Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee (November 27 1940 — July 20, 1973) was a Chinese American martial artist and actor who is widely regarded among the most influential martial artists of the 20th century. Lee's few movies, especially his performance in the Hollywood-produced Enter the Dragon, elevated the traditional Hong Kong martial arts film to a new level of popularity, paving the way for future martial artists and martial arts actors such as Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Chuck Norris. Contents 1 Nickname 2 Birth names 3 Screen name 4 Biography 5 Acting career 6 Martial arts training and development 7 Physical Training, Fitness, and Nutrition 7.1 Upper Body 8 Death 9 Philosophy 10 Awards and Honors 11 Characters based on Lee 11.1 Anime and Manga 11.2 Video games 11.3 Movies 12 See also 13 Filmography 14 Footnotes 15 Books 16 External links Nickname Lee was given the nickname of Mo Si Tung, which, in Cantonese, means "never sits still." Birth names Lee was named Lee Jun Fan in Cantonese (жќЋжЊЇи—©; Mandarin Pinyin: LЗђ ZhГЁnfГЎn; literally means invigorate [San] Francisco, paying homage to the Chinese name of his birthplace, дё‰и—©её‚). At birth, Lee was given the English name Bruce by nurses at the hospital[1], a name he retained. Lee's mother initially gave him a name (李炫金; Mandarin Pinyin: LЗђ XuГ njД«n), since Lee's father was away on a Chinese opera tour at the time. When Lee's father returned after some months, the name was abandoned due to a conflict with the name of Lee's grandfather; in Chinese culture, it is considered a taboo to give a child a name that is the same as an ancestor's. Lee was then renamed Jun Fan. Lee was also given a feminine name throughout his early childhood, Sai Feng (зґ°йіі, literally Slender PhЕ“nix, a typical feminine name), commonly used to hide the child from evil spirits. Screen name Lee Siu Lung in Cantonese or Li Xiao Long in Mandarin (жќЋе°ЏйѕЌ; Cantonese pengyam: Ley5 Siw2 Long4; Mandarin Pinyin: LЗђ XiЗЋolГіng), literally Lee Little-dragon, first named by director иўЃж­Ґй›І in the 1950 Cantonese movie 細路祥). Biography Bruce Lee was born at the Chinese Hospital[2] in San Francisco to a Chinese father, Lee Hoi-Chuen (жќЋжµ·жі‰), and Chinese-German mother Grace Lee (何金棠). He received his early education and Kung Fu training in Hong Kong. Because of his father's fame as a Chinese opera actor, Lee had the opportunity to appear in several Chinese movies as a child. He studied the martial art known as Wing Chun for a few years and, at a young age, picked up the languages of English, Cantonese, and Mandarin. In 1959, Lee went to Seattle, to complete his high school education. He received his diploma from Edison Technical School and enrolled at the University of Washington as a Philosophy major. It was at the University of Washington that he met his future wife, Linda Emery, whom he would marry in 1964 after graduating. Lee has two children- a daughter, Shannon, and a son, Brandon, who was tragically killed during a film set accident. Some Chinese people believe this was a curse of sort. Acting career Due to his father's entertainment industry connections, Lee was a child actor in several 1950s Hong Kong movies. After graduating from the University of Washington, Lee went on to star as Kato in the TV series The Green Hornet, which ran from 1966 to 1967 and afterward opened up his own Jeet Kune Do school. In 1971, unable to find acting roles and faced with stereotypes regarding Asian actors, Lee returned to Hong Kong with his family. There, he starred in martial arts movies, earning $30,000 for his first two feature films and cementing his fame. Yuen Wah, a member of the Seven Little Fortunes, and later to become a well known actor in his own right (notably starring in 2005's Kung Fu Hustle), was Lee's stunt double in Lee's last few films. The Karate black belt champion, Chuck Norris, was introduced by Lee, portraying one of Lee's opponents in Return of the Dragon, aka Way of the Dragon. The fight with Chuck Norris in the Coliseum is widely regarded as the best martial arts fight ever filmed. Martial arts training and development Lee began his formal martial arts training at the age of 13 in Wing Chun Kung Fu under Hong Kong master Yip Man. Like most martial arts schools at that time, Yip Man's classes were often taught by the highest ranking student. Lee did not finish Yip Man's curriculum. It would not be until his arrival in the United States, however, that Lee began the process of creating his own style, which he would later teach at the martial arts schools he opened first in Seattle, and then in Oakland and Los Angeles, California (named the Lee Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute). After becoming dissatisfied with existing schools of martial arts, he later modified his style, which consisted mostly of elements of Wing Chun, with elements of Western Boxing and Fencing, and named it Jun Fan Gung Fu. Lee expanded this style over time, including elements from Muay Thai, Indo-Malay Silat, Panantukan, Sikaran, Bando, Catch Wrestling, Karate, Judo, Jujitsu, Aikido, and other arts. It would be much later that he would come to describe his style as Jeet Kune Do (Way of the Intercepting Fist) or JKD. It took a violent confrontation to start Lee's adaptation of his art. Bruce was issued a challenge by Chinese elders in the region in response to his teaching Asian "secrets" to westerners. A contest was scheduled between him and another popular artist in the area to settle the dispute. According to Linda Lee (Cadwell), Bruce expected the fight to last 10 seconds, but it actually lasted a total of three minutes, most of which consisted of Lee chasing the man around the room until finally defeating him. This is contrary to what is shown (falsely) in the movie Dragon, where it is shown that the opponent knocks Bruce down when he's turned away after winning the fight. Although he won the duel, Bruce was forlorn, thinking that the fight had taken too long and that he had failed to live up to himself. At this point he decided to start training hard: weights for strength, running for endurance, stretching for flexibility, plus many other methods of training, which he constantly adapted as he grew as a martial artist. During this time he developed his own combat techniques as well as the famous one inch punch, which comes from Wing Chun, which he demonstrated during a Karate tournament in Long beach. Prior to his death, Lee told his then only two living instructors, Dan Inosanto and Taky Kimura (James Yimm Lee had passed away in 1972), to dismantle his schools. He no longer wished to call his art Jeet Kune Do or have his students associate what they were learning as Bruce Lee's style. His last wish was that Dan Inosanto never use the name JKD or Jeet Kune Do again. Though there are many who claim to teach Jeet Kune Do around the globe, Inosanto, following Lee's request, still refers to the Bruce Lee curriculum taught at his school as Jun Fan Gung Fu. Today, there is often some controversy between Lee Jun Fan Gung Fu (a.k.a. "original Jeet Kune Do") and "Jeet Kune Do concepts", which explore other styles not previously incorporated into Jeet Kune Do by Lee. Depending on the instructor a person trains under, the name of "the style of JKD" is usually specific to a time period in Lee's process although many of the techniques are often the same. Perhaps a reason for Lee himself later regretting even giving a name to his philosophy/fighting style was that it became just another "martial art style." Lee saw loyalty to a particular martial arts style as being dogmatic and having limitations. This and Lee's other ideas about teaching martial arts made him many enemies in the martial arts community of the 1960s/70s. Yet, much of the dispute about Jeet Kune Do instruction is not about the names, but the credibility of the instructors teaching these Jeet Kune Do fighting systems. There were three certified instructors: Dan Inosanto received the highest certification in Lee's art (a notable exception is Taky Kimura, senior most instructor in Jun Fan Gung Fu) and is widely regarded as the most senior JKD instructor. All other instructors (again except Taky Kimura and the late James Yimm Lee [no relation to Bruce Lee]) are certified under Inosanto, even Bruce's other original students. Kimura, to date, has certified only one person in Jun Fan Gung Fu, his son and heir, Andy Kimura. James Yimm Lee, a close friend of Lee's, never certified anyone before his untimely death. Inosanto often serves not only as the leading instructor and historian of Jeet Kune Do Concepts; he also teaches and practices other styles such as Kali, Silat, Muay Thai, and Brazilian Jujitsu, some of which were already incorporated into the Jun Fan system. Another student of Lee's at the Jun Fan Gung Fu institute in Seattle was Joseph Cowles, who was not certified by Lee as a Jun Fan Gung Fu instructor, but was encouraged by him to teach martial arts. Cowles then founded the Wu Wei Gung Fu system. Physical Training, Fitness, and Nutrition Lee used electric current as an aid to strength training, because of the alleged leanness the muscles gained in working against themselves. However, this muscle stimulator was only one of many pieces of equipment and exercise routines Lee used to achieve his on-screen physical appearance. Lee's nutrition has for several years been the centre of some controversy. Some authors have stated that Lee took an interest in nutrition and developed an interest in health foods and high-protein drinks. Indeed, it has been claimed that "several times a day, he took a high-protein drink made up of powdered milk, ice water, eggs, eggshells, bananas, vegetable oil, peanut flour and chocolate ice cream; he also drank his own juice concoctions made from vegetables and fruits: apples, celery, carrots and so on, prepared in an electric blender." However, other commentators have suggested that Lee lived on a diet of rice and water, in order to gain the inner purity required for retaining his physique. It has been speculated that, ironically, it was this purity that was ultimately to blame for his death (see section below). Upper Body two finger push up At the invitation of Ed Parker, Lee appeared in the 1964 Long Beach International Karate Championship and performed repetitions of two-finger pushups (using the thumb and the index finger) with feet at approximately a shoulder-width apart. Lee flexing (1972), front "one inch punch" In the same Long Beach event he also performed a so-called "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 placed behind the partner to prevent injury. The weight training programme Lee used during a stay in Hong Kong in 1965, indicated bicep curls of 80 pounds and 8 repetitions[3] for endurance. This translates to an estimated one-repetition-maximum of 110 pounds[4], placing Lee in approximately the 100th percentile for the 121 to 140 pound weight class[5]. Lee typically exhibited a very lean and muscular appearance in his films, particularly in his upper body. Death Bruce Lee's death was officially attributed to cerebral edema. 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, Bruce met producer Raymond Chow at 2 pm at home to discuss the making of the movie Game of Death . They worked until 4 pm, and then drove together to the home of Betty Ting Pei (дёЃзЏ®), a Taiwanese actress who was to also have a leading role in the film. The three went over the script at her home, and then Chow left to attend a dinner meeting. A short time later, Lee complained of a headache, and Ting Pei gave him a tablet of analgesic. At around 7:30 pm, he laid down for a nap. After Lee didn't turn up for the dinner, Chow came to the apartment but could not wake Lee up. A doctor was summoned, who spent 10 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. The ensuing autopsy found traces of cannabis. There was no visible external injury; however, his brain had swollen considerably, from 1,400 to 1,575 grams. Lee was 32 years old. On October 15, 2005, Chow stated in an interview that Lee was hypersensitive to equigesic, one of the three ingredients in the pain-killing medication, whose generic name is Flunixin Meglumine. It is thought that the reaction Lee suffered was exacerbated because of his strict diet and training regimen. His body was so pure because of the strict rice and water diet he followed that his body was unable to withstand the toxic effects of the analgesic. A similar incident had occurred a few months before. On May 10, during the final dubbing of Enter the Dragon, Lee suffered a sudden attack of seizures and a nonfatal cerebral edema. the Lees' grave Lee's death was officially recorded as being the result of an abnormal reaction to painkillers he took for severe back pain, possibly in combination with the analgesic for a headache. Lee incurred this back problem when he was younger, after pinching a nerve in his lower back while doing good mornings (a lower back free-weight exercise) without properly warming up -- a condition that left him temporarily in a wheelchair. Fortunately, contrary to his doctor's prognosis that he would never kick again, Lee regained his range of motion and martial arts ability. He is interred in Seattle's Lake View Cemetery. Although he made only a handful of films and television appearances in his adulthood, Bruce Lee has become an iconic pop culture figure in his movies as an Asian man who became the epitome of what his fans see as the mental and physical perfection in martial arts. His fame also sparked the first major surge of interest in Chinese martial arts in the West. The direction and tone of Bruce Lee's movies have forever changed and influenced martial arts and martial arts films in America. Philosophy Although he is best known as a martial artist and actor, Lee majored in philosophy at the University of Washington. His philosophy often mirrored his fighting beliefs, though he claimed that his martial arts were solely a metaphor for such teachings. His influences were largely Taoist, Buddhist, and philosophers such as Jiddu Krishnamurti. See Wikiquotes for quotes by Lee. Awards and Honors With his ancestral roots coming from Gwan'on in Seundak, Gwongdung province (广东顺德均安 Guangdong Shunde Jun'An), a street in the village is named after him where his ancestral home is situated. The home is open for public access. Lee was named by TIME Magazine as one of the greatest heroes & icons and among the most influential martial artists of the 20th century. In 1958, Lee was the Cha Cha Champion of Hong Kong. He worked part time as a Cha Cha instructor for a short time when he returned to San Francisco in April 1959. The 1993 film Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story is a fictionalized biography of his life/legend. In 2001, LMF, a Cantonese hip-hop group in Hong Kong , released a popular song called "1127" as a tribute to Lee. The lyrics include: "We only want you to become a Chinese you can be proud of. Learn from others; Need not copy. Use your heart to digest the knowledge of others. Try asking why there are so many failures here who do not support each other and always pretend to be like the Other. [Chorus] We had Bruce Lee teach us we are not the disease of Asia. Though having yellow skin, we can still be ourselves. Do not follow, copy, and be like the other Chinese. Do not look down upon ourselves.... The spirit of Bruce Lee will never die and the Chinese will never forget that." In 2004, UFC president Dana White credits Lee as the "father of mixed martial arts"[6]. In September 2004, a a BBC story stated that the Herzegovinian city of Mostar was to honour Lee with a statue on the Spanish Square, as a symbol of solidarity. After many years of war and religious splits, Lee's figure is to commend his work: to successfully bridge culture gaps in the world. The statue, placed in the city park, was unveiled on 26 November 2005. In 2005, Lee is to be remembered in Hong Kong with a bronze statue to mark his 65th birthday. The bronze statue, to be unveiled in November, will honour Lee as "Chinese film's bright star of the century". [7] Lee is one of the very few actors to have commercially released computer and console videogames named after themselves, not after a character they played. These games are as follow[8]: 1984 Bruce Lee, by Datasoft, for Commodore 64, PC Booter, and Apple II. Bruce Lee, by Ocean Software, for ZX Spectrum. 1989 Bruce Lee Lives: The Fall of Hong Kong Palace, by The Software Toolworks, for DOS. 1993 Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, by Acclaim, for SNES and Game Gear 1994 Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, by Atari Corporation, for Jaguar. 1995 Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, by Acclaim, for Sega Master System. 2002 Bruce Lee: Quest of the Dragon, by Universal Interactive Studios, for Xbox. 2003 Bruce Lee: Return of the Legend, by Vivendi Universal Games, for Game Boy Advance. Characters based on Lee Anime and Manga Lee Bailong (Lee Pai-Long) in Shaman King, essentially the manga's version of Bruce. The character was killed so that his body could be made into a Jiang Shi in service to the Tao family. Rock Lee from Naruto, resembles and is a tribute to Bruce Lee (as does his teacher Gai). In the anime and manga, the character is a martial arts master with a similar fighting style as Bruce Lee. The PokГ©mon Hitmonlee was named after Bruce Lee and uses primarily kicks. Similarly the PokГ©mon Hitmonchan was named after Jackie Chan and uses primarily punches. Spike Spiegel from the anime Cowboy Bebop uses the quote "be like water" and fights in a fashion similar to Lee's movie characters. Spike uses the nunchaku as Lee does and shares similar fighting stances. Cowboy Bebop incorporates many elements of Lee's Jeet Kune Do philosophy. Spike's innate fighting abilities and martial arts style (Jeet Kune Do) were borrowed from Lee, whose influence is seen many times in the series. The name of the bounty in the second episode is Abdul Hakim, borrowed from the Lee film Game of Death that co-starred Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who played a character called "Hakim". On two other separate occasions, Spike also makes mention of Enter the Dragon and Way of the Dragon, two more Lee films. The creator of Cowboy Bebop stated that Cowboy Bebop was a tribute to Lee. Kenshiro from the manga and anime Fist of the North Star got the same famous "cat screech" noise and "atatatah" battle cry whenever Kenshiro is punching his enemies. The creator Tetsuo Hara admits that he is a big fan of Lee's movies and his character Kenshiro is a tribute to Lee. Video games Several fighting games have characters based on Bruce Lee, enough that it has become an archetype within the genre. Notable examples include: Fei Long in the Street Fighter series. K' (K Dash) and Kula Diamond from King of Fighters 2000/2001, the characters use Bruce Lee's fighting stance and even have a move that imitates Bruce Lee's One Inch Punch, the move is named One Inch. Marshall Law and his son Forest in the Tekken series. In the early Tekken games, one of Marshall's outfits was a yellow jumpsuit. Kim Dragon in the World Heroes series. Liu Kang in the Mortal Kombat series. In the game Mortal Kombat: Deception he fights with the style Jun Fan. Also he uses nunchakus as his weapon. Johnny Cage in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance uses both nunchaku and Jeet Kune Do. He's also known for being a great martial artist and a movie star. His clothing in Deadly Alliance resembles Bruce Lee's clothing. Jann Lee in the Dead or Alive series. Maxi in the Soul Calibur series uses Bruce Lee's style of nunchakus and have a similar fighting stance as Bruce Lee. Ling Tong in Dynasty Warriors 5 uses a Nunchaku, moves quickly, and has similar physical characteristics and movements as Bruce Lee. Fei Fong Wong in Xenogears has a similar fighting style, techniques, and stance as Bruce Lee. Fei Fong Wong also wears simlar pants Bruce Lee wore in many of his movies. Reiji in Kakuto Chojin fights using Jeet Kune Do. Reiji's physical appearance also resembles Bruce Lee and wears sunglasses similar to Bruce Lee's In Double Dragon, Billy and Johnny Lee are a tribute to Bruce Lee (the surname Lee is a big give away). In the remake Double Dragon Advance, there are Bruce Lee posters during the China Town level and in the cutscenes Billy and Jimmy looks similar to Lee when angry. When Dante Sparda wields his three-pronged Nunchaku in Devil May Cry 3, his shouts emulate Lee's famous whoops and howls. Jacky Bryant in Virtua Fighter has Jeet Kune Do, listed as his fighting style. It is important to note that there is a difference between Jeet Kune Do and Bruce Lee's movie fighting style. In Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories a set of clothing you unlock is the jump suit he wore in Game of Death. Movies Stephen Chow, Hong Kong actor and director, is a fan of Lee and has played and directed roles which are reminiscent of Lee, such as: Sing (Brother #4) in Shaolin Soccer (2001) Sing in Kung Fu Hustle (2004) David Carradine, American actor, played the characters written for Lee in the 1978 version of The Silent Flute. Lee from Rush Hour and Rush Hour 2 was named after Bruce Lee and has a similar fighting styles to Bruce Lee. In the Quentin Tarantino movie Kill Bill, Uma Thurman's yellow jumpsuit is a tribute to Bruce Lee from the movie Game of Death. In the film No Retreat, No Surrender, Bruce Lee's ghost trains a young Bruce Lee enthusiast. See also Bruceploitation Bruce Li William Cheung Wally Jay Muhammad Ali Stirling Silliphant James Coburn Charles B. Fitzsimons Jhoon Rhee Wong Jack Man[9] Gene Lebell Jesse Glover Alan Watts Filmography Lee starred in a leading role in a total of five major films, two of which (Enter the Dragon, Game of Death) premiered after his death. Released # Chinese and English title of original release U.S. title Note 1971 1 《唐山大兄》 The Big Boss Fists of Fury Plays Chen, fights druglord "The Big Boss" in Thailand 1972 2 гЂЉзІѕж­¦й–ЂгЂ‹ Fist of Fury The Chinese Connection Dons the name Chen, (not relevant to Big Boss" Fights against Japanese tyrants in Shanghai 1972 3 гЂЉзЊ›йѕЌйЃЋж±џгЂ‹ Way of the Dragon Return of the Dragon Fought crime in Rome, Italy. Released after Enter the Dragon in the U.S. hence the title 1973 4 《龍爭虎鬥》 Enter the Dragon same Fought a drug lord in Hong Kong to avenge his sister 1979 5 гЂЉж­»дєЎйЃЉж€ІгЂ‹ Game of Death same Pieced together [10]. He was only in the film for about 11 min, the rest is a double used after his death. The story line is not his original. Note: The U.S. titles for the first two films were swapped by the U.S. distributor. The title The Chinese Connection (a play on the then-recently-released The French Connection) was originally intended for The Big Boss due to the drugs theme of the story. Footnotes ^  Chinese Hospital [11] - Radiology 845 Jackson Street, San Francisco, CA 94133. ^  Lee, Linda. 1989. The Bruce Lee Story Ohara Publications, California. (p.70) ^  Hatfield, Fredrick C., Ph. D. 1993. Fitness: The Complete Guide. International Sport Sciences Association, California. (p.119) ^  Wathen, Dan. 1994. Load Assignment. In Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning. Human Kinetics, Illinois. (p.436) ^  MobyGames [12] ^  Dorgan, Michael. Bruce Lee's Toughest Fight [13]. (1980 July). Official Karate (the neutrality of this article is debatable). ^  Pieced together with the few shots that were filmed before Lee's death in 1973. ^  Wickert, Marc. 2004. Dana White and the future of UFC. kucklepit.com. See Wikiquotes for the text. Books The Tao of Jeet Kune Do The Tao of Bruce Lee Bruce Lee's Fighting Method Absorb What Is Useful Jeet Kune Do: Principles of a Complete Fighter Jeet Kune Do: Hardcore Training Methods Bruce Lee: Fighting Spirit - A great read about Bruce Lee's life External links Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Bruce Lee Photos & Gallery and Biography of Bruce Lee Bruce Lee at the Internet Movie Database WARM MARBLE The Lethal Physique of Bruce Lee The Shrine to Bruce Lee BRUCE LEE - Jeet Kun Do BRUCE LEE'S ABDOMINAL TRAINING Bruce Lee Pictures 20th-centurywarriors.com Bruce Lee Foundation TIME 100: Bruce Lee BRUCE LEE FindAGrave Bruce Leear:ШЁШ±Щ€Ші Щ„ЩЉ Search Term: "Bruce_Lee" Categories: 1940 births | 1973 deaths | Chinese Americans | Chinese Wing Chun practitioners | Film actors | Eurasians | Jeet Kune Do practitioners | Seattleites | San Franciscans | Entertainers who died in their 30s | Asian American athletes | University of Washington alumni