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Bruce Jun Fan Lee (李振藩, 李小龍; pinyin: Lǐ Zhènfān, Lǐ Xiăolóng; Cantonese:lei5 zan3 faan4,lei5 siu2 lung4 27 November 1940 – 20 July 1973) was an American-born Chinese Hong Kong martial artist, philosopher, instructor, martial arts actor and the founder of the Jeet Kune Do combat form. He is widely regarded as the most influential martial artist ever and a cultural icon. He was also the father of actor Brandon Lee and of actress Shannon Lee. His baby brother Robert was a musician and member of a popular Hong Kong beat band called The Thunderbirds and was something of a heart throb in Hong Kong in the 1960's .

Lee was born in San Francisco, California, and raised in Hong Kong until his late teens. His Hong Kong and Hollywood-produced films elevated the traditional Hong Kong martial arts film to a new level of popularity and acclaim, and sparked the first major surge of interest in Chinese martial arts in the West. The direction and tone of his films changed and influenced martial arts and martial arts films in Hong Kong and the rest of the world as well.

Lee became an iconic figure particularly to the Chinese, as he portrayed Chinese national pride and Chinese nationalism in his movies. He primarily practiced Chinese martial arts (Kung fu), particularly Wing Chun.


Early life
Bruce Lee was born in the Year of the Dragon according to the Chinese zodiac calendar, November 27, 1940, at the Chinese Hospital in San Francisco’s Chinatown.[4] His father, Lee Hoi-Chuen (李海泉), was Chinese, and his Catholic mother, Grace Ho (何愛瑜), was of Chinese and German ancestry. Lee and his parents returned to Hong Kong when he was three months old. There is uncertainty about his citizenship; he was definitely a US citizen, and he may have been a Chinese citizen and a British subject as well (as Hong Kong people were British subjects during his childhood).

Lee Hoi Chuen was one of the leading Cantonese opera and film actors at the time, and he was embarking on a year-long Cantonese opera performing tour, with his family, amongst the US Chinese communities on the eve of the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong during the Second World War. As touring was an extremely profitable business back then, Lee had been touring the US for many years. Although a number of his peers decided to stay in the US this time to ride out the storm, Lee decided to go back to Hong Kong after his wife gave birth to their fourth child, due partially to homesickness and partially to a miscalculation on his part. Within months, Hong Kong was invaded (at the same time of the Pearl Harbor attack) and the Lees lived the ensuing 3 years and 8 months under brutal Japanese occupation. The Lee family managed to survive the war and actually had done reasonably well. Lee Hoi Chuen would resume his acting career and become an even bigger star during the ensuing rebuilding years.

Bruce Lee's mother Grace had an even more impressive background. She belonged to one of wealthiest and most powerful clans in Hong Kong, the Ho Tungs, Hong Kong's answer to the Rockefellers and the Kennedys. She was the niece of Sir Robert Ho Tung, patriarch of the clan. As such, the young Bruce Lee grew up in an affluent and privileged environment.


Education and family
After attending Tak Sun School (德信學校) located just a couple of blocks from his home at 218 Nathan Road, Kowloon, Lee entered the primary school division of the prestigious La Salle College (喇沙書院) in 1950 or 1952 (at the age of 12). In around 1956, due to poor academic performance (and/or possibly poor conduct as well), he was transferred to St. Francis Xavier's College (high school) where he would be mentored by Brother Edward, a Catholic monk (originally from Germany spending his entire adult life in China and then Hong Kong), teacher, and coach of the school boxing team. In the spring of 1959, Lee got into yet another street fight and the police were called.[13] Confirming the police's fear that Bruce Lee's fighting opponent this time had organized crime background and a possible contract was out for his life, in April 1959 his parents decided to send him to the United States to meet up with his older sister Agnes (李秋鳳) who was already living with family friends in San Francisco.

At the age of 18 and a half, Lee returned to the U.S. as a native-born citizen, with $100 in his pocket and the titles of 1957 High School Boxing Champion and 1958 Crown Colony Cha Cha Champion (or second place) of Hong Kong [4], to further his education. After living in San Francisco for several months, he moved to Seattle in the fall of the same year (1959) to continue his high school education and to work for Ruby Chow as a live-in waiter at her restaurant. Ruby's husband was a co-worker and friend of his father. His older brother Peter (李忠琛) would also join Bruce Lee in Seattle for a short stay before moving on to Minnesota to attend college. In December 1960, Lee completed his high school education and received his diploma from Edison Technical School (now Seattle Central Community College, located on Capitol Hill, Seattle). He then enrolled at the University of Washington in March of 1961 majoring in philosophy, and likely also took courses in drama, psychology, and various other subjects. It was at the University of Washington that he met his future wife Linda Emery, whom he would marry in August 1964.

Bruce Lee abandoned his university education (3 years and never graduated) in the spring of 1964 and moved to Oakland to live with James Yimm Lee (嚴鏡海, no relation to Bruce Lee, and his Chinese surname was actually "Yim", a typical blunder by the immigration officials when James' father was first immigrated to the US). Twenty years senior to Bruce Lee and a well known Chinese martial artist in the Bay area, James Lee would join Bruce Lee to co-found the second Jun Fan martial art studio in Oakland (the first one in Seattle). James Lee was also responsible for introducing Bruce Lee to Edy Parker, royalty of the US martial art world and organizer of the (Long Beach) International Karate Championships at which Bruce Lee was later "discovered" by Hollywood.

He had two children with Linda, Brandon Lee (1965–1993) and Shannon Lee (1969-). Brandon, who also became an actor like his father, died in an accident during the filming of The Crow in 1993. Shannon Lee also became an actress and appeared in some low-budget films starting in the mid 1990s, but has since quit acting.


Names
This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.
Bruce Lee's Cantonese given name was Jun Fan (振藩; Mandarin Pinyin: Zhènfán). At birth, the English name "Bruce" was thought to be given by the hospital attending physician, Dr. Mary Glover (or some said it was one of the nurses). Though Mrs. Lee did not initially plan on an English name for the child, she deemed it appropriate and would concur with Dr. Glover's addition. However, his American name was never used within his family until he enrolled in the primary school division of La Salle College (a Hong Kong high school) at the age of 10 or 12, and later at another high school (St. Francis Xavier's College in Kowloon), where Lee would come to represent the boxing team in inter-school events.

Bruce Lee also had three other Chinese names: Li Yuen Yam [李源鑫; Mandarin Pinyin: Lǐ yuán-xīn, as a family/clan name (族名)], Li Yuen Kam [李元鑒; Mandarin Pinyin: Lǐ yuán-jiàn, as a student name (學名) while attending La Salle College], and of course his Chinese stage name 李小龍 [Cantonese pengyam: Ley5 Siu² Long4 (or Lee Siu Loong); Mandarin Pinyin: Lǐ Xiǎolóng]. The Jun Fan name was originally written in Chinese as 震藩, however this Jun (震) was identical to part of his grandfather's name 李震彪, which was considered taboo in Chinese tradition. Therefore, Bruce Lee's name was changed to 振 which had the identical pronunciation with 震 and virtually identical meaning. Also of note is that Bruce Lee was given a feminine nickname, Sai Fung (細鳳, literally "small phoenix"), which was used throughout his early childhood in keeping with a Chinese custom, traditionally thought to hide a male child from evil spirits. In Linda Lee's books, she repeatedly cited that Jun Fan meant "return again" (back to the U.S.), but Jun (振) really means "to invigorate" or "to shock", and Fan (藩) is the well known Chinese abbreviation for the city of San Francisco (三藩市).

Bruce Lee's stage names 李小龍 was first suggested by Yuan Bu Yun (袁步雲) when Lee played the title role of the 1950 Cantonese movie 細路祥 ("Kid Cheung"). By then, Lee was already a 4-year child actor veteran with two feature films to his credit in Hong Kong [he was also used as an uncredited prop baby in a 1940 US-made Cantonese movie "Golden Gate Girl" (金門女)]. Prior to his return to the U.S. in 1959, Bruce Lee would have a respectful child actor career of 18 solid years averaging more than two movies per year during his entire teenager life (age 10 to 18), acting alongside some the best Cantonese actors and actresses at the time, and playing the central characters in some movies. Yuan was the creator of the popular "Kid Cheung" comic strip, of which the movie was based on, and also acted in the movie playing a son of the character played by Bruce Lee's real life father Lee Hoi Chuen.

It is possible that the name "Lee Little Dragon" was based on his childhood name of "small dragon", as, in Chinese tradition, the dragon and phoenix come in pairs to represent the male and female genders respectively. The more likely explanation is that he came to be called "Little Dragon" because, according to the Chinese zodiac, he was born in the Year of the Dragon. Many, including his wife Linda, also stretched the "dragon" connection, a bit over-enthusiastically, by suggesting that Lee was born during the "hour of dragon" (6-8 AM, as claimed in Linda's books and many others). However, animal zodiac normally does not apply to hours of the day, but when it does, the period from 6 to 8 Am actually straddles between the "hour of rabbit" (5-7 AM) and the "hour of dragon" (7-9 AM). Beside, the Little Dragon name only came about long (10 years) after he was born.


Acting career
Lee's father Hoi-Chuen was a famous Cantonese Opera star. Thus, through his father, Bruce was introduced into films at a very young age and appeared in several short black-and-white films as a child. Lee had his first role as a baby who was carried onto the stage. By the time he was 18, he had appeared in twenty films.

While in the United States from 1959–1964, Lee abandoned thoughts of a film career in favor of pursuing martial arts. William Dozier invited Lee for an audition, where Lee so impressed the producers with his lightning-fast moves that he earned the role of Kato alongside Van Williams in the TV series The Green Hornet. The show lasted just one season, from 1966 to 1967. Lee also played Kato in three crossover episodes of Batman. This was followed by guest appearances in a host of television series, including Ironside (1967) and Here Come the Brides (1969).


A painting of Bruce Lee as he appeared in filmIn 1969, Lee made a brief appearance in his first American film Marlowe where he played a henchman hired to intimidate private detective Philip Marlowe (played by James Garner) by smashing up his office with leaping kicks and flashing punches, only to later accidentally jump off a tall building while trying to kick Marlowe off. In 1971, Lee appeared in four episodes of the television series Longstreet as the martial arts instructor of the title character Mike Longstreet (played by James Franciscus). According to statements made primarily by Linda Lee Caldwell after Bruce's death, Bruce would later pitch a television series of his own tentatively titled The Warrior. According to Caldwell, Lee's concept was retooled and renamed Kung Fu, but Warner Bros. gave Lee no credit. Instead the role of the Shaolin monk in the Wild West, known to have been conceived by Bruce, was awarded to then non-martial artist David Carradine because of the studio's fears that a Chinese leading man would not be embraced by the public. Books and documentaries about the show "Kung Fu" dispute Caldwell's version. According to these sources, the show was created by two writers and producers, Ed Spielman and Howard Friedlander, and the reason Lee was not cast was in part because of his ethnicity but more so because he had a thick accent.

Not happy with his supporting roles in the U.S., Lee returned to Hong Kong and was offered a film contract by legendary director Raymond Chow to star in films produced by his production company Golden Harvest. Lee played his first leading role in The Big Boss (1971) which proved an enormous box office success across Asia and catapulted him to stardom. He soon followed up his success with two more huge box office successes: Fist of Fury (1972) and Way of the Dragon (1972). For Way of the Dragon, he took complete control of the film's production as the writer, director, star, and choreographer of the fight scenes. In 1964, at a demonstration in Long Beach, California, Lee had met karate champion Chuck Norris. In Way of the Dragon Lee introduced Norris to moviegoers as his opponent in the final death fight at the Colosseum in Rome, today considered one of Lee's most legendary fight scenes.

In 1973, Lee played the lead role in Enter the Dragon, the first film to be produced jointly by Golden Harvest and Warner Bros. This film would skyrocket Lee to fame in the U.S. and Europe. However, only a few months after the film's completion and three weeks before its release, the supremely fit Lee mysteriously died. Enter the Dragon would go on to become one of the year's highest grossing films and cement Lee as a martial arts legend. It was made for US$850,000 in 1973 (equivalent to $4 million adjusted for inflation as of 2007). To date, Enter the Dragon has grossed over $200 million worldwide. The movie sparked a brief fad in the martial-arts, epitomized in such songs as "Kung Fu Fighting" and such TV shows as Kung Fu.

Robert Clouse, the director of Enter the Dragon, and Raymond Chow attempted to finish Lee's incomplete film Game of Death which Lee was also set to write and direct. Lee had shot over 100 minutes of footage, including outtakes, for Game of Death before shooting was stopped to allow him to work on Enter the Dragon. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a student of Lee, also appeared in the film, which culminates in Lee's character, Hai Tien (clad in the now-famous yellow track suit) taking on the 7'2" basketball player in a climactic fight scene. In a controversial move, Robert Clouse finished the film using a look-alike and archive footage of Lee from his other films with a new storyline and cast, which was released in 1979. However, the cobbled-together film contained only fifteen minutes of actual footage of Lee (he had printed many unsuccessful takes) while the rest had a Lee look-alike, Tai Chung Kim, and Yuen Biao as stunt double. The unused footage Lee had filmed was recovered 22 years later and included in the documentary Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey.


Challengers on the set
Lee's celebrity and martial arts prowess often put him on a collision course with a number of street thugs, stunt men and martial arts extras, all hoping to make a name for themselves. Lee typically defused such challenges without fighting, but felt forced to respond to several persistent individuals.

Bob Wall, USPK karate champion and co-star in Enter the Dragon, recalled a particularly serious encounter that transpired after a film extra kept taunting Lee. The extra yelled that Lee was "a movie star, not a martial artist," that he "wasn't much of a fighter." Lee answered his taunts by asking him to jump down from the wall he was sitting on. Bob Wall described Lee's opponent as "a gang-banger type of guy from Hong Kong," a "damned good martial artist," and observed that he was fast, strong, and bigger than Bruce.

Wall recalled the confrontation in detail:

"This kid was good. He was strong and fast, and he was really trying to punch Bruce's brains in. But Bruce just methodically took him apart. "Bruce kept moving so well, this kid couldn't touch him...Then all of a sudden, Bruce got him and rammed his ass with the wall and swept him up, proceeding to drop him and plant his knee into his opponent's chest, locked his arm out straight, and nailed him in the face repeatedly."

After his victory, Lee gave his opponent lessons on how to improve his fighting skills. His opponent, now impressed, would later say to Lee, "You really are a master of the martial arts."

It should also be noted that during the fight scene between Bruce Lee and Bob Wall, the glass bottles broke during their fight scene accidentally injured Bruce, and for a while after that, Bob Wall feared Bruce would retaliate for the misdeed, however accidental.


Hong Kong legacy

Sculpture of Bruce Lee at the Avenue of Stars, Hong KongThere are a number of stories (perhaps apocryphal) surrounding Lee that are still repeated in Hong Kong culture today. One is that his early 70s interview on the TVB show Enjoy Yourself Tonight cleared the busy streets of Hong Kong as everyone was watching the interview at home.

On January 6, 2009, it was announced that Bruce's Hong Kong home will be preserved and transformed into a tourist site by philanthropist Yu Pang-lin.


Martial arts training and development
Lee's first introduction to martial arts was through his father, Lee Hoi Cheun. He learned the fundamentals of Wu style Tai Chi Chuan from his father.[30] Lee's sifu, Wing Chun master Yip Man, was also a colleague and friend of Hong Kong's Wu style Tai Chi Chuan teacher Wu Ta-ch'i.

Lee trained in Wing Chun Gung Fu from age 13–18 under Hong Kong Wing Chun Sifu Yip Man. Lee was introduced to Yip Man in early 1954 by William Cheung, then a live-in student of Yip Man. Like most Chinese martial arts schools at that time, Sifu Yip Man's classes were often taught by the highest ranking students. One of the highest ranking students under Yip Man at the time was Wong Shun-Leung. Wong is thought to have had the largest influence on Bruce's training. Yip Man trained Lee privately after some students refused to train with Lee due to his ancestry ( his mother was of half German ancestry ) as Chinese were secretive in relation to teaching martial arts techniques especially to foreigners.

Bruce was also trained in Western boxing and won the 1958 Boxing Championship match against 3-time champion Gary Elms by knockout in the 3rd round. Before arriving to the finals against Elms, Lee had knocked out 3 straight boxers in the first round. In addition, Bruce learned western fencing techniques from his brother Peter Lee, who was a champion fencer at the time.

At 22 Lee also met Professor Wally Jay, and began to receive informal instruction in Jujitsu from him. The two would have long conversations about theories surrounding the martial arts and grew to be longtime friends.

This multi-faceted exposure to different fighting arts would later play an influence in the creation of the eclectic martial art Jeet Kune Do.


Jun Fan Gung Fu
Main article: Jun Fan Gung Fu
Lee began teaching martial arts after his arrival in the United States in 1959. Originally trained in Wing Chun Gung Fu, Lee called what he taught Jun Fan Gung Fu. Jun Fan Gung Fu (literally Bruce's Gung Fu), is basically a slightly modified approach to Wing Chun Gung Fu. Lee taught friends he met in Seattle, starting with Judo practitioner Jesse Glover as his first student and who later became his first assistant instructor. Before moving to California, Lee opened his first martial arts school, named the Lee Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute, in Seattle.

Lee also improvised his own kicking method, involving the directness of Wing Chun and the power of Northern Shaolin kung fu. Lee's kicks were delivered very quickly to the target, without fully chambering the leg.

Jeet Kune Do

The Jeet Kune Do Emblem. The Chinese characters around the Taijitu symbol indicate: "Using no way as way" & "Having no limitation as limitation" The arrows represent the endless interaction between yang and yin. Main article: Jeet Kune Do
Jeet Kune Do originated in 1965. A match with Wong Jack Man influenced Lee's philosophy on fighting. Lee believed that the fight had lasted too long and that he had failed to live up to his potential using Wing Chun techniques. He took the view that traditional martial arts techniques were too rigid and formalistic to be practical in scenarios of chaotic street fighting. Lee decided to develop a system with an emphasis on "practicality, flexibility, speed, and efficiency". He started to use different methods of training such as weight training for strength, running for endurance, stretching for flexibility, and many others which he constantly adapted.

Lee emphasized what he called "the style of no style". This consisted of getting rid of a formalized approach which Lee claimed was indicative of traditional styles. Because Lee felt the system he now called Jun Fan Gung Fu was too restrictive, it was developed into a philosophy and martial art he would come to call (after the name was suggested by Dan Inosanto) Jeet Kune Do or the Way of the Intercepting Fist. It is a term he would later regret because Jeet Kune Do implied specific parameters that styles connote whereas the idea of his martial art was to exist outside of parameters and limitations.

Lee directly certified only 3 instructors. Taky Kimura, James Yimm Lee (no relation to Bruce Lee), and Dan Inosanto, are the only instructors certified personally by Lee. Inosanto holds the 3rd rank (Instructor) directly from Bruce Lee in Jeet Kune Do, Jun Fan Gung Fu, and Bruce Lee's Tao of Chinese Gung Fu. Taky Kimura holds a 5th rank in Jun Fan Gung Fu. James Yimm Lee (now deceased) held a 3rd rank in Jun Fan Gung Fu. Ted Wong holds 2nd rank in Jeet Kune Do certified directly by Dan Inosanto. James Yimm Lee and Taky Kimura hold ranks in Jun Fan Gung Fu, not Jeet Kune Do; Taky received his 5th rank in Jun Fan Gung Fu after the term Jeet Kune Do existed. Also Bruce gave Dan all three diplomas on the same day, suggesting perhaps that Bruce wanted Dan to be his protege. All other Jeet Kune Do instructors since Lee's death have been certified directly by Dan Inosanto.

James Yimm Lee, a close friend of Lee, died without certifying additional students. Taky Kimura, to date, has certified only one person in Jun Fan Gung Fu: his son and heir Andy Kimura. Dan Inosanto continued to teach and certify select students in Jeet Kune Do for over 30 years, making it possible for thousands of martial arts practitioners to trace their training lineage back to Bruce Lee. Prior to his death, Lee told his then only two living instructors Inosanto and Kimura (James Yimm Lee had died in 1972) to dismantle his schools. Both Taky Kimura and Dan Inosanto were allowed to teach small classes thereafter, under the guideline "keep the numbers low, but the quality high". Bruce also instructed several World Karate Champions including Chuck Norris, Joe Lewis, and Mike Stone. Between all 3 of them, during their training with Bruce they won every Karate Championship in the United States.


Controversy over Jeet Kune Do
The name "Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do" was legally trademarked, and the rights to Bruce Lee's name, likeness, and personal martial arts legacy (including personal photos and countless personal effects and memorabilia) were given solely to the Lee estate for copyrighted commercial use. The name is made up of two parts: 'Jun Fan' (Lee's Chinese given name) and 'Jeet Kune Do' (the Way of the Intercepting Fist).


Jujitsu
Main article: Jujitsu
At 22 Lee also met Professor Wally Jay, and began to receive informal instruction in Jujitsu from him. The two would have long conversations about theories surrounding the martial arts and grew to be longtime friends.


1964 Long Beach International Karate Championships
At the invitation of Ed Parker, Lee appeared in the 1964 Long Beach International Karate Championships and performed repetitions of two-finger pushups (using the thumb and the index finger) with feet at approximately a shoulder-width apart. In the same Long Beach event he also performed the "One inch punch". The description of which is as follows: Lee stood upright, his right foot forward with knees bent slightly, in front of a standing, stationary partner. Lee's right arm was partly extended and his right fist approximately an inch away from the partner's chest. Without retracting his right arm, Lee then forcibly delivered the punch to his partner while largely maintaining his posture, sending the partner backwards and falling into a chair said to be placed behind the partner to prevent injury, though the force of gravity caused his partner to soon fall onto the floor.

His volunteer was Bob Baker of Stockton, California. "I told Bruce not to do this type of demonstration again", he recalled. "When he punched me that last time, I had to stay home from work because the pain in my chest was unbearable."


1967 Long Beach International Karate Championships
Lee also appeared at the 1967 Long Beach International Karate Championships and performed various demonstrations, including the famous "unstoppable punch" against USKA world karate champion Vic Moore. Lee told Moore that he was going to throw a straight punch to the face, and all he had to do was to try and block it. Lee took several steps back and asked if Moore was ready, when Moore nodded in affirmation, Lee glided towards him until he was within striking range. He then threw a straight punch directly at Moore's face, and stopped before impact. In eight attempts, Moore failed to block any of the punches.


Fights
Lee set his sights upon the goal of being one of the fittest and strongest fighters of the world, and he went through life earnestly attempting to achieve this. Lee also competed in many martial arts competitions around the world winning every one almost flawlessly, defeating internationally known martial artists from many different countries. Lee researched many arts in his life and used what he found was useful and rejected what he did not. He also made subtle changes where he could if what he found did not fit his specific requirements. He tended to favor techniques where he could best take advantage of his own attributes, be it his phenomenal speed, strength, elusiveness, or power. As seen in his films, Lee shrieked and made high-pitched noises while moving to throw opponents psychically off-center. Lee did say he could have beaten anybody in the world in a real fight.

Dan Inosanto said, "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."

Lee had boxed in the 1959 Boxing Championships held between twelve Hong Kong schools, a tournament in which he beat the three-time champion from another school (a French boy).


Physical fitness and nutrition

Physical fitness

Bruce Lee in Way of the Dragon in 1972Lee felt that many martial artists of his day did not spend enough time on physical conditioning. Bruce included all elements of total fitness—muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance, and flexibility. He tried traditional bodybuilding techniques to build bulky muscles or mass. However, Lee was careful to admonish that mental and spiritual preparation was fundamental to the success of physical training in martial arts skills. In his book The Tao of Jeet Kune Do, he wrote

Training is one of the most neglected phases of athletics. Too much time is given to the development of skill and too little to the development of the individual for participation." "JKD, ultimately is not a matter of petty techniques but of highly developed spirituality and physique.

The weight training program that Lee used during a stay in Hong Kong in 1965 at only 24 years old placed heavy emphasis on his arms. At that time he could perform bicep curls at a weight of 70 to 80lbs for three sets of eight repetitions, along with other forms of exercises, such as squats, push-ups, reverse curls, concentration curls, French presses, and both wrist curls and reverse wrist curls. The repetitions he performed were 6 to 12 reps (at the time). While this method of training targeted his fast and slow twitch muscles, it later resulted in weight gain or muscle mass, placing Bruce a little over 160 lbs. Lee was documented as having well over 2,500 books in his own personal library, and eventually concluded that "A stronger muscle, is a bigger muscle", a conclusion he later disputed. Bruce forever experimented with his training routines to maximize his physical abilities, and push the human body to its limits. He employed many different routines and exercises including skipping rope, which served his training and bodybuilding purposes effectively.

Lee believed that the abdominal muscles were one of the most important muscle groups for a martial artist, since virtually every movement requires some degree of abdominal work. Perhaps more importantly, the "abs" are like a shell, protecting the ribs and vital organs.

He trained from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., including stomach, flexibility, and running, and from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. he would weight train and cycle. A typical exercise for Lee would be to run a distance of two to six miles in 15 to 45 minutes, in which he would vary speed in 3–5 minute intervals. Lee would ride the equivalent of 10 miles in 45 minutes on a stationary bike.

Lee would sometimes exercise with the jump rope and put in 800 jumps after cycling. Lee would also do exercises to toughen the skin on his fists, including thrusting his hands into buckets of harsh rocks and gravel. He would do over 500 repetitions of this on a given day.


Nutrition
According to Linda Lee, soon after he moved to the United States, Lee started to take nutrition seriously and developed an interest in health foods, high-protein drinks and vitamin and mineral supplements. He later concluded that in order to achieve a high-performance body, one could not fuel it with a diet of junk food, and with "the wrong fuel" one's body would perform sluggishly or sloppily. Lee also avoided baked goods, describing them as providing calories which did nothing for his body. Lee's diet included protein drinks; he always tried to consume one or two daily, but discontinued drinking them later on in his life.

Linda recalls Bruce's waist fluctuated between 26 and 28 inches. "He also drank his own juice concoctions made from vegetables and fruits, apples, celery, carrots and so on, prepared in an electric blender", she said. He consumed green vegetables, fruits, and fresh milk everyday. Bruce always preferred to eat Chinese or other Asian food because he loved the variety that it had. Bruce also became a heavy advocate of dietary supplements, including:

Vitamin C
Lecithin granules
Bee pollen
Vitamin E
Rose hips (liquid form)
Wheat germ oil
Natural protein tablets (chocolate flavor)
Acerola — C
B-Folia

Physique
Lee's devotion to fitness gave him a body that was admired even by many of the top names in the bodybuilding community. Joe Weider, the founder of Mr. Olympia, described Lee's physique as "the most defined body I've ever seen!" Many top bodybuilding competitors have acknowledged Lee as a major influence in their careers, including Flex Wheeler, Shawn Ray, Rachel McLish, Lou Ferrigno, Lenda Murray, Dorian Yates and eight time Mr. Olympia Lee Haney. Arnold Schwarzenegger was also influenced by Lee, and said of his body:

"Bruce Lee had a very—I mean a very defined physique. He had very little body fat. I mean, he probably had one of the lowest body fat counts of any athlete. And I think that's why he looked so unbelievable."

A doctor who knew Lee once claimed that he was "Muscled as a squirrel, and spirited as a horse" and fitter than anyone he had ever seen. Lee was known to have collected over 140 books in his lifetime on bodybuilding, weight training, physiology and kinesiology. In order to better train specific muscle groups, he also created several original designs of his own training equipment and had his friend George Lee build them to his specifications.


Physical feats
Lee's phenomenal fitness meant he was capable of performing many exceptional physical feats. The following list includes some of the physical feats that are documented and supported by reliable and unreliable sources.

Lee's striking speed from three feet with his hands down by his side reached five hundredths of a second.
Lee's combat movements were at times too fast to be captured on film at 24 frames per second, so many scenes were shot in 32 frame per second to put Lee in slow motion.
In a speed demonstration, Lee could snatch a dime off a person's open palm before they could close it, and leave a penny behind.
Lee would hold an elevated v-sit position for 30 minutes or longer.
Lee could throw grains of rice up into the air and then catch them in mid-flight using chopsticks.
Lee could thrust his fingers through unopened cans of Coca-Cola. (This was when soft drinks cans were made of steel much thicker than today's aluminium cans).
Lee performed one-hand push-ups using only the thumb and index finger
Lee performed 50 reps of one-arm chin-ups.
Lee could break wooden boards 6 inches (15 cm) thick.
Lee could cause a 300-lb (136 kg) bag to fly towards and thump the ceiling with a sidekick.
Lee performed a sidekick while training with James Coburn and broke a 150-lb (68 kg) punching bag
In a move that has been dubbed "Dragon Flag", Lee could perform leg lifts with only his shoulder blades resting on the edge of a bench and suspend his legs and torso perfectly horizontal midair

Philosophy
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Bruce Lee
Although Lee is best known as a martial artist and actor, he majored in philosophy at the University of Washington. He was well-read and had an extensive library. His own books on martial arts and fighting philosophy are known for their philosophical assertions both inside and outside of martial arts circles. His eclectic philosophy often mirrored his fighting beliefs, though he was quick to claim that his martial arts were solely a metaphor for such teachings. He believed that any knowledge ultimately led to self-knowledge, and said that his chosen method of self-expression was martial arts. His influences include Taoism, Jiddu Krishnamurti, and Buddhism. John Little states that Lee was an atheist or at least expressed some disbelief in God. When asked in 1972 what his religious affiliation was, he replied "none whatsoever."

The following quotations reflect his fighting philosophy.

"Be formless... shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle; it becomes the bottle. You put it into a teapot; it becomes the teapot. Water can flow, or it can crash. Be water, my friend..."
"All kind of knowledge, eventually becomes self knowledge"
"Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it."
"Do not deny the classical approach, simply as a reaction, or you will have created another pattern and trapped yourself there."
"A quick temper will make a fool of you soon enough."
"Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successfull personality and duplicate it."
"It's not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential."

Awards and honors
With his ancestral roots coming from Gwan'on in Seundak, Guangdong province of China (廣東順德均安, Guangdong Shunde Jun'An), a street in the village is named after him where his ancestral home is situated. The home is open for public access.
Lee was named among TIME Magazine's 100 Most Important People of the Century as one of the greatest heroes & icons, as an example of personal improvement through, in part, physical fitness, and among the most influential martial artists of the twentieth century.
On 31 March 2007 Lee was named as one of History's 100 Most Influential people, according to a Japanese national survey that was televised on NTV.
In 2001, LMF, a Cantonese hip-hop group in Hong Kong, released a popular song called "1127" as a tribute to Lee.
In 2003, "Things Asian" wrote an article on the thirtieth anniversary of his death.
In 2004, UFC president Dana White credited Lee as the "father of mixed martial arts".
On 26 November 2005 the city of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina honored Lee with a statue on the Spanish Square, as a symbol of solidarity. After many years of war and religious splits, Lee's figure was to commend his work: to successfully bridge culture gaps in the world. (One day before the unveiling of the statue in Hong Kong, below).
In 2005, Lee was remembered in Hong Kong with a bronze statue to mark his sixty-fifth birthday. The bronze statue, unveiled on 27 November 2005, honored Lee as Chinese film's bright star of the century.
A Bruce Lee theme park with memorial statue and hall has been scheduled to be built in Shunde, China. It is expected to be complete in 2009.
As of 2007[update], he is still considered by many martial artists and fans as the greatest martial artist of all time.
On 10 April 2007 China's national broadcaster announced it has started filming a 50-part series on Lee. Xinhua News Agency said China Central Television started shooting "The Legend of Bruce Lee" over the weekend in Shunde in Guangdong province in southern China. Shunde is the ancestral home of Lee, who was born in San Francisco. It said the 50 million yuan (US$6.4 million; €4.8 million) production will also be filmed in Hong Kong and the United States, where Lee studied and launched his acting career. Danny Chan Kwok Kwan, who plays Lee, said he has mixed feelings about playing the role of the icon, Xinhua reported. "I'm nervous and also excited, but I will do my best," Chan was quoted as saying. Chan, best known for appearing in the action comedy "Kung Fu Hustle," says Lee has been his role model since he was a child and that he has practiced kung fu for many years. The TV series, which is due to be aired in 2008, the year Beijing hosts the 2008 Summer Olympics Games, appears to aimed at highlighting Chinese culture in the run up to the event.
In 2008, Plans for a Hong Kong museum dedicated to Lee are also in discussion. Lee’s two-story Hong Kong home was to be sold in July for as much as $13 million to benefit victims of the Sichuan earthquake, but its philanthropist owner, responding to pleas from Lee’s fans, decided instead to donate the property to the city so hopefully it can be turned into a museum some day.

Martial arts lineage
Lineage in Wing Chun / Jeet Kune Do
Sifu in Wing Chun Yip Man (葉問)
Other instructors Sihing Wong Shun-leung (黃惇樑)
William Cheung

Notable Sparring partner Toe Dai Hawkins Cheung Note: He was Lee's friend at the time.

Bruce Lee (李小龍)
Creator of Jeet Kune Do

Instructors certified by Lee to teach Jeet Kune Do
Dan Inosanto
Taky Kimura
James Yimm Lee (Died 1972)

Known students in Jun Fan
Gung Fu/Jeet Kune Do Brandon Bruce Lee
Jesse Glover
Steve Golden
Larry Hartsell
Dan Inosanto
Yori Nakamura
Taky Kimura
Richard Bustillo
Jerry Poteet
Ted Wong
James Yimm Lee
Rusty Stevens
Numerous others...
Famous students taught
Jun Fan/Jeet Kune Do Chuck Norris[86]
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
James Coburn
Joe Lewis
Roman Polanski
Lee Marvin
Stirling Silliphant
Steve McQueen
Mike Stone
Numerous others...

Death
Bruce Lee is buried next to his son Brandon in Lake View Cemetery, Seattle, U.S.AA foreshadowing of events to come occurred on May 10th 1973, when Lee collapsed in Golden Harvest studios while doing dubbing work for Enter the Dragon. Suffering from full-body seizures and cerebral edema, he was immediately rushed to Hong Kong Baptist Hospital where doctors were able to reduce the swelling through the administration of mannitol and revive him. These same symptoms that occurred in his first collapse were later repeated on the day of his death.

On July 20th 1973, Lee was in Hong Kong, due to have dinner with former James Bond star George Lazenby, with whom he intended to make a film. According to Lee's wife Linda, Lee met producer Raymond Chow at 2 p.m. at home to discuss the making of the movie Game of Death. They worked until 4 p.m. and then drove together to the home of Lee's colleague Betty Ting, a Taiwanese actress. The three went over the script at Ting's home, and then Chow left to attend a dinner meeting.

A short time later, Lee complained of a headache, and Ting gave him an analgesic (painkiller), Equagesic, which contained both aspirin and a muscle relaxant. Around 7:30 p.m., he went to lie down for a nap. After Lee did not turn up for dinner, Chow came to the apartment but could not wake Lee up. A doctor was summoned, who spent ten minutes attempting to revive him before sending him by ambulance to Queen Elizabeth Hospital. However, Lee was dead by the time he reached the hospital. There was no visible external injury; however, his brain had swollen considerably, from 1,400 to 1,575 grams (a 13% increase). Lee was 32 years old. The only two substances found during the autopsy were Equagesic and trace amounts of cannabis. On October 15th 2005, Chow stated in an interview that Lee died from a hypersensitivity to the muscle relaxant in Equagesic, which he described as a common ingredient in painkillers. When the doctors announced Lee's death officially, it was ruled a "death by misadventure."

Dr. Langford, who treated Lee for his first collapse, stated after his death that "There's not a question in my mind that cannabis should have been named as the presumptive cause of death." He also believed that "Equagesic was not at all involved in Bruce's first collapse." Professor R.D. Teare, who had overseen over 100,000 autopsies, was the top expert assigned to the Lee case. Dr. Teare declared that the presence of cannabis was mere coincidence, and added that it would be "irresponsible and irrational" to say that it might have triggered Lee's death. His conclusion was that the death was caused by an acute cerebral edema due to a reaction to compounds present in the prescription pain killing drug Equagesic. The preliminary opinion of another doctor, Peter Wu, was that the cause of death could have been a reaction to cannabis and Equagesic. However, Dr. Wu later backed off from this position:

"Professor Teare was a forensic scientist recommended by Scotland Yard; he was brought in as an expert on cannabis and we can't contradict his testimony. The dosage of cannabis is neither precise nor predictable, but I've never known of anyone dying simply from taking it."
The exact details of Lee's death are a subject of controversy.

His wife Linda returned to her home town of Seattle, and had him buried at lot 276 of Lakeview Cemetery. Pallbearers at his funeral on July 31st 1973 included Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Chuck Norris, George Lazenby, Dan Inosanto, Taky Kimura, Peter Chin, and his brother, Robert Lee.

His iconic status and untimely demise fed many theories about his death, including murder involving the Triad society and a supposed curse on him and his family.

The curse theory was extended to his son Brandon Lee, also an actor, who died, 20 years after his father, in a bizarre accident while filming The Crow at the age of 28. It was released after his death and gained cult status, as had his father's last film. (The Crow was completed with the use of computer-generated imagery and a stunt double in the few but critical scenes that remained to be filmed.) Brandon Lee was buried beside his father.

Media

Biographical films
In 1976, the Hong Kong film industry released Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth, a largely fictional bio-film starring a Lee "look-a-like," Ho Chung Tao, billed under the name Bruce Li.

In 1993 a biopic of Lee's life titled Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story was released in which Lee was portrayed by Jason Scott Lee (no relation).

In April, 2007, Chinese state media announced that its national broadcaster had started filming a 50-part TV series on Lee titled The Legend of Bruce Lee to promote Chinese culture for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.

On August 22nd 2007, Fruit Chan announced that he will make a film on Bruce Lee's early years, in Chinese, entitled Kowloon City, produced by John Woo's producer Terence Chang, and set in 1950s Hong Kong.

Stanley Kwan stated that he was talking with Lee's family to make a biographical film on Lee. Kwan says that his film will look at how Bruce Lee was affected by the absence of his father and how he brought up his own son, Brandon Lee.


Books authored
Chinese Gung-Fu: The Philosophical Art of Self Defense (Bruce Lee's first book)-1963
Tao of Jeet Kune Do (Published posthumously)-1973
Bruce Lee's Fighting Method (Published posthumously)-1978

Books about Bruce Lee, Jeet Kune Do or both
Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew - written by his widow Linda Lee Cadwell. This book served as the basis for the movie about his life, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story.
Bruce Lee: Words of the Dragon : Interviews 1958-1973 - written by John Little
Bruce Lee: The Art of Expressing the Human Body - written by John Little
The Dragon and the Tiger: The Birth of Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do, the Oakland Years. by Sid Campbell
Bruce Lee Between Wing Chun and JKD - written by Jesse Glover
Bruce Lee: Dynamic Becoming - a book about Bruce Lee's philosophy
Bruce Lee: Fighting Spirit - a biography by Bruce Thomas
Striking Thoughts - thoughts and quotes of Bruce Lee
The Tao of Jeet Kune Do - a book assembled posthumously that expresses Bruce Lee's notes on martial arts and philosophy.
"On the Warrior's Path" by Daniele Bolelli (2003). The longest chapter of this book about martial arts philosophy is on Bruce Lee's philosophical legacy.
Unsettled Matters: The Life & Death of Bruce Lee - written by Tom Bleecker.
Be Water, My Friend: The Early Years of Bruce Lee - a picture book for children, written by Ken Mochizuki and illustrated by Dom Lee, featuring an account of Bruce Lee's childhood and early manhood, which the author says is basically factual.

Bruce Lee documentaries
How Bruce Lee Changed the World (2009)
The Intercepting Fist (2001)
The Unbeatable Bruce Lee (2001)
Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey (2000)
Bruce Lee: The Path of the Dragon (1998)
The Immortal Dragon (A&E) (1996)
Curse of the Dragon (1993)
Death by Misadventure (1993)
Martial Arts Master (1993)
Bruce Lee, the Legend (1977)
Bruce Lee: The Man and the Legend aka Life and Legend of Bruce Lee (1973)

Selected filmography
For a complete list of Bruce Lee's filmography see

Main article: Bruce Lee filmography
The Big Boss (1971) (US title:Fists of Fury)
Fist of Fury (1972) (US title:The Chinese Connection)
Way of the Dragon (1972) (US titles:Return of the Dragon, Revenge of the Dragon)
Enter the Dragon (1973)
Game of Death (1979)
Game of Death 2 Stock footage (1981)

Television appearances
The Green Hornet (26 episodes, 1966–1967) .... Kato
Batman (Episodes: "The Spell of Tut" 28 September 1966, "A Piece of the Action" 1 March 1967, "Batman's Satisfaction" 2 March 1967) .... Kato
Ironside (Episode: "Tagged for Murder" 26 October 1967) .... Leon Soo
Blondie (Episode: "Pick on Someone Your Own Size", 1968)
Here Come the Brides (Episode: "Marriage Chinese Style" 9 April 1969) .... Lin
Longstreet (4 episodes, 1971) .... Li Tsung
The Pierre Berton Show (1971) .... Himself

Other media
Bruce Lee – a video game published by Datasoft Inc under license in 1984.
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story - a video game published by Acclaim Entertainment in 1993.
Bruce Lee: Quest of the Dragon - a video game published by Universal Interactive Inc. in 2002.
Be Like Water - a play by Dan Kwong, produced at East West Players in 2008, featuring the character, Ghost of Bruce Lee.
Marshall Law and Forest Law, from the Tekken video games, are based on Bruce Lee.
Fei-Long, from the Street Fighter video game series is based on Bruce Lee.
Jann Lee, a Jeet Kun Do adherent from Dead or Alive is based heavily on Bruce Lee, adopting his battle cries, wardrobe choices, and fighting style. A cut scene shows Jann Lee watching what appears to be a Bruce Lee film as a boy.
Liu Kang from Mortal Kombat is based on Bruce Lee.
Rock Lee from Naruto is based on Bruce Lee.

GALERIA 2

李小龍 Bruce Lee conocido como el más grande artista marcial del siglo XX (nació el 27 de noviembre de 1940 en San Francisco, California y falleció el 20 de julio de 1973 en Hong Kong) fue un artista marcial y actor estadounidense de origen chino, quizá el máximo exponente de las artes marciales que ha conocido el mundo, no sólo por la fama de haber sido prácticamente invencible (oficialmente Bruce Lee nunca fue derrotado) sino por el pensamiento revolucionario que introdujo en la disciplina a la cual dedicó su vida. Bruce Lee fue un filósofo y pensador aplicado a su arte; estudió el pensamiento filosófico de los sabios taoístas como Lao-Tsé y Chuang-Tsé, y se graduó en filosofía en la Universidad de Washington donde se interesó especialmente por el pensamiento de Hegel, Marx, Krishnamurti y Spinoza entre otros, estudió formalmente Wing Chun Kung Fu desde su adolescencia y luego creó su propio "estilo" de arte marcial, el Jeet Kune Do (JKD) o "el camino del puño interceptor" del cual siempre pregonaba que no se lo debía tomar como un simple "estilo" o "método" más entre los tantos existentes. Sus películas, entrevistas y principalmente su carisma e influencia, contagiaron y extendieron el auge de la pasión por las artes marciales por todo Occidente, generando una ola de seguidores a través de todo el mundo. Su imagen, a más de 35 años de su muerte aún perdura en el tiempo y ha quedado en la historia como el gran mito de las artes marciales.


Biografía
Juventud Nació en el año del Dragón, y en la hora del Dragón, entre las 6 y las 8 de la mañana, en el Hospital Jackson Street de San Francisco, el día 27 de noviembre de 1940. Su padre, Li Hoi Chuen, estaba de gira con una obra de la Ópera China Cantonesa en el continente americano; de ahí que Bruce naciera en San Francisco.

Grace Li, la madre de Bruce, de ascendencia chino-alemana, puso a su niño de nombre Li Jun Fan, que significa Protector de San Francisco, pero durante los primeros meses le llamaban el Pequeño Fénix, que en chino es un nombre femenino. Pretendían con ello confundir a los espíritus malignos que roban al primer varón cuando ha oscurecido. Fue la enfermera María Glover quien le puso su nombre en inglés, Bruce, cuya existencia él no supo hasta doce años más tarde al entrar en una escuela católica, La Salle de Hong Kong. Su madre era católica.

Su primera aparición cinematográfica, según Bruce, fue a los dos meses de edad y a los seis también participó en Tears of San Francisco (Lágrimas de San Francisco). En 1946, cuando Bruce contaba únicamente con 6 años fue introducido en la industria cinematográfica de Hong Kong gracias a unos amigos de la familia. Tras una pequeña prueba el pequeño fue aceptado. La película se tituló Birth of Mankind (El nacimiento de la humanidad) y se trataba de una película melodramática que estaba de moda entonces en Hong Kong. Posteriormente Bruce rodó otras trece películas del mismo corte; en todas ellas figuró su nombre artístico, Li Shiu Loong, que significa el Pequeño Dragón. The Kid es la única película en la que trabajó con su padre, pero curiosamente no intervienen los dos en ninguna escena juntos.

Durante su niñez, o más bien su adolescencia, Bruce fue un pandillero; se dedicaba a pelearse con otras pandillas, llevaban armas, cadenas. Pero un día se preguntó qué pasaría si no tuviera el apoyo de la banda y se metiera en una pelea; entonces decidió aprender Wing Chun, un estilo de Kung Fu. Su primer contacto con las artes marciales fue de la mano de su propio padre, Li Hoi Chuen, que le enseñó Tai Chi Chuan, con el único fin de apartarle del camino de la violencia.

Bruce conocía a un chico de su edad, o poco mayor, William Cheung, que siempre andaba metido en peleas y nunca perdía. Un día Bruce le preguntó por ello y le comentó que era debido a su arte. William le propuso aprender Wing Chun y Bruce aceptó. El comportamiento de Bruce cuando entró por primera vez a la academia de Yip Man no fue todo lo respetuoso que debiera haber sido, sobre todo tratándose de un muchacho oriental, por lo que Yip Man decidió que Bruce no estaba capacitado para aprender un arte como el Wing Chun, y así se lo comunicaron por medio de William Cheung. Bruce decidió volver al día siguiente con humildad y respeto, y Yip Man le dio una oportunidad.

Bruce estuvo entre tres y cuatro años aprendiendo Wing Chun bajo la tutela de Yip Man, aunque fue de la mano de Wong Shun Leung como aprendía directamente. Bruce fue inscrito en el colegio inglés de San Francisco; por aquellos tiempos había torneos interescolares entre ellos y, puesto que se trataba de colegios ingleses, había torneos de boxeo. Bruce decidió tomar parte en uno de ellos, que se celebró en el colegio de St. George, y lo ganó utilizando las técnicas que conocía, el Wing Chun.


Retorno a Estados Unidos A los dieciocho años abandonó Hong Kong para trasladarse a su país de nacimiento, Estados Unidos, y reclamar su nacionalidad. Algunas versiones dicen que el padre de Bruce se vio obligado a tomar esta decisión porque temía que finalmente su hijo se uniera a la mafia china, la Triada china. De esta forma, Bruce se embarcaba el 3 de diciembre de 1958 en el carguero Daisy May, con un billete de 3ª clase y 100 dólares.

La primera ciudad que visitó fue San Francisco, la ciudad que le vio nacer y donde debía reclamar su nacionalidad. Su padre, Li Hoi Chuen, contactó con unos familiares para que Bruce pudiera quedarse una temporada; a cambio Bruce debía trabajar. El trabajo no le gustó mucho, pues se trataba de lavar platos, por lo que lo abandonó rápidamente y comenzó a dar clases para poder subsistir. Posteriormente se trasladó a otro estado, Washington, a la ciudad de Seattle, donde trabajaría en el restaurante de una vieja amiga de la familia, Ruby Chow.

Allí Bruce Lee se había instalado un saco y un Wooden Dummy para poder entrenar siempre que el tiempo se lo permitía, aunque los vecinos se quejaban del ruido que hacía cuando entrenaba y tuvo que dejarlo. Como no tenía amigos, comenzó a asistir a las reuniones de una sociedad china, donde había gente que también practicaba Kung Fu y otros estilos del norte de China, en los que predominaba el uso de las piernas, uso que Bruce desconocía puesto que el Wing Chun trabaja piernas a un nivel muy bajo. La sociedad decidió dar una demostración y así Bruce pudo conocer al que sería uno de sus mejores amigos allí en Seattle, Jesse Glover.

Jesse siempre había estado interesado en las artes marciales (había hecho judo), pero cuando vio a Bruce sintió que debía entrenar con él. Bruce aceptó la propuesta de enseñarle. El primer lugar donde entrenaron fue el salón comedor del apartamento de Jesse Glover. En su primer encuentro Bruce pidió a Jesse que le mostrase todo lo que supiera de Kung Fu. Jesse no había entrenado nunca Kung Fu con un maestro; todos los conocimientos que poseía los había sacado de un libro de James Yimm Lee. Bruce le pidió que le mostrase el libro y después de pasar hojeándolo un buen rato le hizo saber que el estilo mostrado pertenecía a la familia Hung, y que él lo había practicado en alguna ocasión en Hong Kong, pues era un estilo muy conocido allí.

Más tarde, Jesse tuvo la oportunidad de viajar a California con un par de amigos. El objetivo principal de Jesse era visitar a James Y. Lee. Una vez en Oakland, fueron al domicilio de James y se presentaron diciéndole que le conocían por el libro que James había escrito. Éste les invitó a pasar y enseguida comenzó a mostrarles sus conocimientos. Esta visita llegaría a ser determinante en la vida de Bruce, pues facilitó que Bruce Lee y James se conocieran.


Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute En Seattle, Bruce aceptó a un nuevo estudiante, que se trataba de Ed Hart, compañero de habitación de Jesse Glover y esto fue la chispa para que Bruce aceptara más y más alumnos, de manera que Jesse y Ed convencieron a Bruce de que cobrase por sus clases. Al poco tiempo tuvieron que buscar un local, que pronto se les quedó pequeño. Por ese tiempo conoció a Taky Kimura, que llegó a ser el primer instructor asistente de Bruce en el Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute, que era el nombre con el que bautizó a su Kwoon.

Allan Joe, alumno de James Y. Lee, fue a visitar a Bruce. Corría el año 1962, y Bruce estaba estudiando filosofía en la Universidad de Seattle. Bruce invitó a Joe a ver algunas de las técnicas de Wing Chun, en el Wooden Dummy que tenía en el patio trasero del restaurante de Ruby Chow. Allan Joe quedó impresionado y pensó que James Lee quedaría igualmente impresionado si lo viera. Después de esto, James llamó desde Oakland a Bruce preguntándole si podía hacerle una visita y enseñarle algo de su Gung Fu. Bruce pensó que podría ser una buena oportunidad para extender sus enseñanzas y a la semana siguiente Bruce marchó para Oakland alojándose en la casa de James.

Allí tuvo la posibilidad de conocer a Wally Jay con quien pudo intercambiar conocimientos y aprender algo sobre las técnicas de agarre. James tenía su garaje repleto de mecanismos para entrenar inventados por él. Allí estuvieron entrenando y Bruce le dio algunas sugerencias sobre como mejorar estos aparatos. En un viaje posterior Bruce conoció a dos artistas marciales, que con el tiempo serían los más famosos de Estados Unidos, Ralph Castro y Ed Parker, con quienes compartió conocimientos y de quienes se ganó el respeto. Este encuentro también fue vital en la vida y futuro de Lee, pues fue Ed Parker quien le abrió una puerta hacia Hollywood.

Bruce siguió viajando repetidas veces a Oakland, a enseñar a James Lee, Wing Chun, incluso pasaba allí sus vacaciones entrenando con James. El grupo de Seattle seguía creciendo y Taky Kimura fue tomando mayor responsabilidad, no en balde era el asistente instructor de Bruce Lee. Ante el éxito, pensó en ampliar los horizontes de su enseñanza y soñaba con una cadena de gimnasios esparcida por todo el área de California, así que propuso a James ser el instructor jefe del Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute, en Oakland.

James compartía con un alumno suyo, Al Novak, una academia de nombre Hayward California que sería convertida en un Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute. James no estaba seguro de como iba a reaccionar Al ante esta idea, pero pensó que aceptaría los planes de conversión. Por aquella época James pensaba en publicarle un libro a Bruce. Cuando las pruebas estuvieron listas llamó a Bruce para que fuera a Oakland a revisarlas y en esta ocasión Bruce fue acompañado de Taky Kimura. Los tres estuvieron entrenando en la cochera de James y Bruce se sorprendió de que James se adaptara tan bien a los movimientos del Chi Sao, compensando las acciones de Taky con fuerza, James había desarrollado su cuerpo gracias al culturismo, incluso había entrenado con Steve Reeves, el famoso culturista Sr. Universo que tantas películas hizo de Hércules. James se había basado siempre en la fuerza para ser efectivo y le costaba adaptarse a los nuevos conceptos de suavidad.

El libro finalmente estuvo preparado poco antes de que Bruce regresara a Hong Kong a visitar a su familia y se tituló Chinese Gung Fu, The Philosophical Art of Self Defense. Una vez allí en Hong Kong Bruce aprovechó para visitar a su maestro, Yip Man. Pasaron muchas horas tomando té, en las que Yip Man informaba a Bruce sobre aspectos desconocidos para él, como la historia de arte, etc. Bruce pensaba que Yip era ya muy viejo para defenderse, pero durante esta estancia en Hong Kong se dio cuenta de que todavía era operativo a pesar de su edad, sobre todo después de haber practicado Chi Sao con él. Allí en la escuela de Yip Man también pudo ver a otros compañeros suyos, como William Cheung que estaba de vacaciones, pues vivía en Australia desde los 18 años. Bruce pasó cinco semanas en Hong Kong, tras las cuales regresó a Seattle para continuar con sus enseñanzas.

Al regresar a Seattle le esperaba una carta de reclutamiento y empezó a temer por su futuro si tenía que ir al ejército. Pidió consejo a James para evitar ser reclutado, pero el asunto se puso difícil puesto que una persona ágil y fuerte era lo que el ejército de Estados Unidos necesitaba. Bruce acudió al examen médico en el centro de reclutamiento, con la sorpresa de que resultó incapacitado para el servicio militar por tener el arco del pie demasiado pronunciado, poca vista y una condición ligeramente enfermiza.


Oakland En Seattle, conoció a una chica llamada Linda Emery durante el transcurso de una de sus clases, a la que había sido invitada por uno de sus amigos y finalmente se casó con ella. Pensó que Seattle no le ofrecía las posibilidades que le podría ofrecer California y pensó en trasladarse allí. Ello significaba que tendría que pedir a Linda que se casase con él, o que lo olvidase para siempre. Linda aceptó, se casaron y ese mismo día partieron hacia Oakland.

Bruce y Linda vivieron en el domicilio de James Lee y su esposa, Bruce no tenía dinero para alquilar un apartamento, y hasta que pusieran en funcionamiento el gimnasio no tenía la posibilidad de mantener a su recién estrenada familia, con lo que dependían económicamente de James, que estaba encantado de tenerles en su casa. Consiguieron un local cuyo alquiler no era muy excesivo, para abrir su Kwoon, y se dispusieron a arreglarlo para comenzar cuanto antes con la escuela. No tardaron en llegar los primeros alumnos.

Poco tiempo después, le fue detectado un cáncer a Katherine, la esposa de James Lee, del que moriría más tarde. Bruce intentaba que James no se sintiese deprimido, intentó animarle poniéndole un sistema de entrenamiento duro que no le permitiese estar continuamente pensando.


Bruce Lee: Los desafios reales -Alrededor de 1962-63, un compañero de universidad japones cinturon negro de Karate desafió a Bruce Lee. El muchacho japones, a quien Taky Kimura identificó en una entrevista como "Yoichi" (The Seattle years: Entrevista a Taky Kimura) era segundo o tercer dan de Karate en ese momento (hoy el sensei Yoichi "George" Nakachi)éste siempre se tomaba a personal todo lo que Bruce Lee demostraba, e iva adonde éste hacia alguna exhibición y lo desafiaba abiertamente en publico. La situación llegó al punto de que Bruce Lee lo tuvo que hablar para llegar a una solución. Entonces le dijo "Veamos, tu me estás desafiando, correcto?", el japones contectó "Si, te estoy desafiando". Entonces ambos decidieron ir a una pista de handball local para encerrarse y luchar. El karateka inició el combate con una patada que Bruce Lee bloqueó y luego contraatacó con puños directos a lo largo de todo el predio, cuando cayó contra la pared Bruce lo pateó. El combate entero duró, segun Kimura, alrededor de once segundos. Despues de esto el karateka quiso asistir a las clases que enseñaba Bruce Lee junto a Kimura (su instructor mas avanzado) en las cuales duró aproximadamente un mes y luego no apareció más seguramente, segun Taky, por la humillación que implicaba.(The Seattle years: Entrevista a Taky Kimura)

-En 1964, a los 24 años de edad Bruce Lee se vio retado oficialmente a un desafío frente a la comunidad tradicional china la cual, segun se relata, no estaba de acuerdo con que Bruce enseñara Kung fu a estudiantes que no fueran chinos. Segun comentó oficialmente su viuda, Linda lee Cadwell (Documental Bruce Lee: A warrior's Journey) la comunidad china retó a Lee a un combate cuyo resultado decidiría si Bruce podía seguir enseñando a extranjeros. Entonces se fijó una fecha para el combate (la fecha fue en Diciembre de 1964) el cual tendría lugar en la sala donde el pequeño dragón daba sus clases. La comunidad china trajo a un reconocido exponente de Kung Fu de San Francisco en aquel entonces (Luego sería el gran maestro de artes marciales chinas Wong Jack Man) entrenado en el estilo Shaolin norteño, el cual posée un más amplio repertorio de tecnicas de patadas que el Wing Chun utilizado por Bruce, el luchador en representación de la comunidad china de San Francisco pretendió poner ciertas reglas al combate, como no pegar en los genitales ni en los ojos, pero Bruce le indicó que las condiciones las ponía él quien era el retado, y el combate se desarrollaría sin regla alguna.

Hay varias versiones de este encuentro. Segun Linda Lee relata en el libro que escribió sobre la vida de su esposo (Bruce Lee: The man only I knew) y en concordancia a lo que declaró el propio Bruce Lee en una entrevista radial, el luchador chino luego de un intercambio de golpes, comenzó a dar vueltas en círculo por el gimnasio tras lo cual Bruce lo derriba al piso y manteniendoló alli con una tecnica de inmovilización le pregunta tres veces en idioma cantonés: "¿Es suficiente?" ante lo cual aquel responde "es suficiente".

Otras explicaciones dicen que el desafiante comenzó atacando y Bruce respondió con tres puños rectos, aunque sólo el primero impactó claramente en su mandíbula, éste se puso a una distancia a la que no pudiera llegar Bruce con sus cortos desplazamientos, un golpe por parte de él alcanzó a Bruce en la parte izquierda de su mandíbula, esto hizo reaccionar a Bruce que se lanzó tras su enemigo que parecía huir. Bruce le persiguió a través de toda la sala, golpeándole en la espalda y en la cabeza. El hombre intentaba no darle la cara, giraba para darle la espalda, pero finalmente le acorraló y éste se rindió.

Posteriormente Bruce se dio cuenta de que la pelea había durado demasiado para él y que estaba exhausto, por lo que decidió mejorar su condición física para tener mayor resistencia. Por otra parte decidió modificar el estilo para que funcionara mejor contra golpes circulares y poseer una amplia gama de desplazamientos rápidos. A medida que iba haciendo modificaciones en el estilo comenzó a desvincularse del Wing Chun y a llamar al nuevo estilo Jun Fan Gung fu(el Kung Fu de Bruce Lee).

1973, Rodaje de "Operación Dragon":

Durante el rodaje de Operación Dragon (Enter The Dragon), la última película que filmó Bruce Lee finalizada sólo semanas antes de su muerte, tanto Fred Weintraub (productor), Bob Wall (co-protagonista)y Bolo Yeung (co-protagonista)han relatado publicamente los constantes desafíos a Bruce Lee detras de cámaras por parte de los extras contratados para la pelicula, quienes muchos eran artemarcialistas miembros de las tríadas chinas. Bruce por lo general trataba de ignorarlos en su mayoría pero en algunas ocasiones le era dificil. Bob Wall, co-protagonista de la pelicula, relata un reto que presenció (The curse of the dragon, 1993) el cual Bruce Lee a pesar de la pérdida de tiempo de trabajo que implicaba aceptó: "El hombre se presentó de un salto y era mucho más grande que Bruce, y definitivamente quería lastimarlo, pero comenzó la pelea y Bruce empezó a golpearlo, a hacerle llaves en los pies, llaves en las manos, jugaba con él. Bruce no era malo pero sí le demostró quién mandaba...y luego decía "adelante, vamos a trabajar" (...), en este combate con el extra "Bruce Lee literalmente barrió el piso con él" (The curse of the dragon, 1993). En un relato que hace Bolo Yeung (co-protagonista) en el documental La vida de Bruce Lee cuenta que un actor durante la filmación de la pelicula, mientras Bruce Lee enseñaba las coreografías a sus colegas, le hacía comentarios indirectos y ofensivos a éste detrás de cámaras haciendolé entender que su estilo de lucha no era real. Ante esto Yeung relata en cantonés: "Cuando filmabamos Operación Dragón un doble desafió a Li Siu Lung (Bruce Lee en chino) quería experimentar el Jeet Kune Do y Bruce le dice ok, vení bajá", entonces "se movieron un poco hasta que recibió una patada de Bruce Lee, eso fue suficiente y todo terminó...muy rápido" . El productor de Operacion Dragón Fred Weintraub quien estuvo constantemente con Bruce Lee durante la filmación también relata en Bruce Lee, La maldicion del dragon,1993 sobre desafíos que hubo durante el rodaje: "Yo estaba preocupado de que alguien saliera lastimado porque había desafíos todos los días(...), ellos tenían un rito en que se desafiaban donde cruzaban las manos y golpeaban los pies (...)pero las peleas por suerte no duraban mucho porque Bruce pa, pa, pa! los noqueaba y seguía adelante trabajando". También se pueden encontrar otros relatos presenciales como el de Paul Heller, productor de Operación Dragón, quien refiere a Bruce Lee como alguien "increiblemente rapido".(The curse of the Dragon).


Cine En febrero de 1965 Linda tuvo a su primer hijo, Brandon, y seis días más tarde Li Hoi Chuen, murió en Hong Kong. Bruce marchó inmediatamente para asistir al funeral y a su regreso a Oakland recibió una llamada de Ed Parker para que hiciera una prueba en Hollywood. William Dozier productor ejecutivo de las serie de televisión Batman había visto una película en Súper 8 de la demostración que Bruce había dado en Long Beach, invitado por Ed Parker. Dozier sabía de Bruce gracias a la mediación de un amigo común de él y Parker, (el peluquero de Hollywood que había trabajado para Sharon Tate, que fue asesinada en la matanza dirigida por el fanático Charles Manson).

Dozier llamó a Bruce; tan sólo una semana después, marchó para Hollywood y realizó la prueba. En un primer momento se pensó en él para que hiciera de hijo del detective chino Charlie Chan. Bruce firmó una opción de contrato y comenzó inmediatamente las clases de arte dramático. Pero las esperanzas de Bruce se desvanecieron cuando recibió la llamada de Dozier comunicándole que la serie se había suspendido. En febrero del año siguiente Bruce recibió una llamada en la que se le comunicaba que había sido seleccionado para el papel de "Kato" en una nueva serie de televisión titulada The Green Hornet, (El avispón verde). Una vez firmado el contrato empaquetó sus cosas y se marchó con su familia a Los Ángeles.

James se entristeció mucho, pero Bruce le prometió visitarle tan a menudo como pudiera para entrenar con él y sus alumnos. En 1967, Bruce abrió su tercer Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute, que fue su último Kwoon. Estaba situado en el 628 de College Street, en el barrio chino de Los Ángeles, y, contrariamente a los que tuvo en Seattle y Oakland, éste no tuvo ninguna marca identificativa, incluso para mantener el anonimato las ventanas se pintaron. Bruce no necesitaba el gimnasio para vivir, pues, afortunadamente, podía hacerlo de sus apariciones en televisión y cine. Así que de este modo la gente del Chinatown eran seleccionados cuidadosamente entre artistas marciales con talento y sólo se les permitió el paso a algunos artistas y gente relacionados con el mundo del espectáculo que Bruce había conocido, como Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Stirling Siliphant, incluso Kareem Abdul Jabbar.

A Bruce no le gustaban las clases cargadas de gente, él pretendía que las clases fueran lo más parecido al entrenamiento personal, ponía el ejemplo de un entrenador de boxeo que sólo podía entrenar a dos o tres como máximo si quería que el boxeador le respondiera arriba en el cuadrilátero. Fue por ello que rechazó la oferta de fundar una cadena de gimnasios con el nombre de Kato.

Una productora norteamericana le ofreció un papel en la serie televisiva Kung Fu pero a despecho de Lee, ya que participó en la idea original de la serie, al final se designó a David Carradine para el papel, siendo discriminado por su ascendencia china no bien vista en los foros estadounidenses. En 1971, estando de visita en Hong Kong, el productor Raymond Chow, de la Golden Harvest ofreció a Bruce la participación en uno de sus proyectos cinematográficos.

En ese momento decide ir a vivir a Hong Kong, y pide a Taky Kimura ( responsable de la escuela de Seattle), a James Lee (responsable de la escuela de Oakland) y a Dan Inosanto (responsable de la escuela de Los Ángeles), que cierren sus actividades, y que no se dediquen más a enseñar comercialmente lo que les había enseñado. La primera película que realizó en esta etapa en Hong Kong se llamó The Big Boss (Karate a muerte en Bangkok o El Gran Jefe) y fue de inmediato un tremendo éxito en Hong Kong acopiando beneficios de millones de dólares. Bruce Lee se ganó la cúspide de la popularidad china quien le consideraba un héroe nacional.

Inmediatamente participó en su segunda película de artes marciales llamada "Fist of Fury" ( Furia Oriental o Puños de Furia) donde se explotó la supuesta superioridad del Kung Fu sobre el Karate japonés como una forma de conjurar el sentimiento de inferioridad chino frente a los japoneses. El éxito logrado en esta película superó toda expectativa y Bruce Lee se transformó en una consolidada estrella de películas de artes marciales.

En 1972, fue actor, guionista, coproductor y director en la película "Way of the Dragon" (El furor del Dragón o el Camino del Dragón) grabada en Roma junto a Chuck Norris. La película fue otro éxito de taquilla dentro del circuito chino, ya que Bruce no quiso que saliera de él. Esta película es considerada un clásico de las artes marciales y la lucha en el Coliseo es una de las más memorables de la filmografía de Bruce Lee, es conocida como el combate del siglo. Como dato curioso en el tema central de la banda sonora, él se encargó de tocar la percusión.

En el mismo año, en plena fama, es editor técnico de un libro enteramente dedicado al 詠春 Wing Chun, escrito por el único de los tres alumnos a quién Bruce Lee certifico para enseñar su visión de las artes marciales, que tenia ascendencia china James Yim Lee. J. Lee aprendió su Wing Chun de Bruce Lee, y en el libro en el solamente aparecen fotos de personas de origen chino, entre ellos Ip Man (al cual se agradece), Ted Wong y el propio Bruce Lee.

Sin embargo, una nueva oferta, coparticipativa entre una productora Estadounidense y china para desarrollar la película "Enter the Dragon" (Operación Dragón) le fue ofrecida a Lee, quien aceptó con entusiasmo como codirector de las escenas de lucha y actor principal. En esta película Bruce Lee se granjeó una fama póstuma entre el público estadounidense y es considerada su obra cumbre. Fue finalizada en abril de 1973, 4 meses antes de su muerte. La película fue exhibida un par de meses después con un éxito de taquilla abrumador.

En 1973 Lee trabajó en una película que quedaría inconclusa. Sólo están rodados 40 minutos, llamada " Game of Death" (Juego de la Muerte) junto a sus amigos y discípulos Dan Inosanto y Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Cronológicamente, ésta sería su última película debido a su prematura y polémica muerte. El largometraje fue terminado cinco años más tarde por la Golden Harvest, haciendo uso de un doble y notorios -hasta burdos- montajes, y añadiendo 11 minutos del rodaje inicial.


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Tumba de Bruce Lee en Seattle.El 20 de julio de 1973, en la cumbre del éxito, muere en misteriosas circunstancias a los 32 años en un apartamento en Hong Kong. Estando en el apartamento de su amiga y actriz Betti Ting Pei, alrededor de las 14 horas de ese día, Lee sintió un profundo y agobiante dolor de cabeza que le hizo tumbarse en la cama y Betti, según su versión que es considerada como oficial, le proporcionó un analgésico. Lee se sumió en una profunda inconsciencia de la cual ya no volvería, entrando en estado de coma. Fue llevado a un hospital, en el que ingresó ya fallecido.

Actualmente todavía se especula sobre las causas de su muerte, ya que nadie sabe aún por qué fue. La más real es que pudo haber muerto por una complicación derivada de un ataque de epilepsia, efecto que sólo después de 20 años de su muerte la medicina parece haber descubierto. Filkins, un médico de gran prestigio afirmaba que la explicación oficial en torno a la causa de la muerte de Lee es errónea, puesto que en las reacciones alérgicas a los fármacos se suelen presentar indicios como hinchazón irregular en el cuello o insuficiencia respiratoria. En vez de eso, Filkins piensa que Lee murió a causa de un síndrome de Muerte súbita inesperada, derivada de la epilepsia Sudep, síndrome que no se identificó hasta 1995.

Lee tenía casi 33 años y los médicos aseguraron que su cuerpo -admirablemente formado- no representaba más de 18-20 años biológicos. Recientemente se ha dicho como otra causa atribuible, que su deceso se debió a una Aneurisma que le provoco el dolor de cabeza y finalmente lo llevo a la muerte. Su muerte sorprendió al público de Hong Kong y en un principio se atribuyó como falsa la información. Se ha sabido que antes de su muerte Lee había sufrido unos extraños desmayos anteriores de los que se había recuperado. La autopsia de Lee demostró que su cerebro se había inflamado masivamente comprimiéndose dentro de la caja craneal.

20.000 personas se congregaron ante la fachada del establecimiento de Pompas Fúnebres de Kowloon donde estaba su ataúd de bronce, abierto por la parte superior, que había costado 40.000 dólares. El funeral que siguió fue apoteósico en Hong Kong; la multitud de admiradores fue tan impresionante que el ambiente donde estaba el ataúd de Lee era sofocante. En el traslado de la caja fúnebre de Hong Kong a Seattle, donde al fin fue sepultado, tuvo que cambiarse la caja fúnebre, ya que con la humedad o condensación, el forro blanco con que estaba envuelta la caja se tiño de azul, por culpa del traje de Bruce.

Fue enterrado en Lake View en Capitol Hill, Seattle, EE.UU. Tuvo con su esposa Linda Emery, ahora conocida como Linda Lee Cadwell, dos hijos: Shannon Lee y Brandon Lee. Este último, al igual que su padre, falleció en pleno comienzo de su carrera artística durante un accidente en la filmación de la película The Crow (El Cuervo).


Filosofía Bruce pensaba que los practicantes de artes marciales, cuando quedaban estancados en la etapa estructurada, se limitaban demasiado, imponiéndose movimientos y posiciones que no tenían por qué ser idóneas para ellos, y que coartaban su espontaneidad. Buscaba objetivos prácticos y concretos para lo cual enfatizaba que había que poder llegar a la etapa no estructurada.

Una vez dijo: "Las exhibiciones de kung fu tradicional impresionan mucho, pero la mayoría de sus movimientos no servirían en una pelea de verdad ". Pensaba que la práctica de las artes marciales era única en cada persona, y debía adaptarse a las características y habilidades de cada uno. Además, consideraba al karate practicado en Estados Unidos en los años 60 como un arte marcial demasiado rígido y protocolar como para ser usado en una defensa callejera.

Para complementar sus estudios inconclusos de 詠春 Wing Chun, estudió la terminología del boxeo y de la esgrima occidentales extrayendo lo que consideraba adecuado de cada caso, para adaptarlo a su forma de lucha y así acercar a sus alumnos los conceptos de la lucha en términos familiares, y no con complicados nombres, formas poco naturales, y en idiomas desconocidos.

Hacía especial hincapié en los obstáculos que residen dentro de nosotros mismos, antes que en los que supone el agresor. Se sostiene que el individuo está más limitado por sus propios prejuicios e ideas preconcebidas, que por la agresión del adversario, de este modo el Tao habla de prescindir de la propia forma, y buscar una flexibilidad (física y mental) tal que haga imposible la rotura.

Además de artista marcial y actor, fue un filósofo dedicado, lo que aportó una profundidad a sus ideas. Fue particularmente influido por el taoísmo y las ideas del filósofo indio Jiddu Krishnamurti. Uno de sus dichos más recordados por el mundo es "La rama dura se quiebra pero la rama delgada con flexibilidad nunca se quiebra".


Entrenamiento Bruce anotaba en su agenda los entrenamientos de cada día para comparar resultados y mejorar continuamente. Entrenaba diariamente unas 8 horas, sus actividades eran: ejercicios de calistenia, correr diariamente unos 16 Km o la perfección de un determinado golpe o técnica. Quería ser siempre más fuerte y elástico, tenía una talla de 1.67 m.


Estatua de Bruce Lee en el Paseo de las estrellas de Hong Kong.En un momento crucial de su vida, se lesionó seriamente la espalda, un hueso sacro, por lo que tuvo que someterse a un tedioso proceso de rehabilitación y a permanecer inactivo mucho tiempo, alrededor de seis meses, que dedicó a estudiar y a componer notas que se editarán luego de su muerte como "El Tao del Jeet Kune Do". Aunque por alguna razón, a pesar de luego tener los medios para ello, en vida él nunca las publicó. Y aunque el médico le dijo que tal vez no volvería a caminar, no sólo volvió a caminar, sino que sus patadas volvieron a ser las de antes y continuó con su arduo entrenamiento en busca de la perfección en el arte del combate.

El duro entrenamiento le permitió realizar sin trucos, proezas físicas proverbiales e increíbles, entre las cuales destacan: hacer un gran número de flexiones sobre dos dedos de su mano, derribar a luchadores que le doblaban en peso con su patada lateral, desarrollar una potencia de golpe a muy corta distancia (el golpe de puño de una pulgada), realizar una ágil e impecable patada voladora, una tremenda velocidad instantánea de golpes de puño debido a la cual sus sparring simplemente no veían el golpe que les derribaba, además de una destreza en armas tales como el nunchaku, el Bo (palo largo) y la técnica filipina de dos palos, Kali. Según él decía:

“Yo no represento un estilo sino todos los estilos. Ustedes no saben lo que yo estoy a punto de hacer, pero yo tampoco lo sé. Mi movimiento es el resultado del vuestro y mi técnica es el resultado de vuestra técnica”.
Lee adoptó además algunos esquemas de la esgrima, la lucha grecoromana y el boxeo en su estilo, aunque él no lo quería encasillar y llamarlo estilo, sino que decía que no existía ni tenía por qué existir un estilo predefinido para pelear. La perfección por la técnica y el equilibrio, la solvencia y rapidez de sus fintas, su admirable desarrollo físico y dominio corporal no ha tenido rivales que lo superen desde 1960 en su desempeño estético hasta hoy. Su imagen, carisma e influencia en las artes marciales lo han transformado en un clásico. En vida tuvo a grandes estrellas del cine como sus seguidores y también alumnos suyos durante su estancia en Estados Unidos, entre ellos: James Coburn, Steve McQueen, Danny Innosanto, quienes fueron además sus amigos.


Legado Sin duda, uno de sus legados más importantes es la apertura hacia occidente de las artes marciales chinas y la divulgación del Kung Fú en su verdadera dimensión, las cuales antes de él, eran desconocidas y sólo predominaban en películas fantasiosas con acrobacias producidas, con el Karate y el Judo como únicas técnicas orientales conocidas en occidente.

La industria cinematográfica china explotó hasta la saciedad la venta comercial insatisfecha de un público occidental y oriental ávido de ver películas del género y estilo planteado en las famosas películas de Raymond Chow, donde actuó Bruce Lee. Después de su muerte, la industria china colocó a cuanto artista marcial que fuera parecido físicamente a Lee y a su técnica para hacer films de dudosa calidad guionística y expresión técnica para sobreexplotar con su figura el mercado cinematográfico, incluso se llegó a colocar máscaras de Lee en tamaño natural sobre el rostro del actor.

Las revistas dedicadas a artes marciales también cayeron en la sobreexplotación de la figura de Lee, develando sus técnicas, entrenamiento, vida personal, golpes, pensamientos, etc. Sus ideas, filosofía y modo de entrenamiento son revisadas y aplicadas en muchas de las academias de artes marciales modernos en todo el mundo. Hoy en día es posible encontrar en muchas academias de artes marciales su retrato o afiches de su persona. En la entrevista para Pierre Berton, Lee declaró[cita requerida]:

Para mí, en última instancia, las artes marciales significan expresarse honestamente a sí mismo. Ahora, eso es muy difícil de hacer.
Maxwell Pollard, en un artículo escrito para la revista Black Belt, transcribe una declaración de Lee al respecto de su formación:

Yo debo mi actual estado de desarrollo a mi entrenamiento previo en el estilo Wing Chun (詠春), un gran estilo. Esa arte me fue enseñada por el señor Ip Man, el actual líder del Sistema Ving Tsun en Hong Kong, donde fui criado.
Se puede afirmar que Lee, por su renombre, fue responsable de la propagación internacional del sistema Wing Chun (詠春), que, junto al Tai chi Chuan, es el estilo de Kung Fu más practicado del mundo. El Jeet Kune Do, su estilo personal de artes marciales, sólo se practica en forma restringida en algunas academias, ya que él estaba en contra de su difusión[cita requerida], aun es posible ver cultores. Muchos de los actuales cultores de las artes marciales alguna vez al menos hacen un revisionismo comparativo de su técnica de combate y la de Lee, de tal modo de aplicar alguno de sus conceptos a su propio estilo.

Antes de Lee, solo existían películas fantasiosas acerca del Kung Fú y otras artes marciales; después de Lee, las películas siguen la estela dejada por este singular artista marcial. Su hijo primogénito Brandon Lee intentó seguir los pasos de su padre participando en films marciales occidentales, pero en uno de ellos, llamada "The Crow" (1994), tuvo un accidente y murió por negligencia de terceros, al recibir un balazo en una escena. Sobreviven su esposa Linda Emery Lee Cadwell y su hija Shannon Emery Lee, quien ha participado en algunas películas, incluyendo una con el artista Jason Scott Lee, Dragón, la verdadera historia de Bruce Lee donde aparece en un cameo como cantante, también practica artes marciales y promueve la Fundación Bruce Lee.


Apariciones en los medios
Libros Bruce Lee (1963) Chinese Gung Fu, the Phylosophical Art of Self-defense, ISBN 0-89750-112-8.
J.Yim Lee (1972) Wing Chun Kung Fu, chinese art of self-defense, technical editor Bruce Lee. Los Angeles: Ohara Publications, Incorporated.
El Tao del Jeet Kune Do: es una publicación autorizada por su viuda Linda Lee Cadwell, años después del fallecimiento de su marido. En la cual se reúnen sus notas personales.
El método de combate de Bruce Lee (4 volúmenes): una serie publicada por un editor después de su muerte, donde muestra una faceta de sus interpretaciones del arte marcial.

Documentales [editar]Life and Legend of Bruce Lee (in memoriam) (Bruce Lee: The Man and the Legend, aka Bruce Lee: El hombre y su leyenda) (1973)
Bruce Lee, the Legend (La leyenda de Bruce Lee) (1984)
The Life of Bruce Lee (1993) (no confundir con Dragón: La vida de Bruce Lee)
Death by Misadventure (aka La misteriosa vida de Bruce Lee) (1993)
Curse of the Dragon (1993)
Bruce Lee: The Lost Interview (1994)
Bruce Lee: The Path of the Dragon (1998)
Bruce Lee: In His Own Words (1998)
Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey (2000)
Bruce Lee in G.O.D.: Shibôteki yûgi (2000). Documental acerca de Game Of Death.
The Unbeatable Bruce Lee (2001)
Bruce Lee: The Immortal Dragon (2002)
Bruce Lee: The Legend Lives On (2002). Documental inglés de 70 min.

Filmografía [editar]Una de sus películas, Game of Death se terminó después de su muerte. En 2000 se publicó el metraje original (ver sección Documentales).

Fecha Título original Título americano Título en España Título en Perú
1941 Golden Gate Girl
1946 The Birth of Mankind
1948 Fu gui fu yun, aka Wealth is Like a Dream
1949 Meng li xi shi, aka Sai See in the Dream
1950 Xi lu xiang, aka The Kid My Son, Ah Chung
1951 Ren zhi cue aka Infancy
1953 Qian wan ren jia
1953 Fu zhi guo aka Blame it on Father Father's Fault
1953 Ku hai ming deng aka The Guiding Light
1953 Ci mu lei aka A Mother's Tears
1953 Wei lou chun xiao aka In the Face of Demolition
1955 Gu xing xue lei
1955 Gu er xing
1955 Ai aka Love
1955 Ai xia ji aka Love Part 2
1955 Er nu zhai aka We Owe It to Our Children
1956 Zhia dian na fu
1957 Lei yu aka The Thunderstorm
1960 Ren hai gu hong aka The Orphan
1969 Marlowe Bruce Lee Marlowe, detective muy privado
1971 The Big Boss Fists of Fury Karate a Muerte en Bangkok Puño de furia
1972 Fist of Fury The Chinese Connection Furia Oriental
1972 Way of the Dragon Return of the Dragon El Furor del Dragón El regreso del dragón
1973 Enter the Dragon Enter the Dragon Operación Dragón
1978 Game of Death Game of Death Juego con la Muerte
2000 Game of Death Revisited (DVD)


Apariciones televisivas [editar]Batman (Episodios: "Spell of Tut" 26 de septiembre de 1966, "A Piece of the Action" 1 de marzo de 1966, "Batman's Satisfaction" 2 de marzo de 1966) .... Kato
The Green Hornet (aka El avispón verde) (26 episodios, 1966/67) .... Kato
Ironside (Episodio: "Tagged for Murder" 26 de octubre de 1967) .... Leon Soo
Blondie (Episodio: "Pick on Someone Your Own Size", 1968)
Here Come the Brides (Episodio: "Marriage Chinese Style" 9 de abril de 1969) .... Lin
Longstreet (4 episodios, 1971) .... Li Tsung
The Pierre Berton Show (1971) .... Himself

Otras apariciones / referencias [editar]The Green Hornet (aka El retorno del dragón) (1974). Primero de los 2 recopilatorios de El avispón verde, editado como telefilm.
Fury of the Dragon (aka La furia del dragón) (1976). Segundo de los 2 recopilatorios de El avispón verde, editado como telefilm.
Circle of Iron (1978). Bruce no actúa, pero fue uno de los que escribieron la historia.
Si wang ta (aka Game of Death II, aka El último combate) (1981). Película japonesa que incorpora insertos de Bruce Lee.
The Best of the Martial Arts Films (1990). Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, etc.
Bruce Lee and Kung Fu Mania (1992). Clips de películas de Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, etc.
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (aka Dragón: la vida de Bruce Lee) (1993). Película biográfica.
Cinema of Vengeance (1994). Una muestra de la historia de las artes marciales en el cine.
Top Fighter (1995). Otra muestra de la historia de las artes marciales en el cine.
"Famous Families": The Lees: Action Speaks Louder (1999). La familia Lee, en el 3r. episodio de la 2a. temporada.
The Art of Action: Martial Arts in Motion Picture (2002). Documental narrado por Samuel Jackson.
Rock Lee, de la serie de anime y manga Naruto esta inspirado en Bruce Lee.
Modern Warriors (2002). Documental con los grandes maestros de las artes marciales.
Cinema Hong Kong: Kung Fu (2003). El cine de artes marciales de Hong Kong.
Maljukgeori janhoksa (aka Once Upon a Time in High School, aka El espíritu de Bruce Lee) (2004). Película que narra una historia de amor y odio, con algunas referencias a Bruce Lee.
Finishing the Game: The Search for a New Bruce Lee (2007). Se trata de una comedia donde se busca a los actores que han de interpretar la película póstuma de Bruce Lee.
The Legend of Bruce Lee (2008). Serie de TV.

Los clones [editar]Debido al grandísimo éxito que tuvieron las películas de Bruce Lee, surgieron numerosos imitadores, entre los que hay que destacar a tres: Bruce Li, Dragon Lee (aka Bruce Lei) y Bruce Le.

Otros: Bruce Chen, Bruce Lai, Bruce Lau, Bruce Lei (otro, no Dragon Lee), Bruce Leung Siu-Lung, Bruce Liang, Bruce Lo, Bruce Ly, Bruce Thai, Dragon Sek (aka Dragon Shek), Judy Lee, Jun Chong (aka Bruce K.L.Lea, Bruce Lea), Kim Tai-Jung (aka Tong Lung, Tang Lung, Kim Tai-Chung), Li Hsiu-Hsien (aka Danny Lee), Sammo Hung, Tang Lung (otro, no Kim Tai-Jung), etc.

La película más destacada al respecto es The Clones of Bruce Lee, protagonizada por Bruce Le, Dragon Lee y Bruce Thai, y con Bruce Lai y Bruce Liang