BRUCE LEE

Bruce Lee was born Lee Juan Fan in San Francisco in 1940, but his parents moved to Hong Kong when he was still a baby. He grew up there, and appeared in movies as a child, and took up martial arts when he became a teen. When he was 18 he moved back to San Francisco, and then to Seattle where he opened a kung fu school. In 1966 he was cast as Kato on TV's The Green Hornet. He also appeared in the movie Marlowe, and on a few episodes of TV's "Longstreet". He also opened two more kung fu schools. In 1971 he went to Hong Kong and filmed Fists of Fury (also called The Big Boss), which was a huge hit, and he followed the next year with The Chinese Connection (also called Fist of Fury), and Return of the Dragon (with Chuck Norris). Hollywood knew a hit when they saw it, and in 1973 Lee starred in Enter The Dragon. Soon after the movie was completed, Lee died of a cerebral hemorrhage (or was he silenced by his enemies?). After his death at just 32, footage he shot was edited into Game of Death (with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), and scores of "tribute movies" were made, and several martial arts actors took names similar to "Bruce Lee". Lee's son, Brandon Lee, was killed in an accident after filming The Crow, and he was just 28.