- This is a Chinese name; the family name is Lee.
Bruce Lee (Jun Fan, 李振藩, 李小龍; pinyin: Lǐ Zhènfān, Lǐ Xiăolóng; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Chinese American and Hong Kong actor, martial artist, philosopher, film director, screenwriter, practitioner of Wing Chun and founder of the Jeet Kune Do concept. He is considered by many as the most influential martial artist of the 20th century, and a cultural icon.[2] He is the father of actor Brandon Lee and of actress Shannon Lee. He was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.
Lee was born in San Francisco, California, and raised in Hong Kong until his late teens. His Hong Kong and Hollywood-produced films elevated the traditional Hong Kong martial arts film to a new level of popularity and acclaim, and sparked the second major surge of interest in Chinese martial arts in the West. The direction and tone of his films changed and influenced martial arts and martial arts films in Hong Kong and the rest of the world as well. He is noted for his roles in five feature length films, Lo Wei's The Big Boss (1971) and Fist of Fury (1972); Way of the Dragon (1972), directed and written by Bruce Lee; Warner Brothers' Enter the Dragon (1973), directed by Robert Clouse, and The Game of Death (1978).
Lee became an iconic figure, particularly among the Chinese, as he portrayed Chinese national pride and Chinese nationalism in his movies.[3] While Lee initially trained in Wing Chun, he later rejected well-defined martial art styles, favoring instead to utilize useful techniques from various sources.[4]
Early life
Bruce Lee was born on November 27, 1940, in the Year of the Dragon according to the Chinese zodiac calendar, at the Chinese Hospital in San Francisco’s Chinatown.[5] His father, Lee Hoi-Chuen (李海泉), was Chinese, and his Catholic mother, Grace Ho (何愛瑜), was of three quarters Chinese and a quarter German ancestry.[6][7][8][9][10][11] Lee and his parents returned to Hong Kong when he was three months old.[12][13] There is uncertainty about his citizenship; he definitely had HK citizenship, US citizenship, and he may have been a Chinese citizen.
Lee Hoi Chuen was one of the leading Cantonese opera and film actors at the time, and he was embarking on a year-long Cantonese opera performing tour, with his family, amongst the US Chinese communities on the eve of the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong during the Second World War. As touring was an extremely profitable business back then, Lee had been touring the United States for many years. Although a number of his peers decided to stay in the US this time to ride out the storm, Lee decided to go back to Hong Kong after his wife gave birth to their fourth child, due partially to homesickness and partially to a miscalculation on his part. Within months, Hong Kong was invaded (at the same time of the Pearl Harbor attack) and the Lees lived the ensuing 3 years and 8 months under brutal Japanese occupation. The Lee family managed to survive the war and actually had done reasonably well. Lee Hoi Chuen would resume his acting career and become an even bigger star during the ensuing rebuilding years.
Bruce Lee's mother Grace belonged to one of wealthiest and most powerful clans in Hong Kong, the Ho Tungs. She was the niece of Sir Robert Ho Tung, patriarch of the clan. As such, the young Bruce Lee grew up in an affluent and privileged environment.
At the age of 13 Bruce Lee began more formal study of Kung Fu lessons of Wing Chun with Yip Man. Having learned the basics of Wing Chun with his father, Bruce showed a keen interest in the art and a year later in 1955, had private training with the man who would later become the President of the Australian Federation of Kung Fu, William Cheung [14] [15]. At this same time the martial artist Wong Shun Leung, who was consistently involved with the dangerous and brutal beimo competitions[16], had Bruce Lee privately training with him as well [17]. Both Wong Shun Leung and William Cheung were students of Yip man in his school at the same time as the young Bruce Lee[18] [19].
Despite the advantage of his family's status during his youth the Hong Kong neighborhood he grew up in was dangerous and full of gang rivalry.
"Post war Hong Kong was a tough place to grow up. Gangs ruled the city streets and Lee was often forced to fight them. But Bruce liked a challenge and faced his adversaries head on. To his parents dismay Bruce's street fighting continued and the violent nature of his confrontations was escalating."[20]
Reaching all the way to his late teens Lee's street fights frequented more and included beating up the son of a feared triad family, until finally Lee's father decided for him to leave Hong Kong to pursue a safer and healthier avenue in the U.S.
"The police detective came and he says 'Excuse me Mr. Lee, your son is really fighting bad in school. If he gets into just one more fight I might have to put him in jail'."[21] --Robert Lee
Education and family
After attending Tak Sun School (德信學校) (a couple of blocks from his home at 218 Nathan Road, Kowloon) Lee entered the primary school division of La Salle College (喇沙書院) in 1950 or 1952 (at the age of 12). In around 1956, due to poor academic performance (or possibly poor conduct as well), he was transferred to St. Francis Xavier's College (聖芳濟書院) (high school) where he would be mentored by Brother Edward, a Catholic monk (originally from Germany spending his entire adult life in China and then Hong Kong), teacher, and coach of the school boxing team. In the spring of 1959, Lee got into yet another street fight and the police were called.[22] His parents confirmed the police's fear that this time Bruce Lee's opponent had organized crime background, and there was the possibility that a contract was out for his life. In April 1959 they decided to send him to the United States to meet up with his older sister Agnes Lee (李秋鳳) who was already living with family friends in San Francisco.
At the age of 18 and a half, Lee returned to the U.S., invoking for the first time his citizenship from having been born there, with $100 in his pocket and the titles of 1957 High School Boxing Champion and 1958 Crown Colony Cha Cha Champion of Hong Kong,[5] to further his education. After living in San Francisco for several months, he moved to Seattle in the fall of the same year (1959) to continue his high school education and to work for Ruby Chow as a live-in waiter at her restaurant. Ruby's husband was a co-worker and friend of his father. His older brother Peter Lee (李忠琛) would also join Bruce Lee in Seattle for a short stay before moving on to Minnesota to attend college. In December 1960, Lee completed his high school education and received his diploma from Edison Technical School (now Seattle Central Community College, located on Capitol Hill, Seattle). He then enrolled at the University of Washington in March 1961 majoring in drama (according to UW's alumni association information [23], not in philosophy as claimed by Bruce Lee himself and many others), and likely also took courses in philosophy, psychology, and various other subjects.[24][25][26] It was at the University of Washington that he met his future wife Linda Emery, whom he would marry in August of 1964.
Bruce Lee abandoned his university education (of 3 years without graduating) in the spring of 1964 and moved to Oakland to live with James Yimm Lee (嚴鏡海, no relation to Bruce Lee, and his Chinese surname was actually "Yim", a typical blunder by the immigration officials when James' father first immigrated to the US). Twenty years senior to Bruce Lee and a well known Chinese martial artist in the Bay area, James Lee would join Bruce Lee to co-found the second Jun Fan martial art studio in Oakland (the first one in Seattle). James Lee was also responsible for introducing Bruce Lee to Ed Parker, royalty of the US martial art world and organizer of the (Long Beach) International Karate Championships at which Bruce Lee was later "discovered" by Hollywood.
Bruce Lee had two children with Linda, Brandon Lee (1965–1993) and Shannon Lee (1969–). Brandon, who also became an actor like his father, died in an accident during the filming of The Crow in 1993. Shannon Lee also became an actress and appeared in some low-budget films starting in the mid 1990s, but has since quit acting.
His younger brother Robert Lee was a musician and member of a popular Hong Kong beat band called The Thunderbirds.[27]
Names
Bruce Lee's Cantonese given name was Lee Jun Fan (振藩; Mandarin Pinyin: Zhènfán).[28] At birth, the English name "Bruce" was thought to be given by the hospital attending physician, Dr. Mary Glover (or some said it was one of the nurses). Though Mrs. Lee did not initially plan on an English name for the child, she deemed it appropriate and would concur with Dr. Glover's addition.[29] However, his American name was never used within his family until he enrolled in the primary school division of La Salle College (a Hong Kong high school) at the age of 10 or 12,[28] and later at another high school (St. Francis Xavier's College in Kowloon), where Lee would come to represent the boxing team in inter-school events.
Bruce Lee also had three other Chinese names: Li Yuan-Xin[3] [李源鑫; Mandarin Pinyin: Lǐ yuán-xīn, as a family/clan name (族名)], Li Yuen Kam [李元鑒; Mandarin Pinyin: Lǐ yuán-jiàn, as a student name (學名) while attending La Salle College], and of course his Chinese stage name 李小龍 [Cantonese pengyam: Lei5 Siu² Lung4 (or Lee Siu Lung); Mandarin Pinyin: Lǐ Xiǎolóng]. The Jun Fan name was originally written in Chinese as 震藩, however this Jun (震) was identical to part of his grandfather's name 李震彪, which was considered taboo in Chinese tradition. Therefore, Bruce Lee's name was changed to 振 which had the identical pronunciation with 震 and virtually identical meaning. Also of note is that Bruce Lee was given a feminine nickname, Sai Fung (細鳳, literally "small phoenix"), which was used throughout his early childhood in keeping with a Chinese custom, traditionally thought to hide a male child from evil spirits. In Linda Lee's books, she repeatedly cited that Jun Fan meant "return again" (back to the U.S.), but Jun (振) really means "to invigorate" or "to shock", and Fan (藩) is the well known Chinese abbreviation for the city of San Francisco.(三藩市).
Bruce Lee's stage name 李小龍 was first suggested by Yuan Bu Yun (袁步雲) when Lee played the title role of the 1950 Cantonese movie 細路祥 ("Kid Cheung"). By then, Lee was already a 4-year child actor veteran with two feature films to his credit in Hong Kong [he was also used as an uncredited prop baby in a 1940 US-made Cantonese movie "Golden Gate Girl" (金門女)]. Prior to his return to the U.S. in 1959, Bruce Lee would have a respectful child actor career of 18 solid years averaging more than two movies per year during his entire teenager life (age 10 to 18), acting alongside some of the best Cantonese actors and actresses at the time, and playing the central characters in some movies. Yuan was the creator of the popular "Kid Cheung" comic strip, of which the movie was based on, and also acted in the movie playing a son of the character played by Bruce Lee's real life father Lee Hoi Chuen.
It is possible that the name "Lee Little Dragon" was based on his childhood name of "small dragon", as, in Chinese tradition, the dragon and phoenix come in pairs to represent the male and female genders respectively. The more likely explanation is that he came to be called "Little Dragon" because, according to the Chinese zodiac, he was born in the Year of the Dragon. Many, including his wife Linda, also added to the "dragon" connection by suggesting that Lee was born during the "hour of dragon" (6–8 AM, as claimed in Linda's books and many others). However, animal zodiac normally does not apply to hours of the day, but when it does, the period from 6 to 8 Am actually straddles between the "hour of rabbit" (5–7 AM) and the "hour of dragon" (7–9 AM). Beside, the Little Dragon name only came about long (10 years) after he was born.
Acting career
Lee's father Hoi-Chuen was a famous Cantonese Opera star. Thus, through his father, Bruce was introduced into films at a very young age and appeared in several short black-and-white films as a child. Lee had his first role as a baby who was carried onto the stage. By the time he was 18, he had appeared in twenty films.[5]
While in the United States from 1959–1964, Lee abandoned thoughts of a film career in favor of pursuing martial arts. William Dozier invited Lee for an audition, where Lee so impressed the producers with his lightning-fast moves that he earned the role of Kato alongside Van Williams in the TV series The Green Hornet. The show lasted just one season, from 1966 to 1967. Lee also played Kato in three crossover episodes of Batman. This was followed by guest appearances in a host of television series, including Ironside (1967) and Here Come the Brides (1969). In 1969, Lee made a brief appearance in his first American film Marlowe where he played a henchman hired to intimidate private detective Philip Marlowe (played by James Garner) by smashing up his office with leaping kicks and flashing punches, only to later accidentally jump off a tall building while trying to kick Marlowe off. In 1971, Lee appeared in four episodes of the television series Longstreet as the martial arts instructor of the title character Mike Longstreet (played by James Franciscus).
According to statements made by Bruce Lee and also by Linda Lee Cadwell after Bruce's death, in 1971 Bruce pitched a television series of his own tentatively titled The Warrior, discussions which were also confirmed by Warner Bros. According to Cadwell, however, Lee's concept was retooled and renamed Kung Fu, but Warner Bros. gave Lee no credit.[30] Instead the role of the Shaolin monk in the Wild West, was awarded to then non-martial artist David Carradine because of the studio's fears that a Chinese leading man would not be embraced by the public.[31] Books and documentaries about the show "Kung Fu" dispute Cadwell's version. According to these sources, the show was created by two writers and producers, Ed Spielman and Howard Friedlander, and the reason Lee was not cast was in part because of his ethnicity but more so because he had a thick accent.[32]
In a December 9, 1971 television interview on The Pierre Berton Show, Bruce Lee himself makes reference to both Warner Brothers and Paramount wanting him to do an American TV series. After Pierre Berton comments, "there's a pretty good chance that you'll get a TV series in the States called "The Warrior", in it, where you use what, the Martial Arts in a Western setting?" Lee responds, "that was the original idea, ...both of them (Warner and Paramount), I think, they want me to be in a modernized type of a thing, and they think that "The Western" type of thing is out. Whereas I want to do the Western, because, you see, how else can you justify all of the punching and kicking and violence, except in the period of The West?" Later in the interview, Berton asks Lee about "the problems that you face as a Chinese hero in an American series. Have people come up in the industry and said 'well, we don't know how the audience are going to take a non-American'"?. Lee responds "Well, such question has been raised, in fact, it is being discussed. That is why "The Warrior" is probably not going to be on." Lee adds, "They think that business wise it is a risk. I don't blame them. If the situation were reversed, and an American star were to come to Hong Kong, and I was the man with the money, I would have my own concerns as to whether the acceptance would be there."[33]
Not happy with his supporting roles in the U.S., Lee returned to Hong Kong. Unaware that The Green Hornet had been played to success in Hong Kong and was unofficially referred to as "The Kato Show", he was surprised to be recognized on the street as the "star" of the show. Lee was then offered a film contract by legendary director Raymond Chow to star in two films produced by his production company Golden Harvest. Lee played his first leading role in The Big Boss (1971) which proved to be an enormous box office success across Asia and catapulted him to stardom. He soon followed up with Fist of Fury (1972) which broke the box office records set previously by The Big Boss. Having finished his initial two-year contract, Lee negotiated a new deal with Golden Harvest. For his third film, Way of the Dragon (1972), he was given complete control of the film's production as the writer, director, star, and choreographer of the fight scenes. In 1964, at a demonstration in Long Beach, California, Lee had met karate champion Chuck Norris. In Way of the Dragon Lee introduced Norris to moviegoers as his opponent in the final death fight at the Colosseum in Rome, today considered one of Lee's most legendary fight scenes and one of the most memorable fight scenes in martial arts film history.[34]
In late 1972, Lee began work on his fourth Golden Harvest Film, Game of Death. He began filming some scenes including his fight sequence with 7'2" American Basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a former student. Production was stopped when Warner Brothers offered Lee the opportunity to star in Enter the Dragon, the first film to be produced jointly by Golden Harvest and Warner Bros. This film would skyrocket Lee to fame in the U.S. and Europe. However, only a few months after the film's completion and 6 days before its July 26, 1973 release[35], the supremely fit Lee mysteriously died. Enter the Dragon would go on to become one of the year's highest grossing films and cement Lee as a martial arts legend. It was made for US$850,000 in 1973 (equivalent to $4 million adjusted for inflation as of 2007).[36] To date, Enter the Dragon has grossed over $200 million worldwide.[37] The movie sparked a brief fad in the martial-arts, epitomized in such songs as "Kung Fu Fighting" and such TV shows as Kung Fu.
Robert Clouse, the director of Enter the Dragon, and Raymond Chow attempted to finish Lee's incomplete film Game of Death which Lee was also set to write and direct. Lee had shot over 100 minutes of footage, including outtakes, for Game of Death before shooting was stopped to allow him to work on Enter the Dragon. In addition to Abdul-Jabbar, George Lazenby, Hapkido master Ji Han Jae and another Lee student, Dan Inosanto were also to appear in the film, which was to culminate in Lee's character, Hai Tien (clad in the now-famous yellow track suit) taking on a series of different challenge on each floor as they make their way through a five-level pagoda. In a controversial move, Robert Clouse finished the film using a look-alike and archive footage of Lee from his other films with a new storyline and cast, which was released in 1979. However, the cobbled-together film contained only fifteen minutes of actual footage of Lee (he had printed many unsuccessful takes[38]) while the rest had a Lee look-alike, Kim Tai Chung, and Yuen Biao as stunt double. The unused footage Lee had filmed was recovered 22 years later and included in the documentary Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey.
Hong Kong legacy
There are a number of stories (perhaps apocryphal) surrounding Lee that are still repeated in Hong Kong culture today. One is that his early 70s interview on the TVB show Enjoy Yourself Tonight cleared the busy streets of Hong Kong as everyone was watching the interview at home.
On January 6, 2009, it was announced that Bruce's Hong Kong home (41 Cumberland Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong) will be preserved and transformed into a tourist site by philanthropist Yu Pang-lin.[39]
Martial arts training and development
Lee's first introduction to martial arts was through his father, Lee Hoi Cheun. He learned the fundamentals of Wu style Tai Chi Chuan from his father.[40] Lee's sifu, Wing Chun master Yip Man, was also a colleague and friend of Hong Kong's Tai Chi Chuan teacher Wu Ta-ch'i. Yip's regular classes generally consisted of the forms practice, chi sao (trapping hands) drills, wooden dummy techniques, and free-sparring[41]. There was no set pattern to the classes[42]. And he tried to keep them from fighting in the street gangs of Hong Kong, though he did encourage organized competition[43].
Cheung states "Probably fewer than six people in the whole wing chun clan were personally taught, or even partly taught, by Yip Man[44]."
Lee's familiarity of the Art of War was infinitely diverse from his studious life-time focus; Lee was trained in Tai Chi Tuan in the dominant aspect of the Wu Style (also known as Nga). Lee was also trained in Tam Toi for the twelve sets (also known as Buk Pie). Lee also was trained in the martial art Choy Li Fut. Lee's perspectives were wide and never ending still as it included Western Boxing, of the three swords for fencing (epee, sabre and foil) Bruce was trained in Epee, Judo, Praying Mantis, Hsing-I, and Jujitsu.
"When Bruce arrived in the U.S he had the training in Wu Style Tai Chi, sometimes in Hong Kong called Nga. And he had of course training in western boxing. He had training in fencing from his brother, that's Epee, that goes from toe to head. He had training obviously in Wing Chun. And the other area was the training he had received in Buk Pie, or Tam Toi, he was twelve sets in Tam Toi. And I believe he had traded with a Choy Li Fut man."[45] --Danny Inosanto
Gene LeBell, known as a master hooker and shooter in professional wrestling[46], is also commonly known as "the Godfather of Grappling" and also as "the toughest man alive"[47]. In their routine practices of Judo locks and grappling holds Lebell recounts on his training with Lee "I used to wrestle with him for an hour without stopping. I'd do submissions, a neck crank, an armbar, just to show him that it worked. He weighed about 130, and I was about 185 pounds. I leaned on him. And because of his ab muscles and his wind, he never took a deep breath. Never squeaked once."[48] --Gene LeBell
Professor Wally Jay is the grandmaster of the Jujitsu America organization. He holds a 10th dan in Jujutsu and 6th dan in Judo and has been twice inducted in the Black Belt magazine Hall of Fame[49]. Lee and his friend James Yimm Lee spent many hours with Jay learning the Judo and Jujitsu methods he had perfected[50]. The two would have long conversations about theories surrounding the martial arts and grew to be longtime friends[51].
The French art of Savate has been named as a seminal source of information for Lee[52].
And with his fabled martial arts library, over 3,000 volumes, he was able to borrow vital data from five different ranges of combat and the various theories of rhythmic movement and temporal structure[53]
Wing Chun
The largest influence on Bruce Lee's martial development was his study of the Chinese martial art of Wing Chun. Bruce Lee began training in Wing Chun at age 13 under the famous Wing Chun grandmaster Yip Man in the summer of 1954. After a year into his Wing Chun training, some of Yip Man's other students refused to train with Lee due to his ancestry (his mother was of a quarter German ancestry) as Chinese were secretive in relation to teaching martial arts techniques especially to foreigners.[54] He then only trained with Yip Man privately and outside the school with his Wing Chun friends William Cheung and Wong Shun Leung.
Jun Fan Gung Fu
Lee began teaching martial arts after his arrival in the United States in 1959. He called what he taught Jun Fan Gung Fu. Jun Fan Gung Fu (literally Bruce Lee's Kung Fu). It was basically his approach to Wing Chun.[55] Lee taught friends he met in Seattle, starting with Judo practitioner Jesse Glover as his first student and who later became his first assistant instructor. Before moving to California, Lee opened his first martial arts school, named the Lee Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute, in Seattle.
Lee also improvised his own kicking method, involving the directness of Wing Chun and the power of Northern Shaolin kung fu. Lee's kicks were delivered very quickly to the target, without fully chambering the leg.
Jeet Kune Do
The
Jeet Kune Do emblem is a registered trade mark held by the Bruce Lee Estate. The
Chinese characters around the
Taijitu symbol indicate: "
Using no way as way" & "
Having no limitation as limitation" The arrows represent the endless interaction between yang and yin.
[56]
Main article:
Jeet Kune DoJeet Kune Do originated in 1965. A match with Wong Jack Man influenced Lee's philosophy on fighting. After about three minutes and making the man give in, Lee believed that the fight had lasted too long and that he had failed to live up to his potential using Wing Chun techniques. He took the view that traditional martial arts techniques were too rigid and formalistic to be practical in scenarios of chaotic street fighting. Lee decided to develop a system with an emphasis on "practicality, flexibility, speed, and efficiency". He started to use different methods of training such as weight training for strength, running for endurance, stretching for flexibility, and many others which he constantly adapted.
Lee emphasized what he called "the style of no style". This consisted of getting rid of a formalized approach which Lee claimed was indicative of traditional styles. Because Lee felt the system he now called Jun Fan Gung Fu was too restrictive, it was developed into a philosophy and martial art he would come to call (after the name was suggested by Dan Inosanto) Jeet Kune Do or the Way of the Intercepting Fist. It is a term he would later regret because Jeet Kune Do implied specific parameters that styles connote whereas the idea of his martial art was to exist outside of parameters and limitations.[57]
Lee directly certified only 3 instructors. Taky Kimura, James Yimm Lee (no relation to Bruce Lee), and Dan Inosanto, are the only instructors certified personally by Lee. Inosanto holds the 3rd rank (Instructor) directly from Bruce Lee in Jeet Kune Do, Jun Fan Gung Fu, and Bruce Lee's Tao of Chinese Gung Fu. Taky Kimura holds a 5th rank in Jun Fan Gung Fu. James Yimm Lee (now deceased) held a 3rd rank in Jun Fan Gung Fu. Ted Wong holds 2nd rank in Jeet Kune Do certified directly by Bruce Lee and was later promoted to Instructor under Dan Inosanto; feeling that Bruce would have wanted to promote him. James Yimm Lee and Taky Kimura hold ranks in Jun Fan Gung Fu, not Jeet Kune Do; Taky received his 5th rank in Jun Fan Gung Fu after the term Jeet Kune Do existed. Also, Bruce Lee gave Dan Inosanto all three diplomas on the same day. Most other Jeet Kune Do instructors since Lee's death have been certified directly by Dan Inosanto, some with remainder Bruce Lee signed certificates.
James Yimm Lee, a close friend of Lee, died without certifying additional students. The sole exception to this being Gary Dill who studied Jeet Kune Do under James and received permission via a personal letter from him in 1972 to pass on his learning of JKD to others. Taky Kimura, to date, has certified only one person in Jun Fan Gung Fu: his son and heir Andy Kimura. Dan Inosanto continued to teach and certify select students in Jeet Kune Do for over 30 years, making it possible for thousands of martial arts practitioners to trace their training lineage back to Bruce Lee. Prior to his death, Lee told his then only two living instructors Inosanto and Kimura (James Yimm Lee had died in 1972) to dismantle his schools. Both Taky Kimura and Dan Inosanto were allowed to teach small classes thereafter, under the guideline "keep the numbers low, but the quality high". Bruce also instructed several World Karate Champions including Chuck Norris, Joe Lewis, and Mike Stone. Between all 3 of them, during their training with Bruce they won every Karate Championship in the United States.[58]
Controversy over Jeet Kune Do
The name "Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do" was legally trademarked and the rights to Bruce Lee's name, likeness, Jeet Kune Do emblem and personal martial arts legacy (including personal photos and countless personal effects and memorabilia) were given solely to the Lee estate for copyrighted commercial use. The name is made up of two parts: 'Jun Fan' (Lee's Chinese given name) and 'Jeet Kune Do' (the Way of the Intercepting Fist).
Guest at 1964 and 1967 Long Beach International Karate Championships
At the invitation of Ed Parker, Lee appeared in the 1964 Long Beach International Karate Championships[59] and performed repetitions of two-finger pushups (using the thumb and the index finger) with feet at approximately a shoulder-width apart. In the same Long Beach event he also performed the "One inch punch"[60], the description of which is as follows: Lee stood upright, his right foot forward with knees bent slightly, in front of a standing, stationary partner. Lee's right arm was partly extended and his right fist approximately an inch away from the partner's chest. Without retracting his right arm, Lee then forcibly delivered the punch to his partner while largely maintaining his posture, sending the partner backwards and falling into a chair said to be placed behind the partner to prevent injury, though his partner's inertia soon caused him to fall to the floor.
His volunteer was Bob Baker of Stockton, California. "I told Bruce not to do this type of demonstration again", he recalled. "When he punched me that last time, I had to stay home from work because the pain in my chest was unbearable."[61]
Lee also appeared at the 1967 Long Beach International Karate Championships[59] and performed various demonstrations, including the famous "unstoppable punch" against USKA world karate champion Vic Moore. Lee told Moore that he was going to throw a straight punch to the face, and all he had to do was to try and block it. Lee took several steps back and asked if Moore was ready, when Moore nodded in affirmation, Lee glided towards him until he was within striking range. He then threw a straight punch directly at Moore's face, and stopped before impact. In eight attempts, Moore failed to block any of the punches.[62]
Fights
Physical fitness and nutrition
Physical fitness
Lee felt that many martial artists of his day did not spend enough time on physical conditioning. Bruce included all elements of total fitness—muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance, and flexibility. He tried traditional bodybuilding techniques to build bulky muscles or mass. However, Lee was careful to admonish that mental and spiritual preparation was fundamental to the success of physical training in martial arts skills. In his book The Tao of Jeet Kune Do, he wrote
Training is one of the most neglected phases of athletics. Too much time is given to the development of skill and too little to the development of the individual for participation." "JKD, ultimately is not a matter of petty techniques but of highly developed spirituality and physique.[63]
The weight training program that Lee used during a stay in Hong Kong in 1965 at only 24 years old placed heavy emphasis on his arms. At that time he could perform single bicep curls at a weight of 70 to 80 lbs (about 32 to 36 kg) for three sets of eight repetitions, along with other forms of exercises, such as squats, push-ups, reverse curls, concentration curls, French presses, and both wrist curls and reverse wrist curls.[64] The repetitions he performed were 6 to 12 reps (at the time). While this method of training targeted his fast and slow twitch muscles, it later resulted in weight gain or muscle mass, placing Bruce a little over 160 lbs (about 72 kg). Lee was documented as having well over 2,500 books in his own personal library, and eventually concluded that "A stronger muscle, is a bigger muscle", a conclusion he later disputed. Bruce forever experimented with his training routines to maximize his physical abilities, and push the human body to its limits. He employed many different routines and exercises including skipping rope, which served his training and bodybuilding purposes effectively.[65]
Lee believed that the abdominal muscles were one of the most important muscle groups for a martial artist, since virtually every movement requires some degree of abdominal work. Perhaps more importantly, the "abs" are like a shell, protecting the ribs and vital organs. He trained from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., including stomach, flexibility, and running, and from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. he would weight train and cycle. A typical exercise for Lee would be to run a distance of two to six miles in 15 to 45 minutes, in which he would vary speed in 3–5 minute intervals. Lee would ride the equivalent of 10 miles (about 16 kilometers) in 45 minutes on a stationary bike.[66]
Lee would sometimes exercise with the jump rope and put in 800 jumps after cycling. He would also do exercises to toughen the skin on his fists, including thrusting his hands into buckets of harsh rocks and gravel. He would do over 500 repetitions of this on a given day.[67]
Chuck Norris states, "Lee, pound for pound, might well have been one of the strongest men in the world, and certainly one of the quickest."[68][69][70][71][72]
As a result of his training, Lee could perform some exceptional physical feats.
Nutrition
According to Linda Lee, soon after he moved to the United States, Lee started to take nutrition seriously and developed an interest in health foods, high-protein drinks and vitamin and mineral supplements. He later concluded that in order to achieve a high-performance body, one could not fuel it with a diet of junk food, and with "the wrong fuel" one's body would perform sluggishly or sloppily. Lee also avoided baked goods, describing them as providing calories which did nothing for his body. Lee's diet included protein drinks; he always tried to consume one or two daily, but discontinued drinking them later on in his life.
Linda recalls Bruce's waist fluctuated between 26 and 28 inches (66 to 71 centimeters). "He also drank his own juice concoctions made from vegetables and fruits, apples, celery, carrots and so on, prepared in an electric blender", she said.[73] He consumed green vegetables and fruits every day. Bruce always preferred to eat Chinese or other Asian food because he loved the variety that it had. He also became a heavy advocate of dietary supplements, including Vitamin C, Lecithin granules, Bee pollen, Vitamin E, Rose hips (liquid form), Wheat germ oil, Acerola — C, B-Folia
Philosophy
Although Lee is best known as a martial artist and actor, he also studied philosophy while a student at the University of Washington. He was well-read and had an extensive library. His own books on martial arts and fighting philosophy are known for their philosophical assertions both inside and outside of martial arts circles. His eclectic philosophy often mirrored his fighting beliefs, though he was quick to claim that his martial arts were solely a metaphor for such teachings. He believed that any knowledge ultimately led to self-knowledge, and said that his chosen method of self-expression was martial arts.[74] His influences include Taoism, Jiddu Krishnamurti, and Buddhism[75]. John Little states that Lee was an atheist. When asked in 1972 what his religious affiliation was, he replied "none whatsoever."[76] Also in 1972, when asked if he believed in God, he responded, "To be perfectly frank, I really do not."[76]
The following quotations reflect his fighting philosophy.
- "Be formless... shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle; it becomes the bottle. You put it into a teapot; it becomes the teapot. Water can flow, or it can crash. Be water, my friend..."
- "All kind of knowledge, eventually becomes self knowledge"
- "Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it."[77]
- "Do not deny the classical approach, simply as a reaction, or you will have created another pattern and trapped yourself there."[78]
- "A quick temper will make a fool of you soon enough."
- "Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it."
- "It's not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential."
Awards and honors
Martial arts lineage
Death
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Bruce Lee is buried next to his son
Brandon in Lake View Cemetery, Seattle, U.S.A
A foreshadowing of events to come occurred on May 10, 1973, when Lee collapsed in Golden Harvest studios while doing dubbing work for Enter the Dragon. Suffering from full-body seizures and cerebral edema, he was immediately rushed to Hong Kong Baptist Hospital where doctors were able to reduce the swelling through the administration of mannitol and revive him. These same symptoms that occurred in his first collapse were later repeated on the day of his death.[80]
On July 20, 1973, Lee was in Hong Kong, due to have dinner with former James Bond star George Lazenby, with whom he intended to make a film. According to Lee's wife Linda, Lee met producer Raymond Chow at 2 p.m. at home to discuss the making of the movie Game of Death. They worked until 4 p.m. and then drove together to the home of Lee's colleague Betty Ting, a Taiwanese actress. The three went over the script at Ting's home, and then Chow left to attend a dinner meeting.[citation needed]
A short time later, Lee complained of a headache, and Ting gave him an analgesic (painkiller), Equagesic, which contained both aspirin and a muscle relaxant. Around 7:30 p.m., he went to lie down for a nap. After Lee did not turn up for dinner, Chow came to the apartment but could not wake Lee up. A doctor was summoned, who spent ten minutes attempting to revive him before sending him by ambulance to Queen Elizabeth Hospital. However, Lee was dead by the time he reached the hospital. There was no visible external injury; however, his brain had swollen considerably, from 1,400 to 1,575 grams (a 13% increase). Lee was 32 years old. The only substance found during the autopsy was Equagesic. On October 15, 2005, Chow stated in an interview that Lee died from a hypersensitivity to the muscle relaxant in Equagesic, which he described as a common ingredient in painkillers. When the doctors announced Lee's death officially, it was ruled a "death by misadventure."[citation needed]
Dr. Don Langford, who was Lee's personal physician in Hong Kong and had treated Lee during his first collapse, also believed that "Equagesic was not at all involved in Bruce's first collapse."[81] Professor R.D. Teare, who had overseen over 1000 autopsies, was the top expert assigned to the Lee case. His conclusion was that the death was caused by an acute cerebral edema due to a reaction to compounds present in the prescription pain killing drug Equagesic.[82] The preliminary opinion of the neurosurgeon who saved Lee's life in May, Peter Wu, was that the cause of death should have been attributed to either a reaction to cannabis OR Equagesic. However, Dr. Wu later backed off from this position:
- "Professor Teare was a forensic scientist recommended by Scotland Yard; he was brought in as an expert on cannabis and we can't contradict his testimony. The dosage of cannabis is neither precise nor predictable, but I've never known of anyone dying simply from taking it."[81]
The exact details of Lee's death are still a subject of controversy.
His wife Linda returned to her home town of Seattle, and had him buried at lot 276 of Lakeview Cemetery. Pallbearers at his funeral on July 31, 1973 included Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Chuck Norris, George Lazenby, Dan Inosanto, Taky Kimura, Peter Chin, and his brother, Robert Lee.
His iconic status and untimely demise fed many theories about his death, including murder involving the Triad society[83] and a supposed curse on him and his family.
The curse theory was extended to his son Brandon Lee, also an actor, who died, 20 years after his father, in a bizarre accident while filming The Crow at the age of 28. It was released after his death and gained cult status, as had his father's last film. (The Crow was completed with the use of computer-generated imagery and a stunt double in the few but critical scenes that remained to be filmed.) Brandon Lee was buried beside his father.
Media
Books authored
Selected filmography
For a complete list of Bruce Lee's filmography see
Film
Television
- The Green Hornet (26 episodes, 1966–1967) .... Kato
- Batman (Episodes: "The Spell of Tut" 28 September 1966, "A Piece of the Action" 1 March 1967, "Batman's Satisfaction" 2 March 1967) .... Kato
- Ironside (Episode: "Tagged for Murder" 26 October 1967) .... Leon Soo
- Blondie (Episode: "Pick on Someone Your Own Size", 1968)
- Here Come the Brides (Episode: "Marriage Chinese Style" 9 April 1969) .... Lin
- Longstreet (4 episodes, 1971) .... Li Tsung
- The Pierre Berton Show (1971) .... Himself
See also
Notes
- ^ a b Bruce Lee Foundation Awards, Honors, Achievements, and Activities
- ^ Stein, Joel (1999). "TIME 100: Bruce Lee". Time. http://www.time.com/time/time100/heroes/profile/lee01.html. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
- ^ a b Dennis, Felix; Atyeo, Don (1974). Bruce Lee King of Kung-Fu. United States: Straight Arrow Books. ISBN 0-87932-088-5.
- ^ Lee, Bruce. The Tao of Jeet Kune Do. 1975. p.12.
- ^ a b c "Bruce Lee Bio" (PDF). Kevin Taing Foundation. 2006. http://www.bruceleefoundation.com/BruceLeeBio.pdf. Retrieved 2007-07-06.
- ^ Little 1997
- ^ Vaughn 1986
- ^ Prashad, Vijay (2001). Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting: Afro-Asian Connections to the Post-Racial World. Beacon Press. pp. 127. ISBN 0807050113.
- ^ Little 1997, p. 73
- ^ Yang, Jeff (1997). Eastern Standard Time: A Guide to Asian Influence on American Culture. Boston, New York: Meridian, Houghton Mifflin.
- ^ "Lee, Bruce, (1920-1960) Martial Arts Master and Film Maker". HistoryLink. http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=3999. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
- ^ http://www.bruce-lee.ws/about_bruce_lee.html
- ^ http://everything2.com/e2node/Bruce%2520Lee
- ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Cheung#Teaching_Accomplishments
- ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Lee#Wing_Chun
- ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wong_Shun_Leung#Beimo_competition
- ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Lee#Wing_Chun
- ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Cheung
- ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Lee#Wing_Chun
- ^ Bruce Lee: the immortal Dragon, 29 January 2002, A&E Television Networks
- ^ Bruce Lee: the immortal Dragon, 29 January 2002, A&E Television Networks
- ^ Burrows, Alyssa (2002). "Bruce Lee". HistoryLink. http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=3999. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
- ^ U. of Washington alumni records
- ^ "100 Alumni of the Century". University of Washington. http://www.washington.edu/alumni/columns/dec99/j_o.html. Retrieved 2007-08-06.
- ^ Little 2001, p. 32
- ^ Thomas 1994, p. 42
- ^ Web UK Online, Bruce Lee Articles In The Shadow Of A Legend - Robert Lee Remembers Bruce Lee by Steve Rubinstein
- ^ a b Lee 1989
- ^ Lee, Grace (1980). Bruce Lee The Untold Story. United States: CFW Enterprise.
- ^ Lee (Cadwell), Linda, Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew, Warner Books, 1975.
- ^ Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey, documentary feature, 2000.
- ^ "From Grasshopper to Caine, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlYdp1BVOlw
- ^ "From The Pierre Berton Show 9 December 1971 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXOtmhA6Nvw&feature=PlayList&p=9E42117F3D1A8008&index=0&playnext=1 (comments near end of part 2 & early in part 3)
- ^ Lee, Linda (1989). The Bruce Lee Story. Ohara Publications. ISBN 0897501217.
- ^ Template:CiteIMDBProfile=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070034/
- ^ "Inflation Calculator". Bureau of Labor Statistics. http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
- ^ "Heroes & Icons". Time. http://www.time.com/time/time100/heroes/profile/lee03.html. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
- ^ Bruce Lee, the Legend, 1977, Paragon Films, Ltd., 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
- ^ http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090106/en_nm/us_hongkong_brucelee;_ylt=Ai_I4gyAqL99r8xboPbRUPVb.nQA
- ^ Thomas 1994, p. 14
- ^ Black Belt: Bruce Lee Collector's Edition Summer 1993
- ^ Black Belt: Bruce Lee Collector's Edition Summer 1993
- ^ pg 18 Black Belt: Bruce Lee Collector's Edition Summer 1993
- ^ pg 19 Black Belt: Bruce Lee Collector's Edition Summer 1993
- ^ Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do, 1995 Legacy Productions, New Zealand.
- ^ http://www.shopblackbelt.com/gelegrwoenof.html
- ^ The Godfather of Grappling (authorised biography of LeBell) by "Judo" Gene Lebell, Bob Calhoun, George Foon, and Noelle Kim. 2005. (According to Gene LeBell's website, an earlier draft of this book was published without permission under the name The Toughest Man Alive by Fiaz Rafiq, and legal action is pending for breach of copyright.)
- ^ Joe Weider's Muscle&Fitness April 2009, pg. 168
- ^ http://www.danzan.com/HTML/PEOPLE/wally.html
- ^ http://www.danzan.com/HTML/PEOPLE/wally.html
- ^ http://www.maniacworld.com/Bruce_Lee.htm.
- ^ pg 136 Black Belt: Bruce Lee Collector's Edition Summer 1999<
- ^ pg 134 Black Belt: Bruce Lee Collector's Edition Summer 1999<
- ^ "Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information". Fun Trivia. http://www.funtrivia.com/en/Celebrities/Lee-Bruce-13857.html. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
- ^ "WING CHUN GUNG FU". Hardcore JKD. http://hardcorejkd.com/wing_chun.php. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
- ^ Bishop 2004, p. 23
- ^ Thomas 1994, p. 81
- ^ Little 2001, p. 211
- ^ a b "2007 Long Beach International Karate Championship". Long Beach International Karate Championship. http://www.longbeachikc.com/. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
- ^ "Two Finger Pushup". Maniac World. http://www.maniacworld.com/bruce_lee_3.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
- ^ Vaughn 1986, p. 21
- ^ Uyehara, Mitoshi (1991). Bruce Lee: The Incomparable Fighter. Santa Clarita, California: Ohara Publications. pp. 27.
- ^ "Martial Art Disciplines at Hybrid Martial Arts Academy". Hybrid Martial Art. http://www.hybridmartialart.com/Martial%20Art%20Overview/Martial_%20Arts_%20Overview.html. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
- ^ Lee 1989, p. 70
- ^ Hatfield, Fredrick C. (1993). Fitness: The Complete Guide. California: International Sport Sciences Association. p. 119.
- ^ Uhera, Mito. "Feats". Bruce Lee: The Divine Wind. http://www.bruceleedivinewind.com/feats.html. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
- ^ Campbell, Sid (2003). The Dragon and the Tiger: The Birth of Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do, the Oakland Years. California: Frog LTD. pp. 58.
- ^ http://www.justbrucelee.com/
- ^ http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Bruce_Lee/id/1939674.
- ^ http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=2722290888&ShowSims=Y
- ^ http://www.zimbio.com/Bruce+Lee/articles/4/Bruce+Lee+My+Hero
- ^ http://santosho.blogspot.com/2006_08_01_archive.html.
- ^ Seal, Jack (2007). "How Did Bruce Lee Get Those Washboard Abs?". All Bruce Lee. http://www.allbrucelee.com/article/how_did_bruce_lee_get_those_wash.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
- ^ Little, John (1996). The Warrior Within - The philosophies of Bruce Lee to better understand the world around you and achieve a rewarding life. Contemporary Books. pp. 122. ISBN 0809231948.
- ^ Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey at 31m45s
- ^ a b Little, John (1996). The Warrior Within - The philosophies of Bruce Lee to better understand the world around you and achieve a rewarding life. Contemporary Books. pp. 128. ISBN 0809231948.
- ^ Thomas 1994, p. 44
- ^ Lee, Bruce (1975). Tao of Jeet Kune Do. Ohara Publications. p. 25.
- ^ Lee 1989, p. 83
- ^ Thomas 1994
- ^ a b Thomas 1994, p. 228
- ^ Thomas 1994, p. 209
- ^ Bishop 2004, p. 157
References
- Bishop, James (2004), Bruce Lee: Dynamic Becoming, Dallas: Promethean Press, ISBN 0-9734054-0-6 .
- Lee, Linda; Bleecker, Tom (1989), The Bruce Lee Story, United States: Ohara Publications .
- Little, John (2001), Bruce Lee: Artist of Life, Tuttle Publishing .
- Little, John (1998), Bruce Lee: The Art of Expressing the Human Body, Tuttle Publishing .
- Little, John (1997), Words of the Dragon : Interviews 1958–1973 (Bruce Lee) .
- Thomas, Bruce (1994), Bruce Lee: Fighting Spirit : a Biography, Berkeley, California: Frog, Ltd. .
- Vaughn, Jack (1986), The Legendary Bruce Lee, Ohara .
- Dorgan, Michael. Bruce Lee's Toughest Fight [1]. 1980 July. Official Karate
External links
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| Persondata |
| NAME |
Lee, Bruce |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES |
|
| SHORT DESCRIPTION |
Martial artist |
| DATE OF BIRTH |
27 November 1940 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH |
San Francisco, United States |
| DATE OF DEATH |
20 July 1973 |
| PLACE OF DEATH |
Hong Kong |
To me, the extraordinary aspect of martial arts lies in its simplicity. The easy way is also the right way, and martial arts is nothing at all special; the closer to the true way of martial arts, the less wastage of expression there is.
