Welcome to my tribute to the man who revolutionized martial arts today. Bruce Lee, in my eyes, is a leader you can look up to. He practically changed the martial arts world. He's a leader because he did what he thought was the right thing to do. He broke tradition. Many martial arts masters in his time were very strict and taught by tradition.
One thing they were very reluctant to do was to teach non-Chinese. Chinese martial arts teachers were very strict on tradition. They sometimes would not admit you into there class unless you were something special. It would have been even more difficult for non-Chinese. Because of this, Kung fu was shrouded in mystery to Westerners.
Bruce Lee totally broke the tradition. He'd teach to anyone that showed keen interest in learning martial arts whether he/she be Chinese or non-Chinese. Also, one thing many martial artists would not do is learn more than one style. Bruce Lee, on the other hand, learned much more than one style. Besides Wing Chun, he'd learn Karate, Tae Kwon Do, and others. An example is when he met with Jhoon Rhee, a master of Tae Kwon Do. Rhee showed Lee the sidekick in Tae Kwon Do and Lee, in fact, mastered it. When Lee created Jeet Kune Do, he combined all the strong points of each style and took out the weak points. Bruce didn't include high kicking in his fighting style before, only low kicks to the legs. Wing Chun doesn't kick high. But Chuck Norris, who met Bruce at the Long Beach Internationals, convinced Bruce to include High Kicks. Bruce Lee said, "Absorb what is useful, reject was is not." Bruce knew what he was doing, showing to the world he was a real martial artist devoted to what he was doing. He considered himself a martial artist first, then an actor.
The following is a chronology of Bruce's life:
- On November 27, 1940 in San Francisco, Lee Jun Fan was born in the Year of the Dragon at the Jackson St. Hospital in the Chinatown District of San Francisco. He was later named Bruce Lee. His father, Lee Hoi Chuen, a Cantonese Opera Company performer was in America touring at the time.
- In 1941, Bruce and his parents return to their home in Kowloon of Hong Kong.
- Bruce begins his professional screen debut in the movie, "Beginning of a Boy". He appears in 20 more films in Southeast Asia during his later years of childhood lastly being in the film, "The Orphan" at the age of eighteen.
- In 1953, Bruce was involved in many street fights in Hong Kong. Because of this, he becomes a student of Sifu Yip Man, a master of Wing Chun Kung fu.
- In 1958, Bruce, an expert dancer, is the victor of the Crown Colony Cha-Cha Championship in Hong Kong.
- In 1959, Bruce is involved in more brawls in the streets resulting in police involvement. Bruce's parents decide that since Bruce has an American citizenship, he should return to San Francisco.
- After arriving in San Francisco in 1959, Bruce stays with an old friend of his father's and working jobs around various Chinese Communities. After a while, Bruce moves to Seattle working for Ruby Chow, another friend of his father's. Bruce was living in a room above her restaurant while being a waiter downstairs. Later on, Bruce enrolls at Edison Technical School to earn his high school diploma. He also begins teaching kung fu in backyards and city parks.
- In the springtime of 1961, Bruce enrolls at the University of Washington in Seattle. He has a major in Philosophy and continues to teach kung fu to students at school.
- Roughly two years later, 1963, Bruce returns to Hong Kong after 4 years since his arrival in the U.S. in the summer. He goes back to Seattle to continue school at the end of summer.
- On October 25 of that same year, Bruce takes out Linda Emery for their first date. The couple have dinner at the Space Needle.
- In the memorable year of 1963 during the Fall season, the Seattle based Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute is relocated into a building near the university campus. The address is 4750 University Way.
- In the summer of 1964, Bruce moves to Oakland to open a second kwoon. Taky Kimura, his good friend, takes over the Seattle based school as head instructor.
- A day to remember, August 17 1964, Bruce returns to Seattle to ask for Linda Emery's hand in marriage. After, both of them return to Oakland.
- In Oakland, 1964, after several months of teaching students, Bruce is challenged by a leading Gung Fu practinioner in the Chinatown Community. If Bruce were to lose the challenge, he was either to close his kwoon or put an end to his teaching to non-Chinese. At that time, Chinese didn't accept instructors who thaught non-Chinese their martial arts ways. This basically started when the Boxer Rebellion desired to expelle the Westerners from China. The Western Forces punished this rebellion and gave beatings to the Chinese Army. Therefore, Chinese are reluctant to teach Westerners their martial arts. Bruce accepts this challenge and wins in only a couple of minutes. But Bruce was upset that the fight took longer than it was suppose to, so he begins to re-evaluate his style. Thus, the early concept of Jeet Kune Do was born.
- Bruce demonstrating his famous one inch punch. With this punch, the guy would be punched as far back as 6 feet!
- On August 2, 1964 in Long Beach,California, Ed Parker, the founder of American Kenpo invites Bruce for a demonstration at his first International Karate Championships. It just so happened that in the audience was Jay Sebring, the hair stylist for noneother than Batman producer, William Dozier. It just so happends that he is looking to cast a part in a TV series he was developing. Sebring feels that Bruce has potential in becoming a future film star in this TV series, so he gives Dozier a film of Bruce's demonstration. Dozier is amazed at what Bruce can do so he asked Bruce to fly down to Los Angeles for a screen test.
- Bruce, Linda, and young Brandon.
- A memorable date is February 1, 1965 when Brandon Lee is born in Oakland, California.
- On February 8, 1965 in Hong Kong, Lee Hoi Chuen, Bruce's father passes away.
- In 1966, Bruce and his family move to Los Angeles where he begins working on a new TV series called "The Green Hornet" where Bruce is playing the role of Kato. Also, Bruce opens the third kwoon of the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute in the Chinatown district of Los Angeles.
- From 1967 to 1971 in Hollywood, Bruce plays small parts in various films and TV series like Marlowe and Longstreet. He also gives private lessons to well known actors and celebrities like Steve McQueen, James Garner, James Coburn, Roman Polanski, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, and Lee Marvin for a lovely sum of 250 dollars an hour!
- On April 19, 1969, Bruce's daughter, Shannon Lee, is born in Santa Monica, California.
- In of 1970, Bruce injured his back while training in Los Angeles . While he was injured, he started to document his training methods and philosophy of Jeet Kune Do. Jeet Kune Do can be transelated as "Way of the intercepting Fist". After his death, "The Tao of Jeet Kune Do" was published by his wife Linda Lee.
- In 1971, Bruce returns to Hong Kong to make arrangements for his mother to live in the United States. What Bruce didn't know was that he had become a superstar in Hong Kong since "The Green Hornet" was a widely watched TV show there. Raymond Chow, owner of the new production company Golden Harvest Productions, offered a leading role to Bruce in the movie "The Big Boss". Bruce accepts while he would get paided over 100 000 dollars.
- In July of 1971, the filming of "The Big Boss" begins in Thailand. The later film was released in the United States under the title "Fists of Fury". When the film premiered in Hong Kong, it broke all Hong Kong box office records proceeding to gross more than 3.5 million dollars in less than three weeks.
- In 1972, "Fist of Fury", later called "The Chinese Connection" in the United States, is released in Hong Kong and once again the film breaks all box office records and grosses more than "The Big Boss". This further established Bruce as on of Hong Kong's superstars.
- In 1972, filming begins in Rome, Italy for his third film entitled "The Way of the Dragon". It was later called "Return of the Dragon" in the United States. Bruce directed, wrote, and starred in this film. None other than Chuck Norris, who is a master of Tang Soo Do, a Korean martial art, is Bruce's adversary in the final fight scene of the movie. This film once again breaks all box office records.
- In Hong Kong of that same year, Bruce begins to work on "Game of Death". Bruce films several of the fight scenes at the end of the movie. In this movie, we see Bruce fighting like a master he is, showing his nunchaku habilities, and last but not least, taking on basketball star, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Also, we can see Danny Inosanto making an appearence too.
- In February of 1973, the filming of "Enter the Dragon" begins in Hong Kong. It was the first-ever production between the United States and Hong Kong film industries. Before Bruce decided to take the part in a Kung fu TV series, the part was already given to David Carradine. This was basically because westerners were reluctant to have an asian acting in the lead role. Disgusted, Bruce went back to Hong Kong and made more movies hoping to get another shot at Hollywood. Without any question, "Enter the Dragon" was Bruce's masterpiece. With Bruce's death, "Game of Death" would not be completed as loyal fans would have liked it to be.
- In April of 1973, the filming of "Enter the Dragon" was completed in Hong Kong. This was sadly Bruce's final film and undoubtedly his true masterpiece.
- On July 20, 1973, Bruce Lee dies in Hong Kong of an apparent cerebral edema due to an allergic reaction to some headache pills. "Enter the Dragon" premieres a month later, and without any surprise, it would be a huge success.
- On July 25, 1973, Bruce's funeral ceremony was held for friends and fans with over 25 000 people attending in Hong Kong. Bruce wore the Chinese outfit in the movie "Enter the Dragon". The funeral was filmed and a clip was shown in the movie "Game of Death". It was the scene when Bruce was playing Billy Lo and pretending to be dead.
- On July 30 1973, a smaller second ceremony was held in Seattle. Bruce Lee was later layed to rest at the Lake View Cemetery. Among the pallbearers were Danny Inosanto, Taky Kimura, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, and brother Robert Lee.
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