morning. Now that he had money he could buy things he always wanted for himself. Among the things he purchased were a new townhouse and a Mercedes. There were rumors flying around that he indulged in drugs and girlfriends. Only Bruce knows if this is true. It's not unusual for young men who suddenly come into a lot of money to behave that way.

He also started to use a muscle stimulator machine that years later would become popular to tone up abs, or a form of it anyway. He would be writing at a desk and have electrodes hooked up to his abdominals. They would send a pulse to the muscles which in turn would involuntarily contract. This worked the abs without any effort on his part. He also would be shooting fighting scenes for many hours at a time. His style was one of great intensity which means his body would constantly be tensed up for hours and hours. This is great for filming big chopsocki flix but bad for the body. Would this behavior end up contributing to his death a few years later?

Enter Warner Brothers

Warner Brothers has a film called "Blood and Steel" they want made and they offer Bruce $500,000 to star in it. The producer of the film was Fred Weintraub who had turned Bruce down for "Kung Fu" years earlier. All was forgiven and Bruce inked the deal. The movie now had a new name: "Enter The Dragon." This was going to be a major international film-Bruce's first opportunity to be a worldwide movie star.

Once again, Bruce encounters unpleasant filming conditions. The American crew refuse to eat Chinese food. Cultural conflicts from an international cast and Bruce often showing up late for filming created a tense atmosphere on the set. Bruce and other actors suffered injuries as a result of the lack of professional stunt equipment.

To make matters worse for Bruce, some of the extras in the fight scenes were local thugs and gangsters who would challenge Bruce. The story goes Bruce would always rise to their challenges and whoop 'em.

Exit The Dragon

Bruce was very nervous about this film. It was his first major chance at being a real movie star. He would be exhausted much of the time he was filming and resort to various natural remedies such as vitamins and herbs. There is a question as to what else he resorted to. He also suffered from "Elvis" disease-it was difficult for him to go to stores an walk down the street anymore. Someone would recognize him and he would get mobbed, causing further stress.

Extremely stressed out, Bruce collapses while working. He has a violent seizure-vomiting and shaking. This where there are different accounts of what happened to him and why. One theory says he was on drugs to deal with the stress, specifically Hashish which in the local area was known to be very potent and devastating to the body. The Hashish available at the time, could have easily caused seizures if taken by somebody under tremendous stress. The official story is that his doctor found swelling of the brain and treated him for that condition. As a result of the seizure(s) he also had bruising on his body.

Some people have reported that he was extremely concerned about his health and worked even harder. Was he worried that he didn't have much time left? Very tense and worried, Bruce loses weight and becomes very thin looking. He has very little body fat left. Check out how different Bruce's face looks in the "Game of Death." which he started filming right before his death. He clearly had lost a lot of weight.

While waiting for "Enter The Dragon" to be ready for it's premiere, he starts working on his next film called "Game of Death" prophetically enough.

One night, the story goes, he had finished a meeting with "Raymond Chow" and they drove over to the apartment of an actress who would appear in the movie, "Betty Ting-Pei". Chow left to go get ready for a business meeting that night, one which Bruce was also supposed to attend. Bruce starts to feel pain in his head. Betty gave Bruce some medication that she claims a doctor had given her for a headache. Bruce takes it and goes to lay down on her bed.

Time goes by and Betty tries to wake Bruce up but he is in a deep sleep. A doctor is summoned and tries to wake him up and revive him-it doesn't work. Bruce is rushed to the hospital and and Linda is called by Chow to get there quickly. Doctors work on Bruce's heart, trying to massage it and giving it electrical stimulation. Their efforts fail and Bruce is pronounced dead. Bruce had lived just 32 years.

Bruce was given two funerals, one took place in Hong Kong and 25k fans attended. The other was a private funeral for his family in Seattle. He was buried in the Kung Fu outfit he wore in "Enter the Dragon" and his grave is located in Seattle's "Lake View Cemetary."

As stated before-all kinds of rumors and theories exist as to what exactly caused his death. Was it drug use, was it an allergic reaction to medication? His death was certainly caused in part by the tremendous stress he was under-both mental and the physical stress he put his body under. In order to accurately portray his style of fighting, his body was forced to be very tight and tense much of the time. The body can only take so much stress, even a young person's body will rebel against excess of any kind. The Lee family maintains he died as a result of brain swelling brought on by an allergic reaction to an ingredient in the medication given to him by Betty Ting-Pei. There is a rumor that she's going to someday write a "tell-all" book about what "really" happened to Bruce.

Bruce would never live to see how successful "Enter the Dragon" would become and how admired he was. It is considered by many to be the "best of the best" when it comes to mainstream martial arts films. His last film "Game of Death" was finished and released using a lookalike to fill in for Bruce. Many people think Bruce could have taken martial arts films to a new level and no doubt he would have.

His son Brandon went on to act in a couple of films and suffered a freak accident while filming which lead to his death. There exists a rumor that Bruce's family has a curse on it and that is the cause of all the suffering and loss. Who knows for sure whether their deaths are just tragic coincidence or a curse? Whatever the cause of his death, the martial arts community and film buffs will never forget the talented Bruce Lee, The Little Dragon.

"Using no way as way" & "Having no limitation as limitation"

* Jeet Kune Do favors formlessness so that it can assume all forms and since Jeet Kune Do has no style, it can fit in with all styles. As a result, Jeet Kune Do utilizes all ways and is bound by none and, likewise, uses any techniques which serve its end.

* Do not deny the classical approach, simply as a reaction, or you will have created another pattern and trapped yourself there.

* Just as nationalities have nothing to do with one's humanity, so they have nothing to do with martial arts. Leave your protective shell of isolation and relate 'directly' to what is being said. Return to your senses by ceasing all the intervening intellectual mumbo jumbo. Remember that life is a constant process of relating. Remember too, that I seek neither your approval nor to influence you towards my way of thinking. I will be more than satisfied if, as a result of this article, you begin to investigate everything for yourself and cease to uncritically accept prescribed formulas that dictate "this is this" and "that is that".

* Jeet Kune Do rejects all restrictions imposed by form and formality and emphasizes the clever use of the mind and body to defend and attack.

* "I think simply to practice gung fu forms and karate katas is not a good way. Moreover, it wastes time and does not match the actual (fighting) situation."

* The man who is really serious, with the urge to find out what truth is, has no style at all. He lives only in what is.

* "In real fighting, we have to keep our brain calm. Don't Let your mind be conquered by stupid thoughts. Just regard the fighting as if it were nothing."

* There is only one basic principle in self defense: You must apply the most effective weapon as soon as possible to the most vulnerable point of your enemy."

* Turn into a doll made of wood: it has no ego, it thinks nothing, it is not grasping or sticky. Let the body and limbs work themselves out in accordance with the discipline they have undergone.

* An animal jumps at every sound...a leaf responds to every push of air...but an enlightened man in combat moves only when he chooses--only when necessary--actually, the movement before it is necessary. He is not tensed but ready, he is never set, but flexible.

* The successful martial artist
The successful martial artist will be one who is able to:
1. Possess fluid speed - tenseness tightens and slows reaction time.
2. Possess confidence/plus - at all times.
3. Sock it - everything there, as soon as the opening is there.
4. Puzzle the opponent - never do the same thing twice. Whenever the opponent gets set to hit, move. Each combatant has his own gears (speed, etc.).

* Make at least one definite move daily toward your goal.

* Straight hitting is based on an understanding of body structure and the value of leverage.

Note: Most of the photos on this site are courtesy of: Bruce Lee: The Divine Wind at: Bruce Lee: The Divine Wind