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| Birth Name(s) : Lee Jun Fan |
Date of Birth: November 27, 1940 |
| Status:
Married
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Partner:
Linda Lee Cadwell |
| Profession:
Actor/Athlete |
Official Site
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Full Bruce Lee Biography
Considered the greatest martial artist of the 20th century, Bruce Lee tragically died of what is thought to be a brain edema at the age of 32. Trademarks include his Jeet Kune Do fighting style, animal sounds used to unnerve opponents and heightened Chinese pride.
He entered show business in the mid 1960s and first achieved recognition as Kato, devoted sidekick to "The Green Hornet" in the 1966 TV series. Who cares if he couldn't act? Bruce Lee was the closest thing to Superman Hollywood has ever seen. |
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Additional Bruce Lee Biography
Bruce Lee (traditional Chinese: 李小龍; simplified Chinese: 李小龙; Pinyin: Lǐ Xiǎolóng; Cantonese Yale: Léih Síulùhng; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was an American-born martial artist, philosopher, instructor, and martial arts actor widely regarded as the most influential martial artist of the 20th century and a cultural icon. He was the father of deceased actor Brandon Lee and of actress Shannon Lee.
Lee initially had the birth name Li Yuen Kam(李炫金); Mandarin Pinyin: Lǐ Xuànjīn) given to him by his mother, as at the time Lee's father was away on a Chinese opera tour. This name would later be abandoned because of a conflict with the name of Bruce Lee's grandfather, causing him to be renamed Jun Fan upon his father's return. Also of note is that Bruce Lee was given a feminine name, Sai Fung (細鳳, literally "small phoenix"), which was used throughout his early childhood in keeping with a Chinese custom that is traditionally thought to hide the child away from evil spirits.
Not happy with his supporting roles in the U.S., Lee returned to Hong Kong and was offered a film contract by legendary director Raymond Chow and his production company Golden Harvest. Lee played his first leading role in The Big Boss (1971) which proved a smashing box office success across Asia and catapulted him to stardom. He soon followed up his success with two more huge box office successes: Fist of Fury (1972) and Way of the Dragon (1972). For Way of the Dragon he took complete control over the film's production as the writer, director, star as well as 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 Chuck 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.
Bob Wall, USPK karate champion and co-star in Enter the Dragon, recalled a particularly serious encounter that transpired after a film extra kept taunting Lee. The extra yelled that Lee was "a movie star, not a martial artist", that he "wasn't much of a fighter" and said it was "easy to see his martial art wasn't any good." Lee answered his taunts by asking him to jump down from the wall he was sitting on. Wall described Lee's opponent as "a gang-banger type of guy from Hong Kong!," a "damned good martial artist," and observed that "He was fast, he was bigger than Bruce, and he was strong!"
Bruce 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. Lee's sifu, Wing Chun master Yip Man, was also a colleague and friend of Hong Kong's Wu style Tai Chi Chuan teacher Wu Ta-ch'i.
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 "chambering" the leg.
At 22 Bruce also met Professor Wally Jay. From Jay, Bruce would receive informal instruction in Jujitsu. The two would have long conversations about theories surrounding the martial arts and grew to be longtime friends.
At the invitation of Ed Parker, Lee appeared in the 1964 Long Beach International Karate Championships 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". 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 the force of gravity caused his partner to soon after fall onto the floor.
Bruce 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".
Lee was known to have collected over 140 books in his lifetime on bodybuilding, weight training, physiology and kinesiology. In order to better train specific muscle groups, he also created several original designs of his own training equipment and had his friend George Lee build them to his specifications.
There are a large number of references to Bruce Lee in film, anime, manga, video games and other popular culture. |
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Bruce Lee Quote(s)
| Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do. |
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