Bruce Lee Chronological Timeline

A complete chronological timeline of the life of Bruce Lee – from his birth in San Francisco in 1940 through his transformation into a global icon and his untimely death in Hong Kong in 1973 (for a year-by-year record, explore also the chronological life timeline).

1940s – Birth and Childhood

November 27, 1940 – Bruce Jun-fan Lee born at the Chinese Hospital in San Francisco’s Chinatown. His father, Lee Hoi-Chuen, is touring with the Cantonese Opera Company.
1941 – Family returns to Hong Kong. Bruce appears as an infant in his first film, Golden Gate Girl.
1946 – Begins acting career in Hong Kong cinema, appearing in The Birth of Mankind.
1948-1958 – Appears in more than 20 Hong Kong films as a child actor. Attends La Salle College and later St. Francis Xavier’s College.

1950s – Martial Arts Begins

1953 – Begins training Wing Chun Gung Fu under Grandmaster Ip Man in Hong Kong. Trains alongside future stars including Ip Chun and Wong Shun-leung.
1958 – Wins the Hong Kong Cha-Cha Championship. Becomes involved in street fights; his father arranges for him to return to the United States.
1959 – Arrives in Seattle, Washington at age 18. Works as a waiter and begins teaching dance.

1960s – America and the Birth of JKD

1961 – Enrolls at the University of Washington, studying drama. Works as equipment manager. Opens informal Gung Fu school on campus.
1963 – Opens the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute in Seattle. Publishes Chinese Gung Fu: The Philosophical Art of Self Defense.
1964 – Marries Linda Emery. Demonstrates the one-inch punch at the Long Beach International Karate Championships – the demonstration that changes his life. Moves to Oakland and opens second school.
1965 – Son Brandon Lee born. Has the famous fight with Wong Jack Man in Oakland.
1966 – Cast as Kato in The Green Hornet TV series. Moves to Los Angeles. Begins training Hollywood celebrities.
1967 – The Green Hornet cancelled after one season. Names his martial art Jeet Kune Do (‘Way of the Intercepting Fist’).
1969 – Daughter Shannon Lee born.

1970-1973 – The Hong Kong Years

1970 – Suffers severe back injury. Bedridden for months; uses the time to read and develop his training philosophy.
1971 – Returns to Hong Kong. Signed by Golden Harvest. Films Fist of Fury (The Big Boss). The film breaks every Hong Kong box office record.
1972 – Films The Chinese Connection and Return of the Dragon. Both become massive hits. Begins filming Game of Death – pauses to make Enter the Dragon.
May 10, 1973 – Collapses on set at Golden Harvest with seizures and cerebral oedema. Hospitalized.
July 1973 – Filming of Enter the Dragon completed. Lee presents the finished film to Warner Bros. executives in Los Angeles.
July 20, 1973 – Dies in Hong Kong at the apartment of actress Betty Ting Pei (the circumstances investigated in The Mystery of Bruce Lee). Cause of death: cerebral oedema, attributed to allergic reaction to Equagesic. He is 32 years old.
July 26, 1973 – Enter the Dragon opens in US cinemas, six days after his death.
July 31, 1973 – Buried at Lake View Cemetery, Seattle, Washington.