Bruce Lee was born on the 27th November 1940 (the Chinese year of the Dragon) in the city of San Fancisco sometime between the hours of 6AM and 8AM. Bruce was the third child of his parents Lee Hou-Cheun and his mother Gracie Lee. The city of his birth was somewhat accidental due to the fact that his father Lee Hoi Chuen was a minor star of the Cantonese Opera Company, who were touring the area at that time. At birth, he was given the name Lee Jun Fan (which means "Return Again") by his parents. According to legend, his parents chose the name because they had a strange feeling that some day their son would return to the USA. Several realiable sources suggest that Bruce Lee's father was extremely supersticious. In particular he feared that that there was a curse that had followed male members of the family for several generations. So, for a while, Lee was renamed (yet again!), this time as Sai Fon- a girl's name which means Little Pheonix. By giving his newborn some a girl's name, then the alleged demons would be unable to find baby Lee... or so the theory goes!Shortly before leaving the Jackson Street hospital, a nurse suggested that it might be a good idea to give the child an English Christian name to avoid any complications with his American birth certificate. The nurse suggested the name Bruce Lee, and the newborn's parents agreed.Within only a few months, the Lee family were back in Hong Kong, living in a small, overpopulated two room flat on 218 Nathan Road, Kowloon. Overpopulation however, was probably the least of their problems, as the early years of Bruce's life were overshadowed by the Japanese occupation of 1942-1945. It has been claimed that one of Bruce's earliest childhood memories was standing on the roof of his flat, shaking his fist at low flying Japanese planes!The eventual ending of the Second World War brought with it the slow task of rebuilding. Fortunately for Bruce's father, one of the first industries to recover was the entertainment industry. Before too long Lee's father was back on the road earning a living as a working actor. Often, young Bruce Lee would accompany his father to film shoots and eventually, through his father's connections, he was given a role in a film- The Beginning of a Boy. He was only 6 years old. Shortly afterwards, in the same year, he also appeared in "The Birth of Madkind" and "My Son Ah Cheun". At the age of 8 years old, Bruce appeared another film entitled "Fu Gui Yun" meaning "Wealth is like a Dream". In this film Bruce got a new nickname of Siu Lung (meaning "Little Dragon"). This nickname would go on to remain with Lee through the rest of his life.By the time he was 18, he had appeared in over 20 films- the most famous of which being The Orphan, a 1958 Hong Kong classic in which he played the role of a juvenile delinquent.Even by his own admission, Bruce Lee was exactly the same kind of character offscreen, as the sort of gang-thug he had played in The Orphan. Years later, in 1967 he told Black Belt magazine, "I was a punk and went looking for fights". At school, Bruce was very much a disappointment too. His mother once, semi-jokingly, stated that "by the age of 10 that was as far as he could count!" After Chinese primary school, Bruce entered La Salle collegue- an English speaking Catholic instituion which could neither hold Lee's interest his presence at class! He was eventually expelled for disruptivite behaviour, and his parents responded by immediately enrolling him in another Hong Kong catholic college by the name of St Francis Xavier. There was no improvement.So, like many other Hong Kong Chinese kids, Bruce Lee spent much of his early years on the streets as a self confessed trouble-maker. Years later he explained, "Kids in Hong Kong have nothing to look forward to. The whites have all the best jobs and the rest of us had to work for them. That's why most of the kids become punks... Kids in slums can never get out". During this period of his life, Bruce often found himself involved in street fights. Sometimes he would arm himself with a toilet chain, though more often than not he would just use his fists and feet.One day Bruce ran home from school and complained to his parents that he was being bullied. He then asked his parents if they would allow him to take Kung Fu lessons as a means of learning to defend himself from the bullies. His father was already a practioner of Tai Chi, but Bruce found this to be too slow for his liking and he was also only interested in learning how to defend himself. Eventually, and somewhat reluctantly, his parents agreed pay for Kung Fu lessons from Sifu Yip Man- a grand master of the Wing Chun style of Kung Fu.For several years Bruce Lee attended Yip Man's school of Wing Chun, rapidly growing in proficiency year by year. Bruce Lee was slight of build, and the fluid, economical style of Wing Chun seemed to suit him well. Within only a few years Yip Man had not only succeded in training Bruce Lee in the physical aspects of the martial arts, but he also changed Bruce Lee's mental focus and Lee was now becoming increasingly interested in the philosophical aspects of Kung Fu.Martial arts and street fighting, however, were not Bruce Lee's only pass times as a teenager. When Bruce Lee was 14 years old he enrolled for dancing lessons and later went on to become the Cha Cha Champion of Hong Kong! This unlikely departure from Lee's violent world was perhaps as strong an indication as any, that deep down Lee truely yearned for a life that would be somehow involved in realm of artistic expression and entertainment.With every passing year Lee's focus on the martial arts grew more intense. Lee, however, never forgot his street fighting days and remained extremely mindful of the fact that in a real self defence situation there would be no graceful bows, nor any respect for ancient rules. By around the age of 18 Bruce Lee started to gradually form his own ideas about what made an effective style. He was convinced that the key to being succesful in a modern self defence situation was to eliminate the element of surprize by remaining completely adaptable.Lee's time under Yip Man came to a sad and abrupt ending when in early 1959 a challenge was issued to the students of Yip Man's school by the pupils of a rival Kung Fu school. The two groups met on the rooftop of an apartment block for what was meant to be a good-willed, non contact contest. However, the event quickly turned into an ugly and violent affair. During a sparring match, a boy from the rival establishment (the Choi Li Fut School) gave Bruce a black eye. Bruce responded to this by delivering a series of devastating straight punches and high kicks in a fit of uncontrolled rage. Although the boy escaped with only a lost tooth, his parents complained to the police and Bruce Lee soon found himself under arrest. Shortly afterwards, Lee's parents agreed that the only wise thing left to do would be to send Bruce away from Hong Kong out of harm's way. And so, Bruce Lee was sent back to San Franciso, the city of his birth. As his Chinese name predicted, he did indeed return again.After an 18 day boat trip, Lee finally made it to San Francisco with $115US. Bruce had spent much of his time on the boat trip teaching cha-cha dancing to some of the passengers. He also decided to distance himself from the name Lee Jun Fan and diligently practiced his English on fellow passengers as often as he could. By the time the boat arrived in San Francisco, the Hong Kong street kid, Lee Jun Fan, had been transformed into Bruce Lee- an English speaking US citizen.For the first few weeks Bruce earned a little money by giving dance lessons, however the amount he made was barely enough to pay for the most basic of provisions. Eventually, a restaurant owner who was a friend of the family, Ruby Chow, offered Bruce a room in return for his evening services as a waiter Bruce happy took the job and soon enrolled at Edison Technical School as a day student. Within a short time, Bruce earned his high school diploma and in the autumn of 1962, he enrolled for a degree in philosophy at the University of Washington. By now, his days as a trouble making street kid were well and truly behind him.It was during his time at university that Bruce Lee started to teach kung-fu. At first he taught to small groups of Asian enthusiasts, but soon started teaching to anyone who was interested. Bruce Lee was obsessed with the idea of developing a version of kung fu which was simple and practical in a real-life situation. In fact, he once stated, "99% of the whole business of oriental self-defence is baloney. It looks good but it doesn't work." These convictions led Bruce to formulate the beginnings of a new version of Kung Fu which Bruce would later name "Jeet Kune Do".Lee's controversial viewpoints had another, less positive effect- they soon caused offence to many of the local practitioners of the classical martial arts. Tensions reached a head when a Japanese Karate black belt challenged Bruce to a fight to determine who had the superior method. According to eye witness reports, Bruce quickly executed a series of straight punches followed by a kick to his opponent's head. The fight was over within a few seconds.Word of Bruce Lee's exceptional martial artist talents soon spread like wildfire among his peers and Bruce soon realized that he could use his Kung Fu skills to earn some money. Late in 1963 he opened the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute at 4750 University Way in Seattle. This was the first of what Bruce hoped would become a large chain of kwoons. The joining fee was $22 per month.Just over a year after opening his school of martial arts, at the Space Needle resturant in Seattle, Bruce went on his first date with Linda Emery. Linda was a Caucasian girl of English and Swedish decent. She was a fellow student of the University of Washington and was also a student of Bruce Lee's martial arts classes. Despite fears that her mother would object to Linda dating a "chinaman", the couple dated regularly well into the summer of 1964.By June 1964 Bruce Lee decided to give up his studies at the University of Washington and moved to Oakland, California to open a second school of martial arts. His, now steady, girlfriend Linda dropped Bruce off at the airport and despite Bruce's promise to return she was not entirely convinced that he would.However, after several months of letter writing, Bruce Lee flew back to Seatle and asked Linda to marry him. Despite desperate last minute efforts by Linda's family to stop the wedding, the couple were married on the 17th August 1964.By this time the Oakland Gung Fu Institute had become a busy hive of activity with a full roster of students. However, Bruce's insistence on teaching non-Asians soon attracted some trouble when in December 1964 Bruce received a message from the elders of San Francisco's Chinatown. They were unhappy with the idea of Bruce Lee teaching kung fu to the gwei-lo (i.e. Caucasians) and ordered Bruce to stop teaching all non-Asians immediately. Bruce ignored the message, but within a week Bruce received an ornate scroll from the elders which challenged Bruce to fight one of Chinatown's best kung fu experts, Wong Jack Man. If Bruce lost the fight, the scroll declared that he was to either close down his martial arts institute or stop teaching Caucasians.A furious Bruce Lee accepted the challenge without hesitation and the fight was carried out under the watchful eyes of the Chinese elders and some of Bruce Lee's own students. As with his previous fight, Bruce quickly felled his opponent with a flurry of straight punches and a powerful kick to his opponents head. Bruce Lee was never bothered by the Chinese elders again.Despite his victory, Bruce was extremely unhappy with his how the fight went. There are conflicting accounts of how long the fight with Wong Jack Man lasted. One thing which is certain however, is that Bruce Lee felt that the fight lasted too long and he was immensely troubled by the belief that it should have been over much more quickly. Although he was already fit and very strong, Bruce now took his martial arts training to a level which seemed beyond fanaticism. His training became obsessive and intense to the point of being legendary! Some sources suggest that Bruce Lee later went on to fight Wong Jack Man a second time and that this time the fight was over much quicker. However, there is not enough documented evidence for Bruce Lee Central.com to confirm this as a fact.In his intensive training regime, Bruce Lee focused on the development of his upper body strength, paying particular attention to his abdominal muscles and developing his explosive power. Many observers have commented that Bruce Lee's training during this period of his life would have put an Olympic gymnast to shame! He would regularly perform one finger push-ups, on one hand. He would execute extended V-sits for long periods of time. He could cannonade an opponent several feet back from a punch delivered from only one inch, and his side kicks became so powerful that, in the words of one recipient, "they feel like being hit by a car". Late on in the year Bruce gave a demonstration of his "super human" abilities at the Long Beach Katate Internationals. The audience was mesmerized.By early 1965, Bruce Lee's obsession for martial arts had also become his burden. His Oakland Gung Fu Institute, which had got off to such a good start, began to dwindle in terms of numbers and in financial success. This turn-around in fortunes was mainly due to the fact that, by now, Bruce would only accept the most committed of pupils as students of his school. There was however, one piece of joyful news for Bruce and Linda at this time- the birth of their son Brandon. Sadly though, this joyful episode was all too short for Bruce- his father, Hou-Cheun, sadly died at the age of 64- only one week after the birth of Brandon. Bruce began to consider the idea of abandoning kung fu as a way of earning a living altogether.On late February, as Bruce was pondering his future, he received a phone call from a television producer by the name of William Dozier. Dozier had seen some footage of Bruce in action at the Long Beach Karate Internationals and wanted to ask Bruce if he would be interested in playing the role of the "Number One Son" in a television adaptation of Charlie Chan. Without hesitation Bruce expressed his interest and soon drove to Hollywood for an audition. The reaction was positive.Before long however, Dozier gave up on the idea of producing Charlie Chan and started work on a new project, a television series called the Green Hornet. The Green Hornet was a show which would utilize the same kind of format as the already hugely successful Batman series. In the Green Hornet Bruce Lee was to play the part of Kato- the chauffeur and sidekick to the lead hero, Britt Reid. Years later Bruce joked that the only reason he got the part was because he was the only Chinese person in the USA who could properly say the name "Britt Reid". There was to be a long delay before full production of the show would begin, but in the meantime Bruce was given a reservation fee of $1800.Bruce used the money to pay for a lengthy trip to Hong Kong so that his family could meet Linda and Brandon. They returned to the States late in the year to be welcomed by the good news that The Green Hornet was "all go". With the promise of an exciting new career beckoning, the Lees moved to Los Angeles in March 1966, taking a small apartment on Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood. The studio, Twentieth Century Fox, also arranged for Bruce to receive acting lessons. These were allegedly the only proper acting lessons received.The Green Hornet went into production in the summer of 1966. At that time the only Oriental actor featured on network television was George Takei, a Japanese American who appeared in the then low-rated Star Trek. The network was very apprehensive about the idea of casting a Chinese actor as a lead character and insisted that Bruce wore a black mask over his face throughout his time on screen.In terms of ratings, the Green Hornet was something of a failure. It lacked the child appeal that Batman enjoyed and adult viewers found the show corny. As a result the show was taken off the air after only six months (26 episodes). However, one good thing that came from the show was that it everyone from kids to critics were dazzled by Bruce Lee's kung fu. Thanks to the Green Hornet, Bruce Lee had become something of a martial arts celebrity and when the show was at its peek, Bruce would often make personal appearances at karate demonstrations, film conventions and parades. It was his first taste of fame and he liked it!The cancellation of the Green Hornet was a severe blow to Lee's financial status as well as his ego. During filming Bruce had received $400 a week and owned a red Porsche. Now, all of a sudden he was back to a dwindling income from his kwoon along with occasional minor appearances on television shows like; Longstreet, Ironside and Blondie. There was also a brief appearance in the 1969 movie Marlowe. This was Bruce Lee's first appearance in a Hollywood feature length film. Perhaps the most memorable scene of the entire film is when Bruce meets Marlowe (played by James Garner) on a roof top and Bruce's character comes to a sudden and unlikely ending by falling from a rooftop.At this stage of his career Bruce was certainly not greatly admired for his acting abilities, however, his reputation as a martial arts master had already become rock solid and before long Bruce was giving private martial arts lessons to Hollywood stars such as Steve McQueen and James Coburn. Also receiving instruction from Bruce Lee at this time were the Karate experts Chuck Norris, Joe Lewis and Mike Stone. Between them, Norris, Lewis and Stone would go on to win every major Karate tournament in the USA.Then, suddenly, in 1970 Bruce Lee's worst nightmare became a reality when he received a massive back injury during a weight lifting session. The diagnosis was that Bruce had injured his fourth sacral nerve. Bruce was told by his doctors that not only would he be bedridden for several months, but he would never be able to practice kung fu again. Depressed and barely able to move, Bruce stayed at home looking after Brandon and new arrival Shannon while his wife, Linda worked as a receptionist with an answering service. With his body almost completely out of action, Bruce decided to focus his energy on his mind and began an intensive academic self study on martial arts. Eventually his notes filled eight, two-inch thick notebooks and years later these notes would be edited by Linda and published as "The Tao of Jeet Kune Do".Bruce Lee was a strong believer in the power of the mind and refused to accept that he would be disabled for life. Sure enough, in time (six months) Bruce slowly and gradually reintroduced his body to the stresses of training again. Within one year Bruce seemed to be back to his old self- as fast, strong and flexible as ever. However, off screen and in private he would suffer chronic back pain for the rest of his life.Now back on his feet again, Bruce decided to focus his iron will power on his career. More than ever he was determined to be a major star and to introduce the Eastern art of Kung fu to the rest of the world through film and television. He began working on an idea for a television series about a Shaolin monk who roamed the Old American West is search of knowledge and adventure. Warner Brothers liked the idea and made it into the major hit series Kung Fu however, to Bruce's intense disappointment the starring role was given to the Caucasian, America actor David Carradine. The ABC Network had decided that to use Bruce Lee for the lead role would be too much of a risk- apparently Bruce was too Asian looking and too small a name to risk on such a venture.Still reeling from the disappointment of losing the role in Kung Fu Bruce took a fleeting visit to Hong Kong in 1971 and found, to his complete surprise, that he had become a well known and admired superstar there. It turned out that The Green Hornet had been renamed "The Kato Show" and was one of the most popular television shows in South East Asia! Not only that, but many of the films Bruce Lee had appeared in were being screened over and over again in cinemas throughout Hong Kong!Bewildered and pleasantly surprised Bruce Lee returned to his home in Los Angeles, but almost as soon as his plane had landed he received an offer from Hong Kong film producer Raymond Chow to star in two Chinese martial arts feature films. Chow offered to pay Bruce $15,000 for his commitment to the two films. This along with the rapturous reception Bruce received in Hong Kong convinced Bruce to return to the East and work with Raymond Chow. In July 1971, Bruce arrived in the remote Tai village of Pak Chong for the shooting of his first film for Raymond Chow, "The Big Boss". On meeting Chow for the first time, Bruce shook Chow's hand and told him "I'm going to be the biggest Chinese star in the world". Chow did not doubt him.Before long Bruce Lee was flown to the remote village of Pak Chong for 6 gruelling weeks of filming. This was to be the set for Bruce Lee's first feature length martial arts film, The Big Boss. Conditions in the cockroach-laden village were barely tolerable. Fresh food was a rarity and Bruce Lee had to rely upon bottle after bottle of vitamin pills to keep his body going for the duration of the filming. There was a string of directors who came and went until eventually Raymond Chow's long time cinematic associate, Lo Wei took over as the film's main director.Problems soon emerged on the set. There was no proper stunt equipment, and during the first week of filming, Bruce Lee badly sprained his ankle on a mat. On the road to recovery from his injury, he caught a bad case of flu and as the weeks dragged on, it became apparent that Bruce was badly missing Linda and his children, who were still in Los Angeles.In spite of all these problems, by the time the filming was complete, Bruce Lee had high hopes for The Big Boss. He believed it would stand up as a good martial arts action film and Lee was particularly satisfied with his own performance. The premiere for the film was scheduled for October in Hong Kong.In the meantime, Bruce Lee was flown back to States by Paramount studios and was commissioned for making a walk-on appearance in an episode of the crime show Longstreet, "The Way of the Intercepting Fist". Paramount offered Bruce Lee $3000 for another three appearances, but Bruce made them pay $6000 plus a technical advisor's fee. There were many others knocking at Bruce Lee's door too! Warner Brothers, who had previously dumped Bruce Lee's film project The Silent Flute, and had given the lead role in Kung Fu to Carradine, wanted to place Bruce Lee under television option for $25,000. Run Run Shaw made weekly overtures to woo Bruce away from Raymond Chow, even sending him a blank cheque and telling him to fill it in for any amount he desired!With his life bombarded with offers and counter offers, Bruce Lee flew back to Hong Kong with Linda, Brandon and Shannon for the premiere of The Big Boss. A huge billboard of Bruce Lee in fighting pose greeted the audience as they arrived at the cinema. The film began running at midnight and for two hours the audience marvelled at Bruce as he battled against legions of Thai adversaries. The film came to an unusual ending (at least, by the Mandarin standards) with the hero being hauled off in handcuffs by the police. For a moment, the audience was dead silent, then suddenly as the credits began rolling, the entire audience roared into standing applause. To the people of Hong Kong, Bruce Lee was suddenly more than just a film star- he was a symbol of their identity and a real life hero!By now, Bruce Lee had suddenly become hot property and was subject to a tidal wave of offers from television and film producers. Never-the-less, Bruce Lee was a man of loyalty and despite the rich wooing of others, he decided to fulfil the terms of his contract with Raymond Chow. Their next film, The Fist of Fury, was to be filmed in Hong Kong. Golden Harvest studios temporarily moved Bruce Lee and his family into an apartment in the Waterloo area of Kowloon. Brandon was enrolled at Bruce Lee's former school, The Alma Mater, La Salle Collegue and Shannon was sent to a Chinese nursery.Throughout the duration, Bruce Lee worked incredibly long hours and was rarely home before three in the morning. There was no proper script and the director, the cigar smoking Lo Wei, seemed uninterested in the project. For example, he was once caught listening to horse racing on the radio when he was supposed to be directing a love scene. In spite of these problems, the film's storyline was strong and was guaranteed to please any Chinese audience.Fist of Fury smashed box-office records across all of South East Asia. Although some critics noted Lei Wei's sloppy handling of the film, there was universal appraisal of Bruce Lee's dazzling martial arts techniques, which were now augmented in this film by Lee's first ever on screen use of nunchaku (double fighting sticks joined together by a chain). Also singled out was Bruce Lee's acting abilities and, in particular, his ability to effortlessly switch between comedy and tragedy. Bruce Lee was now the hottest cinema property East of Hollywood.With Fist of Fury completed, Bruce Lee was a free agent. For a while he considered another Golden Harvest production, The Yellow Faced Tiger, but the appointed director, Lo Wei, refused Bruce's requests that the film should be written by a professional script writer. Lo Wei, in the usual fashion of Chinese directors wanted to use a script as a bare guide and improvise as the film went along. Bruce Lee bowed out of the project and immediately formed a joint production company with Raymond Chow. This new arrangement put Bruce Lee on an equal footing with Raymond Chow, as opposed to simply being a hired actor. The problem of who would direct the next Bruce Lee film was easily solved- Bruce Lee would do it himself. For many weeks afterwards, Bruce studied volumes of books on the art of film production.Bruce Lee was now an actor, a director and a film producer. However, he still had the problem of who would write the next script. Unable to find a suitable script, the two partners agreed that Bruce Lee should write the next script. And so, the next Bruce Lee feature film, Way of the Dragon, was solely a Bruce Lee project.Although Way of the Dragon was a little rough around the edges, as may be expected from a director's debut, the audiences in Hong Kong's cinemas were ecstatic. Way of the Dragon grossed HK$5 million- more money than any film before it!Now, for the first time in his life, Bruce Lee was finally wealthy. To celebrate he purchased a Mercedes 350SL, registration AX 6521. He also moved his family into a luxury Kowloon town house. The days when Bruce Lee could not afford to repair his broken glasses were gone forever.Bruce Lee intended Way of the Dragon to be the first of a trilogy involving the character Tan Lung. However, as soon as the dust had settled from Way of the Dragon, Bruce received an offer from Warner Brothers which seemed too good to turn down. The studio agreed to pay Bruce Lee $500,000 for the shooting of a martial arts film entitled Blood and Steel, but which would eventually reach the big screen as Enter the Dragon. The senior Warner Brothers producer, Fred Weintraub, was in no doubt as to who should star in the film- he had already seen Bruce Lee in action in The Green Hornet and was well aware of Bruce Lee's sensational impact on the cinema circuits of Asia.None of the shoots for Bruce Lee's previous films had been easy, but Enter the Dragon proved to be the most challenging of all. Bruce was nervous about making his first international feature film and persistently delayed the start of production. There were problems with translation for the international cast and crew. There was also cultural conflicts- not least that the American crew would not eat Chinese food! There were frequent injuries to the cast because of a lack of professional stunt equipment and Bruce Lee, himself, was also at the receiving end of a whole range of injuries and accidents such as a lacerated hand from a broken bottle in a fight scene with Bob Wall, and a snake bite from a cobra.As time went on, the problems on-set piled up. At one stage, the martial arts extras threatened a strike when they discovered that the Hong Kong prostitutes, hired to appear in a key scene, were being paid at a higher rate than them. Bruce Lee also threatened to walk out at one point after a clash with script writer Michael Allin. There were also countless, time-consuming arguments between Bruce Lee and Raymond Chow who was the co-producer of Enter the Dragon. Another problem was that most of the martial arts extras were members of the Chinese syndicate, The Triads and they would often make challenges to Bruce Lee. For the most part, Bruce would ignore there taunting, but on occasion Bruce would accept a challenge to defend his honour. He never lost.In Bruce Lee's mind, his entire future depended on the success or the failure of Enter the Dragon. He worried and worked at every single aspect of the film. By the end of shooting he had lost weight and was a ball of nervous energy. He was virtually living on vitamin pills and herbal drinks. He began to realise that stardom came with a heavy price; he could not walk through the streets of Hong Kong without being mobbed and the media pried into every aspect of his life. He became extremely suspicious of people and less friendly. Everywhere he went he would be bombarded with challenges. A dark cloud seemed to settle around him and only Linda received his complete trust.On the afternoon of 10th May 1973, Bruce Lee's body began to show signs of breakdown. He was dubbing some sound to the final take of Enter the Dragon at the Golden Harvest studios. The room was small, hot and without air conditioning. Bruce Lee, already in a state of exhaustion, made a visit to the bathroom and shortly after returning, he collapsed in a fit of vomiting and convulsions.Bruce Lee was rushed to hospital and his wife, Linda, was immediately summoned to his bedside. A leading neurosurgeon, Dr Peter Woo, declared that he believed something was wrong with Bruce Lee's brain, but he wasn't sure what. Fearing that Bruce was near death, the doctor administered the drug Manitol to reduce any swelling in Bruce Lee's brain and preparations were made for surgery if this did not work. It did. Lee began to regain consciousness almost immediately. He could see and make signs of recognition, but he could not talk and it took several days for him to regain his speech.A week later Bruce Lee was flown to Los Angeles for a complete brain and body examination. No abnormalities were found and it was suggested that Bruce Lee's collapse on May 10th was brought on by cerebral edema- an excess of fluid surrounding the brain. Although the cause of this incident could not be discerned, Bruce Lee was prescribed Dilantin- a drug which calms brain activity. The collapse left Bruce Lee shaken, but it did nothing to diminish his work rate. Indeed, he began to work even harder. Some observers have stated that it seemed as though somehow, Bruce Lee knew he was having a race against time.The premier of Enter the Dragon was set for 10th August 1973 in Hong Kong. Bruce Lee spent the intervening time working on another film, The Game of Death. He also made plans to move back to America with his family. One day, Bruce Lee suddenly turned to Linda and said, "I'm not sure how long I can keep this up".On 20th July 1973 Bruce Lee was at his Kowloon house discussing the script of The Game of Death with Raymond Chow. Afterwards, they drove over to the flat of Taiwanese actress, Betty Ting-Pei, who was to have a major female role in the film. Raymond Chow went home to dress for a dinner he was having that night with Bruce Lee and 007 actor George Lazenby. Chow had hoped that they could persuade Lazenby to co-star alongside Bruce in The Game of Death. Bruce Lee, meanwhile, still at Ting-Pei's flat had began to develop a headache. Ting Pei gave Bruce a tablet of Equagesic- a strong asprin based tablet prescribed to her by her doctor. At around 7:30 Bruce Lee went and lay down in a bedroom.At 9 o'clock Raymond Chow telephoned the flat to find out why Bruce Lee had not turned up at the Restaurant. Betty Tai-Ping said she could not wake Bruce Lee. Raymond rushed to Betty's flat and found Bruce Lee in an unrousably deep sleep. A doctor was called, arrived almost immediately and spent ten minutes trying to revive Bruce Lee. By 10 o'clock an ambulance had arrived and Bruce Lee was rushed to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Raymond Chow telephoned Linda and told her to go there straight away. When Bruce Lee arrived at the hospital, doctors rushed him into intensive care and began massaging his heart. This was quickly followed by an injection of stimulatory drugs directly into the heart as well as electric shocks. It was no use. Bruce Lee was already dead. He was just thirty-two years old.There were two funeral ceremonies. The first was in Hong Kong, where there was a traditional Buddhist service. Outside the Kowloon funeral parlour a croud of 25,000 fans wept. The second ceremony was a more private affair, held in Seatle where Bruce and Linda had met and where Bruce Lee had perhaps been at his happiest.Bruce Lee's body was buried in the city's Lake View Cemetery. He was laid to rest wearing the traditional Chinese outfit he had worn in Enter the Dragon. The final tribute was spoken by James Coburn, "Farewell brother. It has been an honour to share this space in time with you. As a friend and as a teacher, you have brought my physical, spiritual and psychological selves together. Thank you." Bruce Lee's tombstone was simply inscribed, "Bruce Lee. Nov. 27, 1940 - July 20, 1973. Founder of Jeet Kune Do."Almost inevitably, the untimely death of Bruce Lee was followed by wild speculation and outrageous rumours. Some claimed that the Triads had murdered Bruce Lee. Others claimed that Bruce Lee had been killed by jealous film rivals. Some claimed that Bruce Lee had been killed in a fight. There were even rumours of a drugs overdose! After a lengthy coroner's inquest in Hong Kong. A panel of medical experts eventually concluded that Bruce Lee had died from a hypersensitive reaction to a compound in the drug Equagesic. This hypersensitivity led to a swelling of the brain and resulted in Bruce Lee entering a deep sleep from which he never awoke. The coroner declared himself satisfied with the finding, and so did Linda Lee.A few days after Bruce Lee's body had been laid to rest Enter the Dragon had its premiere in Hollywood. The film was an instant hit in the USA and soon took the rest of the world by storm. The worldwide theatrical gross for Enter the Dragon currently stands at over two hundred million dollars! Considering that the cost of making the film was relatively small, this makes Enter the Dragon one of the most profitable films of all time and certainly the most successful martial arts film of all time. Perhaps more importantly however, it helped to make Bruce Lee a legendary, semi-mythical hero who is admired and respected by many millions of people across the world.MySpace Layouts
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