Lee, Bruce (1940-1973)

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Lee, Bruce (1940-1973)

Bruce Lee was born Lee Yuen Kam in San Francisco's Jackson Street Hospital on the evening of November 27, 1940 between the hours of 6:00 and 8:00, significantly in both the hour and year of the Dragon. The fourth son of Grace Li, a Chinese woman whose ancestry was one-quarter British, and Li Hoi Chuen, a star of the classical Chinese opera, Lee's name meant "Protector of San Francisco." The circumstances of his birth in the Chinatown district of San Francisco under the sign of royalty are appropriate to a man who spent his career poised between two continents and acting as a conduit for cultural exchange, both by introducing American audiences to Chinese martial culture and by working to bring western technology to a nascent Chinese film industry. Lee enjoyed a stellar film career cut short by his sudden and untimely death. Much like other American youth icons such as James Dean, Buddy Holly, and Jim Morrison, however, Lee's death at the pinnacle of his popularity and in the prime of his talent led to the buildup of a death cult that has added to the imposing image of the martial arts master as a powerful mystique, guaranteeing the indelible impression of that image onto the American cultural consciousness.

Besides his film exploits, Lee became one of the premier martial arts instructors in the United States. He introduced his students, which included celebrities like James Garner, Roman Polanski, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, to both Kung Fu (almost entirely unknown in America at the time) and his own martial art of Jeet Kune Do—a combination of styles including those of Kung Fu, Thai kick-boxing, and American boxing. Early on in his career as an instructor, he broke new ground by teaching Kung Fu to non-Asians—a manifestation of his strong desire to spread knowledge of Chinese culture to the United States. His efforts proved fruitful: the success of the martial arts schools he founded has resulted in the continued widespread popularity of martial arts instruction in America.

Lee began his on-screen career at an early age: he was given his first film role at the age of three months as a female infant in Golden Gate Girl, filmed in San Francisco shortly before his family left the United States to return to their home in Hong Kong. While growing up, he appeared in over 20 more films. It was during this period that he became known to Chinese film audiences as Lee Siu Lung, "The Little Dragon." At 13, motivated by the desire to defend himself against the assaults of Hong Kong street gangs, he began his education in Kung Fu under the direction of Yip Man of the Wing Chun school of Kung Fu. His strength and grace were immediately apparent, and by the time he was 18, Bruce was a champion tournament fighter.

In 1959, Lee's parents, fearing for his safety, sent him to the United States after he had gotten into a string of street fights. He returned to his birthplace in San Francisco and began working odd jobs and studying to get his high school diploma. He used what little spare time he had to teach martial arts in city parks and from his own backyard. In 1961 he started college as a philosophy major at the University of Washington, where he taught Kung Fu to other students and wrote an undergraduate thesis on his own fighting style of Jeet Kune Do.

Lee became occupied with efforts to expand the scope of his martial arts instruction, but he did not decisively act upon that desire until he had fallen in love with his future wife, Linda Emery. They had met at the University of Washington, where Linda was also a student, and as their relationship progressed, it soon became apparent to Lee that he needed to consider more seriously the future of his career if they were to be financially secure. He thus set out to open his own martial arts school—the Jun Fan Kung-Fu Institute. Although his investment of time and money seemed precarious at the start, his reputation spread quickly, and in less than a year he had opened a second Jun Fan Kung-Fu school and attracted the attention of television producer William Dozier.

In 1965, Dozier signed Lee on to a one-year option for the series The Green Hornet, choosing him to assume the role of the Green Hornet's sidekick Kato. When the series premiered in 1966, he received wide publicity for the uncommonly graceful and skillful way he performed the stunts required of him for his role. To his chagrin, however, articles often made careless errors (referring to him most often as a "Karate master") and either ignored or made light of the spiritual significance of the martial arts he practiced. By the time The Green Hornet was canceled in 1967, Lee had become somewhat discouraged with such misrepresentations, a feeling only amplified by his relative failure to find work thereafter.

A serious injury in 1970 resulted in months of rehabilitation and afforded Lee the time to document his philosophy of martial arts. The next year, disillusioned by rejection and racism in the American film and television industry, he returned to Hong Kong film with The Big Boss (1971; also known as Fists of Fury), which broke all box office records in that country. Over the next three years, Lee starred in his best-known films, The Way of the Dragon (1972; released in the United States under the title of The Return of the Dragon) and Enter the Dragon (1973), continuing the trend of success started by The Big Boss.

On July 20, 1973, Lee complained of a headache while visiting the apartment of Betty Ting Pei, a Hong Kong actress with whom he was developing a film project. After taking a dose of pain killer from Pei's prescription—Equagesic—he laid down on her bed and lost consciousness. When he could not be revived, Lee was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Two funerals were held for Bruce Lee—one in Hong Kong for his throngs of Chinese fans, and a smaller ceremony in Seattle, Washington, for his friends and family. Soon, reports circulated in the media that he had died of an overdose of illegal drugs. There was speculation that he had been murdered by gangsters or by an underground society of Kung Fu devotees angered by his practice of teaching the art to non-Chinese. The official coroner's report, though, stated that he died of a massive allergic reaction to Equagesic.

The rumors, however, never died. Over time, the various speculations about his death have fallen under the title of "The Curse of the Dragon," adding a tinge of the supernatural to his already legendary status. Such a mystique, though, has had ample soil in which to grow. The popularity of his films set the stage and the standard for a Hong Kong film industry that in the 1990s ranked among the most successful and innovative in the world, and he has been the inspiration of generations of American youth seeking formal training in the martial arts. His fame has given momentum to an active cultural dialogue by means of which both Chinese and American pop culture have influenced one another and thereby been transformed.

—Manuel V. Cabrera Jr.