Few people have had the kind of social impact that Bruce Lee did.
Just about everyone knows who he was and what he did, but there are plenty of aspects of
his life that the public may not actually know.
Here's a look at the untold truth of Bruce Lee.
Master of none
It's said that Lee only ever lost one fight, when he was 14 years old.
He had no training at that point, but the experience spurred his need to learn to defend himself.
This eventually brought him under the influence and tutelage of Ip Man in 1957, who taught
Lee the Wing Chun style of martial arts.
The pairing has become the stuff of cinematic legend, with several films made about their meeting.
However, before Lee completed his training, he moved to the United States, ending his
formal training in Wing Chun.
Though Lee would go on to become a world renowned martial artist, he never actually became a
master of any single form — including Wing Chun.
He invented his own style
After leaving Hong Kong, Lee began to teach his own form of martial arts.
He initially based his style on what he learned of Wing Chun, but called his form Jun Fan
Gung Fu, which translates into Bruce Lee's Kung Fu.
Lee opened his first martial arts studio in Seattle, and continued to develop his style
until he created Jeet Kune Do in 1967.
Jeet Kune Do evolved after Lee's legendary fight with Wong Jack Man in 1964.
The fight supposedly lasted for several minutes, leading Lee to conclude that the form of Kung
Fu he was following was too formalistic to be practical.
This led to the evolution of Jeet Kune Do, a system of fighting that abandons the rigidity
of established forms, and places an emphasis on practicality, flexibility, efficiency,
speed, and physical fitness.
Lee's influences in establishing his new style came from fencing, western-style boxing, and
Wing Chun.
Jeet Kune Do is still practiced thanks to Lee's influence and teachings.
Some notable practitioners include Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Lady Gaga, and Nicholas Cage,
among many others.
He was a child actor
It's hard to find someone who doesn't know Bruce Lee and his work like Enter the Dragon,
but most people aren't aware of his prolific body of work prior to becoming a worldwide celebrity.
Bruce Lee was acting since he was a little kid — he even worked on a film at the tender
age of three months.
In the 1941 film Golden Gate Girl, he played a Chinese baby, which was a role he was literally born to play.
He didn't do much more until the age of six, but by his 18th birthday, he had performed in 20 films.
One-Inch Punch
Remember that scene in Kill Bill: Volume 2 when Uma Thurman is buried alive and has to
one-inch punch her way out of her coffin?
Most people watching something like that would probably dismiss it as an impossibility, or
a gimmick, but it was based off of something Bruce Lee often did in performances.
According to biomechanical researcher, Jessica Rose of Stanford University, "When watching
the one-inch punch, you can see that his leading and trailing legs straighten with a rapid,
explosive knee extension."
This forces the speed of his twisting hips to increase, which lurches his shoulder forward.
He was literally putting his entire body — and likely most of his resting energy — into
each punch.
Lee would instantly pull his fist back, which shortened the impact time.
This compressed the force and made the punch all the more powerful.
Poet and philosopher
You may not think of Bruce Lee as a poet or philosopher, but he studied both poetry and
philosophy in school, and was published several times.
While attending the University of Washington, he focused his studies on Asian and Western
philosophy, incorporating elements of Buddhism and Taoism into both his poetry and his martial arts.
This helped him to better understand himself and how he and his martial arts were more
a method of self-expression of his philosophy than anything else.
“I said empty your mind.
Be formless.
Shapeless.
Like water.
Now, water can flow, or it can crash.
Be water my friend.”
He also read throughout his life, and maintained a rather impressive library in his home, with
more than 2,500 books focusing primarily on martial arts and philosophy.
Shortly before his death, Lee wrote a personal essay called "In My Own Process," where he
reflected on his role in the world.
"Basically, I have always been a martial artist by choice and actor by profession.
But, above all, I am hoping to actualize myself to be an artist of life along the way."
The Fab Five
Some may remember him from his role as Kato on The Green Hornet, but most people recognize
Bruce Lee as the leading man in films like Enter the Dragon and Fist of Fury.
When he died at the age of 32, though, Lee had only acted in five major American productions:
Marlowe, where he only had a minor supporting role, The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, The Way
of the Dragon, and Enter the Dragon, which was released after he died.
Just as his martial arts skills were often too fast to be captured on film, the same
could be said about his entire life.
Deadly allergic reaction
Bruce Lee's death was a tragic accident nobody could have predicted.
It wasn't from a fight or injury, but rather an an allergic reaction to a painkiller that
caused his brain to swell.
Fans had a hard time believing that something so random and mundane could bring down their
hero, and rumors immediately began swirling that he had actually been murdered.
But though his death was officially ruled "death by misadventure," that terminology
was misleading, and the coroner's report was conclusive: it was a cerebral edema that killed him.
Bruceploitation
Shortly after Lee died, filmmakers in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan began hiring anyone
who looked anything like Lee and put them in crappy martial arts films, hoping to bank
on the deceased star's popularity, look, and style.
Not only did the studios hire men who looked like Lee, these guys ended up changing their
names to sound something like him as well.
Bruce Li, Bruce Lai, Dragon Lee, Bruce Leong, and Bruce Le were prolific throughout the
'70s — and most of the movies were pretty awful.
About the only good thing that can be said is that they provided an opportunity for the
next generation of martial arts movie stars, like Jackie Chan, who briefly worked with
Lee before his death, even faking an injury in order to get sympathy hugs from his idol!
“Suddenly, I don’t know why, I just pretend it’s very painful.
Oh, ow!
Ow!
I just want Bruce Lee to hold me as long as he can."
Some rare gems did shine through during the Bruceploitation era, though, including Game
of Death, which used footage that Lee himself had filmed before his death.
The film was an instant classic, reminding everyone that there will always be just one Bruce Lee.
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