50 years since Bruce Lee’s death: everything you need to know about the legend who transformed martial arts cinema

Who hasn’t eaten homemade nunchuck yet? Or did you play throwing flying punches more typical of choreography than combat? And who hasn’t conspired about the real cause of death of the greatest star of martial arts cinema? Today they are fulfilled 50 years since the death of Bruce Leedied on July 20 from 1973, just a few days before the premiere Dragon operation, the most successful film in the history of this film genre. In addition to being an actor, dancer, fighter and philosopher, he was a figure who changed everything in martial arts cinema, broke with the prevailing racism in the industry and inspired an entire generation baby boomers who will most likely answer yes to the first questions. However, half a century after he left, his name is still heard in the voices of the old and the young. This is all you need to know Bruce Lee.

Born with two names in the sign of the dragon

He was born in Chinatown, in San FranciscoNovember 27 in 1940, the fruit of chance. Although his family was originally from Hong Kong, his father was touring the United States with a Chinese opera, which brought them to the American city. This is also the reason why the little one got two names. one in chinese, Lee Jun Fan, and the other in English, Bruce Lee, on the recommendation of the nurse who registered him. It should also be noted that he was born in both the year and the hour of the dragon, which is a good sign in Chinese culture.

Troubled adolescence in Hong Kong

After three years spent in the US due to his father’s acting work, Bruce Lee returned to Hong Kong with the rest of his family. However, the return took place in the middle of World War II, at a time when the country was suffering from the Japanese invasion. After the end of the war in 1945, family life returned to normal, but the boy soon chose the world of fights and gangs.

His defiant attitude and constant conflicts on the street and at school even led to his expulsion from the institute. Additionally, this coincided with the time when Bruce began practicing various martial arts with the goal of winning the many gang fights he was involved in. In the end, his parents decided to send him to study in the United States.

cha-cha champion

The young Bruce Lee opted for other artistic disciplines, which, in turn, would leave a mark on the fighting style he would later design. Namely, he had a special preference for dancing. Despite the fact that his dancing face is the most unknown, he came to teach and even won a cha-cha-cha competition in Hong Kong when he was 18 years old.

His side as a philosopher

Although Bruce Lee did not excel as a good student during his adolescence in Hong Kong, he was able to focus on his studies after moving to the United States. In addition to completing the degrees he left halfway in his homeland, he studied philosophy at the University of Washington in Seattle. Some of his followers consider him a philosopher, it is true that this knowledge, together with the importance of this discipline in Asian culture, had an important influence on the martial art he developed.

He invented his own martial art: jeet kune do

Both during childhood, and during adolescence and youth, Bruce Lee practiced various martial arts and other types of fighting that would later influence his special style. They were tai chi wing chun, boxing, western and Filipino fencing, kung fu, jiu-jitsu, muay thai or tangsudoamong others.

Influenced by these disciplines as much as dance and philosophy, Bruce Lee developed his own system of martial arts and opened a training center where he held classes. called him first jun gung fu fan, which literally translates to “Bruce Lee kung fu”, and later renamed it jeet kune do, which means “the way of the intercepting fist”. This is due to the fact that it is a system in constant evolution and that, more than a method of combat, it functions as a way of life. his known “to be water” This is one of the foundations of this modality, which is characterized by almost choreographed fights.

He transformed martial arts cinema

Bruce Lee took his first acting steps as a child, in Hong Kong, after the end of World War II, but it was in the United States that he made the leap to the screen that would make him a legend, participating in television series such as Green hornet or Batman by Adam West. However, the roles that marked his life and the lives of so many children who followed his adventures were cinematic. Titles such as Karate to death in Bangkok (1971), fists of rage (1972), Wrath of the Dragon (1972) i Dragon operation (1973). Despite his short filmography, his performances changed the history of martial arts cinema and turned B-series movies into authentic blockbusters. Who has never tried to imitate one of his flying kicks?

His fight against racism

Despite his success on the big screen, Bruce Lee ran into Hollywood racism on numerous occasions. At that time, cinema presented caricatured Asians, with characters that denigrated their culture, without leading roles, and on several occasions they were even played by Westerners. After several attempts to turn this situation around, the actor gave up and began shooting films in Hong Kong, with notable success. Then the American film industry opened its eyes and the Warner Brothers company invited him to film Dragon operation. Ironically, a child born under this sign would die days before the premiere.

his mysterious death

Dragon operation, the film that changed the history of Hollywood — despite being shot in Hong Kong, it is an American production — premiered on July 26, 1973. A meeting that the protagonist could no longer attend, having died six days earlier in circumstances that have fueled more than one conspiracy theory. He July 20, 1973 Bruce Lee (32) was in the house of actress Betty Ting Pei preparing a new film when he experienced a severe headache, took a painkiller and fell into a coma from which he did not wake up. Doctors determined that the cause of his death was an allergic reaction to the drug, although later investigations indicated a possible aneurysm, collapse due to an adrenal crisis or a case of sudden death. Be that as it may, it is clear that his departure was a heavy blow for those children who today remember the legend that led them to the production of nunchucks.