Bruce Lee - Biography

Last Editor: shipp61				Bruce Lee Biography -   Name : Bruce Lee Birth name : Lee Jun-Fan Date of birth : November 27, 1940 Place of birth : San Francisco, California, U.S. Died : July 20, 1973 (aged 32) Place of death : Hong Kong Spouse : Linda Emery (1964-1973) Children : Brandon Lee (1965-1993) and Shannon Lee (b.1969) Profession : Martial Arts Master, Actor Height : 5' 7½

Bruce Lee Trivia -

Ranked #100 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]. Father of Brandon Lee. He is considered the greatest martial artist of the 20th century. Developed his martial art style called Jeet Kune Do (Way of the Intercepting Fist) which is more of an idea of being flexible and practical with learning martial arts. While "The Green Hornet" (1966) TV series was in production, Bruce made several promotional appearances as Kato, but made a point to never do the standard martial art stunts like breaking boards, which he felt had nothing to do with what martial arts are about. Was an accomplished dancer and Hong Kong cha cha cha champion. A noted brawler in Hong Kong, Lee received formal training in wing chun under legendary sifu Yip Man. He later trained in a variety of arts before creating his Jeet Kune Do style. Suffered a serious back injury while attempting a good-morning. During his recuperation, he wrote several books on the martial arts. His students in Jeet Kune Do martial arts included Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Steve McQueen and James Coburn. His ancestry is German and Chinese. His father is a full-blooded Chinese, while his mother is of German-Chinese decent (her father is German; her mother is Chinese). Left for Seattle in 1958 with $100. Gave cha cha cha lessons to first-class passengers to earn extra money during ship ride to US. Faced discrimination from other Chinese kung fu masters when trying to learn other martial arts styles. Would usually go to the number 3 or 4 man in a certain system to learn it in exchange for teaching what he knew. Demand for his private lessons grew so high, his hourly rate soared to $275 per hour. Spoke English, Cantonese, Mandarin and Japanese. Was able to name every single karate term and performed them with dead accuracy. Adopted his legendary nunchaku routine in his movies from the legendary karate master Hidehiko "Hidy" Ochiai. The two met at the Los Angeles YMCA in the mid 1960s. Earned $30,000 for his first two feature films. Developed a trick for showing off his speed: a person held a coin and closed his hand, and as he closed it, Lee would take it and could even swap the coin for another. One of his martial arts students was James Bond star George Lazenby. Lee was trained by Yip Man from 1954-1957 & Wong Shun-Leung from 1957-58. Lee knocked out Wong Jack-Man in Oakland, CA, in a 1965 no-holds-barred challenge match. It was Lee's last official fight. It lasted three minutes. Lee knocked-out Chung, a Choy Li Fut fighter, in Hong Kong in a 1958 Full-Contact match. The match was refereed by Sheun-Leung Wong. Lee knocked out Uechi in 10 seconds in a 1962 Full-Contact match in Seattle. It was refereed by Jesse Glover. He was a gang leader in his teenage years. The name of his group was known as "The Tigers of Junction Street". Chosen by Goldsea Asian American Daily as one of the "100 Most Inspiring Asian Americans of All Time" (ranked #2).

Bruce Lee Detailed Biography -

According to Chinese zodiac calendar, Bruce Lee, whose birth name is Lee Jun-Fan was born in the Year of the Dragon, November 27, 1940 at the Chinese Hospital in San Francisco’s Chinatown in the United States. His father, Lee Hoi-Chuen was Chinese and his Catholic mother, Grace was of Chinese and German ancestry. Approximately, one year later the Lee family returned to Kowloon in Hong Kong. At the age of 5, Bruce Lee started appearing in children's roles in minor films including "The Birth of Mankind" (1946) and "Fu gui fu yun" (1948). At the age of 12, Lee entered La Salle College and later he attended St. Francis Xavier's College. In 1959, at the age of 18, beating a man badly, Lee got into trouble with the police. His father became concerned about young Bruce's safety, and as a result, he and his wife decided to send Bruce to the United States to live with an old friend of them. Lee left his home with $100 in his pocket and the titles of 1958 Boxing Champion and the Crown Colony Cha Cha Champion of Hong Kong. He moved to Seattle from San Francisco to work for Ruby Chow, another friend of his father. In 1959, Bruce Lee completed his high school education in Seattle and received his diploma from Edison Technical School. He enrolled at the University of Washington and studied philosophy, drama, and psychology along with other subjects. He met Linda Emery at the University of Washington, whom he got married in 1964. He 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. Lee's Cantonese given name was Jun Fan. At his birth, Dr. Mary Glover given his name Bruce. The name Li Yuen Kam was given by his mother. Lee's father, Lee Hoi Chuen was a singer with the Cantonese Opera of China. 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. By the time he was 18, he had appeared in twenty films. While leaving in the United States from 1958-1964, Lee gave up his thoughts of a film career in favor of pursuing martial arts. 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.[22] 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 trained in Wing Chun Gung Fu from age 13-18 under Hong Kong Wing Chun Sifu Yip Man. Lee was introduced to Yip Man in early 1954 by William Cheung, then a live-in student of Yip Man. Like most Chinese martial arts schools at that time, Sifu Yip Man's classes were often taught by the highest ranking students. One of the highest ranking students under Yip Man at the time was Wong Shun-Leung. Wong is thought to have had the largest influence on Bruce's training. Yip Man trained Lee privately after some students refused to train with Lee due to his ancestry. Bruce was also trained in Western boxing and won the 1958 Boxing Championship match against 3-time champion Gary Elms by knockout in the 3rd round. At the time of Lee's high-profile martial arts demonstration at the 1964 Long Beach Karate Tournament, he was seen by some of the nation's most proficient martial artists as well as the hairdresser of Batman producer William Dozier. Dozier soon invited Lee for an audition, where Lee impressed the producers with his lightning-fast moves and he earned the role of Kato alongside Van Williams in the TV series The Green Hornet. Lee also appeared as Kato in three episodes of the series Batman, produced by the same company as The Green Hornet. This was followed by guest appearances in a host of television series, including Ironside (1967) and Here Come the Brides (1969). Thus, he had played in several supporting roles in U.S. He was not happy with those supporting roles. He returned to Hong Kong and was offered a film contract by legendary director Raymond Chow to star in films produced by his production company Golden Harvest. Lee played his first leading role in The Big Boss (1971) which proved an enormous 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 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. In 1973, Lee played the lead role in Enter the Dragon. This was the first film, produced jointly by Golden Harvest and Warner Bros. However, only a few months after the film's completion and three weeks before its release, the supremely fit Lee mysteriously died.