Much has been written about the biography and career of Bruce Lee, and even more about his films. But what is the uniqueness and greatness of this person? We tried to find the components of Bruce Lee's success that made him a legend of the 20th century.
1. Master of martial arts
Is it worth talking about the skill of Bruce Lee, nee Li Xiaolong? Perhaps worth it. Indeed, according to confirmed data, Bruce Lee has never participated in an official competition, which gives someone reason to doubt. An unofficial list of fights was presented on foreign forums. But the master is determined not only by official duels and fights at tournaments of various levels.
Here are just a few facts that indicate that Bruce Lee has reached great heights in the possession of martial arts. In addition to push-ups on one hand, on two fingers, Bruce also did incredible things with "iron". Once he took a 37 kg kettlebell in each hand and spread them apart. He stood in this position for 20 seconds. It is worth emphasizing that its weight at that time was 70 kg.
Fantastic possession of nunchucks
And his "inch strike" became the subject of special attention of scientists. Lee approached the opponent almost closely and with two fingers, without any swing, simply knocked him down. So scientists explained it by the structural features of the brain. Neural connections that perfectly coordinate body and arm movements. Some sources say that Bruce Lee's reaction speed and coordination was so perfect that he could catch grains of rice with chopsticks.
Bruce Lee demonstrating "Inch Strike"
And finally, Bruce Lee not only knew how to control his body. He understood the principles, philosophy of martial arts. Here is a quote from his essay, which he wrote as a student: "Kung Fu is a specific art, not just physical exercise. It is the subtle art of expressing brain activity through the performance of a certain technique. The essence of Kung Fu is not a subject that can be studied. as a science, with the help of obtaining facts and their analysis.No, understanding of this principle occurs spontaneously, like an illumination arising in the brain, freed from any emotions and desires.The essence of this principle of kukg fu is Tao - the spontaneity of all phenomena occurring in the Universe".
2. Outstanding actor
Bruce Lee in the movies from the cradle! Bruce got into the cinema at the age of 3 months: he got the role of a baby in the film "Girl's Golden Gate". By the way, there he played a girl ... The second time he appeared on the screen at the age of 6. He starred in his second film, The Origins of Humanity, which was released in Hong Kong.
But Bruce Lee's acting career flourished in America. He moved there from Hong Kong in 1959. There he opens his own halls for the study of kung fu (the first one opened in 1963). And Bruce Lee began acting in films in 1965 - then he met the producer William Dozier. Basically, in the early years of his great acting career, Bruce Lee starred in serials. From 1967 to 1971, Bruce Lee starred in a huge number of films, in which he played both main and minor roles. During this time, he becomes the star of America. This is reflected in the cost of training with him in person (up to $ 300 per hour) and in institutes (up to $ 800 a month).
The film Big Boss can be considered a turning point. It comes out in 1971 and in 20 days of rental brings the box office to $ 3.5 million. It was a huge success, Bruce is becoming a world-class star. Further more. A year later, the movie "Fist of Fury" was released, which brought 4 million in the same time.
Lee's directorial and production debut is The Way of the Dragon. For filming in the film, he invites famous karate champions Bob Wall and Chuck Norris to Italy. It is noteworthy that the final scene was filmed in the Roman Colosseum. When preparing the fight scenes, Bruce Lee showed scrupulousness - the instructions were 5 volumes. After that, the same figure stood in the box "film box office".
Bruce Lee had many pictures in his plans - the studios literally flooded him with offers. But everything was crossed out by death in 1973 ...
In the fall of 1978, Bruce Lee's last film, Game of Death, appears on the screens. Only 28 minutes of this film is occupied by material with the participation of Bruce himself. During the box office, the film grossed $ 300 million ...
"Game of Death" was released 5 years after the death of Bruce Lee
As an actor, Bruce Lee did an extremely important thing - he began to popularize martial arts in American cinema. Of course, before him there were martial arts masters who combined martial arts and cinema. But only Bruce Lee was able to attract so many viewers to the screens.
3. A man who made himself!
This is perhaps the main ingredient in the legend's recipe. Bruce Lee has never been seen stopping, not exercising. He always moved, found even the slightest, but the load on the muscles, even while reading books. He always had weights on his legs and arms, so he trained every second. You might think that such a person had absolutely no time for literature, but no. In the morning, after jogging, flexibility exercises and breakfast, he always devoted time to family or self-development - training of the soul and mind.
The main thing that distinguished Bruce Lee was discipline. The combination of Chinese and German blood (his mother was half German) had an amazing effect. Lee did not miss a single workout.
Perhaps there was no more purposeful person than Bruce Lee. In 1969, he made the following prediction for himself: "I, Bruce Lee, will become the highest paid superstar in the United States from the East. I will perform the most impressive performances and play the best roles as an actor. In 1970, I will become world famous, and from this until the end of 1980, I will have $ 10 million in my account. I will live the way I want and will find inner harmony and happiness. "
Bruce Lee
Master of martial arts, American and Hong Kong film actor, director, producer, screenwriter, philosopher.Born November 27, 1940, into the family of Chinese opera actor Lee Hoi Chen and a half-Chinese half-German Grace Lee.Strictly speaking, he is Li Jang Fan (translated from Chinese - "come back": the child was born in San Francisco, and the mother wanted her son to return to America). When the boy grew up, he was given the name Li Yen Kam ( "never sitting still"): after the first filming, the name Li Sui Lung ("little dragon") appeared. And the birth certificate issued in the Chinese hospital in the city of San Francisco bore the name Bruce Lee.Not everyone believed that Bruce Lee was actually a boy. The evil spirits knew for sure that Grace had given birth to a girl: the mother and father spent a lot of effort to confuse them, and even gave the child the girlish nickname Little Phoenix. Their first son died, and they thought they had something to anger the gods; in China, they believe that the second child in the family should be a girl, and Grace and Lee adopted the daughter of a poor man. Then they had a son, Peter, then Grace became pregnant again and could not find a place for herself because of anxiety: according to Chinese beliefs, the second son is also in danger. Newborn Bruce Lee had his ears pierced and called his maiden name - it seemed that the evil spirits had been tricked.Bruce Lee grew up and did not give rest to the whole quarter: there was no second such Skoda in Hong Kong. Bruce Lee ran around the city, made friends with just anyone, dragged apples from stalls of street vendors and did not listen to his parents - a great sin for Chinese people who revered old age. However, Bruce Lee's father also did not differ in family virtues. He was a good actor and a great guy, he was loved by his friends and women, and he didn’t look forward to them - Lee Hoi Chen spent money on anything but children. Lee was a well-to-do man by Hong Kong standards (he owned several apartments that he rented out), but the way the family lived would terrify a Chicago unemployed person. A large table at which they ate, played and read; the only room in which Lee, Grace, their children, grandparents, several servants and a huge German shepherd slept; a fan under the ceiling, sadly driving hot air ... Water was brought into the house once a week for several hours, and it was drawn into all bowls. The Li family took a shower in a feline manner, smearing water on their faces, snorting and splashing - they did not know what a bath was in the house, and a forty-degree heat in Hong Kong was in the order of things ... But everyone who lived under this roof was holy convinced that such comfort is only in the governor's palace: most of the Chinese huddled in cramped, pitiful shacks.Children grew up, and they had to be taught - Bruce Lee and his brothers were sent to a Jesuit college. The Jesuits had been doing missionary work in China for several centuries and knew more about the Aborigines than anyone else, but even they could not cope with Bruce Lee.Small, thin, nimble, Bruce Lee could not sit still, did not want to puzzle over arithmetic and English grammar, and felt great pleasure only when he managed to smash someone's nose. Bruce Lee's former classroom mentor, Henry's brother, remembering him many years later, insisted that he was an unusual child - alive, receptive, intelligent. He had to be treated very gently, all the time to occupy his imagination - then he behaved like a goody ... Apparently, this rarely succeeded brother Henry: several years passed, and Bruce Lee was expelled from the Jesuit school.In Bruce Lee, there was a huge craving for self-assertion, street showdowns elevated him in his own eyes. He was puny, evasive and absolutely fearless: the reason for a fight could even be that the boy he met looked at him wrong, sighed wrong, spat in the wrong place, apologized not respectfully enough. Bruce Lee did not pay attention to the height and weight of his enemies, and they beat him twice a day. Lee Hoi Chen, of course, was not a model father, but the bruises on his son's face and the always torn clothes got on his nerves. The wailing Grace washed the bruises and darned the torn shirt, and Lee lectured Bruce Lee every night: after all, he was immensely tired of it. Lee Hoi Chen did not give money to children out of principle, but when Bruce Lee asked to pay for his kung fu lessons, he unexpectedly agreed for himself - he had at least a faint hope that this disgrace would someday end.Bruce Lee chose a tough and aggressive Vinh Chun - according to legend, the creator of the style was a nun who lived in the 15th century. (She invented it when she watched the fight of a snake with a crane.) The nun taught him the girl Yum Vinh Chun, she taught him her future husband, he also had students ... So it came to Ip Men, a former police inspector in the city of Namkhoi, who fled to Hong Kong from the troops of Mao Tse-tung. In Hong Kong, Yip Man opened his own school and made a living by making street pranksters like Bruce Lee into real fighters.Running five kilometers and hundreds of push-ups, endless blows on a sandbag, acrobatics, full-contact fights, when the enemy's fist hits your ribs with all its might ... Training at Ip Men school put his body in impenetrable muscle armor , taught an almost perfect combat technique. Bruce tested it on his classmates and the results were more than satisfying.Soon his parents sent him to another school - there it turned out that the lessons with Ip Men were good for the child. Of course, he did not become an excellent student, but the senseless mischief that bothered the Jesuit fathers greatly diminished. Young Li no longer had the strength to play leprosy: after practicing Wing Chun, every bone ached - lightness came only in the fifth year.But now Bruce Lee has calmed down. He became the king of the school - on the street he was always accompanied by a respectful retinue. Having dealt with his classmates, Bruce Lee took up the English boys: they constantly fought with little Chinese and, as a rule, beat them for nothing. The British were much larger, moreover, they taught boxing in their schools, but blows with a knee to the chin, forehead to nose and elbow to the ear were a devastating surprise for them. One after another, the rulers of the seas went into a deep knockdown, and with each black eye and sagging nose, the authority of Bruce Lee grew: in Hong Kong they well remembered the "Opium War", the plundered Beijing and the inscriptions "Dogs and Chinese are not allowed", which had recently disappeared from the central parts of the city.Life smiled at Bruce Lee, and by the age of eighteen he felt almost happy. When he was very young, his father taught him to dance, and now he won the Hong Kong cha-cha-cha championship, played several children's roles in action films. No one argued with him on the street. In his spare time from fighting and training, Bruce Lee took dance lessons. Now he looked like a dandy - his hair carefully licked and greased, an impeccably ironed black suit (he ironed it himself, not trusting his mother), a narrow tie with an even knot. Whether it's a missionary school student or a variety show dancer, it's the perfect target for a fun-loving street hooligan.On the streets of Hong Kong, mama's sons were not treated kindly. It was pleasant to spit on the patent boot, to pull on the tie. But after that, the impudent received sau-do - Bruce Lee's favorite blow, when the edge of the palm, hardened by many hours of training, falls on the attacker's throat. One day he saluted three members of the Hong Kong Triad with them, two of whom were hospitalized.The oldest of the Asian criminal communities, the "Triad" "existed for hundreds of years: having emerged as a secret society that fought against the Manchu conquerors, over time it switched to the drug trade. Those who joined it were bound by mutual responsibility: society demanded absolute loyalty from its people, and in return it provided them with protection. If people from the "Triad" began to beaten with impunity in the streets, the power and prestige of the clan would not be worth a penny. Bruce Lee now had to die - quickly and painfully as possible. , was saved by the fact that he was considered a US citizen - his mother packed her things in one evening, bought a steamer ticket and sent Bruce to America to her acquaintances. Grace Lee was frightened to death and did not suspect that she was sending her son to meet wealth and fame. ...Seventy years ago, the first shipment of Chinese was brought to the United States. America was rapidly covered by a network of railways, and cheap labor was needed to build them - poor, hardworking and unrequited Asians were perfect for this. The right hook was considered the best argument in dialogue with them: the poor peasants from remote Chinese villages, who had never studied martial arts, endured such treatment with Confucian patience. Time passed, morals softened, but laundries and cheap restaurants remained the lot of American Chinese - in one of them Bruce Lee got a job.Bruce Lee soon became a movie star. It happened, in general, by accident: TV producer William Dozier was looking for an actor for a role in a new series, a man who studied with Bruce was nearby, and he got the role. Then he was given a new role, and then bypassed for the sake of an American actor. Bruce Lee was worried - it seemed to him that his film career was not working out, but when he arrived in Hong Kong, his fellow countrymen were ready to carry him in their arms. It turned out that at home he was very popular - in native city Lee Jang Fang returned to the halo of an American movie star and at the same time a warrior who beat the "white devils".
Before meeting Bruce Lee on TV screens, only a few people in Russia knew about what "karate" is and about the existence of martial arts in general. We saw the first films with Bruce on cable television, only not on such as it is understood now, but when an antenna was brought into our apartments from a utility room rented by young guys in the entrance, and then they played films on a VCR.
Since at that time very few people knew about the VCR, let alone that they had it at home, many were happy to connect and watch what they were shown. And it was then that a lot of films about martial arts were shown with Bruce Lee in the title role. There were almost no words in these films, probably ninety percent of the film consisted of fights.
It was in those days that many began to get involved in karate in earnest. It is not clear where the masters immediately appeared, who already had, it is not clear what kind of given. Sections on different types martial arts. And all, as one, the trainers learned from the Chinese masters. A real boom began. Both boys and girls, the smallest and teenagers, all began to enroll in these groups.
Of course, then many dropped out when they realized that, first of all, it would not work out right away, after a couple of classes, to start fighting like a real karate, demonstrating their superiority over others. And many were repelled by the fact that they taught them not only to swing their legs beautifully and effectively, but, above all, to think. It turns out that all martial arts are closely related to philosophy, and few people want to sit and listen to lectures after school, that if a fight can be avoided, then we must not fight.
Even those who did not begin to seriously engage in this kind of martial art, after watching the film, and conducted "training" in front of the mirror, must demonstrate their achievements to their friends and classmates, at school and on the street.
If there was no karate section nearby, then those who had such an opportunity recorded films with the participation of Bruce Lee on videotapes, and then methodically studied all his movements and strikes. They repeated, over and over again, paused, rewound the tape, and tried to reproduce exactly what Sensei did.
Much later, when martial arts were no longer such a curiosity, and many knew that there are many styles in karate, they learned that the style in which Bruce Lee fought was called Jeet Kune Do. We learned that the fighter had been developing this style for many years, combining the most effective techniques in it different types fight. Those who seriously studied these techniques accepted the philosophical teachings of the masters. After all, in fact, they do not teach anything bad. This is a kind of code of honor for a strong person who should not apply his knowledge unnecessarily.
The existence of such sports sections was very welcomed by the mothers of the boys. This is not surprising. First, the child is not strolling along the street, but is under the supervision of adults. Secondly, he will somehow learn to protect himself and his girlfriend, if, God forbid, this is needed. And thirdly, after all, they also teach the mind to the mind so as not to get on the rampage and not get involved in conflicts. And what else is needed for the child to be in business.
Bruce Lee (English Bruce Lee); baby name - Li Xiaolong (Chinese 李小龙, English Li Xiao Long, Russian "Little Dragon"), adult name - Li Zhenfan (Chinese 李振藩, English Lee Jun Fan); born November 27, 1940 in San Francisco - died July 20, 1973 in Hong Kong - a legend in the field of Chinese martial arts, Hong Kong and American film actor, director, screenwriter, producer, stage director and philosopher.
- Birth name: Li Xiaolong
- Occupation: martial arts master, popularizer of Chinese martial arts abroad, philosopher and good family man.
- Date of Birth: November 27, 1940
- Place of birth: San Francisco, California, USA
- Citizenship: USA, Hong Kong
- Died: July 20, 1973 (Age 32)
- Place of death: Hong Kong
- Father: Lee Hoi Chen
- Mother: Grace Lee
- Spouse: Linda Lee Cadwell
- Children: Brandon Lee (1965-1993), Shannon Lee
- Height: 171 cm
- Weight: 64 kg
- According to the zodiac: Sagittarius
- Chinese horoscope: The Dragon
He began acting in films from childhood, in total he starred in 36 films.
He popularized oriental martial arts in Western countries in the second half of the 20th century. Became widely known in the field of martial arts and has attracted many imitators in film and television. More than 30 films have been filmed around the world about the life and work of Bruce Lee.
Bruce Lee lay tipped over on the sofa cushions, and a desperately wailing woman shook him, hit him on his cheeks, rubbed his temples with ammonia. He was asleep, but she could not wake him. The doctor who ran into the room immediately realized that Master Kungfu was no longer in this world. Immediately they called my wife: she gasped, clutched at her heart ...
At 7:30 pm, Bruce complained of a headache, Betty gave him one of her Equagsic (a home remedy for headache) pills, and Lee lay down to take a nap on her bed. And at 23:00 shocking news was announced in the press - famous film actor and director, popularizer and reformer of Chinese martial arts, the most trained person in the world Bruce Lee dies suddenly at the age of 32.
Bruce lee prologue
More than a hundred years ago, Great Britain took the Kowloon Peninsula from the Chinese Empire. That war was called "the opium"; it was short, brutal and absolutely hopeless for the Chinese armed with crossbows and axes. The city of Hong Kong arose on the peninsula - a center built up with snow-white European mansions and an indigenous outskirts smelling through and through with stale fish and spicy local cuisine.
In 1942, the Japanese captured Hong Kong and staged a grand massacre, then the British returned their colony; after Mao defeated China, refugees poured into the city ...
Bruce Lee was born on November 27, 1940 in San Francisco in the Year of the Dragon and at the hour of the Dragon according to the Chinese calendar (between 6 and 8 a.m.) during the tour of his parents in America - the actor-comedian of the Cantonese Chinese Opera Lee Hoi Chen and his wife Grace Lee. Grace Lee's mother had Eurasian roots (she was half German), her father was Chinese.
When the boy grew up, he was given a name Lee Yen Kam - "Never Sitting Still"; after the first filming, the name appeared Lee Sui Lung - "little dragon"... And in the birth certificate issued at the Chinese hospital in the city of San Francisco, the name was Bruce Lee.
The most interesting thing is that for a long time everyone around him considered Bruce Lee a girl and called him Baby Phoenix!
Why this happened, we must go deep into the history of the Bruce Lee family. P the first son died, and they decided that they had something to anger the gods; in China, they believe that the second child in the family should be a girl, and Grace and Lee adopted the daughter of a poor man. Then they had a son, Peter, then Grace became pregnant again and could not find a place for herself because of anxiety: according to Chinese beliefs, the second son is also in danger.
Newborn Bruce got his ears pierced and called his maiden name - it seemed that the evil spirits managed to be deceived and the evil spirits knew for sure that Grace had given birth to a girl: mother and father spent a lot of effort to confuse them, and even gave the child a girlish nickname Little Phoenix.
Bruce Lee's childhood
Hong Kong where Bruce Lee lived.The Hong Kong in which Bruce Lee spent his childhood was located at the junction between the city's front façade and the quarters of the poor. This Hong Kong is a labyrinth of alleyways bustling with life. These alleyways wind between peeling walls of apartment buildings, overcrowded shops and restaurants, beckoning passers-by with flashy neon signs. They are overrun with trucks, taxis and rickshaw carts.
The local atmosphere, consisting of a complex mixture of odors of exotic dishes and no less exotic rubbish (in various phases of decay), sticky fumes and heavy stuffiness, changes little over the years. And while Hong Kong is energizing, it can be exhausting. Everything but peace and quiet can be found in Hong Kong.
The boy grew up and did not give rest to the whole quarter: the second such bully in Hong Kong has not yet been... He rushed around the city, made friends with just anyone, climbed trees and garbage dumps, pulled apples and pears from the stalls of local street vendors and did not obey his parents, and this is a great sin for Chinese people who respect old age.
He starred in films from birth: at the age of 3 months Bruce Lee starred in his first film - "Golden Gate Girl" (the role of a little baby girl), in age 6 - "The Origin of Humanity".
There was a misconception that Bruce Lee never starred with his father, but this is not true... In childhood and adolescence, Bruce Lee was frail, in films he starred as a “difficult” child or a cocky orphan street hooligan.
About Bruce Lee's father
Bruce's father was also not distinguished by family virtues.... He was a good actor and a great guy, he was loved by friends and women, and he didn’t like them. But Lee Hoi Chen spent his money on anything but children.
“I smoke opium to sing in a softer voice,” Li Hoi Chun often said. Hoi Chun was also fond of gambling, which is why his bosom friends enjoyed the man's company and generosity as much as his family members. He was a comic actor for the Hong Kong Canton Opera, which is essentially an operetta theater rather than a classical opera (unlike the Peking Opera). And he did well to afford several apartments.
By Hong Kong standards, Lee was a wealthy man ( he owned several apartments that he rented), but the way the family lived would have horrified a Russian bum. A large hall, against the back wall of which there was a refrigerator, served alternately as a dining room, living room and bedroom. A large table at which they ate, played and read; the only room in which Lee, Grace, their children, grandparents, several servants and a huge German shepherd named Bobby, Bruce's favorite dog, slept under his bed; a fan under the ceiling, bleakly driving hot air ...
Water was supplied to the house once a week for several hours, and she was recruited into everything that was at hand. The Lee family took a shower like a cat, smearing water on the face, snorting and splashing, - what a bath is, they did not know in the house, and the forty-degree heat in Hong Kong is in the order of things ...
Lee's apartment in an old house on Nathan Road was on the 2nd floor above some shops. A narrow staircase led to a front door without doors, where the homeless set up their makeshift dwellings. But the landing on the second floor was securely protected by a sturdy double door reinforced with steel beams and fitted with a peephole.
The beds were iron and covered with hard mattresses. In addition to the dining room, the apartment consisted of two smaller rooms. One of them had two bunk beds. The other room, overlooking Nathan Road, was adorned with a veranda decorated with many potted plants, and at the same time a cage with chickens.
His father sometimes took Bruce with him to the opera. There, the boy met Sue Ki Lune, known among friends as the "Unicorn". His father was also an opera artist. Although the Unicorn was three years older than Lee, a friendship developed between the boys. They fought and fenced with bamboo swords. Bruce Lee played the role of Robin Hood, and although his opponent was older and stronger, Bruce never put up with defeat and fought until the Unicorn gave up. Over the years, the Unicorn recalled how Bruce repeatedly got into trouble due to constant fights. Mr. Lee would often teach his son a lesson by hitting him on the head with all his might.
In Chinese families, there is usually a chasm between father and children.... For a father, respect is much more important filial love... To maintain his position in the family, the father does not indulge the children. Keeping distance is the price that fathers pay to maintain their own authority.
Bruce Lee's studies
The children grew up - Bruce and his brothers were sent to a Jesuit college. The Jesuits had been doing missionary work in China for several centuries and knew more about the Aborigines than anyone else, but even they could not cope with Bruce Lee.
Small, thin, nimble, he could not sit still, did not want to puzzle over arithmetic and English grammar, and felt great pleasure only when he managed to smash someone's nose.
Bruce's mom paid monthly tuition fees and then received a call from school asking why Bruce was not attending class. In the end, he and Bruce came to an agreement that he could skip classes (since he does not like school so much), but should inform herwhere he goes to play so that his mother can always find him. After this conversation, Bruce continued to skip classes, but he always informed his mother about where to look for him. Several years passed, and Bruce Lee was kicked out of school.
He had a huge craving for self-affirmation, street showdowns elevated him in their own eyes. He was puny, evasive and absolutely fearless: the reason for a fight could even be that the boy he met looked at him the wrong way, sighed wrong, spat in the wrong place, apologized not enough respectfully.
Bruce did not pay attention to the height and weight of his enemies, and they beat him twice a day.
Lee Hoi Chen, of course, was not a model father, but the bruises on his son's face and the always torn clothes got on his nerves. Lee Hoi Chen did not give money to the children on principle, but when Bruce asked to pay for his Kung Fu lessons, he unexpectedly agreed - he had at least a faint hope that this outrage will someday end.
Mother's memories of Bruce Lee's character
“Bruce’s personality has not changed,” his mother later said. - He repeated the same mistakes. Over and over again I was upset about him. I once asked him how he thought of earning his living by continuing to behave in the same spirit. To this he replied: "One day I will become a famous film actor." I scolded him and explained that the lives of famous artists were not at all as pleasant as it might seem from the outside, and that they did not lead a completely normal existence. I told Bruce, “You don't even know how to behave humanly. How can you expect to become a famous film actor? "
She told how she suddenly noticed that Bruce was peering into the distance from the window of the room. Then he jumped out into the street with lightning and ran somewhere. When she went to the window, she saw Bruce helping a blind man cross the road. He then explained that he had to help a man who looked so confused and desperate to wait for someone to help.
Bruce Lee wore glasses at the age of 6 and walked in his sleep?
Sister Agness gave him the name "Little Dragon", which stuck to Bruce for the rest of his life. She says that with early childhood Bruce considered himself "special" and was about to accomplish something extraordinary in his life. She remembers his nightmares and sleepwalking.
The rest of the family knew him by the affectionate name of Mo Xi Tun, or "Never Sitting Still." This characteristic corresponded exactly to him. If Bruce fell silent even for a moment, everyone feared that he was sick. He only stopped running, jumping and chatting when he was hammered into the far corner with a book and completely immersed himself in reading. Sometimes he would read out late into the night. The mother believes that this was the reason for his early myopia. From the age of six, Bruce began to wear glasses.
Bruce Lee's Pranks
Young Bruce loved practical jokes, and could not help laughing, seeing how the intended victim was ready to be hooked. He started out with simple pranks, such as tricks with caustic powder and electric shock, but soon the jokes became much more intricate.
Once he rearranged all the furniture in the room to confuse the cleaning lady.... On another occasion, he persuaded his brother Robert to imagine himself as a submarine and look up from the sleeve of his jacket as from a periscope. When his brother agreed to this game, Bruce “fired an onboard torpedo” and poured a pitcher full of water into his sleeve.
But he didn't always get away with it.Other "jokes" were not so funny. He once pushed his sister Fawby into the pool. She caught him and held him headlong under water until he vowed not to do so again. After this incident, Bruce did not go to the pool.
Bruce Lee - the birth of a Legend
In 1954, Bruce Lee begins to take cha-cha-cha dance lessons, and 4 years later he wins the cha-cha-cha dance championship in Hong Kong, plays the main role in the film "Orphan" and participates in an interschool boxing competition (defeating Gary Elms, three-year title holder)... Then he decided to seriously study Kung Fu. His first kung fu teacher recalled that Bruce came to him and said: “Master, I know that you are fluent in kung fu - and I am the best cha-cha dancer. So let's exchange knowledge: you teach me the kung fu technique, and I will teach you to dance cha-cha-cha. " Bruce turned out to be very talented, in literally 3 days of classes he mastered the movements of the Taijiquan technique, the basic training of which usually takes weeks. Since then, Bruce never left kung fu for a long time and constantly trained.
November 27, 1940: Bruce Lee is born at Jackson Street Hospital in San Francisco's Chinatown during the Year of the Dragon and the Hour of the Dragon (between 6:00 am and 8:00 am). That is why for the first time before the audience in his films he appeared with the name Lee Siu Lung - "Little Dragon". His dad, Lee Hong Chuyen, is a Chinese opera actor. His mother, Grace Lee, is half German. And, being a Catholic, she baptized him, giving him the name Li Jang Feng. This name, translated into English, meant "Return", my mother explained this by the fact that she was always sure that the day would come and he would return to San Francisco and live there. One of the nurses at the hospital gave him english name Bruce, but this name was not mentioned until he was already studying at La Salle College in Hong Kong. Undoubtedly, show business was in his blood, his father was a famous star at the Cantowaye Opera Room, a company specializing in the Chinese version of the music hall and variety show. In fact, the only reason Bruce was born in the US was because his father was touring America at the time.
1941, February, San Francisco: Bruce starred in his first film, Girl's Golden Gate, at the age of 3 months. In this film, Bruce got the role of a little girl - a baby.
1941, Hong Kong: Bruce and his parents return to their native Hong Kong.
1946, Hong Kong: The Origin of Humanity is released, starring Bruce when he was 6 years old. He himself considered this film the beginning of his career. Over the next few years, Bruce starred in over 20 Chinese films.
1952: At the age of 12, Bruce began attending La Salle College.
1953: After several unsuccessful street fightsBruce once told his mom that he wanted to study kung fu. He told her that he had been bullied several times in college and that he wanted to learn how to fight for real so that he could stand up for himself. His mom liked his wish and agreed to pay twelve Hong Kong dollars for the lesson. His teacher was the great master Yip Men, an expert on the Wing Chun style.
1954: Bruce begins taking cha-cha-cha dance lessons.
1958: Bruce won the Hong Kong Cha Cha Cha Dance Championship. In his wallet, he holds a card with a list of 108 different dance steps. Filmed in the film "Orphan", where he plays the main role. This is the last movie where Bruce Lee starred as a child and where he does not use kung fu.
1958 March 29: In the same year Bruce competes in Brother Kenny's interscholastic boxing competition and defeats Gary Elms, who has held the title for three years.
1959, April 29: Bruce accepts a rooftop fight challenge from a rival school. Choi Lei Futa. The rules were as follows: the school that manages to drive its opponents out of the front line is declared the winner. Bruce, having received a blow on the sly, instantly falls into a rage and knocks out a couple of teeth. The victim's parents reported to the police, and Mrs. Lee had to sign a paper stating that she would be held criminally responsible for all of Bruce's future actions. Only after that he was released from the station.
1959: After several street fights, ending with police intervention, Bruce's father sends him to San Francisco, the city where Bruce was born. He has only one hundred dollars in his pocket and goes to an old friend of his father's.
1959, San Francisco: From San Francisco, Bruce travels to Seattle to see Ruby Chow, another friend of his father's, who runs a restaurant.
1959, Seattle: Bruce got a job as a waiter at Ruby Chow's restaurant. She put him in a room above her restaurant. He managed to hang a bag in the corner of the restaurant kitchen and there, while there were no customers, he practiced kung fu. During the day he studied, sat down for language and mathematics, and in the evening he worked. All this was necessary for him to enter college. Bruce enters the Higher Technical School. Edison.
1961, March, Seattle: Bruce enters the Department of Philosophy at the University of Washington. Work