Lee entered the primary school division of the Catholic La Salle College at the age of 12.
Gallery of Bruce Lee
45 Sycamore St, Tai Kok Tsui, Hong Kong
In 1956, Lee began to attend St. Francis Xavier's College.
College/University
Gallery of Bruce Lee
Roosevelt Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115, United States
Bruce studied at the University of Washington.
Gallery of Bruce Lee
1701 Broadway, Seattle, WA 98122, United States
Lee finished Edison Technical School (now Seattle Central College).
Career
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1966
American actor Van Williams and martial arts expert Bruce Lee who appeared in the television show 'The Green Hornet' together.
Gallery of Bruce Lee
1971
Bruce Lee, Shan Chin, Ching-Ying Lam, and Kun Li in Tang shan da xiong (The Big Boss).
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1971
Bruce Lee, Kun Li, and Maria Yi in Tang shan da xiong (The Big Boss).
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1971
Bruce Lee and Marilyn Bautista in Tang shan da xiong (The Big Boss).
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1971
Bruce Lee and Maria Yi in Tang shan da xiong (The Big Boss).
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1971
Bruce Lee and Shan Chin in Tang shan da xiong (The Big Boss).
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1971
Bruce Lee in Tang shan da xiong (The Big Boss).
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1972
Actor Bruce Lee appears on the poster for the martial arts film 'Fist of Fury.'
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1973
Bruce Lee stars in 'Enter the Dragon,' directed by Robert Clouse.
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1973
Bruce Lee as Lee and Hungarian-born actress Ahna Capri as Tania in 'Enter the Dragon,' directed by Robert Clouse.
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1973
Actor Bruce Lee with producer Fred Weintraub on the set of the movie 'Enter the Dragon.'
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Bruce Lee raises his hands in a defensive stance during a fight in an unidentified film still.
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Bruce Lee in the television series 'The Green Hornet.'
Gallery of Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee, Chinese-American actor and martial artist, and Van Williams, United States' actor, both in costume, in a publicity portrait issued for the United States television series, 'The Green Hornet.'
Gallery of Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee demonstrating a Kung-fu kick in the air as people watch on the set of "The Chinese Connection."
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Bruce Lee, taking on the entire membership of a Japanese boxing club in the movie "The Chinese Connection.'
Gallery of Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee stars as Chen Zhen, a martial artist investigating the mystery of his teacher's death in "The Chinese Connection."
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Chinese-American martial artist and actor Bruce Lee on the set of Game of Death, written and directed by Robert Clouse.
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American actor John Saxon and Chinese-American martial artist and actor Bruce Lee on the set of Enter the Dragon, directed by Robert Clouse.
Gallery of Bruce Lee
Chinese American martial artist and actor Bruce Lee on the set of Enter the Dragon, directed by Robert Clouse.
Gallery of Bruce Lee
Chinese martial artists and actors Kien Shih and Bruce Lee on the set of Enter the Dragon, directed by Robert Clouse.
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American actor Robert Wall and Chinese-American martial artist and actor Bruce Lee on the set of Enter the Dragon, directed by Robert Clouse.
Gallery of Bruce Lee
Chinese-American martial artist and actor Bruce Lee on the set of Big Boss, written and directed by Wei Lo.
Gallery of Bruce Lee
Chinese-American martial artist, actor, director and screenwriter Bruce Lee on the set of his movie Meng Long Guo Jiang (The Way of the Dragon).
Gallery of Bruce Lee
Chinese-American martial artist and actor Bruce Lee and American actor Van Williams on the set of TV series The Green Hornet, created by George W. Trendle.
Achievements
6933 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028, United States
Bruce Lee, Chinese-American actor and martial artist, and Van Williams, United States' actor, both in costume, in a publicity portrait issued for the United States television series, 'The Green Hornet.'
Chinese-American martial artist and actor Bruce Lee and American actor Van Williams on the set of TV series The Green Hornet, created by George W. Trendle.
Chinese Gung Fu: The Philosophical Art of Self-Defense
(This book includes personal testimonies regarding the aut...)
This book includes personal testimonies regarding the author and his art from James Y. Lee, the legendary Ed Parker, and jujutsu icon Wally Jay. Through hand-drawn diagrams and captioned photo sequences, Lee's text comes to life as he demonstrates a variety of training exercises and fighting techniques. Topics include basic gung fu stances, waist training, leg training, and the theory of yin and yang.
(Vividly illustrating the techniques of a legendary innova...)
Vividly illustrating the techniques of a legendary innovator, this definitive examination explains how to survive attacks on the street, increase training awareness, and develop body movements.
(A drama film starring the then 10-year old Bruce Lee in h...)
A drama film starring the then 10-year old Bruce Lee in his first leading role in the title role of "Kid Cheung," based on a comic book character written by Yuen Po Wan.
(Matt Helm, the debonair secret agent, saves the world fro...)
Matt Helm, the debonair secret agent, saves the world from doom in this fourth and final "Matt Helm" feature. This time he prevents the world's economy from collapsing as a crime ring hijacks $1 billion in gold. The crime ring's plan is eventually foiled, but only after countless fights, chases, and murders.
(When quiet, Midwesterner Orfamy Quest hires Marlowe to fi...)
When quiet, Midwesterner Orfamy Quest hires Marlowe to find her brother, what should be a simple case for the detective quickly becomes a dangerous game of cat and mouse.
(A young kung-fu fighter who has sworn an oath of non-viol...)
A young kung-fu fighter who has sworn an oath of non-violence works with his cousins in an ice factory. The fighter decides to break his oath and avenge his relatives after they are slain by their gangster boss.
(Lee plays Chen Zhen, a student of Huo Yuanjia, who fights...)
Lee plays Chen Zhen, a student of Huo Yuanjia, who fights to defend the honor of the Chinese in the face of foreign aggression and to bring to justice those responsible for his master's death.
(David Carradine, Christopher Lee, Roddy McDowall and Eli ...)
David Carradine, Christopher Lee, Roddy McDowall and Eli Wallach star in this acclaimed cult hit that brings Bruce Lee's personal philosophy to the screen with a still-potent combination of mysticism, humor and martial arts mayhem.
Bruce Lee was a Hong Kong American film actor who was renowned for his martial arts prowess and who helped popularize martial arts movies in the 1970s.
Background
Ethnicity:
Bruce's father was Han Chinese, and his mother was of Eurasian ancestry.
Bruce Lee was born Lee Yuen Kam in San Francisco's Jackson Street Hospital on the evening of November 27, 1940 between the hours of 6:00 and 8:00, significantly in both the hour and year of the Dragon. The fourth son of Grace Ho and Lee Hoi Chuen, a star of the classical Chinese opera, Lee's name meant "Protector of San Francisco."
Education
Bruce's stardom began early, with his first film appearance at the age of three months in a movie called Golden Gate Girl. By then it was 1941, and though their native Hong Kong was occupied by Japanese troops, the Lees decided to return home. According to Chinese superstition, demons sometimes try to steal male children. Out of fear for the young boy's safety, they dressed him as a girl and even made him attend a girl's school for a while. Meanwhile, Lee grew up around the cinema and appeared in a Hong Kong movie when he was four. Two years later, a director recognized his star quality and put him in another film. After attending Tak Sun School, Lee entered the primary school division of the Catholic La Salle College at the age of 12.
As a teenager, he became involved in two seemingly contradictory activities: gang warfare and dance. As a dancer, he won a cha-cha championship, and as a gang member, he risked death on the streets of Hong Kong. Out of fear that he might be caught at some point without his gang, helpless before a group of rivals, Lee began to study the Chinese martial arts of kung fu. The style that attracted his attention was called Wing Chun, which according to legend was developed by a woman named Yim Wing Chun, who improved on the techniques of a Shaolin Buddhist nun. Lee absorbed the style and began adding his own improvements. In 1956, due to poor academic performance and poor conduct, he was transferred to St. Francis Xavier's College.
Lee's film career continued, and he was becoming a popular actor in the Hong Kong film scene. Producer Run Run Shaw offered the high schooler a lucrative contract, and Lee wanted to take it. But when he got into trouble with the police for fighting, his mother sent him to the United States to live with friends of the family.
Lee finished Edison Technical School (now Seattle Central College). He then enrolled as a philosophy major at the University of Washington, where he supported himself by giving dance lessons and waiting tables at a Chinese restaurant.
While Lee studied at the University of Washington in Seattle, he opened his first martial arts school and, in 1964, he relocated to Oakland, California, to found a second school. It was about that time that he developed his own technique - jeet kune do, a blend of ancient kung fu, fencing, boxing, and philosophy - which he began teaching instead of traditional martial arts. Bruce also began to pursue his acting more seriously and landed a part in the TV series The Green Hornet. The show was based on a 1930s radio program, and Lee played the role of the Hornet's Asian assistant, Kato. He virtually created the role, imbuing Kato with a theatrical fighting style quite unlike that which Lee taught in his schools. The show would be canceled after one season, but fans would long remember Lee's role.
After the end of The Green Hornet, Lee made guest appearances on TV shows such as Longstreet and Ironside. His most notable role during this time was in the film Marlowe (1969) with James Garner, when he played a memorable part as a high-kicking villain. A serious injury in 1970 resulted in months of rehabilitation and afforded Lee the time to document his philosophy of martial arts.
Clearly, Lee had the qualities of a star; but it was just as clear that Asian Americans faced limitations within the Hollywood system, which tended to cast Oriental actors in stereotypical roles. Therefore in 1971, the Lees moved to Hong Kong.
Back in Hong Kong, Lee soon signed a two-film contract and released the movie known to United States audiences as Fists of Fury late in 1971. The story, which featured Lee as a fighter seeking revenge on those who had killed his kung fu master, was not original in itself; but the presentation of it was, and the crucial element was Lee. He combined the smooth, flowing style of jeet kune do that he taught in his schools with the loud, aggressive, and highly theatrical methods he had employed as Kato. With the graceful, choreographic qualities of his movements, his good looks and charm, his sense of humor and his acting ability, Lee was one of a kind - a star in the making.
Fists of Fury set box-office records in Hong Kong which were broken only by his next picture, The Chinese Connection, in 1972. Lee established his own film company, Concord Pictures, and began directing movies. The first of these would appear in the United States as Way of the Dragon. Lee was enthusiastic about his future, not merely as a performer, but as an artist. Unfortunately, Lee would not live to explore his full potential as a filmmaker: on July 20, 1973, three weeks before his fourth film, Enter the Dragon, was released in the United States, he died suddenly.
After Bruce's death, Robert Clouse, the director of Enter the Dragon, together with Golden Harvest, revived Lee's unfinished film Game of Death.
In 2015, Perfect Storm Entertainment and Bruce Lee's daughter, Shannon Lee, announced that the series The Warrior would be produced.
(The Merediths move to an isolated farm. Mrs. Meredith and...)
1970
Religion
Bruce was raised in a bi-religious household. His mother was a Catholic and his father a Buddhist. Lee was an atheist as an adult. In 1972 he was asked if he believed in God, he said, "To be perfectly frank, I really do not."
Politics
Bruce Lee did not involve himself formally in politics, but he was a symbol of diversity and the synthesis of "East" and "West."
Views
Lee's philosophy was very much in opposition to the conservative world view advocated by Confucianism. It mirrored his fighting beliefs. Bruce believed that any knowledge ultimately led to self-knowledge. He said that his chosen method of self-expression was martial arts. His influences include Taoism, Jiddu Krishnamurti, and Buddhism.
Lee also wrote poetry that reflected his emotion and a stage in his life collectively. His poems are, by American standards, rather dark. They reflect the deeper, less exposed recesses of the human psyche. These poems are categorized as anti-poetry or fall into a paradox. Lee's martial arts and philosophy contribute a great part to his poetry.
Quotations:
"Ever since I was a child I have had this instinctive urge for expansion and growth. To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one's potential."
"I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."
"The more we value things, the less we value ourselves."
"Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them."
"I am learning to understand rather than immediately judge or to be judged. I cannot blindly follow the crowd and accept their approach. I will not allow myself to indulge in the usual manipulating game of role creation. Fortunately for me, my self-knowledge has transcended that and I have come to understand that life is best to be lived and not to be conceptualized. I am happy because I am growing daily and I am honestly not knowing where the limit lies. To be certain, every day there can be a revelation or a new discovery. I treasure the memory of past misfortunes. It has added more to my bank of fortitude."
"If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done. Make at least one definite move daily toward your goal."
"To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person."
"A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at."
"Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable."
"Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend."
"Never waste energy on worries or negative thoughts, all problems are brought into existence - drop them."
"Absorb what is useful, discard what is not, add what is uniquely your own."
"Showing off is the fool's idea of glory."
"A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer."
"The possession of anything begins in the mind."
"I'm not in this world to live up to your expectations and you're not in this world to live up to mine."
"If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them."
"As you think, so shall you become."
"Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it."
"Choose the positive. You have a choice, you are the master of your attitude, choose the positive, the constructive. Optimism is a faith that leads to success."
"If there is a God, he is within. You don't ask God to give you things, you depend on God for your inner theme."
"If you don't want to slip up tomorrow, speak the truth today."
"A good teacher protects his pupils from his own influence."
"Knowledge will give you power, but character respect."
"Defeat is not defeat unless accepted as a reality in your own mind."
"Man, the living creature, the creating individual, is always more important than any established style or system."
"Obey the principles without being bound by them."
"It's not what you give, it's the way you give it."
"A quick temper will make a fool of you soon enough."
"Empty your cup so that it may be filled; become devoid to gain totality."
"If you want to learn to swim jump into the water. On dry land no frame of mind is ever going to help you."
"Know the difference between a catastrophe and an inconvenience. To realize that it's just an inconvenience, that it is not a catastrophe, but just an unpleasantness, is part of coming into your own, part of waking up."
"The moment is freedom. I couldn't live by a rigid schedule. I try to live freely from moment to moment, letting things happen and adjusting to them."
"For it is easy to criticize and break down the spirit of others, but to know yourself takes a lifetime."
"Take no thought of who is right or wrong, or who is better than. Be not for or against."
"To spend time is to pass it in a specified manner. To waste time is to expend it thoughtlessly or carelessly. We all have time to either spend or waste and it is our decision what to do with it. But once passed, it is gone forever."
"The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be."
"Self-knowledge involves relationship. To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person. Relationship is a process of self-evaluation and self-revelation. Relationship is the mirror in which you discover yourself - to be is to be related."
"Life itself is your teacher, and you are in a state of constant learning."
"Life is never stagnation. It is constant movement, unrhythmic movement, as we as constant change. Things live by moving and gain strength as they go."
"I wish neither to possess nor to be possessed. I no longer covet 'paradise.' More important, I no longer fear 'hell.' The medicine for my suffering I had within me from the very beginning but I did not take it. My ailment came from within myself, but I did not observe it, until this moment. Now I see that I will never find the light unless, like the candle, I am my own fuel, consuming myself."
"Art calls for complete mastery of techniques, developed by reflection within the soul."
"The doubters said, 'Man can not fly,' the doers said, 'Maybe, but we'll try,' and finally soared in the morning glow while non-believers watched from below."
"Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own."
"Reality is apparent when one ceases to compare. There is "what is" only when there is no comparison at all, and to live with "what is" is to be peaceful."
"Life's battles don't always go to the stronger or faster man. But sooner or later the man who wins is the man who thinks he can."
"The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering."
"Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind."
"To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities."
"Take things as they are. Punch when you have to punch. Kick when you have to kick."
"It's not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential."
"Many people dedicate their lives to actualizing a concept of what they should be like, rather than actualizing themselves. This difference between self-actualization and self-image actualization is very important. Most people live only for their image."
"Use only that which works and take it from any place you can find it."
"Boards don't hit back."
"The stillness in stillness is not the real stillness; only when there is stillness in movement does the universal rhythm manifest."
"If you think a thing is impossible, you'll only make it impossible."
"Everything you do, if not in a relaxed state will be done at a lesser level than you are proficient. Thus the tensed expert marksman will aim at a level less than his/her student."
"Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do."
"When one has reached maturity in the art, one will have a formless form. It is like ice dissolving in water. When one has no form, one can be all forms; when one has no style, he can fit in with any style."
"The athlete who is building muscles though weight training should be very sure to work adequately on speed and flexibility at the same time. In combat, without the prior attributes, a strong man will be like the bull with its colossal strength futilely pursuing the matador or like a low-geared truck chasing a rabbit."
"The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus."
"You just wait. I'm going to be the biggest Chinese Star in the world."
“What you habitually think largely determines what you will ultimately become."
"If you always put limits on what you can do, physical or anything else, it'll spread over into the rest of your life. It'll spread into your work, into your morality, into your entire being. There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level."
"All fixed set patterns are incapable of adaptability or pliability. The truth is outside of all fixed patterns."
"Simplicity is the key to brilliance."
Personality
Lee was a purist in that he preferred not to use movie tricks or extra boosts in his leaping attacks. He did the stunts himself. He had unquestioned charisma. He seems to celebrate a spur of cinema that separates violence from life and revels in it. By today, the human image of Bruce Lee has turned into not just generations of imitators, but the flickering pixel in video games. He is widely considered by many commentators, critics, media and other martial artists to be the most influential martial artist and pop culture icon of the 20th Century. He is often credited with changing the way Asians were presented in American films. Lee became an iconic figure known throughout the world, particularly among the Chinese, as he portrayed Chinese nationalism in his films.
Bruce was humble, friendly and loved to play jokes.
Bruce Lee had three Chinese names - Lee Yuen-cham (李源鑫), a family name; Lee Yuen-kam (李元鑒), which he used as a student name while he was attending La Salle College; and his Chinese screen name Lee Siu-lung (李小龍; Siu-lung means "little dragon").
Physical Characteristics:
Bruce Lee was 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in) tall and weighed 60 kg (132 lbs).
Bruce Lee was renowned for his physical fitness and vigor, achieved by using a dedicated fitness regimen to become as strong as possible. After his match with Wong Jack Man in 1965, he included all elements of total fitness - muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance, and flexibility. He used traditional bodybuilding techniques to build some muscle mass. Soon after he moved to the United States, Lee developed an interest in health foods, high-protein drinks, and vitamin and mineral supplements. He avoided baked goods and refined flour, describing them as providing empty calories that did nothing for his body. Lee was known for being a fan of Asian cuisine for its variety and often ate meals with a combination of vegetables, rice, and fish. Bruce didn't like dairy products and used powdered milk.
Officially the cause of Lee's death was brain swelling as a reaction to aspirin he had taken for a back injury. But the suddenness of his passing, combined with his youth, his good health, and the bizarre timing on the verge of his explosion as an international superstar, spawned rumors that he had been killed by hitmen.
Quotes from others about the person
John Benn: "When I was having dinner with Chuck Norris I did ask him: "If you and Bruce would be in a real fight to death, who would win?", and he said without thinking: "Bruce of course. Nobody can beat him."
James Demile: "I wouldn't have put a dime on anyone to beat Bruce Lee in a real confrontation. Bruce Lee was the best street fighter I ever saw, even to this very day, and not just pound for pound - but against anyone in a real fight."
Dan Inosanto: "There's no doubt in my mind that if Bruce Lee had gone into pro boxing, he could easily have ranked in the top three in the lightweight division or junior-welterweight division."
Pauline Kael: "The slender, swift Bruce Lee was the Fred Astaire of martial arts, and many of the fights that could be merely brutal come across as lightning-fast choreography."
Sugar Ray Leonard: "I wanted to do in boxing what Bruce Lee was able to do in the martial arts. Lee was an artist and, like him, I try to get beyond the fundamentals of my sport. I want my fights to be seen as plays."
Jackie Chan: "When Bruce Lee kicked, you don't shut your eyes. Because when you shut your eyes, you cannot see Bruce Lee kick it's so fast! Human beings cannot move like cartoon [sound effects], that's the fastest you can be. Even Muhammad Ali or Mike Tyson, their punches are fast, but you still can see [them]."
Joe Lewis: "If Bruce Lee wasn't the greatest martial artist of all time, then certainly he is the number one candidate."
Joe Lewis: "I considered him by far the greatest. And for those who don't consider him the greatest, at least he is the top candidate for being actually the greatest."
Ed Parker Jr.: "I remember many times my father (Ed Parker) talking about, pound for pound, Lee was the best martial artist he'd ever seen."
Manny Pacquiao: "Bruce Lee is my idol. I need to learn some techniques of Bruce Lee, especially the quickness of his hands and legs."
Dana White: "It's a little tough for the traditional martial artists to swallow, because one system doesn't do it. You've got to cross-train in many different systems. Actually, the father of mixed martial arts, if you will, was Bruce Lee. If you look at the way Bruce Lee trained, the way he fought, and many of the things he wrote, he said the perfect style was no style. You take a little something from everything. You take the good things from every different discipline, use what works, and you throw the rest away."
Bill Duff: "His martial art skills made Lee arguably the greatest martial artist of his time - or any other."
Interests
dancing, acting
Philosophers & Thinkers
Friedrich Nietzsche
Writers
Jiddu Krishnamurti, Alan Watts
Sport & Clubs
martial arts
Music & Bands
Frank Sinatra, Qawa Lee
Connections
While studying at the University of Washington, Bruce met his future wife Linda Emery. She studied to become a teacher. They married in August 1964. The couple had two children - Brandon and Shannon Lee.
Bruce Lee: The Biography
Finally, the truth can be told about Bruce Lee's remarkable life and tragic death. Close personal friend and director of Bruce's greatest movie, Robert Clouse, reveals his first-hand memories of Bruce and includes interviews with Bruce's family, friends and colleagues in order to tell us the true story of how Bruce lived and died.
1988
Bruce Lee: A Life From Beginning to End
The name Bruce Lee is synonymous with martial arts superstar. Lee's movie career was cut tragically short by his death aged just 32 years. Starring in six big release feature movies, Lee revolutionized martial arts movie making and challenged western prejudices against the east.
2018
Bruce Lee: A Life
Forty-five years after Bruce Lee's sudden death at the age of thirty-two, journalist and bestselling author Matthew Polly has written the definitive account of Lee's life. It's also one of the only accounts.