Bruce Lee's Ultimate Tribute



During his life time, Bruce Lee did more to bring the martial arts to the attention of the general public than any other man, and as a result much has been written about him. But, do you really know the true story of Bruce Lee? Most of the material that is out there has always centered around his carrer as a 'martial artist' and 'superstar'. But there is more to this man than meets the eye. But now, for the first time, you will be able to read on this web site, about the life of Bruce Lee as seen from his family members, such as his mother Grace Lee. In this section you will be able to learn about his fustrations and tiumphs, and see how they affected his personality. This is my way of paying homage to a man blessed with a charismatic magic and a talent and wisdom far beyond his years.. *This is the story of a legend.......* Contents The Beginning Wing Chun America Hong Kong Super Star Mysterious Happenings Death After Death It all started on the morning of November 27, 1940 (Chinese year of the Dragon) Lee Jun Fan as he was called by his parents, was born in San Fransisco whilst his father Lee Hoi Chuen, (an actor) was acting in New York. Bruce was one of 4 children at the time, he had a brother called Peter and two sisters called Pheobe and Agnes. Even at an early age of only 3 months, Bruce was already appearing in an American Production as a baby stand in (Golden Gate Girl). At the age of six, Bruce was at one of his fathers sets, when the director of his fathers films saw him and, and was so impressed that he offerd Bruce his first real part in a film. As a kid, Bruce was quite mischievous, he was always rushing and jumping around the house, he could never sit still doing nothing, he always had to do something...something that in the future would develop into the man he was. His sisters remember when they used to sleep in the same room as him, they say they had to be careful cause he used to sleep walk all the time! His sisters starting calling him Little Dragon as he would always come to their defence if anybody was teasing them. But as a teenager, Bruce started to get in more and more street fights with other kids. And if he did'nt win...he would become very furious! It was at about this time that Bruce started to study Wing Chun Kung fu, an extremely sophisticated Chinese self defence system. He practiced long and hard, and became increasingly proficient. But at the beginning, as his instructor, Yip Man recalls. We would have some sparring matches with the other martial arts students, and the first couple of times, Bruce was actually beaten, but this only made him even more determined to learn and perfect the art of Kung Fu. Until after a couple of lessons, Bruce was able to beat all the other students in the class!! At this time he was also quite interested in the Cha Cha dance, which involved many different patterns of movements. But Bruce was able to memorise them all, and became a very good dancer, who even won many competitions! Through out this time, Bruce was still making more films in Hong Kong with his last one being "Orphan". But at the same time he was becomming more and more involved in street fighting, plus he had dropped out of school, So his mother was feeling quite concernd about it all. So, by 1959, His mother sent Bruce to America, to live with some family friends, where he was to finish High School. Wing Chun (meaning "beautiful springtime") is a very sophisticated martial arts which stresses economy of movement and springing energy. It was founded by a woman called Yim Wing Chun, over four hundered years ago. The styles were based on the techniques of Shaolin nun Ng Mui of the Fukien province. Yim Wing Chun felt that the Shaolin style was too complex and had too much emphasis on power techniques and strong stances. She wanted a more simple yet powerful form of self defence, and thus came up with her own. The style that she developed was passed down from generation to generation through out the centuries to people such as Leong Buk Sul, Wong Wah Bo, Leong Yee Tai, Leong Jon, Chan Wah Soon, Yip Man and others. Bruce had studied other styles of Kung Fu before having done Wing Chun, but he prefered this one to any other because he felt it to be the most effectie. He very soon started to show natural and under the tuition of Yip Man, improved steadily. While Bruce was in the United States he finished high school and went on to college. By day he would attend the University of Washington and at nights he would in a restuarant called Ruby Chow as a waiter. But this of course did not last very long as he knew this life style was defenetly not for him. So, he quit his job and instead, started to teach Kung Fu to other university students, which is how would survive financially. Those lessons he taught also helped him meet his future wife Linda Emery. By 1964 Bruce and Linda were married. Even though her mother did not really like the idea, they both got married in secret but shortly after told her family which did'nt take it very well, but shortly afterwards realised what a great perosn Bruce Lee was. By 22 Bruce wrote his first book, titled "Chinese Gung-Fu: the philosophical art of self defense". The book entitled his developement on both the spiritual side as well as the physical side of martial arts. By 1965 Bruce had already established some Kung fu schools ("Kwoon") in Seattle (Jun Fan Gung Fu Institutes), in which he taught Jeet Kune Do (The way of the intercepting fist). Bruce had being reasesing Wing Chun Kung Fu, he thought that there were too many patterns to follow, too many fixed positions that would only slow down a fight. And hence, after many years of practicing and thinking he came up with Jeet Kune Do. Jeet Kune Do is basically a technique which you can apply to any martial arts, Bruce did not really want to give it a name as such because he knew that people would start to think of it as another martial arts, where as really it is a technique which you apply to your own martial art to become more fluid and fast. Bruce had his own feelings about Kung Fu, and in a letter he once wrote "To me, Gung Fu is so extraordinary because it is nothing at all special; Gung fu is simply the direct expression of one's feelings with the minimum lines and energy -- every movement being so of itself, without the artificialities of which 99% of all masters tend to complicate. Always remember that the closer to the true way of Gung Fu, the less wastage of expression there is. The art is the expression of the self. The more complicated and restrictive the method is, the less the opportunity for the expression of one's original sense of freedom." Bruce would select his students intuitively. He did'nt just accept any old student, if he did'nt like you, he would'nt have you as a student. He believed in teaching the concept of Jeet Kune do, not the technique. He never liked 'Robot Training', 'Dont get caught up in a certain rythm' he would say. Real Combat is'nt in a set rythm, you have to be spontaneous and adapt to a kind of broken rythm, reacting to what ever comes to you. Bruce taught that you had to become part of the movement of your opponent. In other words, if your opponent throws a punch at you, instead of basically blocking it with you forearm, slide into the opening of you opponent at the same time that he punches, and strike him where he has left an opening. For example, if somebody punches you with their right hand, their right hand side of the ribs will be left opened momenteraly. Use that gap to counter attack at the same time that your opponent strikes, so your movement and his become one. Everything has to flow as one whole movement. Another thing he did not like was blocking, he prefered to use Trapping, what is called as "trapping hands". Basically instead of blocking your opponents hands, you grap them and immobilize them instead of deflecting them. This is pretty similur to the teachings of Wing Chun Kung fu. People who practice Wing Chun say that, "Attack is the best form of Defense!". This is called Pak Sau and is practised by standing infront of another person and placing your hands infront of each other, and start a sequence of movements with your hands. This technique along Chi Sau (sticky hands) and Lap Sau are practiced in Wing Chun and bascially improve your sense of Chi and balance, as well as how to grap your opponent by going into his movement, so that you both do one movement at once. (i.e. he punches, you move in and grap, all in one). Due to this martial art technique that he had, many other martial artist challenged Bruce regulary, Karate men would say that it was all nonse, but were soon corrected when Bruce beat them. But it was mainly in this fights that Bruce realised that he had to change the techniques of Wing Chun that he had learned to his Jeet Kune Do. Once, an important Kung Fu master challenged Bruce to stop teaching his martial arts techniques to people other than Chinese. If Bruce was not to stop, he would have to face the Kung fu master in a fight. Bruce, without a doubt accepted the challenge, as he thought that any person who really wanted to learn was worthy of being taught. Naturally Bruce beat the Kung Fu master and continued teaching Kung Fu. But this battle was a turning point in his life, because unlike the film "Dragon" (portraying Bruce's life played by Jason Scott Lee) suggests, he did'nt break his back in the fight. It was a turning point because he realised that the fight had taken too long, he said that there were too many fixed positions, too many traditions, and thus Jeet Kune Do was born. By 1966 his father had already died, and his son Brandon was born. He was also spotted at a Long Beach (california) karate tournament by a TV producer, and he was given the opportunity to act in a series called 'The Green Hornet', were he acted as Kato an assistant of a hereo. But this series was soon cut of the air, and Bruce only appeared in a couple of more episodes of a series called 'Long Street' and a feature film called 'Marlowe'. His second child, Shannon, was born. She was to be the only child of Bruce that is still alive! In 1969, Bruce found out that Kato, (the role he played in Green Hornet) was very famous in Hong Kong, so he spent most of his time studying as much as he could about filming, cameras, lighting, everything he could find. He knew that he had an opportunity here, an opportunity that he could not let escape. He was most of the time between Hong Kong and Hollywood, getting different offers for films. His fees rised tremendosly as there was more and more demand for him. By this time Bruce had also written one of the most important books that he would have ever written. Its a book that collects all of his thoughts and ideas of Jeet Kune Do. A book that has every original idea, sketch, thought that he ever had whilst trainning. This is the book every Bruce Lee fan must have, "The Tao of Jeet Kune Do". In 1970, whilst Bruce was trainning, whilst he was doing some back excersizes, he accidently injured his back. He had injured the forth sacral nerve permanently. This meant that he would have back pains for the rest of his life, and that he would have to be taking pills for the rest of his life too! In 1971 Bruce went to Thailand to star in his fist super block buster martial arts film, "The Big Boss". (a.k.a Fist of Fury) All his Hong Kong were completly fasinated with it. His second movie, Fist of Fury (a.k.a Chinese Connection), was even more succesful!. Theres a romuor that Bruce would actually slip into the cinemas, unseen when they would be playing The Big Boss to see how the audiences reacted to his films, luckly they loved it!. Bruce soon after, formed his own production company in association with Raymond Chow and together they produced the first film that Bruce Lee had written and directed, that being, "Way of the Dragon". This film featured many well known chinese martial arts actors and also the famous Chuck Norris who was discoverd by Bruce Lee in a Karate tournament and also Bob Wall. Bruce beleived that this film would have even more success than any of his other films. His belief was very very accurate as it became a fantastic success. At this point, Bruce seemed to be at the top of the world, everything was going well for him, he had many interviews in America and in Hong Kong where he would always demonstraight his two finger push ups which almost nobody can do. He would also demonstraight the breaking of thick boards that would be hanging or even standing on thier own. To break these boards, it obviously takes a devastating fast and powerfull kick. An small example of this could be trying to punch through a piece of paper which is just hanging from a thread. If you punch the paper, it will just move away because it is too light and has no support. But if you are fast enough, you will be able to punch through the paper and break it in half...something that took me about a week of trainning, but atleast now i can do it! Of course Bruce Lee always used to say that he did'nt see the point in breaking boards and stuff like that, but he would purely do it for TV entertainment. But Bruce's most famous, and probably best film was the one he did with the American Production Company, "Enter the Dragon". Before Bruce left for Hong Kong to do his martial arts films he was going to play a part in what has been a very long a successful series called Kung Fu. He was promised the part of the main character, but sadly got rejected at the last minute for racial reasons in the 60's. But, the production of Enter the Dragon changed it all. This film became a success world wide, its been considerd by some as "The martial arts film of all time!". In this film Bruce was able to show many of his fighting techniques and weapon techniques, such as the nunchaku and the Filipino double sticks, plus its the only film were he features his only voice. But whilst he was filming this film, he was also making "Game of Death" in Hong Kong. During the making of these films he received many challenges and threats by many Chinese stunt men and crew members. Many times on the set of Enter the Dragon, Bruce would actually fight some Chinese stunt men for real, obviously beaten them all. But during this film, many strange things happend to him, many things that he should have taken more into consideration! During the making of Enter the Dragon, Bruce received a couple of threats, to the extent that many of his very close friends say that he walked the streets with a gun. During the film, a couple of strange things happend to him. In one case, there was a scene where Bruce had to handle a real snake. Apparently this snake was not supposed to be venemous, but according to some, the snake bit him once, and it WAS venemous, causing Bruce to get rushed to hospital for emergency treatment. Another thing that happend to him is in a scene where there was glass being used. In films when they use glass on actors, its normally what they call sugar glass, which is completly harmless. But on one occasion, the glass was real, and Bruce was injured. Finally another thing that happend to him where the challenges that he kept getting from the other film members, constant threats and dwels. Something was defenetly going wrong, but no one seemed to notice. His wife Linda kept on telling Bruce to be careful, to take care, but Bruce was too proud and happy about his success to notice what was going on. During the filming of Game of Death, Bruce was offerd some Hashisha leaves to chew. Bruce was a very hyper active man, and eating Hashisha leaves (as he did'nt smoke) would help him calm down. But on this one occasion, who ever gave him the leaf, gave him a presumably poisoned one. Bruce black out, and was rushed to hospital with an increadible swelling of his head. He survived by a thin line. Doctors told him that the leaf had caused an allergic reaction to his body.....but how??? Bruce had been taken it for years, this had never happed to him, or to anybody i know for that matter!! something was going on, and nobody seemed to notice. Nobody except for his personal doctor in America. He told Bruce that that was no allergic reaction, but Bruce refused to beleive that anybody was trying to kill him. In July 20, 1973, the year when Enter the Dragon was supposed to be realised, Bruce passed away. He had been in his female friends house, looking over some scripts, again chewing on some Hashisha leaves, when he suddenly had a massive head each and wanted to lie down for a nap. Unfortunatly, he would never wake up again. His friend called an ambulance as soon as she realised that Bruce was unconcious and Raymond Chow and her went to the hospital with him. On the way to the hospital, he died. When they did the autopsy, they reveled that Bruce haf beeen allergic to a asperin that he had taken before, an allergy which caused he brain to swell, and thus die. But his doctor from America has a different opinion. There are many questions that we dont know about his death. How the hell did Raymond Chow get to Bruce's friends house so quick when he was supposed to be in a restuarant waiting for Bruce??. Why did his friend give Bruce an asperin which supposenly contained a chemical which is lethal to all Chinese people??? Why was it that when he got to the hospital, the doctors kept passing the body around, nobody wanted to do the autopsy??? And why is it that when the autopsy was done, nobody was allowed to observe??? These are many question that i ask myself many times, Why, why, why, ...maybe some of you out there can answer them for me. I have my own theories about what happend, but this page is not here for that, so i'll keep them to my self for the time being! Before Bruce died, there where many articles in magazines saying that Bruce had died. These were all lies, but his family in Hong Kong, especially his mother Grace Lee did'nt this, so every time they this kind of article, they would be very very worried. Bruce would tell them not to bother about them, that these magazines only wanted to sell issues, and that the next time they saw such a heading, they should ignore it. But Grace Lee, (his mother) always checked to see if it was true or not, unfortunatly, on July 20, 1973, the article about Bruce's death was real, Bruce had really died. His death shocked the whole world, not to mention his family. Nobody could believe that such a healthy man, so strong and fit could have died so young, so suddenly. Of course not many people knew about the collapse that he had had before whilst filming Game Of Death because of the Hashisha Leaf. But the point is that this man was too young to die, everything was going so well for him and his family..perhaps to well for some people. Some people speculate that the reason for his death was the fact that he was working too hard, so hard that the pressure had finally got to him, physically and mentally. But this was a man who enjoyed what he did, who had been dreaming that one day he would be able to do what he was doing. Millions of fans, friends and family members added the inquest of how it happend. But all they got back was "Death by misadventure" a pretty stupid cryptic explanation. All doctors would say is that he had died because of celebral edema, water on the brain, but no one could pin point exactly what caused it. The closest they released was the fact that he was allergic to what ever type of asperin it is that he took that night. Could it be that the pills he was taking for his injured back, killed him????, These are questions we'll never really now. Another thing that was also said is that Bruce was given what is known in martial art legends as "The touch of Death", by another rival master. But of course all of Bruce's friends such Dan Inosanto knew this was absurd as Bruce always said that nobody could never get close enough to touch him!! Probably the most commen theory of his death, and the one to which i agree the most is that fact that the Chinese Mafia was involved on all of this. Was Raymond Chow and Bruce's female friend involved in all of this?? if not, how come non of the two wanted to give any public details of the account, especially his female friend, Bruce died in her house, but she said nothing until many years later, why? Was she sworn to keep quiet? threatend even? Until today, non of these question have been able to be answerd, there have been many speculations, and attempts, but this aura of mystery that surround Bruce Lee's death will never be revealed. But perhaps Bruce Lee's fans..US, should not remember him by how he died, or even why he died, the important thing to remenber, which is what his famliy would like, specially his wife Linda, is how he lived, how he touched millions of peoples lifes, including my own... On June 7, 1979 The Game of Death was released, the producers Raymond Chow was able to complete the film by adding pieces of footage from different Bruce Lee films, plus Bruce had already filmed some scenes prior to his death. thousands of loyal fans attended the ceremony, including his wife, daugther and son Brandon who actually did a 30 minute special appearing dressed wearing some of his fathers costumes from famous films. That day, the master of ceremonies read out Mayor Tom Bradley's proclamation of Bruce Lee day!! Bruce Lee became a legend over the years, and even though he has died, a legend never dies, and thus, Bruce Lee will live for ever, and as he would say, he will "WALK ON" for ever!! After Bruce's death, His wife Linda and his two children, Brandon and Shannon moved back to America. Linda was very affected and with the help of family friends and Grace, Bruce's mother, they were able to get along. Linda soon found many notes about martial arts and self defense that Bruce had been writing, and that he was planning to publish as a mini series of books about self defense and trainning techniques. She felt that she would be keeping Bruce teachings away from his fans, and so decided to go ahead and publish these books. With the help of Bruce's close friend and student Dan Inosanto, they finished the books and published them in the early eighties. These books were called "Bruce Lee Fighting Methods". There are a total of 4 books. 3 of them are based on the trainning side, Bruce explains what kind of trainning you should do to become a martial artist, how to stretch, warm up, different stances, kicks, punches, etc. Each book had a different level of trainning, they were called: Bruce Lee's Fighting Methods...'Basic Training'. This book is basically about how to prepare your self physically to be a martial artist. Bruce Lee's Fighting Methods...'Skill in Techniques'. This book is basically the same as the previous one, although it is based more on techniques. Bruce Lee's Fighting Methods...'Advanced Techniques'. This book is a continuation of the previous one. The fourth book, is plain and simple, about self defense. Bruce goes through a series of different situations in which somebody might be attacked down the street, and how to defend your self. These books contain step by step photo ilustrations of Bruce and Dan Inosanto of how to cary out the moves. (Example of Photo). These four books are a must have for all Bruce Lee fans, and serious martial artists too! Bruce Lee's Fighting Methods...'Self Defense Techniques'. Linda also published another book called "The Bruce Lee Story". This book is mainly about her life with Bruce, and explains all the things that happend to them through out their life together. After Bruce's final film, The Game of Death, there have been many other films released with actors called Bruce Lie, ot Bruce Li, these films claim to be the sequel to Fist of Fury, and other Bruce's films, as you know they are all fake. They are merley films down with some actors who look physically like Bruce Lee, but as soon as you see them move, you know its not him!! The only real one is Game of Death 2, also produced by Raymond Chow. What i mean by real one, is that its the only film the has real footage of Bruce Lee, after his death. This film contains footage of Bruce Lee, taken from Enter the Dragon, and other films, the quality is not very good, but atleast you get to see him for a couple of more minutes! One other important observation is the fact that many people think that there is a curse on the Lee family. Was it a coinsidence that his son Brandon Lee only got to do the same amount of movies that his father did, and after having completed his final film The Crow, he was shot on set. The real facts of his death have never really been told, but they say that during an action scene, they used a gun, but instead of blanks, the gun had real bullets, and Brandon was killed. Why... was it the Chinese mafia, the one whole, might have also killed Bruce Lee for teaching martial arts?? His wife Linda, has always kept Shannon their daughter protected from the media and it was'nt till recently that you can see her in magazines and even in an American martial arts series. Could the curse have ended with Brandons death?? or is it still on going.. We can only hope that Shannon does not go through her fathers and brohers path, and that the curse has ended, but it is something we'll never know. There are many more things to say about Bruce Lee that just would'nt fit on this web page, many things that people dont know about him. but if you have any question, just email me, and i will me more than willing to answer them for you. The main thing that we have to remember about Bruce Lee is the fact that he touched so many people, so many lives in so many different ways. For me, his life ment alot, since i started to learn about the real Bruce Lee, i have been able to appriciate martial arts alot better. I have been able to judge life from a better perspective and angle. In his book Tao of Jeet Kune Do, for example, i was able to understand a lot better how to see life, see problems, in a more leveled, and balanced manner. I now know and understand what Ying and Yang is all about, its about been able to stand in the middle of a problem, or situation, and been able to see both effects that this problem will have in your life. ITs basically what Bruce used to do before a fight. If you think that you are defeated, then, no matter how well prepared you are, you WILL be defeated. You always have to have a clear mind, and be able to analyse your problems/fights, in all directions. By this i mean, that you should be able to work out how to overcome your problem, and you must convince your self that you can do it. Only then will you stand a chance against anything. No matter what the size of your problem/opponent is, if you are mentally and spiritually prepared, you will be able to defeat it. This is just a small example of what effect Bruce Lee has had on me, and many other people. Thus i constructed this web site, to let other people know what Bruce Lee was really all about. I hope that from having read this article, you will have been able to appriciate Bruce Lee more, and appricate life better. Of course there are many more things that i could write, things about Bruce Lee and his philosophies, but i am sure that all you Bruce Lee fans out there already know must of the important things, and it is us, who have to maintain his memory and thought alive for ever. This is the legend of Bruce Lee...

During his life time, Bruce Lee did more to bring the martial arts to the attention of the general public than any other man, and as a result much has been written about him. But, do you really know the true story of Bruce Lee?

Most of the material that is out there has always centered around his carrer as a 'martial artist' and 'superstar'. But there is more to this man than meets the eye. But now, for the first time, you will be able to read on this web site, about the life of Bruce Lee as seen from his family members, such as his mother Grace Lee. In this section you will be able to learn about his fustrations and tiumphs, and see how they affected his personality. This is my way of paying homage to a man blessed with a charismatic magic and a talent and wisdom far beyond his years..

This is the story of a legend.......

Mysterious Happenings

Death

After Death

It all started on the morning of November 27, 1940 (Chinese year of the Dragon)

Lee Jun Fan as he was called by his parents, was born in San Fransisco whilst his father Lee Hoi Chuen, (an actor) was acting in New York. Bruce was one of 4 children at the time, he had a brother called Peter and two sisters called Pheobe and Agnes.

Even at an early age of only 3 months, Bruce was already appearing in an American Production as a baby stand in (Golden Gate Girl).

At the age of six, Bruce was at one of his fathers sets, when the director of his fathers films saw him and, and was so impressed that he offerd Bruce his first real part in a film.

As a kid, Bruce was quite mischievous, he was always rushing and jumping around the house, he could never sit still doing nothing, he always had to do something...something that in the future would develop into the man he was. His sisters remember when they used to sleep in the same room as him, they say they had to be careful cause he used to sleep walk all the time!

His sisters starting calling him Little Dragon as he would always come to their defence if anybody was teasing them. But as a teenager, Bruce started to get in more and more street fights with other kids. And if he did'nt win...he would become very furious!

It was at about this time that Bruce started to study Wing Chun Kung fu, an extremely sophisticated Chinese self defence system. He practiced long and hard, and became increasingly proficient.

But at the beginning, as his instructor, Yip Man recalls. We would have some sparring matches with the other martial arts students, and the first couple of times, Bruce was actually beaten, but this only made him even more determined to learn and perfect the art of Kung Fu. Until after a couple of lessons, Bruce was able to beat all the other students in the class!!

At this time he was also quite interested in the Cha Cha dance, which involved many different patterns of movements. But Bruce was able to memorise them all, and became a very good dancer, who even won many competitions!

Through out this time, Bruce was still making more films in Hong Kong with his last one being "Orphan". But at the same time he was becomming more and more involved in street fighting, plus he had dropped out of school, So his mother was feeling quite concernd about it all. So, by 1959, His mother sent Bruce to America, to live with some family friends, where he was to finish High School.

Wing Chun (meaning "beautiful springtime") is a very sophisticated martial arts which stresses economy of movement and springing energy. It was founded by a woman called Yim Wing Chun, over four hundered years ago. The styles were based on the techniques of Shaolin nun Ng Mui of the Fukien province. Yim Wing Chun felt that the Shaolin style was too complex and had too much emphasis on power techniques and strong stances. She wanted a more simple yet powerful form of self defence, and thus came up with her own.

The style that she developed was passed down from generation to generation through out the centuries to people such as Leong Buk Sul, Wong Wah Bo, Leong Yee Tai, Leong Jon, Chan Wah Soon, Yip Man and others. Bruce had studied other styles of Kung Fu before having done Wing Chun, but he prefered this one to any other because he felt it to be the most effectie. He very soon started to show natural and under the tuition of Yip Man, improved steadily.

While Bruce was in the United States he finished high school and went on to college. By day he would attend the University of Washington and at nights he would in a restuarant called Ruby Chow as a waiter. But this of course did not last very long as he knew this life style was defenetly not for him. So, he quit his job and instead, started to teach Kung Fu to other university students, which is how would survive financially. Those lessons he taught also helped him meet his future wife Linda Emery.

By 1964 Bruce and Linda were married. Even though her mother did not really like the idea, they both got married in secret but shortly after told her family which did'nt take it very well, but shortly afterwards realised what a great perosn Bruce Lee was.

By 22 Bruce wrote his first book, titled "Chinese Gung-Fu: the philosophical art of self defense". The book entitled his developement on both the spiritual side as well as the physical side of martial arts.

By 1965 Bruce had already established some Kung fu schools ("Kwoon") in Seattle (Jun Fan Gung Fu Institutes), in which he taught Jeet Kune Do (The way of the intercepting fist). Bruce had being reasesing Wing Chun Kung Fu, he thought that there were too many patterns to follow, too many fixed positions that would only slow down a fight. And hence, after many years of practicing and thinking he came up with Jeet Kune Do. Jeet Kune Do is basically a technique which you can apply to any martial arts, Bruce did not really want to give it a name as such because he knew that people would start to think of it as another martial arts, where as really it is a technique which you apply to your own martial art to become more fluid and fast.

Bruce had his own feelings about Kung Fu, and in a letter he once wrote "To me, Gung Fu is so extraordinary because it is nothing at all special; Gung fu is simply the direct expression of one's feelings with the minimum lines and energy -- every movement being so of itself, without the artificialities of which 99% of all masters tend to complicate. Always remember that the closer to the true way of Gung Fu, the less wastage of expression there is. The art is the expression of the self. The more complicated and restrictive the method is, the less the opportunity for the expression of one's original sense of freedom."

Bruce would select his students intuitively. He did'nt just accept any old student, if he did'nt like you, he would'nt have you as a student. He believed in teaching the concept of Jeet Kune do, not the technique. He never liked 'Robot Training', 'Dont get caught up in a certain rythm' he would say. Real Combat is'nt in a set rythm, you have to be spontaneous and adapt to a kind of broken rythm, reacting to what ever comes to you.

Bruce taught that you had to become part of the movement of your opponent. In other words, if your opponent throws a punch at you, instead of basically blocking it with you forearm, slide into the opening of you opponent at the same time that he punches, and strike him where he has left an opening. For example, if somebody punches you with their right hand, their right hand side of the ribs will be left opened momenteraly. Use that gap to counter attack at the same time that your opponent strikes, so your movement and his become one. Everything has to flow as one whole movement.

Another thing he did not like was blocking, he prefered to use Trapping, what is called as "trapping hands". Basically instead of blocking your opponents hands, you grap them and immobilize them instead of deflecting them. This is pretty similur to the teachings of Wing Chun Kung fu. People who practice Wing Chun say that, "Attack is the best form of Defense!". This is called Pak Sau and is practised by standing infront of another person and placing your hands infront of each other, and start a sequence of movements with your hands.

This technique along Chi Sau (sticky hands) and Lap Sau are practiced in Wing Chun and bascially improve your sense of Chi and balance, as well as how to grap your opponent by going into his movement, so that you both do one movement at once. (i.e. he punches, you move in and grap, all in one).

Due to this martial art technique that he had, many other martial artist challenged Bruce regulary, Karate men would say that it was all nonse, but were soon corrected when Bruce beat them. But it was mainly in this fights that Bruce realised that he had to change the techniques of Wing Chun that he had learned to his Jeet Kune Do. Once, an important Kung Fu master challenged Bruce to stop teaching his martial arts techniques to people other than Chinese. If Bruce was not to stop, he would have to face the Kung fu master in a fight. Bruce, without a doubt accepted the challenge, as he thought that any person who really wanted to learn was worthy of being taught. Naturally Bruce beat the Kung Fu master and continued teaching Kung Fu. But this battle was a turning point in his life, because unlike the film "Dragon" (portraying Bruce's life played by Jason Scott Lee) suggests, he did'nt break his back in the fight. It was a turning point because he realised that the fight had taken too long, he said that there were too many fixed positions, too many traditions, and thus Jeet Kune Do was born.

By 1966 his father had already died, and his son Brandon was born. He was also spotted at a Long Beach (california) karate tournament by a TV producer, and he was given the opportunity to act in a series called 'The Green Hornet', were he acted as Kato an assistant of a hereo. But this series was soon cut of the air, and Bruce only appeared in a couple of more episodes of a series called 'Long Street' and a feature film called 'Marlowe'.

His second child, Shannon, was born. She was to be the only child of Bruce that is still alive!

In 1969, Bruce found out that Kato, (the role he played in Green Hornet) was very famous in Hong Kong, so he spent most of his time studying as much as he could about filming, cameras, lighting, everything he could find. He knew that he had an opportunity here, an opportunity that he could not let escape. He was most of the time between Hong Kong and Hollywood, getting different offers for films. His fees rised tremendosly as there was more and more demand for him.

By this time Bruce had also written one of the most important books that he would have ever written. Its a book that collects all of his thoughts and ideas of Jeet Kune Do. A book that has every original idea, sketch, thought that he ever had whilst trainning. This is the book every Bruce Lee fan must have, "The Tao of Jeet Kune Do".

In 1970, whilst Bruce was trainning, whilst he was doing some back excersizes, he accidently injured his back. He had injured the forth sacral nerve permanently. This meant that he would have back pains for the rest of his life, and that he would have to be taking pills for the rest of his life too!

In 1971 Bruce went to Thailand to star in his fist super block buster martial arts film, "The Big Boss". (a.k.a Fist of Fury) All his Hong Kong were completly fasinated with it. His second movie, Fist of Fury (a.k.a Chinese Connection), was even more succesful!. Theres a romuor that Bruce would actually slip into the cinemas, unseen when they would be playing The Big Boss to see how the audiences reacted to his films, luckly they loved it!.

Bruce soon after, formed his own production company in association with Raymond Chow and together they produced the first film that Bruce Lee had written and directed, that being, "Way of the Dragon". This film featured many well known chinese martial arts actors and also the famous Chuck Norris who was discoverd by Bruce Lee in a Karate tournament and also Bob Wall. Bruce beleived that this film would have even more success than any of his other films. His belief was very very accurate as it became a fantastic success.

At this point, Bruce seemed to be at the top of the world, everything was going well for him, he had many interviews in America and in Hong Kong where he would always demonstraight his two finger push ups which almost nobody can do. He would also demonstraight the breaking of thick boards that would be hanging or even standing on thier own. To break these boards, it obviously takes a devastating fast and powerfull kick. An small example of this could be trying to punch through a piece of paper which is just hanging from a thread. If you punch the paper, it will just move away because it is too light and has no support. But if you are fast enough, you will be able to punch through the paper and break it in half...something that took me about a week of trainning, but atleast now i can do it! Of course Bruce Lee always used to say that he did'nt see the point in breaking boards and stuff like that, but he would purely do it for TV entertainment.

But Bruce's most famous, and probably best film was the one he did with the American Production Company, "Enter the Dragon". Before Bruce left for Hong Kong to do his martial arts films he was going to play a part in what has been a very long a successful series called Kung Fu. He was promised the part of the main character, but sadly got rejected at the last minute for racial reasons in the 60's. But, the production of Enter the Dragon changed it all. This film became a success world wide, its been considerd by some as "The martial arts film of all time!". In this film Bruce was able to show many of his fighting techniques and weapon techniques, such as the nunchaku and the Filipino double sticks, plus its the only film were he features his only voice.

But whilst he was filming this film, he was also making "Game of Death" in Hong Kong. During the making of these films he received many challenges and threats by many Chinese stunt men and crew members. Many times on the set of Enter the Dragon, Bruce would actually fight some Chinese stunt men for real, obviously beaten them all. But during this film, many strange things happend to him, many things that he should have taken more into consideration!

During the making of Enter the Dragon, Bruce received a couple of threats, to the extent that many of his very close friends say that he walked the streets with a gun. During the film, a couple of strange things happend to him. In one case, there was a scene where Bruce had to handle a real snake. Apparently this snake was not supposed to be venemous, but according to some, the snake bit him once, and it WAS venemous, causing Bruce to get rushed to hospital for emergency treatment.

Another thing that happend to him is in a scene where there was glass being used. In films when they use glass on actors, its normally what they call sugar glass, which is completly harmless. But on one occasion, the glass was real, and Bruce was injured.

Finally another thing that happend to him where the challenges that he kept getting from the other film members, constant threats and dwels.

Something was defenetly going wrong, but no one seemed to notice. His wife Linda kept on telling Bruce to be careful, to take care, but Bruce was too proud and happy about his success to notice what was going on.

During the filming of Game of Death, Bruce was offerd some Hashisha leaves to chew. Bruce was a very hyper active man, and eating Hashisha leaves (as he did'nt smoke) would help him calm down. But on this one occasion, who ever gave him the leaf, gave him a presumably poisoned one. Bruce black out, and was rushed to hospital with an increadible swelling of his head. He survived by a thin line. Doctors told him that the leaf had caused an allergic reaction to his body.....but how??? Bruce had been taken it for years, this had never happed to him, or to anybody i know for that matter!! something was going on, and nobody seemed to notice. Nobody except for his personal doctor in America. He told Bruce that that was no allergic reaction, but Bruce refused to beleive that anybody was trying to kill him.

In July 20, 1973, the year when Enter the Dragon was supposed to be realised, Bruce passed away. He had been in his female friends house, looking over some scripts, again chewing on some Hashisha leaves, when he suddenly had a massive head each and wanted to lie down for a nap. Unfortunatly, he would never wake up again.

His friend called an ambulance as soon as she realised that Bruce was unconcious and Raymond Chow and her went to the hospital with him. On the way to the hospital, he died. When they did the autopsy, they reveled that Bruce haf beeen allergic to a asperin that he had taken before, an allergy which caused he brain to swell, and thus die. But his doctor from America has a different opinion.

There are many questions that we dont know about his death. How the hell did Raymond Chow get to Bruce's friends house so quick when he was supposed to be in a restuarant waiting for Bruce??. Why did his friend give Bruce an asperin which supposenly contained a chemical which is lethal to all Chinese people??? Why was it that when he got to the hospital, the doctors kept passing the body around, nobody wanted to do the autopsy??? And why is it that when the autopsy was done, nobody was allowed to observe???

These are many question that i ask myself many times, Why, why, why, ...maybe some of you out there can answer them for me. I have my own theories about what happend, but this page is not here for that, so i'll keep them to my self for the time being!

Before Bruce died, there where many articles in magazines saying that Bruce had died. These were all lies, but his family in Hong Kong, especially his mother Grace Lee did'nt this, so every time they this kind of article, they would be very very worried. Bruce would tell them not to bother about them, that these magazines only wanted to sell issues, and that the next time they saw such a heading, they should ignore it. But Grace Lee, (his mother) always checked to see if it was true or not, unfortunatly, on July 20, 1973, the article about Bruce's death was real, Bruce had really died.
His death shocked the whole world, not to mention his family. Nobody could believe that such a healthy man, so strong and fit could have died so young, so suddenly. Of course not many people knew about the collapse that he had had before whilst filming Game Of Death because of the Hashisha Leaf. But the point is that this man was too young to die, everything was going so well for him and his family..perhaps to well for some people. Some people speculate that the reason for his death was the fact that he was working too hard, so hard that the pressure had finally got to him, physically and mentally. But this was a man who enjoyed what he did, who had been dreaming that one day he would be able to do what he was doing. Millions of fans, friends and family members added the inquest of how it happend. But all they got back was "Death by misadventure" a pretty stupid cryptic explanation. All doctors would say is that he had died because of celebral edema, water on the brain, but no one could pin point exactly what caused it. The closest they released was the fact that he was allergic to what ever type of asperin it is that he took that night. Could it be that the pills he was taking for his injured back, killed him????, These are questions we'll never really now.
Another thing that was also said is that Bruce was given what is known in martial art legends as "The touch of Death", by another rival master. But of course all of Bruce's friends such Dan Inosanto knew this was absurd as Bruce always said that nobody could never get close enough to touch him!!
Probably the most commen theory of his death, and the one to which i agree the most is that fact that the Chinese Mafia was involved on all of this. Was Raymond Chow and Bruce's female friend involved in all of this?? if not, how come non of the two wanted to give any public details of the account, especially his female friend, Bruce died in her house, but she said nothing until many years later, why? Was she sworn to keep quiet? threatend even?
Until today, non of these question have been able to be answerd, there have been many speculations, and attempts, but this aura of mystery that surround Bruce Lee's death will never be revealed. But perhaps Bruce Lee's fans..US, should not remember him by how he died, or even why he died, the important thing to remenber, which is what his famliy would like, specially his wife Linda, is how he lived, how he touched millions of peoples lifes, including my own...

On June 7, 1979 The Game of Death was released, the producers Raymond Chow was able to complete the film by adding pieces of footage from different Bruce Lee films, plus Bruce had already filmed some scenes prior to his death. thousands of loyal fans attended the ceremony, including his wife, daugther and son Brandon who actually did a 30 minute special appearing dressed wearing some of his fathers costumes from famous films. That day, the master of ceremonies read out Mayor Tom Bradley's proclamation of Bruce Lee day!!
Bruce Lee became a legend over the years, and even though he has died, a legend never dies, and thus, Bruce Lee will live for ever, and as he would say, he will "WALK ON" for ever!!

After Bruce's death, His wife Linda and his two children, Brandon and Shannon moved back to America. Linda was very affected and with the help of family friends and Grace, Bruce's mother, they were able to get along. Linda soon found many notes about martial arts and self defense that Bruce had been writing, and that he was planning to publish as a mini series of books about self defense and trainning techniques. She felt that she would be keeping Bruce teachings away from his fans, and so decided to go ahead and publish these books. With the help of Bruce's close friend and student Dan Inosanto, they finished the books and published them in the early eighties. These books were called "Bruce Lee Fighting Methods". There are a total of 4 books. 3 of them are based on the trainning side, Bruce explains what kind of trainning you should do to become a martial artist, how to stretch, warm up, different stances, kicks, punches, etc. Each book had a different level of trainning, they were called:

Bruce Lee's Fighting Methods...'Basic Training'. This book is basically about how to prepare your self physically to be a martial artist.

Bruce Lee's Fighting Methods...'Skill in Techniques'. This book is basically the same as the previous one, although it is based more on techniques.

Bruce Lee's Fighting Methods...'Advanced Techniques'. This book is a continuation of the previous one.
The fourth book, is plain and simple, about self defense. Bruce goes through a series of different situations in which somebody might be attacked down the street, and how to defend your self. These books contain step by step photo ilustrations of Bruce and Dan Inosanto of how to cary out the moves. (Example of Photo). These four books are a must have for all Bruce Lee fans, and serious martial artists too!

Bruce Lee's Fighting Methods...'Self Defense Techniques'.
Linda also published another book called "The Bruce Lee Story". This book is mainly about her life with Bruce, and explains all the things that happend to them through out their life together.

After Bruce's final film, The Game of Death, there have been many other films released with actors called Bruce Lie, ot Bruce Li, these films claim to be the sequel to Fist of Fury, and other Bruce's films, as you know they are all fake. They are merley films down with some actors who look physically like Bruce Lee, but as soon as you see them move, you know its not him!! The only real one is Game of Death 2, also produced by Raymond Chow. What i mean by real one, is that its the only film the has real footage of Bruce Lee, after his death. This film contains footage of Bruce Lee, taken from Enter the Dragon, and other films, the quality is not very good, but atleast you get to see him for a couple of more minutes!

One other important observation is the fact that many people think that there is a curse on the Lee family. Was it a coinsidence that his son Brandon Lee only got to do the same amount of movies that his father did, and after having completed his final film The Crow, he was shot on set. The real facts of his death have never really been told, but they say that during an action scene, they used a gun, but instead of blanks, the gun had real bullets, and Brandon was killed. Why... was it the Chinese mafia, the one whole, might have also killed Bruce Lee for teaching martial arts?? His wife Linda, has always kept Shannon their daughter protected from the media and it was'nt till recently that you can see her in magazines and even in an American martial arts series. Could the curse have ended with Brandons death?? or is it still on going.. We can only hope that Shannon does not go through her fathers and brohers path, and that the curse has ended, but it is something we'll never know.
There are many more things to say about Bruce Lee that just would'nt fit on this web page, many things that people dont know about him. but if you have any question, just email me, and i will me more than willing to answer them for you.

The main thing that we have to remember about Bruce Lee is the fact that he touched so many people, so many lives in so many different ways. For me, his life ment alot, since i started to learn about the real Bruce Lee, i have been able to appriciate martial arts alot better. I have been able to judge life from a better perspective and angle. In his book Tao of Jeet Kune Do, for example, i was able to understand a lot better how to see life, see problems, in a more leveled, and balanced manner. I now know and understand what Ying and Yang is all about, its about been able to stand in the middle of a problem, or situation, and been able to see both effects that this problem will have in your life. ITs basically what Bruce used to do before a fight. If you think that you are defeated, then, no matter how well prepared you are, you WILL be defeated. You always have to have a clear mind, and be able to analyse your problems/fights, in all directions. By this i mean, that you should be able to work out how to overcome your problem, and you must convince your self that you can do it. Only then will you stand a chance against anything. No matter what the size of your problem/opponent is, if you are mentally and spiritually prepared, you will be able to defeat it.
This is just a small example of what effect Bruce Lee has had on me, and many other people. Thus i constructed this web site, to let other people know what Bruce Lee was really all about. I hope that from having read this article, you will have been able to appriciate Bruce Lee more, and appricate life better. Of course there are many more things that i could write, things about Bruce Lee and his philosophies, but i am sure that all you Bruce Lee fans out there already know must of the important things, and it is us, who have to maintain his memory and thought alive for ever. This is the legend of Bruce Lee...

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