Bruce Lee

Born: 27th November 1940
Where: San Francisco, California
Died: 20th July 1973

Born Lee Yuen Kam, Bruce moved to Hong Kong as a child, and acted in a number of films there in the late 1940s and early 50s.

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.

This martial arts legend whose flying fists and feet battled their way through a number of internationally successful, Hong Kong-produced action films, died at a very young age.

Bruce had attempted to make his way to 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 and 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 The Chinese Connection and Return 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 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 by Hollywood by received a star on the 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, at the tender age of 28.