60 Fun Facts About Bruce Lee

In which city was Bruce Lee born in November 1940?

His parents were on an opera tour of Chinatown; the family returned to Hong Kong when he was four months old.

Lee's father, Lee Hoi-chuen, was a star of what?

He introduced his son to the film world as a child; Bruce had appeared in 20 films by the age of 18.

Lee's Chinese screen name, Lee Siu-lung, means what?

He was born in both the hour and the year of the Dragon in the Chinese zodiac.

Lee's birth name, Jun-fan, was chosen by his mother because it homophonically means what?

She felt he would go back to the United States when he came of age; she had first given him the feminine name Sai-fon, 'small phoenix', out of superstition.

Who is thought to have given Lee the English name 'Bruce'?

Dr. Mary Glover attended the birth; the family did not use the name much in Hong Kong.

Lee's first film appearance, in Golden Gate Girl, was in what role?

His first leading role came at nine in The Kid (1950), based on the comic character Kid Cheung.

Which martial art did the seven-year-old Lee first practise with his father?

He learned the fundamentals of Wu-style tai chi long before Wing Chun.

Who introduced Lee to Ip Man in 1953?

Cheung had to speak up for him: Lee's mixed ancestry initially got him rejected under the rule against teaching foreigners.

Why did most of Ip Man's students refuse to train with Lee after about a year?

He carried on privately with Ip Man and two of the senior students.

Besides the schools boxing tournament, what else did Lee win in Hong Kong in 1958?

In the boxing final he knocked out the previous champion, Gary Elms.

Why did Lee's mother suggest he move to the United States at 18?

She had signed a police document taking responsibility for him after he knocked out a rival's tooth on a rooftop.

In Seattle, Lee worked as a live-in waiter at whose restaurant?

Chow's husband was a co-worker and friend of Lee's father.

Lee's first student in Seattle, a judo practitioner, was who?

Glover showed him an osoto gari in their first session; Lee later folded judo throws into Jeet Kune Do.

Per its alumni magazine, what was Lee's official major at the University of Washington?

Lee and many others said philosophy; he did take two philosophy and two psychology classes in his junior year.

Lee's second Jun Fan school was opened in 1964 in which city, with James Yimm Lee?

James Lee, twenty years his senior, introduced him to Ed Parker, who invited him to Long Beach.

At the 1964 Long Beach championships, Lee did push-ups using how many fingers of one hand?

Thumb and index finger, feet at shoulder width; he also demonstrated the one-inch punch that day.

Who was the volunteer knocked into a chair by Lee's one-inch punch at Long Beach in 1964?

Baker later asked him never to do it again: the chest pain kept him off work.

Which taekwondo master, met at Long Beach in 1964, taught Lee the side kick in exchange for the 'non-telegraphic' punch?

Rhee called it the 'accupunch' and later taught it to Muhammad Ali, who used it to knock out Richard Dunn in 1975.

Lee's controversial 1964 private match was against which martial artist?

Lee said the Chinese community had demanded he stop teaching non-Chinese; accounts of the fight differ wildly.

How long did the 1964 private fight last, according to Lee, his wife and James Yimm Lee?

Wong and witness William Chen said 20 to 25 minutes; either way, Lee left unhappy and rethought his whole approach.

Producer William Dozier first auditioned Lee for a pilot about the son of which fictional detective?

'Number One Son' never happened, but Dozier remembered him for The Green Hornet.

Lee played Kato in The Green Hornet. Who played the title character?

The pair also crossed over into three episodes of Batman, another Dozier production.

How many episodes did The Green Hornet run for?

One season, September 1966 to March 1967; the show's director wanted Lee to fight American-style with fists, and he refused.

What problem did the cameras have with Lee on The Green Hornet at first?

He had to slow his movements down; the show became the first popular American series showing Asian martial arts.

Which judoka and stuntman befriended Lee on The Green Hornet and swapped grappling for striking lessons?

LeBell had learned catch wrestling from Lou Thesz and Ed Lewis; a LeBell-inspired neck hold finishes the villain of Lee's third film.

'Jeet Kune Do' translates as what?

Founded in 1967, it took footwork from boxing, kicks from kung fu and technique from fencing; Lee later regretted giving it a name at all.

Which screenwriter, a Bruce Lee student, later wrote him into Marlowe and Longstreet?

With James Coburn, the three developed The Silent Flute and scouted locations in India; the plot became Circle of Iron in 1978.

In Marlowe (1969), Lee plays a hoodlum hired to intimidate the detective played by whom?

His character, Winslow Wong, uses martial arts to vandalise Marlowe's office.

Lee's students included which actress, who trained with him for The Wrecking Crew?

Her husband Roman Polanski also trained with Lee, flying him to Switzerland, and briefly suspected him after the Manson murders.

Lee said Warner Bros. took his idea for a series he called The Warrior and turned it into which show?

The Shaolin monk role went to non-martial-artist David Carradine; Warner said it had been developing the concept since 1969.

Back in Hong Kong, Lee found The Green Hornet had aired there under what unofficial name?

He signed a two-picture deal with Golden Harvest after also talking to Shaw Brothers.

What was Lee's first leading role as an adult, released in 1971?

Directed by Lo Wei, it was a huge hit across Asia and made him an instant star.

Which character does Lee play in Fist of Fury (1972)?

The role was later taken up by Jet Li and Donnie Yen; the film broke The Big Boss's box-office records.

Which karate champion did Bruce Lee introduce to film audiences in The Way of the Dragon?

Their showdown has been called one of the best fight scenes in martial arts and film history.

Lee's own film company, formed with Raymond Chow, was called what?

Enter the Dragon was the first film jointly produced by Concord, Golden Harvest and Warner Bros.

Which basketball star, a former student, fought Lee in the footage shot for Game of Death?

The 7 ft 2 in centre towered over Lee's yellow-tracksuited Hai Tien in the pagoda sequence.

How much did Enter the Dragon cost to make in 1973?

It went on to gross an estimated $400 million worldwide, over $2 billion in inflation-adjusted terms.

How many days before Enter the Dragon's release did Lee die?

He died on July 20, 1973; the film opened on July 26 and became one of the year's biggest hits.

How much genuine Bruce Lee footage was in the 1978 release of Game of Death?

Robert Clouse finished it with look-alike Kim Tai Chung, Yuen Biao as stunt double and archive clips; the unused footage surfaced 22 years later.

Which former James Bond actor appears in Game of Death and was due to dine with Lee on the night he died?

Lee planned to make a film with him; Raymond Chow went to the dinner and returned to find Lee could not be woken.

Whose training routine did Lee borrow exercises from, an Indian/Pakistani pehlwani wrestling champion?

He also studied Muhammad Ali's footwork and made it part of his style in the 1960s.

Which dairy substitute did Lee use because he disliked dairy products?

He avoided baked goods and refined flour as 'empty calories' and compared the body to a high-performance engine.

Which Indian mystic was Lee particularly interested in?

His notebooks also quoted Plato, Hume, Descartes, Aquinas, Lao-tzu, Musashi and Alan Watts.

Why did Lee and Linda Emery marry in secret in August 1964?

They met at the University of Washington; she later wrote the book that became Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story.

Lee's son Brandon died in 1993 on the set of which film?

He was 28 and was accidentally shot by a prop gun; he had been eight when his father died.

Which two Hollywood stars were among Lee's pallbearers?

The others were Taky Kimura, Dan Inosanto, Peter Chin and Lee's brother Robert; Coburn gave a eulogy.

Lee's younger brother Robert was a musician and singer with which Hong Kong group?

After Bruce's death he released a tribute single, 'The Ballad of Bruce Lee'.

The coroner attributed Lee's fatal cerebral edema to a reaction to which combination painkiller?

It contained aspirin and the sedative meprobamate; the verdict was 'death by misadventure', though heat stroke and hyponatremia have since been proposed.

Biographer Matthew Polly noted Lee had what removed in late 1972, possibly contributing to fatal overheating?

Lee believed underarm sweat looked bad on film; Polly's theory is heat stroke worsened the brain swelling.

Which UFC figure called Lee the 'father of mixed martial arts' in 2004?

White cited Lee's creed that the perfect style was no style: take what works, throw the rest away.

Which boxing great said he perfected his jab by watching Lee?

Tyson said that in the 1970s 'everyone wanted to be Bruce Lee'.

How tall was Bruce Lee?

He weighed around 141 lb and built his conditioning programme after the 1964 private fight convinced him fitness was neglected.

Where in Seattle is Bruce Lee buried?

His funeral on 25 July 1973 had pallbearers including Steve McQueen, James Coburn and Dan Inosanto.

Where was Lee working when he first collapsed with cerebral edema on 10 May 1973?

Doctors at Hong Kong Baptist Hospital reduced the swelling with mannitol; a US brain scan later diagnosed a convulsive disorder.

Where in Hong Kong was Lee declared dead on arrival on 20 July 1973?

He had taken a painkiller and a nap at the flat of colleague Betty Ting and could not be woken.

Which date is celebrated as Bruce Lee Day in California?

Hong Kong unveiled its bronze statue of Lee on 27 November 2005, his 65th birthday.

Which Bosnian city unveiled a Bruce Lee statue in 2005 as a symbol of unity across ethnic divides?

It went up the day before Hong Kong's statue and stands 1.68 m tall.

Which two Marvel characters, debuting in 1973 and 1974, were inspired by Bruce Lee shortly after his death?

Stan Lee considered Bruce Lee 'a superhero without a costume'.

Which 1984 title, regarded as the first beat 'em up video game, was based on Game of Death?

Street Fighter, which followed in 1987, took its tournament format from Enter the Dragon.

Which French group credited Lee's philosophy with influencing their development of parkour?

They called Lee the 'unofficial president' of their group and also cited Jackie Chan's acrobatics.