Biography of Bruce Lee
Date of Birth:
The biography and story of Bruce Lee began on November 27, 1940 in San Francisco, California. He was born Lee Jun Fan, the fourth child of a Chinese father named Lee Hoi-Chuen and a mother of Chinese and German ancestry
Bruce Lee (Lee Hsiao Lung), was born in San Fransisco in November 1940 the son of a famous Chinese opera singer. Bruce moved to Hong Kong when he soon became a child star in the growing Eastern film industry. His first film was called The birth of Mankind, his last film which was uncompleted at the time of his death in 1973 was called Game of Death.
Bruce was a loner and was constantly getting himself into fights, with this in mind he looked towards Kung Fu as a way of disciplining himself. The famous Yip Men taught Bruce his basic skills, but it was not long before he was mastering the master. Yip Men was acknowledged to be one of the greatest authorities on the subject of Wing Chun a branch of the Chinese Martial Arts. Bruce mastered this before progressing to his own style of Jeet Kune Do.
At the age of 19 Bruce left Hong Kong to study for a degree in philosophy at the University of Washington in America. It was at this time that he took on a waiter's job and also began to teach some of his skills to students who would pay.
He met his wife Linda at the University he was studying. His Martial Arts school flourished and he soon graduated. He gained some small roles in Hollywood films - Marlowe- etc, and some major stars were begging to be students of the Little Dragon.
James Coburn, Steve McQueen and Lee Marvin to name but a few. He regularly gave displays at exhibitions, and it was during one of these exhibitions that he was spotted by a producer and signed up to do The Green Hornet series. The series was quite successful in the States - but was a huge hit in Hong Kong. Bruce visited Hong Kong in 1968 and he was overwhelmed by the attention he received from the people he had left.
He once said on a radio program if the price was right he would do a movie for the Chinese audiences. He returned to the States and completed some episodes of Longstreet. He began writing his book on Jeet Kune Do at roughly the same time.
Back in Hong Kong producers were desperate to sign Bruce for a Martial Arts film, and it was Raymond Chow the head of Golden Harvest who produced The Big Boss. The rest as they say is history.
Personal Life:
Bruce Lee married Linda Emery in 1964. They had two children together: Brandon Lee and Shannon. Unfortunately, his son, also an actor, was fatally shot in 1993 while on the set of The Crow by a gun that supposedly had blanks in it.
The Early Life of Bruce Lee:
Lee’s father was a Hong Kong opera singer who was on tour in San Franciso when he was born, making Lee a U.S. citizen. Three months later, the family returned to Hong Kong, which was occupied by the Japanese at the time.
When Lee was 12 years old, he enrolled in La Salle College (a high school) and later took up at St. Francis Xavier’s College (another high school).
The Kung Fu Background of Bruce Lee:
Lee’s father, Lee Hoi-Cheun, was his first martial arts instructor, teaching the Wu style of Tai Chi Chuan to him early on. After taking up with a Hong Kong street gang 1954, Lee began to feel the need to improve his fighting. Thus, he began studying Wing Chun Gung Fu under Sifu Yip Man. While there, Lee often trained under one of Yip’s top students, Wong Shun-Leung. Wong therefore had a major impact on his training. Lee studied under Yip Man until he was 18 years of age.
It is said that Yip Man sometimes trained Lee privately because some students refused to work with him because of his mixed ancestry.
Bruce Lee Taking Martial Arts Further:
Most don’t realize how eclectic Lee’s martial arts background was. Beyond kung fu, Lee also trained in western boxing where he won the 1958 boxing championship against Gary Elms by knockout in the third round.
Lee also learned fencing techniques from his brother, Peter Lee (a champion in the sport). This varied background led to personal modifications to Wing Chun Gung Fu, calling his newer version of the style, Jun Fan Gung Fu. In fact, Lee opened his first martial arts school in Seattle under the moniker, Lee Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute.
Jeet Kune Do:
After a match against Wong Jack Man, Lee decided that he had failed to live up to his potential because of the rigidity of Wing Chun practices. Thus, he began to formulate a martial arts style that was practical for street fighting and existed outside of the parameters and limitations of other martial arts styles. In other words, what worked stayed and what didn’t went.
This is how Jeet Kune Do was born in 1965. Lee opened two more schools after moving to California, only certifying three instructors in the art himself: Taky Kimura, James Yimm Lee, and Dan Inosanto.
Early Acting Career and Return to America:
Bruce Lee appeared his first film at three months of age, acting as a stand in for an American baby in Golden Gate Girl. All told, he made about 20 appearances in films as a child actor.
In 1959, Lee got into trouble with the police for fighting. His mother, deciding that the area they were living in was too dangerous for him, sent him back to the United State to live with some friends. There he graduated high school in Edison, Washington before enrolling at the University of Washington to study philosophy. He began teaching martial arts there as well, and that’s how he met his future wife, Linda Emery.
The Green Hornet:
Bruce Lee made some American headlines as an actor in the television series, The Green Hornet, which aired from 1966-67. He served as the Hornet’s sidekick, Kato, where he showed off his film-friendly fighting style. Even with further appearances, the acting stereotypes were great barriers, prompting him to return to Hong Kong in 1971. There Lee became a huge film star, starring in movies like Fists of Fury, The Chinese Connection, and Way of the Dragon.
Death As An American Star:
On July 20, 1973, Bruce Lee died in Hong Kong at the age of 32. The official cause of his death was a brain edema, which had been caused by a reaction to a prescription painkiller he was taking for a back injury. Controversy swelled regarding his passing, as Lee had been obsessed with the idea that he might die early.
One month after Lee’s death in the United States Enter the Dragon came out in the U.S., eventually grossing over $200 million.
Popular Bruce Lee Movies and Television:
The Chinese Connection: A film that helped catapult Lee to Asian stardom. The fight scenes, as always in his movies, were excellent.
Enter the Dragon: The film that made Bruce Lee a superstar in America. Unfortunately, it was released one month after his death. .
Fists of Fury: Bruce Lee promised his mother that he wouldn’t fight. Of course, that only worked until the need for revenge became too great.
LISTEN TO FAVORITE SONG
Date of Birth:
The biography and story of Bruce Lee began on November 27, 1940 in San Francisco, California. He was born Lee Jun Fan, the fourth child of a Chinese father named Lee Hoi-Chuen and a mother of Chinese and German ancestry
Bruce Lee (Lee Hsiao Lung), was born in San Fransisco in November 1940 the son of a famous Chinese opera singer. Bruce moved to Hong Kong when he soon became a child star in the growing Eastern film industry. His first film was called The birth of Mankind, his last film which was uncompleted at the time of his death in 1973 was called Game of Death.
Bruce was a loner and was constantly getting himself into fights, with this in mind he looked towards Kung Fu as a way of disciplining himself. The famous Yip Men taught Bruce his basic skills, but it was not long before he was mastering the master. Yip Men was acknowledged to be one of the greatest authorities on the subject of Wing Chun a branch of the Chinese Martial Arts. Bruce mastered this before progressing to his own style of Jeet Kune Do.
At the age of 19 Bruce left Hong Kong to study for a degree in philosophy at the University of Washington in America. It was at this time that he took on a waiter's job and also began to teach some of his skills to students who would pay.
He met his wife Linda at the University he was studying. His Martial Arts school flourished and he soon graduated. He gained some small roles in Hollywood films - Marlowe- etc, and some major stars were begging to be students of the Little Dragon.
James Coburn, Steve McQueen and Lee Marvin to name but a few. He regularly gave displays at exhibitions, and it was during one of these exhibitions that he was spotted by a producer and signed up to do The Green Hornet series. The series was quite successful in the States - but was a huge hit in Hong Kong. Bruce visited Hong Kong in 1968 and he was overwhelmed by the attention he received from the people he had left.
He once said on a radio program if the price was right he would do a movie for the Chinese audiences. He returned to the States and completed some episodes of Longstreet. He began writing his book on Jeet Kune Do at roughly the same time.
Back in Hong Kong producers were desperate to sign Bruce for a Martial Arts film, and it was Raymond Chow the head of Golden Harvest who produced The Big Boss. The rest as they say is history.
Personal Life:
Bruce Lee married Linda Emery in 1964. They had two children together: Brandon Lee and Shannon. Unfortunately, his son, also an actor, was fatally shot in 1993 while on the set of The Crow by a gun that supposedly had blanks in it.
The Early Life of Bruce Lee:
Lee’s father was a Hong Kong opera singer who was on tour in San Franciso when he was born, making Lee a U.S. citizen. Three months later, the family returned to Hong Kong, which was occupied by the Japanese at the time.
When Lee was 12 years old, he enrolled in La Salle College (a high school) and later took up at St. Francis Xavier’s College (another high school).
The Kung Fu Background of Bruce Lee:
Lee’s father, Lee Hoi-Cheun, was his first martial arts instructor, teaching the Wu style of Tai Chi Chuan to him early on. After taking up with a Hong Kong street gang 1954, Lee began to feel the need to improve his fighting. Thus, he began studying Wing Chun Gung Fu under Sifu Yip Man. While there, Lee often trained under one of Yip’s top students, Wong Shun-Leung. Wong therefore had a major impact on his training. Lee studied under Yip Man until he was 18 years of age.
It is said that Yip Man sometimes trained Lee privately because some students refused to work with him because of his mixed ancestry.
Bruce Lee Taking Martial Arts Further:
Most don’t realize how eclectic Lee’s martial arts background was. Beyond kung fu, Lee also trained in western boxing where he won the 1958 boxing championship against Gary Elms by knockout in the third round.
Lee also learned fencing techniques from his brother, Peter Lee (a champion in the sport). This varied background led to personal modifications to Wing Chun Gung Fu, calling his newer version of the style, Jun Fan Gung Fu. In fact, Lee opened his first martial arts school in Seattle under the moniker, Lee Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute.
Jeet Kune Do:
After a match against Wong Jack Man, Lee decided that he had failed to live up to his potential because of the rigidity of Wing Chun practices. Thus, he began to formulate a martial arts style that was practical for street fighting and existed outside of the parameters and limitations of other martial arts styles. In other words, what worked stayed and what didn’t went.
This is how Jeet Kune Do was born in 1965. Lee opened two more schools after moving to California, only certifying three instructors in the art himself: Taky Kimura, James Yimm Lee, and Dan Inosanto.
Early Acting Career and Return to America:
Bruce Lee appeared his first film at three months of age, acting as a stand in for an American baby in Golden Gate Girl. All told, he made about 20 appearances in films as a child actor.
In 1959, Lee got into trouble with the police for fighting. His mother, deciding that the area they were living in was too dangerous for him, sent him back to the United State to live with some friends. There he graduated high school in Edison, Washington before enrolling at the University of Washington to study philosophy. He began teaching martial arts there as well, and that’s how he met his future wife, Linda Emery.
The Green Hornet:
Bruce Lee made some American headlines as an actor in the television series, The Green Hornet, which aired from 1966-67. He served as the Hornet’s sidekick, Kato, where he showed off his film-friendly fighting style. Even with further appearances, the acting stereotypes were great barriers, prompting him to return to Hong Kong in 1971. There Lee became a huge film star, starring in movies like Fists of Fury, The Chinese Connection, and Way of the Dragon.
Death As An American Star:
On July 20, 1973, Bruce Lee died in Hong Kong at the age of 32. The official cause of his death was a brain edema, which had been caused by a reaction to a prescription painkiller he was taking for a back injury. Controversy swelled regarding his passing, as Lee had been obsessed with the idea that he might die early.
One month after Lee’s death in the United States Enter the Dragon came out in the U.S., eventually grossing over $200 million.
Popular Bruce Lee Movies and Television:
The Chinese Connection: A film that helped catapult Lee to Asian stardom. The fight scenes, as always in his movies, were excellent.
Enter the Dragon: The film that made Bruce Lee a superstar in America. Unfortunately, it was released one month after his death. .
Fists of Fury: Bruce Lee promised his mother that he wouldn’t fight. Of course, that only worked until the need for revenge became too great.
LISTEN TO FAVORITE SONG
