BRUCE LEE BIOGRAPHY
Bruce Lee is the greatest martial artist, who, thanks to his unique talent, commitment and hard work, has become a true world legend and has gained millions of followers all over the world. A talented actor, director and screenwriter who managed to embody on the screen all the beauty and power of oriental military techniques.
CHILDHOOD
Bruce Lee was born in the United States, where his father, Lee Hoi Chen, an artist of the Canton Opera, was on tour at that time. He was accompanied by a pregnant wife, Grace Lee, a half-breed beauty, a Chinese woman with German roots. When it became clear that the birth would occur any day, Lee Hoy left his wife in a clinic in San Francisco, and he continued to speak. November 27, 1940, in the year and time of the Dragon, a boy was born who was destined to become a world legend. The baby was born between 6 and 8 in the morning, and in medieval Asian times, this interval was called the Dragon hour.
A newborn baby was given several names at once. According to the Chinese calendar, he was named Li Xiao Long (“Little Dragon”), in the birth certificate issued at the clinic, the child was listed as Bruce Lee (as the midwife called him), and his mother christened the baby Li Zhen Fan, which translated from Chinese meant “Come back.” Grace really wanted her son to return to America when he grows up.
Having returned with their babies to their native Hong Kong, where their adopted daughter Phoebe and the eldest son Peter were waiting for them, their parents pretended that they had a girl named Lee Yun Fang (“Baby Phoenix”). Thus, they tried to deceive the “evil spirits”, who, in their opinion, selected the first son who died in infancy. At first, Bruce was even dressed in girlish clothes and inserted an earring in his ear so that no one would have doubts. It is interesting that on the screen he also first appeared in the role of a girl, playing the three-month-old daughter of the main character in the drama “Golden Gate of a Girl”.
SPORTS CAREER
Despite being busy, Bruce did not give up sports, but rather devoted all his free time to training. He mastered the most diverse techniques of kung fu, jujitsu and judo, and used trees in the park as mannequins for sparring, wrapping them in blankets.
In 1961, Lee opened his own martial arts school, where he began to teach Jeet Kung-do, his own kung fu style, developed through regular grueling exercises. Everyone could study in it, and not just Asians, as was previously accepted, which fundamentally distinguished this institution from many similar to it.
Classes were not cheap (almost $ 300 per hour), but they were worth the money. Bruce improved his original technique until his death, developed a special nutrition system for students. He was constantly in impeccable form and subjected himself to transcendental loads that his comrades could not even dream of.
FILM CAREER
But not only thanks to sporting achievements, Bruce Lee has become a world legend. He managed to completely change the idea of fighting in cinema and bring them to a different qualitative level. If earlier screen fights had to be accelerated to give them greater entertainment, then Bruce’s battles, on the contrary, were slowed down so that the audience could fully enjoy his magnificent technique.
During his short life, the actor managed to star in 36 films, many of which became classics of cinema.
Despite the fact that numerous episodic works in childhood and adolescence did not bring him wide popularity, Bruce gained invaluable experience, which was useful to him in the future. Having moved to the USA, the young man continued to act in series, but he did not wait for serious roles.
BRUCE LEE’S PERSONAL LIFE
With his future wife Linda, Emery Bruce met in Seattle. The girl, like him, studied at the University of Washington and in 1961 came to his kung fu classes. Between a martial artist and a 17-year-old beauty, sympathy arose, which gradually grew into love. Linda became a loyal fan and devoted student of Bruce, and in 1964, and the official wife.
A year later, the couple had a baby Brandon, and in 1969 the baby Shannon was born. Brandon, like his father, became an actor and, by tragic accident, passed away before he was thirty years old.
Shannon also became an actress, but for many years she has not acted in films. The last film with her participation, the action movie “Lessons for the Assassin,” was released in 2003. Now, together with his mother, he leads the foundation of his legendary father. Shannon left the cinema due to the birth of her daughter Ren Lee Kesler in 2003.
DEATH
The unexpected death of Bruce Lee, who was in his prime and in perfect physical shape, shocked millions of his fans. Until now, his departure causes a lot of gossip and speculation.
According to official information, the actor died on July 20, 1973 from cerebral edema caused by an allergic reaction to a headache drug. However, there is a version that mafiosi nevertheless got to Bruce, who sent a killer to him who knows the technique of “delayed death”. The actor was buried in Seattle, and to this day martial artists from around the world come to bow to his grave.
