Bruce Lee Biography

Bruce Lee (Lee Hsiao Lung), was born in San Francisco in November 1940, the son of a famous Chinese opera singer. Bruce moved to Hong Kong where he soon became a child star in the growing Eastern film industry. His first film was called The Birth of Mankind; his last film, uncompleted at the time of his death in 1973, was called Game of Death.

Bruce was a loner and was constantly getting himself into fights. With this in mind he looked towards Kung Fu as a way of disciplining himself. The famous Yip Man taught Bruce his basic skills, but it was not long before he was mastering the master. Yip Man was acknowledged to be one of the greatest authorities on the subject of Wing Chun, a branch of the Chinese Martial Arts. Bruce mastered this before progressing to his own style of Jeet Kune Do.

At the age of 19 Bruce left Hong Kong to study for a degree in philosophy at the University of Washington in America. It was at this time that he took on a waiter’s job and also began to teach some of his martial arts skills to students who would pay. Some of the Japanese schools in the Seattle area tried to force Bruce out, and there were many confrontations and duels fought for Bruce to remain.

He met his wife Linda at the University where he was studying. His Martial Arts school flourished and he soon graduated. He gained some small roles in Hollywood films and some major stars were begging to be students of the Little Dragon – James Coburn, Steve McQueen and Lee Marvin to name but a few. He regularly gave displays at exhibitions, and it was during one of these exhibitions that he was spotted by a producer and signed up to do The Green Hornet series. The series was quite successful in the States – but was a huge hit in Hong Kong.

Bruce visited Hong Kong in 1968 and was overwhelmed by the attention he received. He once said on a radio program that if the price was right he would do a movie for the Chinese audiences. He returned to the States and completed some episodes of Longstreet. He began writing his book on Jeet Kune Do at roughly the same time.

Back in Hong Kong, producers were desperate to sign Bruce for a Martial Arts film, and it was Raymond Chow, head of Golden Harvest, who produced The Big Boss. The rest, as they say, is history.

Read the chronological timeline of Bruce Lee.

Visit Bruce Lee’s Grave Site.