Bruce was born in San Francisco in 1940, the year of the dragon. He was given the name Bruce Lee at the hospital. When his family moved back to Hong Kong, he was name Jun Fan which means "Little Dragon". Jun Fan was a girl's name, and he was named so for a very special reason. His father believed that their family had a demon. This demon had taken what would have been Bruce's bigger brother at birth. To keep the demon from taking Bruce, they named him a girl's name, they dressed him like a girl, and they would teach him English so as to confuse the demon. Well...
Bruce finally had to come back to America because he was getting into a lot of trouble in Hong Kong. His father gave him money and he came to America to claim his citizenship because he was born here. He worked at a restaurant and lived at it in San Francisco for a while. He would end up going to college there. He was going for a Philosophy degree. He met someone there that would be very important to his life... Linda. He met her because he was teaching people some martial arts *after they had already challenged him to a fight and beat them no problem*. She wanted to learn so he started teaching her, too.
He would end up marrying Linda. She had encouraged him to open up his own martial arts school. So, he did. It was called "The Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute". He started teaching many people. He would teach ANYONE who wanted to learn. Whether it be a white person, a black person, a chinese person, a japanese person... whosoever asked to learn. The other chinese teachers did not like this. Apparently, there is actually a martial arts code that says that the chinese may not teach their secret arts to anybody not chinese... that includes the "wide-eyed guailo", meaning white or black people. Bruce Lee would not stand for this. He has always believed that something about the true chinese culture should be shown to the world, to America. Not all of that chop chop, pig tail, and squinty eyes crap. *Which he clearly points out in an interview..* He was going to teach WHOSOEVER asked him. So, they challenged him to a fight.
It just so turns out that the fight was won by Bruce, but when he tried to walk away, he was kicked in the back. This caused him to be paralyzed for a long while...Bruce was put into the hospital and he lost all of his morale. He really wanted to die. He wanted nothing to do with the world. He hated the world. His wife Linda would support him all the time, no matter how much he yelled at her. She told him this, "Bruce, you keep saying, 'the fight took too long' or, 'it's all just a big classical mess'! Why don't you do something about it?" He would reply that he couldn't, look at him, at the machine he's in that's holding him together... she told him to speak, she would write. She told him he was going to write a book. He tells her all that he can think of and then he begins writing more side notes and changing everything. He begins to actually think out martial arts. This would result in a book called, "The Tao of Jeet Kune Do" which means, "The Way of the Intercepting Punch Method". This book would be revised later after he dies. Something his wife tells him while he's in the hospital...
Bruce had a son and he named him Brandon. The world would see Brandon much later. But for now, Brandon was Bruce's and Linda's baby. Bruce finally started his school back up. Bruce finally ends up starting another school in Orlando. The Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute was hardly any more though. It was now Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do. What is Jeet Kune Do anyway? Find out here. This new "style" would be the formless of styles. It would be a mixture with no classical mess or fancy junk. It's point was simple. To be the victor in battle through the ease of movement. Bruce Lee wanted to show this to people. He spoke to people at a Karate Conference that he was invited to. He was talking about how Karate and Tae Kwon Do and Gung Fu or Chinese Boxing was all just a mess. They asked him to prove it...so he did. The same guy that had fought him to paralyze his back came into the ring and said he would fight Bruce, that he had already beaten him anyway. Bruce gets slightly scared, but shrugs it off and decides he was going to prove it.
Bruce says that he can beat him in only 1 minute. So they set the timer, and fight! They both wavered for a few seconds then Bruce attacks. The fight goes on and then Bruce is kicked in the back one good time again. Bruce looses his footing and tries to recover. Finally, Bruce gets mega pissed and just takes the guy OUT. He finishes with 3 seconds left on the clock. He had proved it. Everyone chanted, "Bruce Lee...Bruce Lee..." This is where Bruce's big break was made.
A man from Warner Brothers had been there. He was the make-up artist for Bat Man. Bat Man was the thing, so quite obviously, the new show would be just like it. It just so turns out that Bruce was the only asian guy who could pronounce the director's name right, Britt Reid. So, he got the job. The new show was called "The Green Hornet". Bruce's name was Kato. This would be very important. Hardly anyone in America had seen it, but... the people in Hong Kong DID see it. Bruce Lee was a BIG hero over there. It wasn't called "The Green Hornet" over there. It was called "The Kato Show". Bruce had done as his father had asked. He had caused a big sound that could be heard in Hong Kong.
The show was cancelled, and Linda was pregnant again. She had a baby girl and named her Shannon. Shannon is in her 30's today. She is now currently in a WB series, I forgot which one... anyway... Bruce's father had died, so they went to Hong Kong to his funeral. This would cause Bruce's history, his life, his downfall, and if he had listened to his father more closely, it would have worked. Bruce would still be alive today if he had not went to that funeral. I'll explain at the end.
Bruce was caught by a few people and they told him about how big he was in Hong Kong. He stayed to do a few movies. The first one was "The Big Boss" or to America, "Fists of Fury". This turned out a lot of money in Hong Kong and eventually in America.
Bruce was in a movie called Fist of Fury, or The Chinese Connection to us. This movie broke all the last movie's records...which was an international record of 1 million dollar grossing...and then this movie beat that...
His third movie ,Return of the Dragon, or Way of the Dragon, was totally directed and done and everything by Bruce. Except there were other acting parts, and it was Chuck Norris' break into martial arts movie career!
Bruce finally started in a WB picture called Enter the Dragon or originally "Blood and Steel". This movie was so big... and the most amazing thing is this... Only a modest 600,000 dollars was used making the movie. To this date, it's still grossing and it's grossed in over 300 million dollars!!! Anyway, this movie made Bruce famous internationally....after his untimely death. He did get to see his final version, but the version released to the public took out all of his good scenes that were philosophical. There is now a version that added those scenes back. The 25th Anniversary tape, and it has his interview with Pierre Burton on it, too.
Bruce finally had a project he was working on...The Game of Death..but they really screwed it up..and not only failed with the plot but failed with the copy and paste and everything!! What they tried to do was allude to his death..which really really worked. Ironically, Bruce's movies alluded to his death!!! It's really weird. Anyway, I only have pictures of the REAL Bruce that they put in the movie, not his fake...his fake was so slow it wasn't even funny. Not the real guy, obviously. Good try though...used too many fancy things that Bruce wouldn't have used. Oh well...fancy mess sustains without Bruce...sorry little guy. He got Kareem Abdul-Jabar to be in the movie. Bruce always said that the movie would be an example of how hard it was to work with Kareem and his height when he was teaching him. If you ask me, Kareem learned well. BUT, I must say, that the scene where Bruce fights the level of "The Nine Degrees Black Belt", that was most demeaning to martial arts. I am telling you that my 9th degree Master Kong in Tae Kwon Do could have definitely but a GREAT match for Bruce Lee. Bruce really was being too cynical in his making of that scene. That guy fought so pathetically. The movie is still incomplete and it is not a real Bruce Lee movie to me, but a movie trying to get money using Bruce's name and a few of his scenes. It probably didn't work.
Bruce, the man, the legend - he would most like to be called a human as most of you probably already know. A super actor, an original human being. He knew he was different...somehow he knew how his life was going to end. One of the many mysteries. But, as I have been looking at everything... online, videos made about him... Why can't you people just let his memory rest? I mean, it's nice to talk about him and stuff, but talking about his death is pointless. He is dead now!! For those conspiracy people out there... EVEN if so that he was not dead, he wants us to think he is..........SO let him be. He's dead. He is now resting in peace. Hopefully in heaven. I do not know where his faith lied. I just pray that he was with God. Bruce is one of my influences and one of my heroes and for my hero to go to Hell would be very immorale striking to me because I have a hero even bigger than him: Jesus. Here are more pictures of this GREAT human being.
To see Bruce's interview with Pierre Burton, go here.
To go back to the main window, go here.
To see about Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do, go here.