Bruce Lee Biography
Even in death Bruce Lee remains a respected name in the film industry, known and admired by many around the world today. He single-handedly transformed china into a celebrity nation in the 1940’s and made martial arts a popular sport around the world. Ironically, Lee’s beginnings in the art was not out of interest but rather it was a necessity to survive after he was involved in regular fighting bouts in his Honk Kong neighbourhood. The fights arose from the fact that he was born of two nationalities on his mother’s wealthy aristocratic side and that his home at the time was at the centre of a fierce war in the Chinese nation.
His parents, Lee Hoi-chuen and Grace Ho named him Lee Jun-fan after he was born on November 27 1940 in San Francisco, California, USA. Lee’s early life saw him raised in a neighbourhood where a common feature was crime and violence by rival and illegal groups each out to gain control over the area. Lee was caught up in this life and soon he was moving from one battle to the next and running away from death threats and the police who were out to jail him for the constant disturbance.
Out of worry, Lee Hoi-chuen and Grace Ho enrolled their son for a defence class at the Tak Sun School in Hong Kong in the hope that the need to fight would be channelled into a safer environment. This helped partially and Lee begun to withdraw from conflicts. Lee was also schooled at the La Salle College and at the St. Francis Xavier's College but was never much for books instead preferring to spend his time in the martial arts school. In 1959 Lee was enrolled at the Washington University, USA and despite his wealthy background he survived on odd jobs at food joints, sometimes he took up Kung Fu tutoring and also made small appearances in public to showcase his much admired skills.
During one of his performances Lee caught the eye of a talent scout and thus begun a career on film as a Chinese Kung Fu master, a director and a scriptwriter both in the US and the Chinese film industries. He appeared as Bruce Lee on stage, a name coined from his birth name and a nickname from his childhood. His roles include ‘Longstreet’ and ‘The Green Hornet Series’ in 1966. In 1969 Lee played James Garner in the film ‘ Marlowe’ and he was also featured on other works including ‘ Fists of Fury’ , ’The Chinese Connection’ , and ‘ Way of the Dragon’. All of Lee’s movies were box office hits and they brought in millions of dollars despite him being an Asian actor.
Lee also authored a book titled Jeet Kune Do, a narration of a type of Kung Fu that the artist personalised from the general discipline of martial arts. This developed branch of Kung Fu was also named Jeet Kune Do and it was commonly taught by Lee himself. His foundation, the Lee Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute, taught Karate, Self-Defense, Jujutsu, Judo, Taekwondo, Kung Fu.
The icon’s early passing on July 20 1973 was attributed to wrong medication that affected his brain although many speculated that a murder was being covered up.
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