Bruce Lee was a famous actor and martial artist.
Lee Jun-fan (Bruce Lee) was born on November 27, 1940 in Chinatown, San Francisco, California, United States in Jackson street hospital.
A hospital nurse suggested naming him Bruce.
Both his father, Lee Hoi-chuen and mother, Grace Ho were Chinese.
Lee Hoi-chuen was an opera singer and actor.
Since he was an actor, he used to take Bruce Lee to cinema shootings.
Consequently, Bruce Lee got opportunities to act in films.
Acting since childhood-
Bruce Lee acted in his first film by the name, Golden Gate Girl at just 3 months of age for a baby role.
Bruce Lee learnt acting and dance from his childhood.
When he was a child, Bruce Lee acted in more than 20 films.
After a few months, his family moved from the United States to Hong Kong.
During those times, Hong Kong was ruled by mafia gangs, who made the lives of normal people very difficult.
Turning point of his life-
Once Bruce Lee was returning to home from his school, he unfortunately got beaten by a gang.
This incident inspired Bruce Lee to learn martial arts to protect himself from such notorious gangs.
He learnt Kung fu from Yip Man, who was a well-known Kung fu teacher.
Yip Man taught Bruce Lee a terrific technique by name, Wing Chun.
Then, after a few days the same gang attacked Bruce Lee in his school.
But now the gang members got severely beaten by Bruce Lee.
Bruce Lee broke the teeth of a gang member and a hand of another one.
After this incident, the police authorities warned the father of Bruce Lee, that if such an incident repeated, Bruce Lee would be jailed.
Moving to USA-
This made his father send Bruce Lee to California, USA.
Bruce Lee at his 18 years of age shifted to California to stay in the house of a family friend.
Bruce Lee for a living used to work as a waiter in a restaurant and used to train people in martial arts.
At 20 years of age, he joined the University of Washington to study philosophy.
There, along with studying he also used to practice martial arts.
Bruce Lee was a vivid book reader.
He became very famous in college because of martial arts.
Many college students used to show interest in learning karate from Bruce Lee.
So, he started Lee Jun Fan Gung Fu martial arts institute in Chinatown, Los Angeles in 1963.
In that school, Bruce Lee used to train Hollywood actors in martial arts.
In the same year, he acted as a helping actor in a film by name, Marlowe.
Bruce Lee also started his second school in the USA.
The brave hero-
Bruce Lee was being threatened by some Asian martial arts masters, who accused him of leaking the martial arts secrets which belonged to China to the world.
They envied his growth and even threatened to kill him.
But Bruce Lee did not pay any concern to their threats and developed a new method of martial arts by the name Jeet Kune Do, with his knowledge of boxing, karate and kung fu.
In a competition, the one inch punch exhibited by Bruce Lee got well-renowned.
As a result, he garnered a huge number of fans.
Amazing feats-
One of Bruce Lee’s famous stunts include dragon flag which includes, lifting his 70 percent of body in supine position in air without any support for at least half-an-hour.
His punches were very powerful, the opponent used to fall 5-6 meters away, even if Bruce Lee punched the opponent from a 3 feet distance.
Also, Bruce Lee used to quickly catch the rice grains which were thrown into the air by using a pair of chopsticks.
He challenged human limitations by his performance and stunts.
The king of martial arts-
Bruce Lee is an inspiration to many Karate and Kung fu students.
His movements were so fast, that it was very difficult to notice his movements with bare eyes.
During those days, there was no one to beat Bruce Lee and this explains the power of Bruce Lee.
His family-
In 1965, Bruce Lee was blessed with a baby boy, who was named Brandon Lee.
Bruce Lee was later blessed with a daughter, Shannon Lee.
Brandon Lee grew up to become an actor, but unfortunately he died due to accidental firearm discharge while acting for a movie.
Shannon Lee worked as an actress for a brief period of time.
Bruce Lee was offered to act in shows like the Green Hornet, Batman, etc.
This made it possible for him to get in contact with many actors, for whom he later trained martial arts.
Bruce Lee was a very big fan of Gama Pehalwan, a heavy weight champion from India.
Proving the physicians wrong-
In 1970, Bruce Lee’s spinal cord got severely damaged while lifting heavy weights.
After which doctors stated that he will never be able to perform martial arts.
But Bruce lee proved his physicians wrong, as in a few days he started practising martial arts.
Bruce Lee used to train himself very hard, he used to daily practice over 2000 punches, 1000 kicks, and run over a distance of 5 kilometres.
He also used to train his son in martial arts from a very small age.
Breaking Box-office records-
Later, Bruce Lee moved to Hong Kong.
Here, he met a producer by the name Raymond Chow.
Bruce Lee along with Raymond Chow produced a movie by name The Big Boss; it was a big blockbuster movie which created new box-office records in Asia.
Big boss was a Chinese movie, in which Bruce Lee played the lead role.
The fights of Bruce Lee were shown in slow motion, because Bruce Lee movements were so fast-paced that normal eyes could not recognise his body movements.
As the big boss movie became a super hit, he became an international superstar.
Later, in another movie by the name Fist of Fury, Bruce Lee introduced a new weapon by the name nunchaku.
This movie was also a run-away hit which proved him a great action hero.
Connecting east with west-
Bruce Lee was the first actor to connect the east with the west with the help of culture and art.
Times magazine declared Bruce Lee as one of the most influential people of the twentieth century.
Multi-talented-
Bruce Lee was a writer, choreographer, producer, hero, fight master and director for a movie, Way of the Dragon.
He along with Warner Brothers produced a movie by the name Enter the Dragon.
Unfortunate incident-
A few days before the release of this film, Bruce Lee went to the home of the actress Betty Ting of his next film, Game of death to discuss this film.
In her home, he developed a severe headache.
So, Betty Ting gave him an Equagesic tablet.
Bruce Lee took the tablet and went to a room to take a rest and it was his last sleep, he never woke up from it.
He was taken to the Baptist hospital in Hong Kong, but unfortunately he couldn’t be saved.
He died on July 20, 1973 at a young age of 32 years.
Doctors confirmed that the reason for his death was cerebral edema, which was caused by the adverse effect of Equagesic medication, which he took for headache.
Thousands of people attended the funeral of Bruce Lee.
The roads of Hong Kong got filled to brim with people.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the story of Bruce Lee?
The story of Bruce Lee is very interesting.
He acted in the Golden Gate Girl film when he was just three months old.
Later, Bruce Lee learnt martial arts to protect himself from violent gangs.
He moved to the United States where his martial art skills made him very famous and provided him with the opportunities to act in Hollywood.
What can Bruce Lee teach us?
Bruce Lee teaches as many important life lessons which are as follows-
• Instead of waiting for someone’s help, learn the necessary skills and be self-reliant.
• Read as many books as possible because knowledge is power.
• Have dignity of labour and never hesitate to do odd jobs for living.
• If you believe that you are right, be brave.
• Health is more than wealth, so always strive to be healthy.
• Live your life to its fullest because you never know when you will die.
Why is Bruce Lee so famous?
Undoubtedly even after his death, Bruce Lee is very famous all over the world.
His martial arts skills, martial arts and fighting philosophies and acting skills are the reasons for his popularity.
When Bruce Lee started training?
Bruce Lee started training in his school days when he was 13.
He took training from Yip Man, a well-known Kung fu teacher.
Why did Bruce Lee leave Hong Kong?
During those times, Hong Kong was a very unsafe place and Bruce Lee used to get involved in fights.
Consequently, the police authorities warned his father that Bruce Lee might get jailed if he keeps involving in fights.
This made his father force him to leave Hong Kong and move to the USA.
How Bruce Lee trained?
Bruce Lee trained by incorporating different training methods like weight training, running, stretching, grappling, fencing, judo, wrestling, Wing Chun and boxing.
What is the nationality of Bruce Lee?
Bruce Lee was a Hongkongese American.
This means he was both an American and also a Hong Kong permanent resident.
Can Bruce Lee dodge a bullet?
No it would have been impossible for even Bruce Lee to dodge a bullet because a bullet travels very fast with speeds in between 2000 km/h- 4500 km/h.
What killed Bruce Lee in real life?
Bruce Lee died on July 20, 1973 when he was just 32 years old.
The reason for his death was cerebral edema caused by the adverse effect of Equagesic medication.
Featured image credit- National General Pictures/Wikimedia Commons
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