Bruce Lee

The Dragon was born in 27 November 1940 in San Francisco,United States between 6.00a.m and 8.00a.m(the hour of the dragon) equivalent to the year of the dragon of the lunar Chinese calendar.

His real name was Lee Jun Fan and his father was Lee Hoi Chuen,an opera actor.

1946-Bruce began to act in childhood movies in Hong Kong.Later he became shortsighted and started to wear glasses.

Bruce began attending La Salle College in 1952.

1953-he began learning Weng Chun from Master Yip Man after being beaten up in a street fight.That was the last he lost a fight.

Bruce took up cha-cha dancing in 1954.

1958-Bruce entered the 1958 Boxing Championship and defeated the reigning three year champion,Gary Elms.

1959-He went back to San Francisco,Chinatown because of numerous involvement in fights.He began to teach martial arts.

1961-Bruce enrolled in University Of Washington.Seattle studying philosophy.He taught kung fu to students regardless of race and culture.

1963-He started the first Jun Fan Kung Fu Institute.At Garfield High School,he demonstrated the famous "one-inch-punch".Bruce would hold his arm straight out one-inch from the opponent body and with a shrug of his shoulder,knock a man across the ground.

1964-Bruce opened a second school in Oakland.His good friend Taky Kimura took over as head instructor.Bruce married to his student, Linda in the same year.Ed Parker,known as the father of American Karate (Kenpo) invited Bruce to give a demonstration.Bruce then showed off his one-inch punch and two-finger push-ups.He was discovered by a producer,William Dozier because of his superhuman abilities.

1965-Bruce defeated the leading kung fu master in Chinatown,Wong Jack Man who disagreed with Bruce in teaching kung fu to non-Chinese.Bruce took quite some time to defeat him.Thus, he began to wonder and then created "The art of intercepting fist",Jeet Kune Do(JKD).JKD is an art combining various fighting styles.His style is no style.

1965-Brandon Lee was born.In the same year,Bruce's father passed away.

1966-Bruce began screening The Green Hornet as "Kato"

1967-1971,Bruce gave private lessons to Steve McQueen,James Coburn,James Garner and Kareem Abdul Jabbar.Bruce met Chuck Norris at the All American Karate championships in Washington D.C.

1967-3rd school was opened and Dan Inosanto served as assistant instructor.

1969-Shannon Lee was born.

1970-Bruce injured his back while training in Los Angeles.He was told that he would never kick again.During the recovering months,he started to write on his thoughts,philosophy and martial arts."The Tao Of Jeet Kune Do"is published after his death.

Bruce declined filmmaking offer from Run Run Shaw because the pay was much lower than expected.

1971-India, Bruce got the idea for Game Of Death where a warrior would go from a level to another in a pagoda. Each level is guarded by different martial-artists from various disciples.

Hong Kong, Bruce accepted producer Raymond Chow's offer to become the lead role in the film The Big Boss.Brandon attended La Salle College, the same college Bruce attended. Bruce appeared in an interview by Pierre Berton.

Later,the filming of The Big Boss began in Thailand.

Bruce was not chosen for a kung fu series,The Warrior.Later the film was released as Kung Fu starred by an untrained actor.

1972-Fist Of Fury was released in Hong Kong.It further established Bruce as amegastar.Bruce beganfilming several fight scenes with Jabbar and Inosanto for the film Game Of Death.Bruce performed in Hong Kong TVB's channel.He broke four out of five boards,one was hanged with a string.

Rome,Bruce starred,directed and wrote the film The Way Of The Dragon.In the final scene he fought with Chuck Norris.Late of the year,Bruce's brother died.

1973-The filming of Enter The Dragon began.while The Game Of Death is put on hold.This was a cooperative film between US and Hong Kong film industries.

Enter The Dragon completed.Bruce collapsed at Golden Harvest Studios while dubbing his voice for the film.

Conflicts arised between director Lo Wei and Bruce.Lo Wei accused Bruce had threatened him with a knife. The same day,Bruce performed in HKTVB show Enjoy Yourself Tonight and the host Ho Sho Shin was hurled across the stage. Bruce was accused of bullying the host though that was not the case.

Bruce worried over the headaches he was experiencing.He died in Betty Ting's apartment because of brain swelling.After much debate,doctors declared Bruce's death as "death by misadventure".In July,a funeral ceremony was held in Hong Kong.25 000 people turned up to pay respect.Later,Bruce was buried at Lake View Cemetery,Seattle.His pallbearers included Steve McQueen,James Coburn,Danny Inosanto,Taky Kimura,Peter Chin and Robert Lee.

Enter The Dragon premiered at Graumann's Chinese Theater.The movie was a super-success ever achieved and Bruce Lee became worldwide megastar.