*1965-1993*
Brandon Bruce Lee
February 1, 1965
Oakland California
8lbs. 11oz.
*Parents-
Bruce (Jun Fan) Lee
Linda Lee (Cadwell)
*Siblings-
Shannon Lee Kesler
*Fiance-
Eliza Hutton
Kung Fu: The Movie 1986
Legacy of Rage: 1988
Ohara-TV Series: 1987-1988
Laser Mission: 1989
Showdown in Little Tokyo: 1991
Rapid Fire: 1992
The Crow: 1994-released
Brandon was born a sturdy baby of 8lbs. and 11oz. on Febraury1, 1965 in the East Oakland Hospital across the bay from San Francisco.
Brandon's childhood was not an easy one-his parents were constantly on the move and he never slept through the night for his first eighteen months. In Linda Lee Cadwell's book, The Bruce Lee Story, she said this about Brandon; "He never took a pacifier or a special blanket, he just hollered all the time, which ironically seems to have marked the beginning of his life's patterns. Brandon was born with a head of jet black hair, which quickly fell out and grew into platinum blonde."
At school Brandon was regularly challenged about his own manhood..."When I was growing up, we moved around alot, and whenever I'd get to a new school there'd be somebody there wanting to kick my ass." At first he was unable to stop fists, the way his father had, which led him back into the martial arts. He may not have had all his father's Kung Fu skills, but he did inherit his father's rebellious nature. As a former teacher recalled, "He didn't need school, and he thumbed his nose at the rules." As a teenager Brandon once drove his car in reverse through the oncoming traffic on his high-school campus. Brandon was expelled and had to attend a nearby high-school to finish his final exams in order to recieve his diploma.
One of Brandon's enjoyments at school was drama and upon graduation he left for the Actor's Studio in New York. From there he went on to studying at Emerson College in Boston. "Since my earliest memories I have always wanted to become an actor, and I pursued that from the time I was very young, I read somewhere that anyone that can be persuaded not to be an actor should be, and I have really never felt that there were other paths for me. It is all I have ever wanted to do, and it is all I have ever pursued. I have been fortunate enough now to start to build a career doing that."
Brandon's first professional role came in 1986 when he starred in the CBS TV film Kung Fu: The Movie, where he played alongside David Carradine. He then landed a spot on the short lived TV Series O'hara, starring Pat Morita. The back to being David Carradine's co-star in Kung Fu: The Next Generation. Legacy of Rage was his next project which was filmed in 1988, this movie made Brandon famous in Hong Kong. In 1990 he filmed a not so popular filmed called Lasser Mission opposite Ernest Borgnine. In 1991 he finally got his chance to film in the States in a adventure film, Showdown in Little Tokyo, in this film Brandon plays a police officer alongside Dolph Lundgren. In 1992 came Rapid Fire a major role in which established Brandon into the Martial Art films. Brandon choreographed many of the fight scenes in Rapid Fire with friend Jeff Imada. And his last and final film would seem to mark his best work...THE CROW.
*Final Interview*
"The crow in the film, the bird in the film, you could really look at it as a guide. Almost a piece of his own personality that guides him back into his life and reminds him of who he was, what happened to him. This is a person who has been pushed right to the limits of his ability to cope with what is going on. And in a sense is quite mad sometimes, in a sense completely insane, almost in a sense that you might think of an insane person having voices. More rational voices that try to guide him, more irrational voices that come from a more emotional, more deep-seeded place. I think that the crow is that rational voice, the crow is his guide. The crow helps Eric to do what he has to do in a very practical sense; it leads him to places where he has to be, it helps him find people he has to find.
It's a story about justice for victims. His mission is to find the people who killed himself and his fiance, and kill them. It's a wonderful role, it really is a role that you can take risks with, and gives you a wonderful opportunity to take those risks and stretch, because after all can you tell me how someone who has come back from the dead will behave? That is one of the wonderful things about playing this character, it is real, you can really take the gloves off in playing this part because there are no rules on how a person who has come back from the dead is going to behave.
There is a part of him that is filled with rage towards what was done to him. And another thing that I like about this movie is that all the parts of the character are given a balance on the screen. He is torn up really badly, both physically and psychically. I think the appeal of Eric's mission is that it is a very pure one. He has come back to seek justice.
I have done other films that have had violence in them, but I have never done anything where I felt that the violence was as justified as this. There is very little need to worry about compassion for his victims. This is justice and I truly feel that it is, and I truly feel if I was in the same situation I would do the same thing: It is something that he has to do, and he is forced to put aside his own pain long enough to do what he has to. This film deals with the concept of a solution being struck between good and evil.
~Because we do not know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well and yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number really. How many times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood? An afternoon that is so deeply a part of your being that you cannot even concieve of your life without it? Perhaps four, five times more? Perhaps not even that. How many times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty and yet it all seems limitless. This is the point of view this character is coming from in the whole film, because it has brought sharply into focus how precious each moment of his life was.
This is the best role I have had the opportunity to get my hands on."
*The night of March 30, 1993*
March 30, 1993--day 50 of the shoot started later than planned. The cast and crew had come to work with only eight hours of break time from the previous day's shoot. Proceedings should have started at 7:45pm, but it was 9:30 before the night's nine short sequences were ready to shoot. The scene was a flashback-the one where Eric is murdered and his girlfriend, Shelly beaten and raped. Brandon was called onto the soundstage at a little past midnight.
Eric would enter the flat as T-Bird and Funboy were in the process of assaulting Shelly. Carrying only a bag of groceries, Eric would open the door only for Funboy to pull out his pistol and shoot Eric. In reality it was a simple scene to film in which an explosive device was hidden inside the grocery bag and then detonated to simulate the bullet from Funboy's gun. The actors ran through rehearsal, then the crew was ready to shoot. The scene was played out exactly as rehearsed. Funboy, T-bird and Shelly, Eric walking through the door suprising the assailants. Funboy pulling out his pistol and firing. A defeaning bang echoed around the set as Brandon supposedly detonated the device hidden inside his bag of groceries and then on cue, doubling over, staggering and finally tumbling to the ground. Brandon lay still, his head wedged against the door, his feet in front of the camera's. Only one of the technicians admit hearing a weak plea from Brandon...'cut, cut, somebody please say cut'...Things finally come to a halt-then and only then-did everyone realize that something was wrong.
There was a hole in Brandon's abdomen the size of a small coin. As one of the crew members later recalled, "I'll never forget what it looked like-it was eye-shaped, about an inch below his belly button on his right side." Brandon's heart reportedly stopped on the 30-minute drive to New Hannover Medical Center. Surgeon Warrem McMurry tried to staunch the bleeding but after an epic, five-hour operation, there was little improvement in Brandon's condition. McMurry stated, "There was so much blood loss. It wouldn't clot." McMurry told a small group of the crew people who had followed the ambulance to the hospital that there was small object lodged against Brandon's spine. It had severed one major artery and caused damage to several major organs. An autopsy conducted on Brandon's body after it had been flown to Jacksonville revealed a .44 calibre bullet had indeed been found lodged against his spine.
On April 3, 1993 Brandon's body was flown to Seattle where he is buried next to his father, in Lake View Cemetary...
