RIP Bruce Lee. You're forever in our prayers.
Bruce Lee
Name: Lee Jun-fan
DOB: Nov. 27, 1940
Where: San Francisco, California
DOD: July 20, 1973
Where: Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, China
Occupation: Martial arts teacher, actor, philosopher
Years Active: 1941-1973
Spouse: Linda Emery(1964-1973)
Children: Brandon Lee, Shannon Lee
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| Brandon Lee |
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| Shannon Lee |
Website:
http://www.bruceleefoundation.com/ or
http://www.brucelee.com/
-Chinese American martial arts instructor
-Founder of
Jeet Kune Do
-Considered to be one of the most influential figures of the 20th century
-Born in San Francisco to parents of Hong Kong heritage, but raised in Hong Kong until late teens
-Emigrated to the US at 18 to claim his US citizenship and receive higher education
-His work with martial arts sparked an interest in Chinese martial arts in the West in the 1970s
Early Life
-Born on Nov. 27, 1940 at the Chinese Hospital in Chinatown, San Francisco, in the Year of the Dragon, which according to Chinese tradition is to represent strength and fortuitous omen
-Father Lee Hoi-cheun was fully Chinese and mother Grace Ho was half Chinese and half Caucasian
-Was the 4th of 5 kids; Agnes, Phoebe, Peter, and Robert.
-Moved to Hong Kong was Lee was 3 months old
-Went to St. Francis Xavier's College in 1956
-In 1961, enrolled at the University of Washington, majoring in drama. Also studied psychology, philosophy..
-At this school he met his future wife Linda Emery, who he married in August 1964
-At the 1964 Long Beach International Karate Championships he met Taekwondo master Jhoon Goo Rhee. Lee also appeared at the 1967 Long Beach International Karate Championships
Acting
-First role was as a baby who was carried onto the stage in the movie
Golden Gate Girl.
-In 1967, he appeared as the martial artist sidekick Kato in
The Green Hornet opposite Van Williams, who played Britt Reid
-In 1972, starred in
Fist of Fury
-In 1971, starred in
The Big Boss, both of which were through Hong Kong movie company Golden Harvest
-In late 1972, released
Enter the Dragon, his best known movie. A few months later, he died. An autopsy revealed a brain aneurysm caused by an alergic reaction to a pain medication called Equagesic.
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| The Big Boss |
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| Enter the Dragon. Seen a little of this, pretty cool. |
Physical Fitness
-He was very known for his fantastic physical fitness
-In Hong Kong, he practiced a rigorous weight lifting program to build up his arms in 1965
-At the time, he could perform single biceps curls at a weight of 70-80 lbs for 3 sets of 8 repetitions, along with other forms of exercise, such as squats, push-ups, reverse curls, concentration curls, French presses, wrist curls and reverse wrist curls.
-At this time, it was 6-12 reps.
-With all this exercise, it made him gain weight in muscle. It was said that he was a little over 160 lbs and Lee was said to have 2,500 books in his own personal library.
-He believed that the abdominal muscles were the most important ones for a martial artist, since virtually every movement requires some point of abdominal movement. He would frequently perform sit-ups and other abdominal exercises in domestic living throughout the day, even during watching TV.
-He trained frmo 7am-9am, including stomach, flexibility, and running from 11am-12pm he would lift weights and cycle. Typical exercise for him consisted of running a distance of 6 miles in 15-45 minutes. On a stationary bike he would ride the equivalent of 10 miles.
-After cycling, he would try and do 800 jumps on a jump rope. He also did exercises to toughen the skin on his wrists, including thrusting his hands into buckets of harsh rocks and gravel. He'd do over 500 reps of this in one day.
Physical Wonders
-His speed in terms of reaction time punching from a distance of 3 feet was determined to be around 5 hundredths of a second(0.05 sec); from 5 feet away 8 hundredths of a sec(0.08 sec)
-He could take in one arm a 75lb barbell from a standing position with the barbell against his chest and slowly stick his arms out locking them, holding the barbell there for several seconds
-In speed demos, he could grab a dime off a person's open palm before they could close it and leave a penny behind
-He only performed one hand push-ups using only the thumb and index finger
-He performed 50 reps of one-arm-chin-ups
-He oucld cause a 300lb bag to fly towards and thump the ceiling with a sidekick
-He could hold an elevated v-sit position for 30 minutes or longer
Health
-He consumed green vegetables and fruit every day. He preferred to eat Chinese or other Asian because he loved the variety that it had. Some of his favorite Chinese dishes were beef in oyster sauce, tofu and steak and liver. He also became a heavy advocate of dietary aids, such as Vitamin C, Lecithin pills, bee pollen, Shilajit, Vitamin E, rose hips(liquid form), wheat germ oil, Acerola- C and B-Folia
-He did not like dairy food as he thought for building muscle that he must consume milk. He only ate dairy as part of ceral and protein drinks, usually using powdered milk instead of from the cow milk. His wife Linda recalls that Bruce Le''s waist fluctuated from 26 and 28 inches.
Philosophy
-His influences are Taoism, Jiddu Krishnamurti, and Buddhism
Death
-On May 10, 1973, Lee collapsed in Golden Harvest studios while working on dubbing work for the movie
Enter the Dragon. He was suffering from seizures and headaches, he was immediately taken to Hong Kong Baptist Hospital where doctors diagnosed a cerebral edema. They were able to reduce the swelling though the use of Mannitol. These symptoms were reported earlier on the day of his death.
-On July 20, 1973, Lee was in Hong Kong, to have dinner with former James Bond star George Lazenby with who he intended to make a movie with. According to Linda Emery, Lee met a Golden Harvest producer named Raymond Chow at 2pm to discuss the making of a movie called Game of Death. They worked until 4pm and then drove together to the home of Lee's colleague, a Taiwanese actress named Betty Ting Pei.
-Later on, Lee complained of a headache, and Ting gave him an analgesic, or painkiller called Equagesic. This contained both aspirin and a muscle relaxant called meprobamate. Around 7:30 pm, he went to lie down for a nap. When Lee didn't show up for dinner, Chow came to the apartment but could not wake up Lee. A doctor was called and he spent 10 minutes trying to revive him before eventually sending him by ambulance to Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Lee was declared dead on arrival to the hospital.
-There were no visible external injuries; unfortunately, according to autopsy results, his brain had swollen from 1,400-1,575 grams(13% increase). He was only 32 years old. The only substance found in his system was the Equagesic given to him to relieve a headache. Chow stated later that Lee died from an allergic reaction to it.
-Lee's wife Linda returned to her hometown of Seattle, and had him buried at Lot 276 in Lakeview Cemetery. His funeral pallbearers on July 31, 1973 included Taky Kimura, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Chuck Norris, George Lazenby, Dan Inosanto, Peter Chin and Lee's brother Robert.
-His death fed theories about murder involving the Chinese Triads and a supposed curse on his family.
