Bruce Lee born: 27-11-1940 birth place: San Francisco, California died: 20-07-1973
Born Lee Jun Fan, Bruce moved to Hong Kong as a child, and acted in a number of films there in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
In 1958, he won a cha-cha dancing contest in Hong Kong. That same year he also returned to the US, where he attended college and lectured at Washington high schools on the subject of Oriental philosophies.
Bruce had attempted to find stardom in Hollywood but, apart from the one-season TV series, 'The Green Hornet', and a supporting role in 'Marlowe', he made his most important connections as a martial arts teacher.
He schooled a number of celebrities as well as many other students, in his highly individual, pragmatic synthesis of fighting and self-defence styles.
In 1970, he returned to Hong Kong, and conquered the film world, with films like 'Fist of Fury' and 'The Way of the Dragon', which showed a touch of good humour amid the convincing and riveting fight scenes.
His best-remembered film, 'Enter the Dragon', was his real breakthrough, though it unfortunately proved to be Bruce's last movie, and was released several weeks after his death.
The mysterious circumstances surrounding his premature death transformed him into a cult figure among millions of martial arts enthusiasts.
Years later, it was revealed that the cause of his death seemed to be a cerebral oedema, triggered by an allergic reaction to a routine painkiller.
In 1993 he was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
His son, Brandon Lee, launched his own film career in the 1990s, but died suddenly in a tragic accident during shooting of 'The Crow', aged just 28.
