Bruce Lee#unstoppable

File:Bruce Lee with his parents 1940s.jpg and Lee Hoi-chuen]]

Bruce Lee's birth name was Lee Jun-fan.{{cite web |title=Do you know Bruce Lee? |url=https://nie.seattletimes.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2015/10/WingLukeBruceLee_11-25-14_Article2.pdf |website=Seattle Times}}

His father, Lee Hoi-chuen, was a Cantonese opera singer based in Hong Kong. His mother Grace Ho was born in Shanghai.{{sfn|Polly|2018|p=14}} In December 1939, his parents traveled to California for an international opera tour in Chinatown, San Francisco.{{sfn|Polly|2018|pp=18–19}} Bruce was born there on November 27, 1940.{{sfn|Polly|2018|p=21}} His birth in the U.S. allowed him to claim U.S. citizenship due to the United States' jus soli citizenship laws.{{cite book |last1=Maeda |first1=Daryl Joji |title=Like Water: A Cultural History of Bruce Lee |date=August 9, 2016 |publisher=NYU Press}} When he was four months old (April 1941), the Lee family returned to Hong Kong.{{sfn|Polly|2018|p=23}} Soon after, the Lee family experienced unexpected hardships as Japan, amid World War II, launched a surprise attack on Hong Kong in December 1941 and ruled the city for the next four years.{{cite book |title=龍影中華──李小龍的光影片段 |last=吳貴龍 |publisher=中華書局(香港) |date=2018 |page=8}}

The ethnicity of Bruce Lee's mother, Grace Ho, is contested. The consensus is that Grace Ho's father was a German immigrant, and that her mother was Chinese, as attested by biographers Robert Clouse and Bruce Thomas. Bruce Lee's wife, Linda Lee Cadwell, wrote that Bruce Lee's grandfather was a German Catholic.{{sfn|Polly|2019|p=13, [https://books.google.com/books?id=5bGWDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA507 507] "For decades, Bruce Lee biographers have asserted that Bruce's mother, Grace Ho, was half German. Robert Clouse wrote, "Grace had come to Hong Kong with her Chinese mother and German father at 19." (Bruce Lee: The Biography, p.9). Bruce Thomas concurred, "Grace was the daughter of a Chinese mother and a German father." (Bruce Lee, Fighting Spirit, p.3). Linda Lee wrote, "Grace Lee was half German and a Catholic" (The Bruce Lee Story, p.20)."}}

A new alternative theory argues that Grace Ho's father was actually the son of a Dutch Jew, Charles Maurice Bosman, and his Chinese concubine.{{cite book |last1=Palmer |first1=Doug |title=Bruce Lee: Sifu, Friend and Big Brother |date=21 September 2020 |publisher=Chin Music Press |isbn=978-1-63405-982-4 |page=31 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ND_-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT31}} Charles Russo has questioned this origin story entirely, suggesting that Grace Ho's father might have been Chinese or mixed-Chinese, and that her mother might have been English.{{Cite web |last=Russo |first=Charles |title=Was Bruce Lee of English descent? Just ask his mother |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/was-bruce-lee-of-english-descent/ |access-date=18 May 2016 |website=Vice|date=May 18, 2016 }} Matthew Polly concedes that Grace Ho's paternal grandfather was a Dutch Jew, but likewise asserts that her mother was English.{{sfn|Polly|2019|p=507}}

However, according to Doug Palmer, the claim that Grace Ho had an English mother is only speculation. Palmer also notes that family records suggest that the Dutch-Jewish Bosman family had originated from Germany, which may account for the assumption that Grace Ho was part German.{{cite book |last1=Palmer |first1=Doug |title=Bruce Lee: Sifu, Friend and Big Brother |date=21 September 2020 |publisher=Chin Music Press |isbn=978-1-63405-982-4 |page=31 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ND_-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT31}} "Matthew Polly asserts that her father was indeed half Chinese and half Dutch-Jewish, and that her mother was 100% English. See pp. 13-14 and chapter notes thereto. But from the notes, it is clear that he is speculating. His notes also mention that the Dutch-Jewish Bosman family could be traced to Germany several generations before, which could explain the origin of the claim that Grace was part German."

Lee's father was a Cantonese opera star. As a result, Junior Lee was introduced to the world of cinema at a very young age and appeared in several films as a child. Lee had his first role as a baby who was carried onto the stage in the film Golden Gate Girl.{{sfn|Campbell|Lee|2006|p=1}} He took his Chinese stage name as 李小龍, lit. "Lee the Little Dragon", for the fact that he was born in both the hour and the year of the Dragon by the Chinese zodiac.{{cite web |url=http://www.bruceleefoundation.com/index.cfm/page/About-Bruce-Lee/pid/10378 |title=Biography |publisher=Bruce Lee Foundation |access-date=June 7, 2010|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100822035902/http://www.bruceleefoundation.com/index.cfm/page/About-Bruce-Lee/pid/10378 |archive-date=August 22, 2010}}

At age seven, Lee began practicing tai chi together with his father.{{sfn|Polly|2018|p=34}} As a nine-year-old, he co-starred with his father in The Kid in 1950, which was based on a comic book character, "Kid Cheung", and was his first leading role.{{cite book |author1=Christopher J. Berry |author2=Mary Ann Farquhar |title=China on Screen: Cinema and Nation |url=https://archive.org/details/chinaonscreencin0000berr|url-access=registration |year=2006 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-51030-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/chinaonscreencin0000berr/page/100 100]–}} By the time he was 18, he had appeared in 20 films. After attending Tak Sun School ({{lang|zh|德信學校}}; several blocks from his home at 218 Nathan Road, Kowloon), Lee entered the primary school division of the Catholic La Salle College at age 12.{{cite book |author=Bruce Thomas |url=https://archive.org/details/bruceleefighting0000thom_d0z5 |title=Bruce Lee: Fighting Spirit : a Biography |publisher=Frog Books |year=1994 |isbn=978-1-883319-25-0 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bruceleefighting0000thom_d0z5/page/11 11]–|url-access=registration}}

File:The age of 18 Bruce Lee and Ye Wen.jpg in 1958]]

In the early 1950s, Lee's father became an opium addict.{{sfn|Polly|2018|p=39}} In 1956, due to poor academic performance (and possibly poor conduct), Lee was transferred to St. Francis Xavier's College.{{sfn|Polly|2018|pp=46, 51}} He was mentored by Brother Edward Muss, F.M.S., a Bavarian-born teacher and coach of the school boxing team.Thomas 1994, pp. 29–30.{{Cite news |title=Bruce Lee, a global hero who epitomised Hong Kong's strengths – it's just a pity the city could not preserve his former home |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1880598/bruce-lee-global-hero-who-epitomised-hong-kongs-strengths-its-just |id=[https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1880598/bruce-lee-global-hero-who-epitomised-hong-kongs-strengths-its-just 12ft.io] |access-date=January 26, 2023 |newspaper=South China Morning Post |archive-date=January 27, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230127035746/https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1880598/bruce-lee-global-hero-who-epitomised-hong-kongs-strengths-its-just |url-status=live}}{{Cite web |title=Bro. Edward Muss FMS R.I.P. |url=https://archives.catholic.org.hk/In%20Memoriam/Clergy-Brother/E-Muss.htm|access-date=January 26, 2023|archive-date=January 26, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230126213017/https://archives.catholic.org.hk/In%20Memoriam/Clergy-Brother/E-Muss.htm|url-status=live}}

In 1953, Lee's friend William Cheung introduced him to Ip Man.{{snf|Thomas|1994|pp=307–308}}{{cite news |author= |date=July 25, 2018 |title=Who taught Bruce Lee kung fu? He was born to be a fighter, but the martial arts superstar also trained with the best |url=https://www.scmp.com/culture/film-tv/article/2156574/who-taught-bruce-lee-kung-fu-he-was-born-be-fighter-martial-arts |work=South China Morning Post |quote=Lee found a sifu, or master, through a street-gang member called William Cheung, who took him to a wing chun school run by Ip Man, who had begun teaching the style in Hong Kong around 1950.|access-date=February 14, 2023|archive-date=February 14, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214104022/https://www.scmp.com/culture/film-tv/article/2156574/who-taught-bruce-lee-kung-fu-he-was-born-be-fighter-martial-arts|url-status=live}} According to Cheung, Lee's European background on his mother's side led him to be rejected, initially, from learning Wing Chun kung fu under Ip Man because of the long-standing rule in the Chinese martial arts world not to teach foreigners.{{cite news |url=http://www.ma-mags.com/Mags/Blitz/Blitz%203-3%20Cov.jpg |title=William Cheung Scene one... Take One |last1=De Roche |first1=Everett |date=June 1989 |work=Australasian Blitz Magazine|access-date=January 12, 2017 |publisher=Blitz Publishers |issn=0818-9595 |agency=Gordon and Gotch Ltd |issue=Print edition Vol. 3 No. 3 |ref=Blitz|archive-date=June 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190602081413/http://www.ma-mags.com/Mags/Blitz/Blitz%203-3%20Cov.jpg|url-status=live}}{{cite news |last1=Lallo |first1=Michael |title=All the right moves |url=http://www.smh.com.au/national/melbourne-life/all-the-right-moves-20110119-19wp3.html|access-date=December 26, 2016 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=onliine |publisher=Fairfax Media |date=January 20, 2011 |ref=SMH}}{{sfn|Polly|2018|p=54}} Cheung spoke on his behalf and Lee was accepted into the school and began training in Wing Chun with Ip Man.{{cite news |last1=Chen |first1=Edwin |title=Bruce Lee Was an Anchor Baby |url=https://asamnews.com/2016/01/05/blog-bruce-lee-was-an-anchor-baby/ |access-date=November 1, 2020 |work=asamnews.com |issue=Online |publisher=AsAmNews |date=January 5, 2016 |ref=AsAmNews |archive-date=November 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108102227/http://asamnews.com/2016/01/05/blog-bruce-lee-was-an-anchor-baby/ |url-status=live}}Black Belt: Bruce Lee Collector's Edition Summer 1993 Ip tried to keep his students from fighting in the street gangs of Hong Kong by encouraging them to fight in organized competitions.Black Belt: Bruce Lee Collector's Edition Summer 1993, p. 18.

After a year of his training with Ip Man, most of the other students refused to train with Lee. They had learned of his mixed ancestry, and the Chinese were generally against teaching their martial arts techniques to non-Asians.{{sfn|Thomas|1994|p=26}}{{sfn|Sharif|2009|p=56}} Lee's sparring partner, Hawkins Cheung, states, "Probably fewer than six people in the whole Wing Chun clan were personally taught, or even partly taught, by Ip Man".Black Belt: Bruce Lee Collector's Edition Summer 1993 p. 19. However, Lee showed a keen interest in Wing Chun and continued to train privately with Ip Man, William Cheung, and Wong Shun-leung.{{sfn|Campbell|Lee|2006|p=172}}{{cite news |author= |date=July 25, 2018 |title=Who taught Bruce Lee kung fu? He was born to be a fighter, but the martial arts superstar also trained with the best |url=https://www.scmp.com/culture/film-tv/article/2156574/who-taught-bruce-lee-kung-fu-he-was-born-be-fighter-martial-arts |work=South China Morning Post |quote=Although Lee studied wing chun at Ip's school, he was mainly taught by Wong Shun-leung, as Ip himself only taught advanced students, not beginners. Lee quickly became devoted to wing chun and practiced diligently.|access-date=February 14, 2023|archive-date=February 14, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214104022/https://www.scmp.com/culture/film-tv/article/2156574/who-taught-bruce-lee-kung-fu-he-was-born-be-fighter-martial-arts|url-status=live}}

In 1958, Lee won the Hong Kong schools boxing tournament, knocking out the previous champion, Gary Elms, in the final. That year, Lee was also a cha-cha dancer, winning Hong Kong's Crown Colony Cha-Cha Championship.{{cite book |last1=Lee |first1=Linda |last2=Lee |first2=Mike |title=The Bruce Lee Story |date=1989 |publisher=Black Belt Communications |isbn=978-0-89750-121-7 |page=30 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2NAuMRjSUSIC&pg=PA30 |language=en |access-date=July 23, 2020 |archive-date=July 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727173321/https://books.google.com/books?id=2NAuMRjSUSIC&pg=PA30 |url-status=live}}

In his late teens, Lee's street fights became more frequent and included beating the son of a feared triad family.{{cite book |author1=Linda Lee |author2=Mike Lee |title=The Bruce Lee Story |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2NAuMRjSUSIC&pg=PA26 |year=1989 |publisher=Black Belt Communications |isbn=978-0-89750-121-7 |pages=26–|access-date=November 18, 2019|archive-date=July 27, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727141228/https://books.google.com/books?id=2NAuMRjSUSIC&pg=PA26|url-status=live}} In 1958, after students from a rival Choy Li Fut martial arts school challenged Lee's Wing Chun school, he engaged in a fight on a rooftop. In response to an unfair punch by another boy, he beat him so badly that one of his teeth was knocked out, leading to the boy's parents making a complaint to the police.{{cite web |last=Burrows |first=Alyssa |title=Bruce Lee |publisher=HistoryLink |year=2002 |url=http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=3999 |access-date=May 30, 2008 |archive-date=May 8, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080508051639/http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=3999 |url-status=live}}

Lee's mother had to go to a police station and sign a document saying that she would take full responsibility for his actions if they released him into her custody. Though she did not mention the incident to her husband, she suggested that her son return to the United States to claim his U.S. citizenship at the age of 18.{{cite news |title=What you didn't know about: Bruce Lee Bruce Lee in Seattle — Part 1 |url=https://nwasianweekly.com/2022/08/what-you-didnt-know-about-bruce-lee-bruce-lee-in-seattle-part-1/ |work=Northwest Asian Weekly |date=August 25, 2022 |access-date=July 2, 2023 |archive-date=July 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702104232/https://nwasianweekly.com/2022/08/what-you-didnt-know-about-bruce-lee-bruce-lee-in-seattle-part-1/ |url-status=live}} Lee's father agreed as Lee's college prospects were not very promising if he remained in Hong Kong.

{{blockquote|The police detective came and said, "Excuse me, Mr. Lee, your son is really fighting bad in school. If he gets into just one more fight I might have to put him in jail".|Robert Lee}}

In April 1959, Lee's parents decided to send him to the United States to stay with his older sister, Agnes Lee ({{lang|zh|李秋鳳}}), who was already living with family friends in San Francisco. After several months, he moved to Seattle in 1959 to continue his high school education, where he also worked for Ruby Chow as a live-in waiter at her restaurant. Chow's husband was a co-worker and friend of Lee's father. Lee's elder brother Peter Lee ({{lang|zh|李忠琛}}) joined him in Seattle for a short stay, before moving on to Minnesota to attend college.{{cite web |url=http://hardcorejkd.com/wing_chun.php |title=Wing Chung Gung Fu |publisher=Hardcore JKD|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514160028/http://www.hardcorejkd.com/wing_chun.php|archive-date=May 14, 2008|access-date=May 30, 2008}}

In 1959, Lee started to teach martial arts. He called what he taught Jun Fan Gung Fu (literally Bruce Lee's Kung Fu).{{sfn|Polly|2018|p=114}} It was his approach to Wing Chun. Lee taught friends he met in Seattle, starting with Judo practitioner Jesse Glover, who continued to teach some of Lee's early techniques.{{sfn|Polly|2018|pp=92-94}} Lee's early student group was the most racially diverse group of practitioners of Chinese martial arts until that time.{{sfn|Polly|2018|p=97}} During this time period, Lee invented his one-inch punch.{{sfn|Polly|2018|p=98}} He also became interested in boxing and the techniques of Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson.{{sfn|Polly|2018|p=100}}

Taky Kimura became Lee's first Assistant Instructor and continued to teach his art and philosophy after Lee's death.{{cite web |url=http://bruceleefoundation.com/index.cfm/page/Biography/pid/10585 |title=Bruce Lee Biography |publisher=Bruce Lee Foundation|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121119051316/http://bruceleefoundation.com/index.cfm/page/Biography/pid/10585|archive-date=November 19, 2012|access-date=September 4, 2012}} Lee opened his first martial arts school, named the Lee Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute, in Seattle.

Lee completed his high school education and received his diploma from Edison Technical School on Capitol Hill in Seattle.{{Cite web |date=August 11, 2014 |title=Bruce Lee and his Seattle roots — A retrospective comes to the Wing |url=http://nwasianweekly.com/2014/08/bruce-lee-seattle-roots-retrospective-comes-wing/ |access-date=November 25, 2021 |website=Northwest Asian Weekly |language=en-US |archive-date=November 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211125022933/http://nwasianweekly.com/2014/08/bruce-lee-seattle-roots-retrospective-comes-wing/ |url-status=live}}

In March 1961, Lee enrolled at the University of Washington.{{harvnb|Little|2001|p=32}} Despite what Lee himself and many others have stated, Lee's official major was drama rather than philosophy, according to a 1999 article in the university's alumni publication.{{cite web |url=http://www.washington.edu/alumni/columns/dec99/j_o.html |title=U. of Washington alumni records |publisher=Washington.edu |access-date=January 22, 2010 |archive-date=February 21, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110221043919/http://www.washington.edu/alumni/columns/dec99/j_o.html |url-status=live}} In his junior year, he took two classes in psychology and two classes in philosophy; both of these became core interests for him for the rest of his life.{{sfn|Polly|2018|p=108}} He socialized with wealthy young people, but lived in relative poverty and worked as a dishwasher in a Chinese restaurant.{{sfn|Polly|2018|pp=108-109}}

Lee dropped out of university in early 1964 and moved to Oakland to live with James Yimm Lee.{{sfn|Polly|2018|p=134}} James Lee was twenty years senior to Lee and a well-known Chinese martial artist in the area. Together, they founded the second Jun Fan martial arts studio in Oakland.{{sfn|Polly|2018|p=137}} James Lee was responsible for introducing Lee to Ed Parker, an American martial artist. At the invitation of Parker, Lee appeared in the 1964 Long Beach International Karate Championships.{{sfn|Polly|2018|pp=145-146}} He performed repetitions of two-finger push-ups, using the thumb and the index finger of one hand, with feet at approximately shoulder-width apart.{{cite web |access-date=May 30, 2008 |url=http://www.maniacworld.com/bruce_lee_3.htm |title=Two Finger Pushup |publisher=Maniac World|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080521195049/http://www.maniacworld.com/bruce_lee_3.htm |archive-date=May 21, 2008}}

In the same Long Beach event, he also performed the "one-inch punch". Lee stood upright, his right foot forward with knees bent slightly, in front of a standing, stationary partner. Lee's right arm was partly extended and his right fist was approximately {{convert|1|in|cm|spell=in}} away from the partner's chest. Without retracting his right arm, Lee then forcibly delivered the punch to volunteer Bob Baker while largely maintaining his posture. This sent Baker backward and falling into a chair placed behind Baker to prevent injury, though Baker's momentum caused him to fall to the floor. Baker recalled, "I told Bruce not to do this type of demonstration again. When he punched me that last time, I had to stay home from work because the pain in my chest was unbearable".{{sfn|Vaughn|Lee|1986|p=[https://archive.org/details/legendarybrucele0000unse/page/20/mode/2up 21]}} It was at the 1964 championships that Lee first met Taekwondo master Jhoongoo Rhee. The two developed a friendship— a relationship from which they benefited as martial artists. Rhee taught Lee the side kick in detail, and Lee taught Rhee the "non-telegraphic" punch.{{Cite journal |last=Nilsson |first=Thomas |date=May 1996 |title=With Bruce Lee: Taekwondo Pioneer Jhoon Rhee Recounts His 10-Year Friendship With the "Dragon" |journal=Black Belt Magazine |volume=34 |issue=5 |pages=39–43 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H9oDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA39 |access-date=November 19, 2009 |archive-date=May 23, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240523004023/https://books.google.com/books?id=H9oDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA39#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live}}

At the Long Beach event, he also publicly criticized a number of classical karate and kung fu styles and argued for modernizing martial arts. This was a highly controversial presentation that convinced some spectators, while offending others.{{sfn|Polly|2018|p=147}} Subsequently, he appeared at the Sun Sing Theatre to present his new approach to the Chinatown, Oakland, community. More traditional kung fu practitioners took Lee's claims as an open challenge.{{sfn|Polly|2018|pp=148–151}}

In 1964, Lee had a controversial private match with Wong Jack-man.{{sfn|Polly|2018|pp=154–157}} Jack Man was a direct student of Ma Kin Fung, known for his mastery of Xingyiquan, Northern Shaolin, and tai chi.{{sfn|Polly|2018|p=152}} According to Lee, the Chinese community issued an ultimatum to him to stop teaching non-Chinese people. When he refused to comply, he was challenged to a combat match with Wong. The arrangement was that if Lee lost, he would have to shut down his school, while if he won, he would be free to teach white people, or anyone else.Bruce Lee: The Immortal Dragon, January 29, 2002, A&E Television Networks Wong denied this, stating that he requested to fight Lee after Lee boasted during one of his demonstrations at a Chinatown theater that he could beat anyone in San Francisco, and that Wong himself did not discriminate against whites or other non-Chinese people.{{harvnb|Dorgan|1980|p=}} Lee commented, "That paper had all the names of the sifu from Chinatown, but they don't scare me".Black Belt: Bruce Lee Collector's Edition, Summer 1993 Rainbow Publications Inc, p. 117 Individuals known to have witnessed the match include Cadwell, James Lee (Bruce Lee's associate, no relation), and William Chen, a teacher of tai chi.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

Wong and William Chen stated that the fight lasted an unusually long 20–25 minutes.{{cite web |url=http://mentalfloss.com/article/67108/time-bruce-lee-was-challenged-real-fight |title=Bruce Lee: The Time Bruce Lee Was Challenged to a Real Fight |last=Rossen |first=Jake |date=August 10, 2015 |work=Mental Floss |access-date=July 10, 2016 |location=New York |archive-date=July 11, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160711225623/http://mentalfloss.com/article/67108/time-bruce-lee-was-challenged-real-fight |url-status=live}} Wong claims that although he had originally expected a serious but polite bout, Lee aggressively attacked him with the intent to kill. When Wong presented the traditional handshake, Lee appeared to accept the greeting, but instead, Lee allegedly thrust his hand as a spear aimed at Wong's eyes. Forced to defend his life, Wong asserted that he refrained from striking Lee with killing force when the opportunity presented itself because it could have earned him a prison sentence, but used illegal cufflings under his sleeves. According to Michael Dorgan's 1980 book Bruce Lee's Toughest Fight, the fight ended due to Lee's "unusually winded" condition, as opposed to a decisive blow by either fighter.

However, according to Bruce Lee, Linda Lee Cadwell, and James Yimm Lee, the fight lasted a mere three minutes with a decisive victory for Lee. In Cadwell's account, "The fight ensued, it was a no-holds-barred fight, it took three minutes. Bruce got this guy down to the ground and said 'Do you give up?' and the man said he gave up". A couple of weeks after the bout, Lee gave an interview claiming that he had defeated an unnamed challenger, which Wong says was an obvious reference to him.

In response, Wong published his account of the fight in the Pacific Weekly, a Chinese-language newspaper in San Francisco, with an invitation to a public rematch if Lee was not satisfied with the account. Lee did not respond to the invitation despite his reputation for violently responding to every provocation. There were no further public announcements by either, though Lee continued to teach non-Chinese people. Lee was unhappy with the outcome of the fight, and the experience led him to pursue further innovations in his personal style of martial arts.{{sfn|Polly|2018|p=161}}

Lee had abandoned thoughts of a film career in favor of pursuing martial arts. However, a martial arts exhibition in Long Beach in 1964 eventually led to the invitation by television producer William Dozier for an audition for a role in the pilot for "Number One Son" about Lee Chan, the son of Charlie Chan. The show never materialized, but Dozier saw potential in Lee.{{Cite news |last=Aarons |first=Leroy F. |date=October 2, 1966 |title=Color Him Green |volume=83 |work=Tampa Bay Times}}

File:Van Williams and Bruce Lee in The Green Hornet 1966.jpg in 1966]]

From 1966 to 1967, Lee played the role of Kato alongside the title character played by Van Williams in the TV series produced and narrated by William Dozier{{cite web |title=American Heritage Center Blog: Bruce Lee Steals the Show in ""The Green Hornet"" |work=American Heritage Center |date=March 16, 2020 |url=https://ahcwyo.org/2020/03/16/bruce-lee-steals-the-show-in-the-green-hornet/ |publisher=The American Heritage Center holds the papers of William Dozier, who produced and narrated the TV series The Green Hornet, as well as the Batman TV series. | access-date=April 5, 2020 | archive-date=April 10, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200410205242/https://ahcwyo.org/2020/03/16/bruce-lee-steals-the-show-in-the-green-hornet/ | url-status=live}} titled The Green Hornet, based on the radio show by the same name.{{Cite news |date=September 3, 1966 |title=Green Hornet's Creator Visits TV Scene |work=The Times Herald |volume=56}} The show ran for one season (26 episodes) from September 1966 to March 1967. Lee and Williams also appeared as their characters in three crossover episodes of Batman, another William Dozier-produced television series.{{Cite web |url=https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/batman/episode-51-season-2/a-piece-of-the-action/100051 |title=Batman {{!}} TV Guide|website=TVGuide.com|language=en|access-date=November 15, 2019|archive-date=November 15, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115072502/https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/batman/episode-51-season-2/a-piece-of-the-action/100051|url-status=live}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/batman/episode-52-season-2/batmans-satisfaction/100051 |title=Batman {{!}} TV Guide|website=TVGuide.com|language=en|access-date=November 15, 2019|archive-date=November 15, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115072504/https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/batman/episode-52-season-2/batmans-satisfaction/100051|url-status=live}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/batman/episode-599958/100051 |title=Batman {{!}} TV Guide|website=TVGuide.com|language=en|access-date=November 15, 2019|archive-date=November 15, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115072503/https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/batman/episode-599958/100051|url-status=live}}

The Green Hornet introduced the adult Bruce Lee to an American audience and became the first popular American show presenting Asian-style martial arts. The show's director wanted Lee to fight in the typical American style using fists and punches. As a professional martial artist, Lee refused, insisting that he should fight in the style of his expertise. At first, Lee moved so fast that his movements could not be caught on film, so he had to slow them down.{{cite web |title=American Heritage Center Blog: Bruce Lee Steals the Show in 'The Green Hornet' |work=American Heritage Center |date=March 16, 2020 |url=https://ahcwyo.org/2020/03/16/bruce-lee-steals-the-show-in-the-green-hornet/ | access-date=April 5, 2020 | archive-date=April 10, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200410205242/https://ahcwyo.org/2020/03/16/bruce-lee-steals-the-show-in-the-green-hornet/ | url-status=live}} The American martial arts community promoted the TV show and viewed Lee as their first mainstream star.{{sfn|Polly|2018|p=207}}

During the show's production, Lee became friends with Gene LeBell, who worked as a stuntman in the show. The two trained together and exchanged martial arts knowledge from their respective specialties.{{sfn|Polly|2018|pp=187}} After the show was canceled in 1967, Lee wrote to Dozier thanking him for starting "my career in show business".

File:JeetKuneDo.svg emblem is a registered trademark held by the Bruce Lee Estate. The Chinese characters around the Taijitu symbol read: "Using no way as way" and "Having no limitation as limitation". The arrows represent the endless interaction between yang and yin.{{harvnb|Bishop|2004|p=23}}]]

After filming one season of The Green Hornet, Lee found himself out of work and opened the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute in Chinatown, Los Angeles.{{sfn|Polly|2018|p=197}} The controversial match with Wong Jack-man influenced Lee's philosophy about martial arts. Lee concluded that the fight had lasted too long and that he had failed to live up to his potential using his Wing Chun techniques. He took the view that traditional martial arts techniques were too rigid and formalized to be practical in scenarios of chaotic street fighting. Lee decided to develop a system with an emphasis on "practicality, flexibility, speed, and efficiency". He started to use different methods of training such as weight training for strength, running for endurance, stretching for flexibility, and many others which he constantly adapted, including fencing and basic boxing techniques.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}}

Jeet Kune Do originated in 1967. The name means "way of the intercepting fist" in Cantonese.{{sfn|Polly|2018|p=200}} This was a new hybrid system that took footwork from boxing, kicks from kung fu, and technique from fencing.{{sfn|Polly|2018|p=200–201}} Lee emphasized what he called "the style of no style". This consisted of getting rid of the formalized approach which Lee claimed was indicative of traditional styles. Lee felt that even the system he now called Jun Fan Gung Fu was too restrictive, and it eventually evolved into a philosophy and martial art he would come to call Jeet Kune Do or the Way of the Intercepting Fist. It is a term he would later regret, because Jeet Kune Do implied specific parameters that styles connote, whereas the idea of his martial art was to exist outside of parameters and limitations.{{harvnb|Thomas|1994|p=81}}

At the time, two of Lee's martial arts students were Hollywood script writer Stirling Silliphant and actor James Coburn. In 1969, the three worked on a script for a film titled The Silent Flute, and they went together on a location hunt to India. The project was not realized at the time, but the 1978 film Circle of Iron, starring David Carradine, was based on the same plot. In 2010, producer Paul Maslansky was reported to have planned and received funding for a film based on the original script for The Silent Flute.{{cite magazine |last=McNary |first=Dave |date=April 15, 2010 |title=Bruce Lee's 'Flute' heads to bigscreen – Entertainment News, Film News, Media |url=https://variety.com/2010/film/news/bruce-lee-s-flute-heads-to-bigscreen-1118017805/ |magazine=Variety|access-date=February 22, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101027034712/http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118017805.html?categoryid=13&cs=1|archive-date=October 27, 2010|url-status=live}}

In 1969, Lee made a brief appearance in the Silliphant-penned film Marlowe, where he played a hoodlum hired to intimidate private detective Philip Marlowe, played by James Garner, who uses his martial arts abilities to commit acts of vandalization to intimidate Marlowe.{{Cite news |last=Muss |first=H.P. |date=October 31, 1969 |title=Meet Master Of Jeet Kune Do |work=The Cincinnati Enquirer}}{{Cite web |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/22951-MARLOWE?cxt=filmography |title=AFI{{!}}Catalog|website=catalog.afi.com|access-date=November 15, 2019|archive-date=June 8, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608074317/https://catalog.afi.com/Film/22951-MARLOWE?cxt=filmography|url-status=live}} The same year, he was credited as the karate advisor in The Wrecking Crew, the fourth installment of the Matt Helm comedy spy-fi film starring Dean Martin.{{Cite web |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23670-THE-WRECKING-CREW?cxt=filmography |title=AFI{{!}}Catalog|website=catalog.afi.com|access-date=November 15, 2019|archive-date=June 8, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608074346/https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23670-THE-WRECKING-CREW?cxt=filmography|url-status=live}} Also that year, Lee acted in one episode of Here Come the Brides and Blondie.{{Cite news |date=July 27, 1969 |title=Prospective Bridal Pair |work=The Journal Times |volume=113}}{{Cite news |date=January 4, 1969 |title=Wednesday |work=Chicago Tribune}}

In 1970, Lee was responsible for producing the fight choreography of A Walk in the Spring Rain, starring Ingrid Bergman and Anthony Quinn, again written by Silliphant.{{Cite news |last=Heffernan |first=Harold |date=June 19, 1969 |title=Hollywood |work=The Times-Tribune}}{{Cite web |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/23437 |title=AFI{{!}}Catalog|website=catalog.afi.com|access-date=November 19, 2019|archive-date=June 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190617032205/https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23437|url-status=live}}

File:Bruce Lee 1973.jpg

In 1971, Lee appeared in four episodes of the television series Longstreet, written by Silliphant. Lee played Li Tsung, the martial arts instructor of the title character Mike Longstreet, played by James Franciscus, and important aspects of his martial arts philosophy were written into the script.{{Cite news |last=Riste |first=Tom |date=November 18, 1971 |title=Bruce Lee's Acting adds To 'Longstreet' |volume=130 |work=Arizona Daily Star}}{{Cite news |last=Riste |first=Tom |date=September 18, 1971 |title='Longstreet' Shines As New Detective Hit |volume=130 |work=Arizona Daily Star}} According to statements made by Lee, and also by Linda Lee Cadwell after Lee's death, Lee pitched a television series of his own in 1971, tentatively titled The Warrior, discussions of which were confirmed by Warner Bros. During a December 9, 1971, television interview on The Pierre Berton Show, Lee stated that both Paramount and Warner Bros. wanted him "to be in a modernized type of a thing and that they think the Western idea is out, whereas I want to do the Western".From {{YouTube|hN8PfMdBIjw|The Pierre Berton Show}} December 9, 1971 (comments at 7:10 of part 2)

According to Cadwell, Lee's concept was retooled and renamed Kung Fu, but Warner Bros. gave Lee no credit.{{harvnb|Lee|1975a|p=}} Warner Bros. states that they had for some time been developing an identical concept,Bleecker, Tom (1996). Unsettled Matters. The Life & Death of Bruce Lee. Gilderoy Publications created by two writers and producers, Ed Spielman and Howard Friedlander in 1969,{{cite web |title=The Truth about the Creation of the Kung Fu TV Series |date=May 20, 2019 |url=https://www.martialjournal.com/the-truth-about-the-creation-of-the-kung-fu-tv-series/ |publisher=Martial Journal |access-date=February 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210130134124/https://www.martialjournal.com/the-truth-about-the-creation-of-the-kung-fu-tv-series/ |archive-date=January 30, 2021}} as stated too by Lee's biographer Matthew Polly.{{cite book |title=Bruce Lee: A Life |publisher=Simon & Schuster |author=Polly, Matthew E. |year=2018 |pages=277–280, 321–327, 573–574 |isbn=978-1-5011-8762-9}} According to these sources, the reason Lee was not cast was because he had a thick accent,{{YouTube|PlYdp1BVOlw|"From Grasshopper to Caine"}} but Fred Weintraub attributes that to his ethnicity.{{cite book |url=https://www.scribd.com/book/131190162/Bruce-Lee-Woodstock-And-Me-From-The-Man-Behind-A-Half-Century-of-Music-Movies-and-Martial-Arts |title=Bruce Lee, Woodstock And Me|access-date= March 8, 2021 |publisher=scribd.com|archive-date= May 1, 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210501155033/https://www.scribd.com/book/131190162/Bruce-Lee-Woodstock-And-Me-From-The-Man-Behind-A-Half-Century-of-Music-Movies-and-Martial-Arts|url-status= live}}{{cite book |title=Bruce Lee, Woodstock And Me: From The Man Behind A Half-Century of Music, Movies and Martial Arts |publisher=Brooktree Canyon Press |author=Weintraub, Fred |year=2012 |pages=chapter 1 |isbn=978-0-9847152-0-6}}

The role of the Shaolin monk in the Kung Fu was eventually awarded to then-non-martial artist David Carradine. In an interview with The Pierre Berton Show, Lee stated he understood Warner Bros.' attitudes towards casting in the series: "They think that business-wise it is a risk. I don't blame them. If the situation were reversed, and an American star were to come to Hong Kong, and I was the man with the money, I would have my own concerns as to whether the acceptance would be there".From {{YouTube|uXOtmhA6Nvw|The Pierre Berton Show}} December 9, 1971 (comments near end of part 2 & early in part 3)

Producer Fred Weintraub had advised Lee to return to Hong Kong and make a feature film that he could showcase to executives in Hollywood.Tale of the Dragon (Channel 4), directed by Jess Search Not happy with his supporting roles in the US, Lee returned to Hong Kong. Unaware that The Green Hornet had been played to success in Hong Kong and was unofficially referred to as "The Kato Show", he was surprised to be recognized as the star of the show.{{cite AV media |date=1993 |people=Rob Cohen |title=Director's Commentary |medium=Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, DVD |publisher=Universal Pictures}} After negotiating with both Shaw Brothers Studio and Golden Harvest, Lee signed a film contract to star in two films produced by Golden Harvest.{{sfn|Polly|2018|p=304}}

File:HKHM 沙田 Shatin 香港文化博物館 HK Heritage Museum Hong Kong Pop 60+ Exhibition August 2021 SS2 168.jpg (1972), displayed at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum]]

Lee played his first leading role in The Big Boss (1971), which proved to be an enormous box-office success across Asia and catapulted him to instant stardom in Hong Kong.{{cite news |title=How Bruce Lee's The Big Boss shot kung fu to the top, launched one of his trademark moves and stood up for Chinese people |url=https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3169097/how-bruce-lees-big-boss-shot-kung-fu-top-launched-one-his |access-date=1 April 2025 |work=South China Morning Post}} He followed up with Fist of Fury (1972), which broke the box office records set previously by The Big Boss, with film critic Blake Howard writing that Lee was "cresting the wave of international super-stardom."{{cite news |last1=Howard |first1=Blake |title=Fist of Fury – (laughing) |url=https://www.acmi.net.au/stories-and-ideas/fist-of-fury-laughing/ |work=ACMI|access-date=1 April 2025}} Having finished his initial two-year contract, Lee negotiated a new deal with Golden Harvest. Lee later formed his own company, Concord Production Inc., with Chow. For his third film, The Way of the Dragon (1972), he was given complete control of the film's production as the writer, director, star, and choreographer of the fight scenes. In 1964, at a demonstration in Long Beach, California, Lee met karate champion Chuck Norris. In The Way of the Dragon Lee introduced Norris to moviegoers as his opponent. Their showdown has been characterized as "one of the best fight scenes in martial arts and film history".{{harvnb|Lee|1989|}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/07/us/bruce-lee-myth-vs-reality/index.html |title=New Bruce Lee bio debunks 'kung fu Jesus' myth |author=John Blake |website=CNN |date=July 7, 2018|access-date=November 19, 2019|archive-date=December 19, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191219081112/https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/07/us/bruce-lee-myth-vs-reality/index.html|url-status=live}} Fist of Fury and Way of the Dragon grossed an estimated {{US$|100 million}} and {{US$|130 million}} worldwide, respectively.{{cite book |last1=Krizanovich |first1=Karen |title=Infographic Guide To The Movies |date=2015 |publisher=Hachette UK |isbn=978-1-84403-762-9 |pages=18–9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-fniDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA18 |access-date=June 8, 2020 |archive-date=June 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200608112800/https://books.google.com/books?id=-fniDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA18 |url-status=live}}

From August to October 1972, Lee began work on his fourth Golden Harvest film, Game of Death. He began filming some scenes, including his fight sequence with {{convert|7|ft|2|in|cm|abbr=on}} American basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a former student. Production stopped in November 1972 when Warner Bros. offered Lee the opportunity to star in Enter the Dragon, the first film to be produced jointly by Concord, Golden Harvest, and Warner Bros. Filming began in Hong Kong in February 1973 and was completed in April 1973.{{Cite web |url=http://bruceleefansite.com/bruces-life.html |title=Bruce Lee's Life |access-date=March 14, 2020 |archive-date=February 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218233318/http://bruceleefansite.com/bruces-life.html |url-status=live}}

One month into the filming, another production company, Starseas Motion Pictures, promoted Lee as a leading actor in Fist of Unicorn, although he had merely agreed to choreograph the fight sequences in the film as a favor to his long-time friend Unicorn Chan. Lee planned to sue the production company but retained his friendship with Chan.Thomas, B. (2003) Bruce Lee Fighting Words. Berkeley: Frog Ltd. However, only a few months after the completion of Enter the Dragon, and six days before its July 26, 1973, release, Lee died.

Enter the Dragon went on to become one of the year's highest-grossing films and cemented Lee as a martial arts legend. It was made for US$850,000 in 1973,{{cite book |last1=Polly |first1=Matthew |title=Bruce Lee: A Life |date=2019 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-5011-8763-6 |page=478 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5bGWDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA478 |quote=Enter the Dragon struck a responsive chord across the globe. Made for a minuscule $850,000, it would gross $90 million worldwide in 1973 and go on to earn an estimated $350 million over the next forty-five years. |access-date=June 8, 2020 |archive-date=June 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200620092030/https://books.google.com/books?id=5bGWDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA478 |url-status=live}} the equivalent of $4 million adjusted for inflation as of 2007.{{cite web |url=http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl |title=Inflation Calculator |publisher=Bureau of Labor Statistics|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529155647/http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl|archive-date=May 29, 2008|access-date=May 30, 2008}} Enter the Dragon is estimated to have grossed over {{US$|400 million|long=no}} worldwide,{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Wayne |title=Bruce Lee |date=2001 |publisher=Mitchell Lane Publishers |isbn=978-1-58415-066-4 |pages=30–1 |url=https://archive.org/details/bruceleereallife00wayn/page/30/mode/2up |quote=After its release, Enter the Dragon became Warner Brothers' highest grossing movie of 1973. It has earned well over $400{{nbsp}}million}} the equivalent of over {{US$|2 billion|long=no}} adjusted for inflation {{as of|2022|lc=y}}.{{cite news |last1=Risen |first1=Clay |title=Bob Wall, Martial Arts Master Who Sparred With Bruce Lee, Dies at 82 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/11/us/bob-wall-dead.html |access-date=April 16, 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=February 11, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220211164954/http://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/11/us/bob-wall-dead.html |archive-date=February 11, 2022}}{{cite news |last1=Chachowski |first1=Richard |title=The Best Kung Fu Movies Of All Time Ranked |url=https://www.looper.com/805482/the-best-kung-fu-movies-of-all-time-ranked/ |access-date=April 16, 2022 |work=Looper.com |publisher=Static Media |date=March 21, 2022 |archive-date=April 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220421163001/https://www.looper.com/805482/the-best-kung-fu-movies-of-all-time-ranked/ |url-status=live}} The film sparked a brief fad in martial arts, epitomized in songs such as "Kung Fu Fighting" and some TV shows.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

File:Avenue of Stars Bruce Lee.jpg]] Robert Clouse, the director of Enter the Dragon, together with Golden Harvest, revived Lee's unfinished film Game of Death. Lee had shot over 100 minutes of footage, including outtakes, for Game of Death before shooting was stopped to allow him to work on Enter the Dragon. In addition to Abdul-Jabbar, George Lazenby, Hapkido master Ji Han-jae, and another of Lee's students, Dan Inosanto, appeared in the film, which culminated in Lee's character, Hai Tien, clad in a yellow tracksuit{{efn|Film producer Andre Morgan, who worked with Lee on the set of Game of Death, recalls that a choice had to be made from what was made available: a yellow suit or a black suit. The yellow suit was chosen because it allowed a footprint from a kick to be seen on film in a fighting scene with Kareem.{{Cite web |url=https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/film-tv/article/1883903/truth-about-bruce-lees-yellow-jumpsuit|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151128173750/http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/film-tv/article/1883903/truth-about-bruce-lees-yellow-jumpsuit|url-status=dead |title=The truth about Bruce Lee's yellow jumpsuit |date=November 27, 2015|archive-date=November 28, 2015 |website=South China Morning Post}}}} taking on a series of different challengers on each floor as they make their way through a five-level pagoda.Bruce Lee, the Legend, 1977, Paragon Films, Ltd., 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

In a controversial move, Robert Clouse finished the film using a Lee look-alike (Kim Tai Chung, with Yuen Biao as a stunt double) and archive footage of Lee from his other films with a new storyline and cast. It was released in 1978. The cobbled-together film contained only fifteen minutes of actual footage of Lee. The unused footage Lee had filmed was recovered 22 years later and included in the documentary Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

File:Bruce Lee Walk of fame.jpg]]

In 1972, after the success of The Big Boss and Fist of Fury, a third film was planned by Raymond Chow at Golden Harvest to be directed by Lo Wei, titled Yellow-Faced Tiger. However, at the time, Lee decided to direct and produce his script for Way of the Dragon instead. Although Lee had formed a production company with Raymond Chow, a period film was also planned from September–November 1973 with the competing Shaw Brothers Studio, to be directed by either Chor Yuen or Cheng Kang, and written by Yi Kang and Chang Cheh, titled The Seven Sons of the Jade Dragon.{{cite web |url=http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/friday/155/id47.htm |title=Shaw Brothers Film Project|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111103162421/http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/friday/155/id47.htm|archive-date=November 3, 2011|access-date=January 6, 2011}}

In 2015, Perfect Storm Entertainment and Bruce Lee's daughter, Shannon Lee, announced that the series The Warrior would be produced and would air on Cinemax. Filmmaker Justin Lin was chosen to direct the series.{{cite web |url=https://deadline.com/2015/05/bruce-lee-crime-drama-warrior-justin-lin-cinemax-1201430580/ |title=Cinemax Developing Bruce Lee-Inspired Crime Drama 'Warrior' From Justin Lin |last=Andreeva |first=Nellie |date=May 21, 2015|access-date=April 16, 2020|archive-date=November 15, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201115200133/https://deadline.com/2015/05/bruce-lee-crime-drama-warrior-justin-lin-cinemax-1201430580/|url-status=live}} Production began in October 2017, in Cape Town, South Africa. The first season has 10 episodes.{{cite web |url=https://deadline.com/2017/10/warrior-cinemax-cast-director-bruce-lee-inspired-martial-arts-series-1202185298/ |title='Warrior': Cinemax Sets Cast & Director For Bruce Lee-Inspired Martial Arts Series |last=Andreeva |first=Nellie |date=October 11, 2017|access-date=April 16, 2020|archive-date=November 15, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201115200052/https://deadline.com/2017/10/warrior-cinemax-cast-director-bruce-lee-inspired-martial-arts-series-1202185298/|url-status=live}} In April 2019, Cinemax renewed the series for a second season.{{cite web |url=https://deadline.com/2019/04/warrior-renewed-season-2-cinemax-tong-wars-drama-series-bruce-lee-justin-lin-1202600027/ |title='Warrior' Renewed For Season 2 By Cinemax |last=Andreeva |first=Nellie |date=April 24, 2019 |work=Deadline Hollywood|access-date=April 24, 2019|archive-date=November 15, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201115200225/https://deadline.com/2019/04/warrior-renewed-season-2-cinemax-tong-wars-drama-series-bruce-lee-justin-lin-1202600027/|url-status=live}}

In March 2021, it was announced that producer Jason Kothari had acquired the rights to The Silent Flute "to become a miniseries, which would have John Fusco as a screenwriter and executive producer.{{Cite web |last=Frater |first=Patrick |date=March 23, 2021 |title=Jason Kothari and John Fusco to Produce Bruce Lee-Scripted 'The Silent Flute' |url=https://variety.com/2021/film/asia/jason-kothari-and-john-fusco-to-produce-bruce-lee-scripted-the-silent-flute-1234936256/|access-date=March 25, 2021 |website=Variety |language=en-US|archive-date=March 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210324152647/https://variety.com/2021/film/asia/jason-kothari-and-john-fusco-to-produce-bruce-lee-scripted-the-silent-flute-1234936256/|url-status=live}}

Lee had also worked on several scripts himself. A tape containing a recording of Lee narrating the basic storyline to a film tentatively titled Southern Fist/Northern Leg exists, showing some similarities with the canned script for The Silent Flute (Circle of Iron).Bruce Lee The Man & The Legend (Documentary, Golden Harvest, 1973) Another script had the title Green Bamboo Warrior, set in San Francisco, planned to co-star Bolo Yeung and to be produced by Andrew Vajna. Photoshoot costume tests were organized for some of these planned film projects.

{{Further|Jeet Kune Do}}

{{Infobox martial artist

| name = Bruce Lee

| residence =

| image =

| image_size =

| height = {{height|m=1.72}}{{cite web |url=http://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/5/29/17400010/bruce-lee-death-a-life-matthew-polly |title=The Last Days of Bruce Lee |website=theringer.com |date=May 29, 2018 |publisher=The Ringer | access-date=August 1, 2023 | archive-date=August 2, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230802050414/https://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/5/29/17400010/bruce-lee-death-a-life-matthew-polly | url-status=live}}

| martial_art = Jeet Kune Do (founder)
Chinese martial arts ({{nowrap|Wing Chun}},{{cite book |author=Bruce Haines |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p4zTAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT131 |title=Karate's History & Traditions |date=November 22, 2011 |publisher=Tuttle Publishing |isbn=978-1-4629-0139-5 |pages=131–|access-date=November 18, 2019|archive-date=July 27, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727154721/https://books.google.com/books?id=p4zTAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT131|url-status=live}} tai chi),
boxing, street fighting, judo,{{sfn|Polly|2018|pp=187}} taekwondo, karate, wrestling,{{sfn|Polly|2018|pp=187}} arnis,{{cite web |title=Bruce Lee and Escrima |url=http://www.fmapulse.com/content/fma-corner-bruce-lee-and-escrima |author=Perry Gil S. Mallari |date=November 28, 2011 |publisher=FMA Pulse|access-date=August 11, 2015|archive-date=January 4, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180104073536/http://www.fmapulse.com/content/fma-corner-bruce-lee-and-escrima|url-status=dead}} {{nowrap|epée fencing}}, hapkido, various other styles (by personal tutoring and research)

| teacher = Ip Man and Wong Shun-leung (wing chun),
Brother Edward (boxing),
Jhoon Rhee (taekwondo),
Fred Sato and Gene LeBell (judo){{sfn|Rafiq|2020}}
Dan Inosanto (arnis)

| rank =

| students = Jesse Glover, James DeMile, Linda Lee Cadwell, Dan Inosanto, Taky Kimura, Ted Wong, {{nowrap|James Yimm Lee}}, Joe Lewis, {{nowrap|Jhoon Rhee}}, Mike Stone, {{nowrap|Gene LeBell}}, Chuck Norris, Roman Polański, Sharon Tate, James Coburn, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, {{nowrap|Brandon Lee}}, others

}}

Lee's films are known for popularising the side kick, roundhouse kick, grappling, spinning heel kick, armbar, weapons such as the nunchaku, and his distinctive kiai. Lee was also known for popularising the one-inch punch and the two-finger push-up.{{cite web | url=https://screenrant.com/bruce-lee-best-martial-arts-moves-movies/ | title=10 Best Martial Arts Moves in Bruce Lee's Movies, Ranked | website=Screen Rant | date=August 27, 2023 }}{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bp6YL5ycdCAC&dq=Lee+invariably+played+the+kung+fu+master,+punching,+kicking,+and+issuing+what+later+developed+into+his+distinctive+cat-like+kiai,+or+fighting+yell+(Block+8o).&pg=PA60 | title=The Deathly Embrace: Orientalism and Asian American Identity | isbn=978-0-8166-3711-9 | last1=Ma | first1=Sheng-mei | date=2000 | publisher=U of Minnesota Press }}{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U493fcLevs8C&dq=Myth+Buster+%7C+Bruce+Lee+%7C+Kiai+only+serves+the+function+of+distracting+or+startling+the+opponent&pg=PA283 | title=Myth Buster: 150 Great Misconceptions Clarified | isbn=978-81-207-4210-9 | last1=Asthana | first1=Nirmal Chandra | last2=Nirmal | first2=Anjali | date=June 29, 2010 | publisher=Sterling Publishers Pvt. }}{{cite news |last1=Scott |first1=Mathew |title=Benny 'The Jet' Urquidez: Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and mixing the martial arts |url=https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2020/4/11/21199346/benny-the-jet-urquidez-bruce-lee-jackie-chan-and-mixing-the-martial-arts |access-date=21 March 2021 |work=Bloody Elbow |date=11 April 2020}}{{cite web | url=https://www.mensxp.com/health/fitness/26211-12-types-of-pushups-so-brutal-even-the-toughest-of-you-will-fail.html | title=12 Types of Push-Ups So Brutal Even the Toughest of You Will Fail | date=May 25, 2015 }}

Lee's first introduction to martial arts was through his father, from whom he learned the fundamentals of Wu-style tai chi.{{harvnb|Thomas|1994|p=14}} In his teens, Lee became involved in Hong Kong gang conflicts, which led to frequent street fights. The largest influence on Lee's martial arts development was his study of Wing Chun. Lee was 16 years old under the Wing Chun teacher Ip Man, between late 1956 and 1957, after losing to rival gang members.

Ip's regular classes generally consisted of form practice, chi sao (sticking hands) drills, wooden dummy techniques, and free sparring. There was no set pattern for the classes. Other Chinese martial arts styles Lee trained in were Northern Praying Mantis, Southern Praying Mantis, Eagle Claw, Tan Tui, Law Hon, Mizongyi, Wa K'ung, Monkey, Southern Dragon, Fujian White Crane, Choy Li Fut, Hung Gar, Choy Gar, Fut Gar, Mok Gar, Yau Kung Moon, Li Gar, and Lau Gar.Bruce Lee's Commenatries on The Martial Way and Tao of Jeet Kune Do Expanded Edition{{request quotation|date=September 2022}}{{page needed|date=September 2022}} Martial arts expert Donn F. Draeger regarded Lee as worthy of a Kyokushin 6th dan by the standards of the 1970s.{{cite web|url=http://www.jodo.net/blog/bruce-lee-vs-donn-draeger-september-2010|title=Bruce Lee vs Donn Draeger|last=Polland|first=Rick|date=May 7, 2012|publisher=Rembukan Dojo|accessdate=May 9, 2025}}

Lee was trained in boxing, between 1956 and 1958, by Brother Edward, coach of the St. Francis Xavier's College boxing team. Lee went on to win the Hong Kong Schools boxing tournament in 1958 while scoring knockdowns against the previous champion Gary Elms in the final. After moving to the United States, Lee was heavily influenced by heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, whose footwork he studied and incorporated into his style in the 1960s.{{sfn|Vaughn|Lee|1986|p=[https://archive.org/details/legendarybrucele0000unse/page/126/mode/2up 127]}}

Lee demonstrated his Jeet Kune Do martial arts at the Long Beach International Karate Championships in 1964 and 1968, with the latter having higher-quality video footage available. Lee is seen demonstrating quick eye strikes before his opponent can block and demonstrating the one-inch punch on several volunteers. He demonstrates chi sao drills while blindfolded against an opponent, probing for weaknesses in his opponent while scoring with punches and takedowns. Lee then participates in a full-contact sparring bout against an opponent, with both wearing leather headgear.{{cite magazine |title=Bruce Lee: Bootleg Videos of the "Dragon," and How to Find Them |magazine=Black Belt |date=December 1995 |volume=33 |issue=12 |pages=78–9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ndADAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA78 |publisher=Active Interest Media, Inc. |access-date=April 1, 2021 |archive-date=May 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210501155032/https://books.google.com/books?id=ndADAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA78 |url-status=live}}

Lee is seen implementing his Jeet Kune Do concept of economical motion, using Ali-inspired footwork to keep out of range while counter-attacking with backfists and straight punches. He halts attacks with stop-hit side kicks and quickly executes several sweeps and head kicks. The opponent repeatedly attempts to attack Lee but is never able to connect with a clean hit. He once managed to come close with a spin kick, but Lee counters it. The footage was reviewed by Black Belt magazine in 1995, concluding that "the action is as fast and furious as anything in Lee's films."

It was at the 1964 championships that Lee first met taekwondo master Jhoongoo Rhee. While Rhee taught Lee the side kick in detail, Lee taught Rhee the "non-telegraphic" punch. Rhee learned what he calls the "accupunch" from Lee and incorporated it into American taekwondo. The "accupunch" is a rapid fast punch that is very difficult to block, based on human reaction time—"the idea is to finish the execution of the punch before the opponent can complete the brain-to-wrist communication."{{Cite web |url=http://www.jhoonrhee.com/bio7.html |title=Jhoon Rhee, Father of American Tae Kwon Do |website=jhoonrhee.com|access-date=May 1, 2019|archive-date=May 6, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190506223915/http://www.jhoonrhee.com/bio7.html|url-status=live}}

Lee commonly used the oblique kick, made popular much later in mixed martial arts. It is called the jeet tek, "stop kick" or "intercepting kick", in Jeet Kune Do.{{cite book |title=Instructors Confidential Manual Supplemental Handbook |publisher=Dorrance Publishing |isbn=978-1-4349-4062-9 |page=98 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ObHDhW-AxEC&pg=PA98 |access-date=July 7, 2021 |archive-date=February 11, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240211001918/https://books.google.com/books?id=7ObHDhW-AxEC&pg=PA98#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live}}

Lee favored cross-training between different fighting styles, and had a particular interest in grappling.{{sfn|Rafiq|2020}} Lee trained with several judo practitioners in Seattle and California, among them Fred Sato, Jesse Glover, Taky Kimura, Hayward Nishioka, and Wally Jay, as well as Gene LeBell.{{sfn|Thomas|1994|pp=97}}{{sfn|Rafiq|2020}} Many of his first students were proficient in judo and other arts, and he learned as much as he taught.{{sfn|Thomas|1994|pp=35}} After befriending LeBell on the set of The Green Hornet, Lee offered to teach him striking arts in exchange for being taught grappling techniques.{{sfn|Polly|2018|pp=187}}{{sfn|Thomas|1994|pp=77}} LeBell had been taught catch wrestling by prestigious grapplers Lou Thesz and Ed Lewis, and notable techniques of both judo and catch wrestling can be seen in Lee's Tao of Jeet Kune Do.{{sfn|Lee|1975}} He also learned grappling moves from hapkido master Ji Han-jae.{{sfn|Rafiq|2020}}

According to Glover, Lee only found judo ineffective at the action of getting hold of the opponent.{{sfn|Rafiq|2020}} In their first training together, Glover showed Lee an osoto gari, which Lee considered not a bad technique, but he disliked that Glover had needed to hold onto Lee.{{sfn|Polly|2018|pp=94}} While in Seattle, Lee developed anti-grappling techniques against opponents trying to tackle him or take him to the ground. Glover recalled Lee "definitely would not go to the ground if he had the opportunity to get you standing up."{{sfn|Rafiq|2020}} Nonetheless, Lee expressed to LeBell a wish to integrate judo into his fighting style.{{sfn|Rafiq|2020}} He incorporated the osoto gari into Jeet Kune Do, among other throws, armlocks and chokeholds from judo.{{sfn|Cheng|1993}}

Although Lee opined that grappling was of little use in action choreography because it was not visually distinctive,{{sfn|Thomas|1994|pp=77}} he showcased grappling moves in his films, such as Way of the Dragon, where his character finishes his opponent Chuck Norris with a neck hold inspired by LeBell,{{sfn|Polly|2018|pp=187}} and Enter the Dragon, whose prolog features Lee submitting his opponent Sammo Hung with an armbar.{{sfn|Rafiq|2020}}{{cite news |last1=Scott |first1=Mathew |title=Bruce Lee and his starring role in the birth of modern mixed martial arts |url=https://www.scmp.com/sport/mixed-martial-arts/article/3011101/grandfather-mma-bruce-lee-and-his-starring-role-birth |access-date=July 5, 2021 |work=South China Morning Post |date=May 21, 2019 |archive-date=July 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210708223800/https://www.scmp.com/sport/mixed-martial-arts/article/3011101/grandfather-mma-bruce-lee-and-his-starring-role-birth |url-status=live}} Game of Death also features Lee and Han-jae exchanging grappling moves, as well as Lee using wrestling against the character played by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.{{sfn|Rafiq|2020}}

Lee was also influenced by the training routine of The Great Gama, an Indian/Pakistani pehlwani wrestling champion known for his grappling strength. Lee incorporated Gama's exercises into his training routine.{{sfn|Little|1998|pp=58}}

Another major influence on Lee was Hong Kong's street fighting culture in the form of rooftop fights. In the mid-20th century, soaring crime in Hong Kong, combined with limited Hong Kong Police manpower, led to many young Hongkongers learning martial arts for self-defense. Around the 1960s, there were about 400 martial arts schools in Hong Kong, teaching their distinctive styles of martial arts. In Hong Kong's street fighting culture, there emerged a rooftop fight scene in the 1950s and 1960s, where gangs from rival martial arts schools challenged each other to bare-knuckle fights on Hong Kong's rooftops, to avoid crackdowns by British colonial authorities. Lee frequently participated in these Hong Kong rooftop fights. He combined different techniques from different martial arts schools into his own hybrid martial arts style.{{cite news |last1=Robles |first1=Pablo |last2=Wong |first2=Dennis |last3=Scott |first3=Mathew |title=How Bruce Lee and street fighting in Hong Kong helped create MMA |url=https://multimedia.scmp.com/infographics/sport/article/3010883/bruce-lee-and-mixed-martial-arts/index.html |access-date=July 6, 2021 |work=South China Morning Post |date=May 21, 2019 |archive-date=July 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709183404/https://multimedia.scmp.com/infographics/sport/article/3010883/bruce-lee-and-mixed-martial-arts/index.html |url-status=live}}

When Lee returned to Hong Kong in the early 1970s, his reputation as "the fastest fist in the east" routinely led to locals challenging him to street fights. He sometimes accepted these challenges and engaged in street fights, which led to some criticism from the press portraying him as violent at the time.{{cite news |last1=Elegant |first1=Robert S. |title=Chinese movies find market as gore, blood fill screen |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/biloxi-daily-herald-jan-21-1973-p-5/ |access-date=April 15, 2022 |work=The Sun Herald |via=NewspaperArchive |date=January 21, 1973 |page=5 |url-access=subscription |quote=Today, Bruce Lee is the hottest property in the Chinese film business and "the fastest fist in the east," as Chow calls him.
Small boys — and some very big boys — regularly challenge him to fight when they spy him on the streets. Sometimes he accepts, for he is full of suppressed violence engendered by a singularly unhappy childhood. |archive-date=April 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220415041423/https://newspaperarchive.com/biloxi-daily-herald-jan-21-1973-p-5/ |url-status=live}}

At {{convert|172|cm|ftin|abbr=on}} and weighing {{convert|64|kg|lb|abbr=on}},{{cite web |url=http://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/5/29/17400010/bruce-lee-death-a-life-matthew-polly |title=The Last Days of Bruce Lee |website=theringer.com |date=May 29, 2018 |publisher=The Ringer | access-date = August 1, 2023 | archive-date = August 2, 2023 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230802050414/https://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/5/29/17400010/bruce-lee-death-a-life-matthew-polly | url-status = live}} Lee was renowned for his physical fitness and vigor, achieved by using a dedicated fitness regimen to become as strong as possible. After his match with Wong Jack-man in 1965, Lee changed his approach toward martial arts training. Lee felt that many martial artists of his time did not spend enough time on physical conditioning. Lee included all elements of total fitness—muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance, and flexibility. He used traditional bodybuilding techniques to build some muscle mass, though not overdone, as that could decrease speed or flexibility. At the same time, concerning balance, Lee maintained that mental and spiritual preparation are fundamental to the success of physical training in martial arts skills. In Tao of Jeet Kune Do he wrote:

{{blockquote|Training is one of the most neglected phases of athletics. Too much time is given to the development of skill and too little to the development of the individual for participation. ... JKD, ultimately is not a matter of petty techniques but of highly developed spirituality and physique.{{cite web |access-date=May 30, 2008 |url=http://www.hybridmartialart.com/Martial%20Art%20Overview/Martial_%20Arts_%20Overview.html |title=Martial Art Disciplines at Hybrid Martial Arts Academy |publisher=Hybrid Martial Art |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080430001936/http://www.hybridmartialart.com/Martial%20Art%20Overview/Martial_%20Arts_%20Overview.html |archive-date=April 30, 2008}}}}

According to Linda Lee Cadwell, soon after he moved to the United States, Lee started to take nutrition seriously and developed an interest in health foods, high-protein drinks, and vitamin and mineral supplements. He later concluded that achieving a high-performance body was akin to maintaining the engine of a high-performance automobile. Allegorically, as one could not keep a car running on low-octane fuels, one could not sustain one's body with a steady diet of junk food, and with "the wrong fuel", one's body would perform sluggishly or sloppily.{{harvnb|Little|1998|p=162}}

Lee avoided baked goods and refined flour, describing them as providing empty calories that did nothing for his body.{{harvnb|Little|1998|p=163}} He was known for being a fan of Asian cuisine for its variety and often ate meals with a combination of vegetables, rice, and fish. Lee had a dislike for dairy products and as a result, used powdered milk in his diet.{{cite web |url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/lifestyle/health/2018/nov/28/fit-as-a-fiddle-bruce-lees-diet-and-fitness-routine-1904397.html#:~:text=Here%20are%20some%20tips%20from%20Bruce%20Lee%27s%20diet%20plan%3A&text=He%20was%20fond%20of%20steak,tofu%20and%20above%20all%2C%20vegetables. |title=Inspirational! Bruce Lee's diet and fitness routine |website=newindianexpress.com |date=November 28, 2018 |access-date=July 7, 2020|archive-date=July 28, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728171336/https://www.newindianexpress.com/lifestyle/health/2018/nov/28/fit-as-a-fiddle-bruce-lees-diet-and-fitness-routine-1904397.html#:~:text=Here%20are%20some%20tips%20from%20Bruce%20Lee%27s%20diet%20plan%3A&text=He%20was%20fond%20of%20steak,tofu%20and%20above%20all%2C%20vegetables.|url-status=live}}

Dan Inosanto recalls Lee practiced meditation as the first action on his schedule.{{sfn|Thomas|1994|pp=97}}

While best known as a martial artist, Lee studied drama and Asian and Western philosophy, starting while a student at the University of Washington. He was well-read and had an extensive library dominated by martial arts subjects and philosophical texts.{{cite web |url=http://houseofbrucelee.blogspot.tw/2012/08/books.html |title=Inside Bruce Lee's Personal Library |website=houseofbrucelee.blogspot.tw|access-date=October 5, 2016|archive-date=October 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161006050350/http://houseofbrucelee.blogspot.tw/2012/08/books.html|url-status=live}} His books on martial arts and fighting philosophy are known for their philosophical assertions, both inside and outside of martial arts circles. His eclectic philosophy often mirrored his fighting beliefs, though he was quick to say that his martial arts were solely a metaphor for such teachings.

He believed that any knowledge ultimately led to self-knowledge. He said that his chosen method of self-expression was martial arts. His influences include Taoism and Buddhism.Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey at 31m45s Lee's philosophy was very much in opposition to the conservative worldview advocated by Confucianism.{{harvnb|Bolelli|2008|p=[https://archive.org/details/onwarriorspathfi0000bole/page/160/mode/2up 161]}} John Little states that Lee was an atheist. When asked in 1972 about his religious affiliation, he replied, "None whatsoever".{{harvnb|Little|1996|p=128}} When asked if he believed in God, he said, "To be perfectly frank, I really do not."{{harvnb|Little|1996|p=122}}

In his notebooks, Lee cited and commented on passages from Plato, David Hume, René Descartes, and Thomas Aquinas, from Western philosophy, and Lao-tzu, Chuang-tzu, Miyamoto Musashi, and Alan Watts from Eastern thought. He was particularly interested in the Indian mystic Jiddu Krishnamurti.{{sfn|Polly|2018|p=202}}

Aside from martial arts and philosophy, which focus on the physical aspect and self-consciousness for truths and principles,{{cite book |last=Lee |first=Bruce |title=The Warrior Within |year=1996 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |location=Martial arts-Philosophy |isbn=0-8092-3194-8 |editor=John Little |url=https://archive.org/details/warriorwithinphi00litt}} Lee also wrote poetry that reflected his emotions and a stage in his life collectively.{{cite book |last=Lee |first=Bruce |title=Bruce Lee Artist of Life |year=1999 |publisher=Tuttle |isbn=978-0-8048-3263-2 |pages=93–116 |author2=Linda Lee Cadwell |editor=John Little |type=Book}} Many forms of art remain concordant with the artist creating them. Lee's principle of self-expression was applied to his poetry as well. His daughter Shannon Lee said, "He did write poetry; he was really the consummate artist."{{cite web |last=Lee |first=Shannon |title=Bruce Lee's Poetry: Shannon Lee reads one of her father's handwritten poems |url=http://www.brucelee.com/index.cfm/page/Bruce-Lee-s-Poetry---Shannon-Lee-reads-one-of-her-father-s-handwritten-poems/pid/10277/cdid/10363 |work=Poetry |access-date=April 17, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106192413/https://www.brucelee.com/index.cfm/page/Bruce-Lee-s-Poetry---Shannon-Lee-reads-one-of-her-father-s-handwritten-poems/pid/10277/cdid/10363 |archive-date=November 6, 2012}}

His poetic works were originally handwritten on paper, then later on edited and published, with John Little being the major author (editor), for Bruce Lee's works. Linda Lee Cadwell (Bruce Lee's wife) shared her husband's notes, poems, and experiences with followers. She mentioned, "Lee's poems are, by American standards, rather dark—reflecting the deeper, less exposed recesses of the human psyche".{{cite book |last=Lee |first=Bruce |title=Bruce Lee Artist of Life |year=1999 |publisher=Tuttle |location=Martial Arts |isbn=978-0-8048-3263-2 |page=92 |author2=Linda Lee Cadwell |editor=John Little |type=Book |chapter=Part 4 Poetry}}

Most of Bruce Lee's poems are categorized as anti-poetry or fall into a paradox. The mood in his poems shows the side of the man that can be compared with other poets such as Robert Frost, one of many well-known poets expressing himself with dark poetic works. The paradox taken from the Yin and Yang symbol in martial arts was also integrated into his poetry. His martial arts and philosophy contribute a great part to his poetry. The free verse form of Lee's poetry reflects his quote "Be formless ... shapeless, like water."{{cite book |title=The Warrior Within |year=1996 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |location=Martial arts-Philosophy |isbn=0-8092-3194-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/warriorwithinphi00litt/page/43 43] |author=John Little |editor=John Little |type=Book |chapter=Five: The Running Water|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/warriorwithinphi00litt/page/43}}

Lee's Cantonese birth name was Lee Jun-fan ({{lang|zh|李振藩}}).振藩; Mandarin Pinyin: Zhènfán {{harvnb|Lee|1989}} The name homophonically means "return again", and was given to Lee by his mother, who felt he would return to the United States once he came of age.{{harvnb|Lee|1989|p=20}} Because of his mother's superstitious nature, she had originally named him Sai-fon ({{lang|zh|細鳳}}), which is a feminine name meaning "small phoenix".Bruce Lee: the immortal Dragon, January 29, 2002, A&E Television Networks The English name "Bruce" is thought to have been given by the hospital's attending physician, Dr. Mary Glover.{{cite book |title=Bruce Lee The Untold Story |last=Lee |first=Grace |publisher=CFW Enterprise |year=1980 |location=United States}}

Lee had three other Chinese names: Lee Yuen-cham ({{lang|zh|李源鑫}}), a family/clan name; Lee Yuen-kam ({{lang|zh|李元鑒}}), which he used as a student name while he was attending La Salle College, and his Chinese screen name Lee Siu-lung ({{lang|zh|李小龍}}; Siu-lung means "little dragon").{{citation needed|date=November 2019}} Lee's given name Jun-fan was originally written in Chinese as {{lang|zh|震藩}}; however, the Jun ({{lang|zh|震}}) Chinese character was identical to part of his grandfather's name, Lee Jun-biu ({{lang|zh|李震彪}}).{{citation needed|date=November 2019}} Hence, the Chinese character for Jun in Lee's name was changed to the homonym {{lang|zh|振}} instead, to avoid naming taboo in Chinese tradition.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}}

Lee's father, Lee Hoi-chuen, was one of the leading Cantonese opera and film actors at the time and was embarking on a year-long opera tour with his family on the eve of the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong. Lee Hoi-chuen had been touring the United States for many years and performing in numerous Chinese communities there.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

Although many of his peers decided to stay in the US, Lee Hoi-chuen returned to Hong Kong after Bruce's birth. Within months, Hong Kong was invaded and the Lees lived for three years and eight months under Japanese occupation. After the war ended, Lee Hoi-chuen resumed his acting career and became a more popular actor during Hong Kong's rebuilding years.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

Lee's mother, Grace Ho, was from one of the wealthiest and most powerful clans in Hong Kong, the Ho-tungs. She was the half-niece of Sir Robert Ho-tung,{{cite web |url=http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/ce/Museum/Monument/form/147meeting/AAB-46%20Annex%20B.pdf |title=Kom Tong Hall at 7 Castle Road, Mid-levels, Hong Kong |publisher=People's Republic of China|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612034159/http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/ce/Museum/Monument/form/147meeting/AAB-46%20Annex%20B.pdf|archive-date=June 12, 2011|access-date=September 12, 2010}}{{cite web |url=http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/Museum/History/en/pspecial_8.php |title=Kom Tong Hall and the Dr Sun Yat-sen Museum |date=January 10, 2005 |publisher=People's Republic of China|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100818100840/http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/Museum/History/en/pspecial_8.php|archive-date=August 18, 2010|access-date=September 12, 2010}} the Eurasian patriarch of the clan. As such, the young Bruce Lee grew up in an affluent and privileged environment. Despite the advantage of his family's status, the neighborhood in which Lee grew up became overcrowded, dangerous, and full of gang rivalries due to an influx of refugees fleeing communist China for Hong Kong, at that time a British Crown Colony.

Grace Ho is reported as either the adopted or biological daughter of Ho Kom-tong (Ho Gumtong, {{lang|zh|何甘棠}}) and the half-niece of Sir Robert Ho-tung, both notable Hong Kong businessmen and philanthropists. Bruce was the fourth of five children: Phoebe Lee ({{lang|zh|李秋源}}), Agnes Lee ({{lang|zh|李秋鳳}}), Peter Lee, and Robert Lee.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

File:Bruce Lee - son.jpg

Grace's parentage remains unclear. Linda Lee, in her 1989 biography The Bruce Lee Story, suggests that Grace had a German father and was a Catholic. Bruce Thomas, in his 1994 biography Bruce Lee: Fighting Spirit, suggests that Grace had a Chinese mother and a German father.{{cite book |author=Bruce Thomas |url=https://archive.org/details/bruceleefighting0000thom_d0z5 |title=Bruce Lee: Fighting Spirit : a Biography |publisher=Frog Books |year=1994 |isbn=978-1-883319-25-0 |page=3}} Lee's relative Eric Peter Ho, in his 2010 book Tracing My Children's Lineage, suggests that Grace was born in Shanghai to a Eurasian woman named Cheung King-sin. Eric Peter Ho said that Grace Lee was the daughter of a mixed-race Shanghainese woman and her father was Ho Kom Tong. Grace Lee herself reported that her mother was English and her father was Chinese.{{cite news |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/was-bruce-lee-of-english-descent/ |title=Was Bruce Lee of English Descent? |last=Russo |first=Charles |date=May 18, 2016 |work=VICE Fightland|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161025083142/http://fightland.vice.com/blog/was-bruce-lee-of-english-descent|archive-date=October 25, 2016}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S0MuDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA50 |title=Striking Distance: Bruce Lee and the Dawn of Martial Arts in America |last=Russo |first=Charles |publisher=U of Nebraska Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-8032-9051-8 |edition=reprint |page=50|access-date=May 23, 2018|archive-date=April 6, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190406011831/https://books.google.com/books?id=S0MuDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA50|url-status=live}} Fredda Dudley Balling said Grace Lee was three-quarters Chinese and one-quarter British.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o7iHCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA36 |title=Words of the Dragon: Interviews, 1958–1973 |last=Balling |first=Fredda Dudley |date=2017 |publisher=Tuttle Publishing |isbn=978-1-4629-1787-7|editor-last=Little|editor-first=John |page=35|access-date=May 23, 2018|archive-date=April 5, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190405114550/https://books.google.com/books?id=o7iHCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA36|url-status=live}}

In the 2018 biography Bruce Lee: A Life, Matthew Polly identifies Lee's maternal grandfather as Ho Kom-tong, who had often been reported as his adoptive grandfather. Ho Kom-tong's father, Charles Maurice Bosman,Geneanet, [https://gw.geneanet.org/tdowling?lang=en&pz=timothy+michael&nz=dowling&p=charles+henry+maurice&n=bosman Charles Henry Maurice Bosman] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221118064810/https://gw.geneanet.org/tdowling?lang=en&pz=timothy+michael&nz=dowling&p=charles+henry+maurice&n=bosman |date=November 18, 2022 }}, accessed May 1, 2021 was a Dutch Jewish businessman from Rotterdam.{{sfn|Polly|2018|pp=12–15}} He moved to Hong Kong with the Dutch East India Company and served as the Dutch consul to Hong Kong at one time. He had a Chinese concubine named Sze Tai with whom he had six children, including Ho Kom Tong. Bosman subsequently abandoned his family and immigrated to California.{{sfn|Polly|2018|p=12}} Ho Kom Tong became a wealthy businessman with a wife, 13 concubines, and a British mistress who gave birth to Grace Ho.{{sfn|Polly|2018|p=13}}{{cite magazine |last1=Leibovitz |first1=Liel |date=June 1, 2018 |title=Bruce Lee Was Jewish! |url=http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/263301/bruce-lee-was-jewish |magazine=Tablet|access-date=June 5, 2018|archive-date=June 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615190559/http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/263301/bruce-lee-was-jewish|url-status=live}}{{cite news |url=https://forward.com/culture/402501/wait-bruce-lee-was-jewish/ |title=Wait, Bruce Lee Was Jewish? |last1=Rogovoy |first1=Seth |date=June 5, 2018|access-date=June 6, 2018 |publisher=The Forward|archive-date=June 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614140307/https://forward.com/culture/402501/wait-bruce-lee-was-jewish/|url-status=live}}

His younger brother Robert Lee Jun-fai is a musician and singer; he performed in the Hong Kong group The Thunderbirds.Web UK Online, Bruce Lee Articles [http://web.ukonline.co.uk/ray.d8/article2.html In The Shadow Of A Legend – Robert Lee Remembers Bruce Lee by Steve Rubinstein] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090330130557/http://web.ukonline.co.uk/ray.d8/article2.html|date=March 30, 2009}}Trans World 60's Punk [http://60spunk.m78.com/hongkong.html Hong Kong 60s Re-capture] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070307120021/http://60spunk.m78.com/hongkong.html |date=March 7, 2007 }}Tofu [https://archive.today/2012.09.14-171316/http://www.tofu-magazine.net/newVersion/pages/gogo.html An introduction to the music scene which flourished in Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore in 1964–1969] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221118064802/https://archive.today/2012.09.14-171316/http://www.tofu-magazine.net/newVersion/pages/gogo.html |date=November 18, 2022 }} A few singles were sung mostly or all in English. Also released was Lee singing a duet with Irene Ryder.{{Cite web|url=http://mypaper.pchome.com.tw/news/chrishui/3/1270821034/20060628223210/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20201117212928/https://www.pchome.com.tw/?ref=mypaper|url-status=dead|title=Robert Lee – The Thunderbirds|archivedate=November 17, 2020}} Lee Jun-fai lived with Lee in Los Angeles in the United States and stayed. After Lee's death, Lee Jun-fai released an album and a single by the same name dedicated to Lee called "The Ballad of Bruce Lee".EAMS Compilation Projekt [http://eamscompilationprojekt.blogspot.com/2008_08_01_archive.html EAMS Compilation Vol. 20 – Rare Raritäten] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180807001711/http://eamscompilationprojekt.blogspot.com/2008_08_01_archive.html |date=August 7, 2018 }}

While studying at the University of Washington he met his future wife Linda Emery, a fellow student studying to become a teacher. As relations between people of different races were still banned in many US states, they married in secret in August 1964.{{sfn|Polly|2018|p=140}} Lee had two children with Linda: Brandon (1965–1993) and Shannon Lee (born 1969). Upon's Lee passing in 1973, she continued to promote Bruce Lee's martial art Jeet Kune Do. She wrote the 1975 book Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew, on which the 1993 feature film Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story was based.{{Cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-10-25-ca-1095-story.html |title=ON LOCATION : Re-Enter the Dragon : A film biography of kung fu king Bruce Lee, who died almost 20 years ago, weaves martial arts action with an interracial love story |date=October 25, 1992 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US|access-date=November 15, 2019|archive-date=August 6, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806135438/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-10-25-ca-1095-story.html|url-status=live}} In 1989, she wrote the book The Bruce Lee Story. She retired in 2001 from the family estate.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

Lee died when his son Brandon was eight years old. While alive, Lee taught Brandon martial arts and would invite him to visit sets. This gave Brandon the desire to act and he went on to study the craft. As a young adult, Brandon Lee found some success acting in action-oriented pictures such as Legacy of Rage (1986), Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991), and Rapid Fire (1992). In 1993, at the age of 28, Brandon Lee died after being accidentally shot by a prop gun on the set of The Crow.{{Cite web |last=Jensen |first=Erin |title=The tragic true story of how Brandon Lee died on 'The Crow' movie set in 1993 |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2024/08/23/the-crow-1994-brandon-lee-death-explained/74858461007/ |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US}}

Lee died when his daughter Shannon was four. In her youth she studied Jeet Kune Do under Richard Bustillo, one of her father's students; however, her serious studies did not begin until the late 1990s. To train for parts in action movies, she studied Jeet Kune Do with Ted Wong.{{cite journal |last=Reid |first=Dr. Craig D. |year=1999 |title=Shannon Lee: Emerging From the Shadows of Bruce Lee, the Butterfly Spreads her Wings |journal=Black Belt |volume=37 |issue=10 |page=33}}

Lee's brother Robert with his friends Taky Kimura, Dan Inosanto, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, and Peter Chin were his pallbearers.{{cite web |title=Lee, Bruce (1940–1973), Martial Arts Master and Film Maker |url=http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=3999 |website=www.historylink.org|access-date=July 22, 2016|archive-date=August 25, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160825221754/http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=3999|url-status=live}} Coburn was a martial arts student and a friend of Lee. Coburn worked with Lee and Stirling Silliphant on developing The Silent Flute. Upon Lee's early death, at his funeral, Coburn gave a eulogy. Regarding McQueen, Lee made no secret that he wanted everything McQueen had and would stop at nothing to get it.{{Cite web |title=Steve McQueen and Bruce Lee: Inside Their Hollywood Rivalry |url=https://www.closerweekly.com/posts/steve-mcqueen-bruce-lee-163809/ |date=March 5, 2019 |website=Closer Weekly |language=en-US|access-date=November 3, 2019|archive-date=November 3, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191103012337/https://www.closerweekly.com/posts/steve-mcqueen-bruce-lee-163809/|url-status=live}}{{cite web |title=Lee, Bruce (1940–1973), Martial Arts Master and Film Maker |url=http://www.historylink.org/File/3999// |last=Burrows |first=Alyssa |date=October 21, 2002 |publisher=History Link.org|access-date=April 15, 2017|archive-date=July 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709222216/http://www.historylink.org/File/3999|url-status=live}}{{Cite web |title=Matthew Polly: 'Bruce Lee Wanted To Be The Next Clint Eastwood' |url=https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2018/06/11/bruce-lee-matthew-polly-clint-eastwood-steve-mcqueen/ |date=June 11, 2018 |language=en-US|access-date=November 3, 2019|archive-date=November 3, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191103012336/https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2018/06/11/bruce-lee-matthew-polly-clint-eastwood-steve-mcqueen/|url-status=live}} Inosanto and Kimura were friends and disciples of Lee. Inosanto who would go on to train Lee's son Brandon.{{Cite news |date=May 30, 1993 |title=Family Matters |work=The Age}}{{cite magazine |last=Tucci |first=Rick |year=1994 |title=Dan Inosanto Returns to Black Belt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G9IDAAAAMBAJ&q=Bruce+Lee+interview+black+belt+magazine&pg=PA42 |magazine=Black Belt Magazine |volume=33 |issue=8 |pages=42–43–44–45–48–140–141|access-date=November 4, 2020|archive-date=November 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201117212857/https://books.google.com/books?id=G9IDAAAAMBAJ&q=Bruce+Lee+interview+black+belt+magazine&pg=PA42|url-status=live}} Kimura continued to teach Lee's craft in Seattle.{{Cite news |last=Lyke |first=M.L. |date=June 4, 1995 |title=Visitors leave objects of devotion on graves of Bruce Lee and son |page=E – 6}} According to Lee's wife, Chin was a lifelong family friend and a student of Lee.{{Cite book |last1=Lee |first1=Linda |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2NAuMRjSUSIC&q=peter+chin&pg=PA181 |title=The Bruce Lee Story |last2=Lee |first2=Mike |date=1989 |publisher=Black Belt Communications |isbn=978-0-89750-121-7 |page=75 and 181 |language=en|access-date=November 4, 2020|archive-date=November 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201117212857/https://books.google.com/books?id=2NAuMRjSUSIC&q=peter+chin&pg=PA181|url-status=live}}

James Yimm Lee (no relation) was one of Lee's three personally certified 3rd rank instructors and co-founded the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute in Oakland where he taught Jun Fan Gung Fu in Lee's absence. James was responsible for introducing Lee to Ed Parker, the organizer of the Long Beach International Karate Championships, where Lee was first introduced to the martial arts community.{{Cite news |title=Meet James Yimm Lee: "The Man Who Helped Make Bruce Lee A Success" {{!}} Black Belt Magazine|url=https://blackbeltmag.com/arts/chinese-arts/meet-james-yimm-lee-the-man-who-helped-make-bruce-lee-a-success|date=April 21, 2014|website=blackbeltmag.com|language=en|access-date=November 20, 2019|archive-date=July 29, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729192243/https://blackbeltmag.com/arts/chinese-arts/meet-james-yimm-lee-the-man-who-helped-make-bruce-lee-a-success|url-status=live}} Hollywood couple Roman Polański and Sharon Tate studied martial arts with Lee. Polański flew Lee to Switzerland to train him. Tate studied with Lee in preparation for her role in The Wrecking Crew. After Tate was murdered by the Manson Family, Polański initially suspected Lee.{{Cite web |title=The True Story Behind Bruce Lee's 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' Character |url=https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a28414367/roman-polanski-bruce-lee-killed-sharon-tate-true-story-once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood/ |date=July 24, 2019|access-date=July 25, 2019|archive-date=July 27, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727044328/https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a28414367/roman-polanski-bruce-lee-killed-sharon-tate-true-story-once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood/|url-status=live}}

Screenwriter Stirling Silliphant was a martial arts student and a friend of Lee.{{Cite news |last=Haber |first=Joyce |date=March 6, 1970 |title=All in all it proved a bad day for actor Rex Reed |work=Arizona Republic}}{{Cite news |title=The 'new Yellow Peril': How U.S. film critics reviewed Bruce Lee movies in his day |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/07/31/the-new-yellow-peril-how-u-s-film-critics-reviewed-bruce-lee-movies-in-his-day/ |first1=Herman |last1=Wong |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en|access-date=November 18, 2019|archive-date=November 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201117212912/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/07/31/the-new-yellow-peril-how-u-s-film-critics-reviewed-bruce-lee-movies-in-his-day/|url-status=live}} Silliphant worked with Lee and James Coburn on developing The Silent Flute.{{Cite news |date=January 23, 1971 |title=Teen Scene Giving Karate a Chop |work=The Kingston Daily Freeman |volume=C}} Lee acted and provided his martial arts expertise in several projects penned by Silliphant, the first in Marlowe (1969) where Lee plays Winslow Wong a hoodlum well-versed in martial arts. Lee also did fight choreographies for the film A Walk in the Spring Rain (1970) and played Li Tsung, a Jeet Kune Do instructor who teaches the main character in the television show Longstreet (1971). Elements of his martial arts philosophy were included in the script for the latter.

Basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar studied martial arts and developed a friendship with Lee.

Actor and karate champion Chuck Norris was a friend and training partner of Lee's.{{Cite news |last=Blank |first=Ed |date=April 3, 1983 |title=King Of The Good Guys |work=The Pittsburgh Press |volume=99}} After Lee's death, Norris said he kept in touch with Lee's family.{{Cite news |last=Murray |first=Steve |date=May 3, 1993 |title=Actor's new kick: family values |work=The Atlanta Constitution}}

Judoka and professional wrestler Gene LeBell became a friend of Lee on the set of The Green Hornet. They trained together and exchanged their knowledge of martial arts.{{sfn|Polly|2018|pp=187}}{{sfn|Thomas|1994|pp=77}}

In July 2021 a private collection of over 40 handwritten letters Lee made to fellow Fist of Fury actor Robert "Bob" Baker was sold for $462,500 at Heritage Auctions. These letters were written from 1967 to 1973 and included requests by Lee for Baker to mail him cocaine, pain killers, psilocybin and other drugs for his personal use.{{cite web |title=Bruce Lee's Handwritten Letters, Chronicling His Rise to Superstardom Amidst the Drug Culture Bring $462,500 at Heritage Auctions |url=https://entertainment.ha.com/heritage-auctions-press-releases-and-news/bruce-lee-s-handwritten-letters-chronicling-his-rise-to-superstardom-amidst-the-drug-culture-bring-462-500-at-heritage-auctions.s?releaseId=4248 |website=Heritage Auctions |date=July 17, 2021 | access-date = April 18, 2024 | archive-date = April 18, 2024 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240418093552/https://entertainment.ha.com/heritage-auctions-press-releases-and-news/bruce-lee-s-handwritten-letters-chronicling-his-rise-to-superstardom-amidst-the-drug-culture-bring-462-500-at-heritage-auctions.s?releaseId=4248 | url-status = live}}{{cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/society/article/enemy-bruce-lee-couldnt-kick-his-drug-habit-fhjsps3pw |title=Enemy Bruce Lee couldn't kick: His drug habit |last1=Humphries |first1=Will | access-date=April 20, 2024 | archive-date=May 23, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240523004550/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/enemy-bruce-lee-couldnt-kick-his-drug-habit-fhjsps3pw | url-status=live}}

File:Bruce Lee 1.JPG at Lake View Cemetery in Seattle.]]

On May 10, 1973, Lee collapsed during an automated dialogue replacement session for Enter the Dragon at Orange Sky Golden Harvest Film Studio in Hong Kong. Because he was having epileptic seizures and headaches, he was rushed to Hong Kong Baptist Hospital, where doctors diagnosed cerebral edema. They were able to reduce the swelling through the administration of mannitol.{{harvnb|Thomas|1994}}

On July 20, 1973, Lee was in Hong Kong to have dinner with actor George Lazenby, with whom he intended to make a film. According to Lee's wife Linda, Lee met producer Raymond Chow at 2 p.m. at home to discuss the making of the film Game of Death. They worked until 4 p.m. and then drove together to the home of Lee's colleague Betty Ting, a Taiwanese actress. The three went over the script at Ting's home, and then Chow left to attend a dinner meeting.{{sfn|Campbell|Lee|2006|p=205}}{{sfn|Lee|1989|pp=156–157}}

Lee took a nap and, when he did not arrive at the dinner, Chow came to the apartment, but he was unable to wake Lee up. A doctor was summoned and spent ten minutes attempting to revive Lee before sending him by ambulance to Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Lee was declared dead on arrival at the age of 32.{{cite news |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1068705/bruce-lees-kowloon-tong-residence-go-sale |title=Bruce Lee's residence |work=South China Morning Post |date=October 24, 2012 | archive-date=June 15, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615111027/http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1068705/bruce-lees-kowloon-tong-residence-go-sale | url-status=live}}

Lee was buried in Lake View Cemetery in Seattle.{{cite news |url=https://www.chron.com/life/travel/article/Tourists-drawn-to-Seattle-s-dead-1857486.php |title=Tourists drawn to Seattle's dead |work=Houston Chronicle |date=November 1, 2006 | access-date=February 25, 2024 | archive-date=February 25, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225052236/https://www.chron.com/life/travel/article/Tourists-drawn-to-Seattle-s-dead-1857486.php | url-status=live}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1998/01/11/no-rest-for-the-dead-and-famous/ |title=No rest for the dead and famous |first=Tom |last=Zucco |work=Tampa Bay Times |date=January 11, 1998 | access-date=February 25, 2024 | archive-date=February 25, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225052236/https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1998/01/11/no-rest-for-the-dead-and-famous/ | url-status=live}} Pallbearers at Lee's funeral on July 25, 1973, included Taky Kimura, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Dan Inosanto, Peter Chin, and Lee's brother Robert.{{cite web |url=https://www.historylink.org/File/3999 |title=Lee, Bruce (1940–1973), Martial Arts Master and Film Maker |website=www.historylink.org | archive-date=August 25, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160825221754/http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=3999 | url-status=live}}

Lee's iconic status and untimely death fed many rumors and theories. These included murder involving the triads and a supposed curse on him and his family.{{harvnb|Bishop|2004|p=157}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3141681/what-killed-bruce-lee-triads-jealous-lover-ancient |title=What killed Bruce Lee – triads, a jealous lover, an ancient Chinese curse or the legendary 'touch of death'? 6 conspiracy theories explored |first=DOUGLAS |last=PARKES |work=South China Morning Post |date=July 20, 2021 | access-date=February 25, 2024 | archive-date=February 25, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225052236/https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3141681/what-killed-bruce-lee-triads-jealous-lover-ancient | url-status=live}}

Donald Teare, a senior British pathologist recommended by Scotland Yard who had overseen over 1,000 autopsies, was assigned to perform an autopsy on Lee. His conclusion was "death by misadventure" caused by cerebral edema due to a reaction to compounds present in the combination medication Equagesic. According to autopsy reports, Lee's brain had swollen from 1,400 to 1,575 grams, a 12.5% increase. Lee had taken Equagesic on the day of his death, which contained both aspirin and the tranquilizer meprobamate, although he had taken it many times before.{{sfn|Campbell|Lee|2006|p=206}}{{cite news |url=https://www.joe.ie/movies-tv/bruce-lee-death-cause-revealed-760107 |title=Nearly 50 years later, the actual cause of Bruce Lee's death may have just been discovered |first=DAVE |last=HANRATTY |work=Joe | access-date=February 25, 2024 | archive-date=February 25, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225052236/https://www.joe.ie/movies-tv/bruce-lee-death-cause-revealed-760107 | url-status=live}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3098784/bruce-lees-death-who-was-betty-ting-pei-rumoured-lover |title=Bruce Lee's death: Who was Betty Ting Pei, the rumoured lover whose bed the martial arts legend died on? |first=LARAMIE |last=MOK |work=South China Morning Post |date=August 26, 2020 | access-date=February 25, 2024 | archive-date=February 13, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240213021855/https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3098784/bruce-lees-death-who-was-betty-ting-pei-rumoured-lover | url-status=live}}

Although there was initial speculation that cannabis found in Lee's stomach may have contributed to his death, Teare said it would "be both 'irresponsible and irrational' to say that [cannabis] might have triggered either the events of Bruce's collapse on May 10 or his death on July 20". Dr. R. R. Lycette, the clinical pathologist at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, reported at the coroner hearing that the death could not have been caused by cannabis.{{harvnb|Thomas|1994|p=209}}

In a 2018 biography, author Matthew Polly consulted with medical experts and theorized that the cerebral edema that killed Lee had been caused by over-exertion and heat stroke; heat stroke was not considered at the time because it was then a poorly understood condition. Furthermore, Lee had his underarm sweat glands removed in late 1972, in the apparent belief that underarm sweat was unphotogenic on film. Polly further theorized that this caused Lee's body to overheat while practicing in hot temperatures on May 10 and July 20, 1973, resulting in heat stroke that in turn exacerbated the cerebral edema that led to his death.{{sfn|Polly|2018|pp=473–475}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/bruce-lee-may-have-died-from-a-heat-stroke-new-book-claims |title=Bruce Lee may have died from a heat stroke, new book claims |first=Stephanie |last=Nolasco |work=Fox News |date=June 29, 2018 | access-date=February 25, 2024 | archive-date=May 23, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240523004549/https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/bruce-lee-may-have-died-from-a-heat-stroke-new-book-claims | url-status=live}}

In an article in the December 2022 issue of Clinical Kidney Journal, a team of researchers examined the various theories regarding Lee's cause of death, and concluded that his fatal cerebral edema was brought on by hyponatremia, an insufficient concentration of sodium in the blood. The authors noted that several risk factors predisposed Lee to hyponatremia, including excessive water intake, insufficient solute intake, alcohol consumption, and use or overuse of multiple drugs which impair the ability of the kidneys to excrete excess fluids. Lee's symptoms before his death were also found to closely match known cases of fatal hyponatremia.{{cite journal |last1=Villalvazo |first1=Priscila |last2=Fernandez-Prado |first2=Raul |last3=Niño |first3=Maria Dolores Sánchez |last4=Carriazo |first4=Sol |last5=Fernández-Fernández |first5=Beatriz |last6=Ortiz |first6=Alberto |last7=Perez-Gomez |first7=Maria Vanessa |date=March 10, 2022 |title=Who killed Bruce Lee? The hyponatraemia hypothesis |journal=Clinical Kidney Journal |volume=15 |issue=12 |pages=2169–2176 |doi=10.1093/ckj/sfac071 |issn=2048-8505 |pmc=9664576 |pmid=36381374}}{{Cite news |url=https://variety.com/2022/film/news/bruce-lee-death-too-much-water-study-finds-1235439405/ |title=Bruce Lee's Death Caused by Drinking Too Much Water, Researchers Propose in New Study |first=Jackson Kim |last=Murphy |work=Variety |date=November 21, 2022 | access-date=February 25, 2024 | archive-date=February 25, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225052236/https://variety.com/2022/film/news/bruce-lee-death-too-much-water-study-finds-1235439405/ | url-status=live}}{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2022-11-21/bruce-lee-cause-of-death-theory-water-hyponatremia |title=Kidney specialists revisit Bruce Lee's cause of death |first=CHRISTIE |last=D'ZURILLA |work=Los Angeles Times |date=November 21, 2022 | url-access=limited | access-date=February 25, 2024 | archive-date=February 8, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240208184337/https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2022-11-21/bruce-lee-cause-of-death-theory-water-hyponatremia | url-status=live}}

{{Further|Bruceploitation|Jeet Kune Do}}

File:Hong kong bruce lee statue.jpg|alt=]]

Lee is considered by some commentators and martial artists to be the most influential martial artist of all time,[https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1710603-the-mma-world-pays-tribute-to-bruce-lee-40-years-after-his-death The MMA World Pays Tribute to Bruce Lee 40 Years After His Death] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802094641/https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1710603-the-mma-world-pays-tribute-to-bruce-lee-40-years-after-his-death |date=August 2, 2019 }}. Bleacher Report. July 20, 2013.[https://www.liveabout.com/top-most-influential-martial-artists-2307765 The Greatest Martial Artists of All Time] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802094645/https://www.liveabout.com/top-most-influential-martial-artists-2307765 |date=August 2, 2019 }}. Liveabout. May 24, 2019.{{cite web |title=Bruce Lee Lives Documentary |url=http://www.fuel.tv/bruceleelives/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120629135830/http://www.fuel.tv/bruceleelives|archive-date=June 29, 2012}} and a pop culture icon of the 20th century, who bridged the gap between East and West.{{cite news |date=December 11, 2009 |title=From Icon to Lifestyle, the Marketing of Bruce Lee |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/12/business/global/12iht-lee.html|access-date=June 3, 2011|archive-date=July 18, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120718201748/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/12/business/global/12iht-lee.html|url-status=live}}{{cite news |date=November 30, 2010 |title=Bruce Lee's 70th birth anniversary celebrated |work=The Hindu |location=India |url=http://www.thehindu.com/arts/cinema/article923515.ece?homepage=true|url-status=live|access-date=June 3, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025084029/http://www.thehindu.com/arts/cinema/article923515.ece?homepage=true|archive-date=October 25, 2012}} Time named Lee one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century.{{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,991260-3,00.html |title=The Gladiator Bruce Lee |last=Stein |first=Joel |date=June 14, 1999 |magazine=Time|access-date=August 29, 2010 |page=3|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080306175606/http://time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,991260-3,00.html|archive-date=March 6, 2008|url-status=dead}}

A number of biography books have been written about Lee. A biography had sold more than {{nowrap|4 million}} copies by 1988.{{cite news |last1=Beale |first1=Lewis |title=Move Over Bruce Lee; Jackie Chan Kicks Out |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1988-03-24-8803030271-story.html |access-date=June 8, 2020 |work=Chicago Tribune |date=March 24, 1988 |quote=A biography of his life has sold more than four million copies |archive-date=June 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200608181511/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1988-03-24-8803030271-story.html |url-status=live}}

{{See also|Chopsocky|Hong Kong action cinema}}

Lee was largely responsible for launching the "kung fu craze" of the 1970s.{{cite book |last1=Desser |first1=David |title=The Cinema of Hong Kong: History, Arts, Identity |date=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-77602-8 |editor-last1=Fu |editor-first1=Poshek |pages=19–43 |chapter=The Kung Fu Craze: Hong Kong Cinema's First American Reception |access-date=June 10, 2020 |editor-last2=Desser |editor-first2=David |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sELZJ5vihJUC&pg=PA19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200608071604/https://books.google.com/books?id=sELZJ5vihJUC&pg=PA19 |archive-date=June 8, 2020 |url-status=live}}{{cite book |last1=Green |first1=Thomas A. |title=Martial Arts of the World: An Encyclopedia of History and Innovation |last2=Svinth |first2=Joseph R. |date=2010 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-59884-244-9 |pages=527–64 |chapter=Martial Media |access-date=June 10, 2020 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P-Nv_LUi6KgC&pg=PA527 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200610104503/https://books.google.com/books?id=P-Nv_LUi6KgC&pg=PA527 |archive-date=June 10, 2020 |url-status=live}} He initially introduced kung fu to the West with American television shows such as The Green Hornet and Kung Fu, before the "kung fu craze" began with the dominance of Hong Kong martial arts films in 1973. Lee's success inspired a wave of Western martial arts films and television shows throughout the 1970s–1990s (launching the careers of Western martial arts stars such as Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal and Chuck Norris), as well as the more general integration of Asian martial arts into Western action films and television shows during the 1980s{{ndash}}1990s.

Enter the Dragon has been cited as one of the most influential action films of all time. Sascha Matuszak of Vice said Enter the Dragon "is referenced in all manner of media, the plot line and characters continue to influence storytellers today, and the impact was particularly felt in the revolutionizing way the film portrayed African-Americans, Asians and traditional martial arts."{{cite web |last1=Matuszak |first1=Sascha |date=July 1, 2015 |title=Bruce Lee's Last Words: Enter the Dragon and the Martial Arts Explosion |url=http://fightland.vice.com/blog/bruce-lees-last-words-enter-the-dragon-and-the-martial-arts-explosion|access-date=March 23, 2020 |website=Vice|archive-date=January 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200102120348/http://fightland.vice.com/blog/bruce-lees-last-words-enter-the-dragon-and-the-martial-arts-explosion|url-status=dead}} Kuan-Hsing Chen and Beng Huat Chua cited fight scenes in Lee's films such as Enter the Dragon as being influential for the way they pitched "an elemental story of good against evil in such a spectacle-saturated way".{{cite book |last1=Chen |first1=Kuan-Hsing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q4d4CAAAQBAJ&pg=PT489 |title=The Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Reader |last2=Chua |first2=Beng Huat |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-08396-1 |page=489|access-date=June 10, 2020|archive-date=June 6, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606083852/https://books.google.com/books?id=q4d4CAAAQBAJ&pg=PT489|url-status=live}}

A number of action filmmakers around the world have cited Bruce Lee as a formative influence on their careers, including Hong Kong action film directors such as Jackie Chan{{cite web |date=November 27, 2020 |title=Happy 80th Birthday Bruce Lee! |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OneqSB_oeJk |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128225852/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OneqSB_oeJk |archive-date=November 28, 2020 |access-date=December 7, 2020 |website=YouTube |publisher=BruceLee.com}} and John Woo,{{Cite web |date=January 24, 2010 |title=How Bruce Lee Changed the World |url=https://press.discovery.com/asia-pacific/dsc/programs/how-bruce-lee-changed-world/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100124015816/http://press.discovery.com/asia-pacific/dsc/programs/how-bruce-lee-changed-world/ |archive-date=January 24, 2010 |access-date=May 16, 2022 |website=Discovery Channel}} and Hollywood filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino{{Cite web |last=Fitzmaurice |first=Larry |date=August 28, 2015 |title=Quentin Tarantino: The Complete Syllabus of His Influences and References |url=https://www.vulture.com/2015/08/quentin-tarantino-the-complete-syllabus.html |url-status=live |access-date=May 16, 2022 |website=Vulture.com |language=en-us|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220517042305/https://www.vulture.com/2015/08/quentin-tarantino-the-complete-syllabus.html|archive-date=May 17, 2022}} and Brett Ratner.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecTPwICYeBU |title=How Bruce Lee Changed the World |date=May 17, 2009 |type=television documentary |publisher=History Channel / Discovery Channel |access-date=May 16, 2022 |via=YouTube |archive-date=May 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220516132750/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecTPwICYeBU&gl=US&hl=en |url-status=live}}

Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that was founded by Lee, is sometimes credited with paving the way for the combat sport mixed martial arts (MMA).{{cite book |author=Chris Crudelli |title=The Way of the Warrior |year=2008 |publisher=Dorling Kindersley Ltd |pages=316–319 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QlI0fxSm1vgC |isbn=978-1-4053-3750-2|access-date=February 8, 2023|archive-date=February 10, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210073859/https://books.google.com/books?id=QlI0fxSm1vgC|url-status=live}}[https://variety.com/2019/film/features/bruce-lee-once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-dan-inosanto-1203287237/ Bruce Lee's Protégé Recalls His Humility Amid 'Once Upon a Time' Criticism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190816130517/https://variety.com/2019/film/features/bruce-lee-once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-dan-inosanto-1203287237/|date=August 16, 2019}}. Variety. July 31, 2019.[https://magazine.fighttimes.com/dana-white-and-the-future-of-ufc/ Dana White and the future of UFC] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181007145434/https://magazine.fighttimes.com/dana-white-and-the-future-of-ufc/|date=October 7, 2018}}. Fight Times. October 1, 2004.{{cite journal |last1=Beasley |first1=Jerry |date=September 2003 |title=The Man Who Changed the World: How Bruce Lee Continues to Influence the American Martial Arts |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FtwDAAAAMBAJ |journal=Black Belt |publisher=Active Interest Media, Inc. |volume=41 |issue=9 |pages=54–9 |access-date=April 12, 2021 |archive-date=February 11, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240211002458/https://books.google.com/books?id=FtwDAAAAMBAJ |url-status=live}} The concept of mixed martial arts was popularized in the West by Bruce Lee via his system of Jeet Kune Do. Lee believed that "the best fighter is not a Boxer, Karate or Judo man. The best fighter is someone who can adapt to any style, to be formless, to adopt an individual's own style and not following the system of styles."Wickert, Marc. 2004. Dana White and the future of UFC. kucklepit.com. See Wikiquotes for the text.

In 2004, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) founder Dana White called Lee the "father of mixed martial arts" and stated: "If you look at the way Bruce Lee trained, the way he fought, and many of the things he wrote, he said the perfect style was no style. You take a little something from everything. You take the good things from every different discipline, use what works, and you throw the rest away".

Lee was largely responsible for many people taking up martial arts. These include numerous fighters in combat sports who were inspired by Lee; boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard said he perfected his jab by watching Lee, boxing champion Manny Pacquiao compared his fighting style to Lee, and UFC champion Conor McGregor has compared himself to Lee and said that he believes Lee would have been a champion in the UFC if he were to compete in the present day.{{cite web |last1=Akintoye |first1=Dotun |date=June 6, 2020 |title=Could Bruce Lee win a real fight? |url=https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/29266542/could-bruce-lee-win-real-fight|access-date=June 10, 2020 |website=ESPN.com |publisher=ESPN Inc.|archive-date=June 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609164026/https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/29266542/could-bruce-lee-win-real-fight|url-status=live}}

Lee inspired the foundation of American full-contact kickboxing tournaments by Joe Lewis and Benny Urquidez in the 1970s.{{cite news |last1=Scott |first1=Mathew |title=Benny 'The Jet' Urquidez: Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and mixing the martial arts |url=https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2020/4/11/21199346/benny-the-jet-urquidez-bruce-lee-jackie-chan-and-mixing-the-martial-arts |access-date=March 21, 2021 |work=Bloody Elbow |date=April 11, 2020 |archive-date=October 11, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201011213121/https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2020/4/11/21199346/benny-the-jet-urquidez-bruce-lee-jackie-chan-and-mixing-the-martial-arts |url-status=live}} American taekwondo pioneer Jhoon Goo Rhee learned from Lee what he calls the "accupunch", which he incorporated into American taekwondo. Rhee later coached heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali and taught him the "accupunch", which Ali used to knockout Richard Dunn in 1975. According to heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, "everyone wanted to be Bruce Lee" in the 1970s.{{cite web |last1=Tyson |first1=Mike |author1-link=Mike Tyson |title=Everyone Wanted to be Bruce Lee |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4GidINB4Zw |website=YouTube |publisher=Hotboxin' with Mike Tyson |access-date=January 6, 2021 |archive-date=January 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109065059/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4GidINB4Zw |url-status=live}}

Current UFC Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones cited Lee as inspiration,{{cite web |last1=Razvi |first1=Sam |title=Exclusive interview with UFC champion Jon Jones |url=https://www.coachmag.co.uk/sport/1461/exclusive-interview-with-ufc-champion-jon-jones |website=Coach Mag |access-date=June 16, 2020 |date=March 19, 2012 |archive-date=June 16, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200616005357/https://www.coachmag.co.uk/sport/1461/exclusive-interview-with-ufc-champion-jon-jones |url-status=live}} with Jones known for frequently using the oblique kick to the knee, a technique that was popularized by Lee.{{cite web |last1=Fantaousakis |first1=Kostas |title=UFC 232 – Jones vs. Gustafsson 2: Moves to look for |url=https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2018/12/29/18158029/ufc-232-jones-vs-gustafsson-2-moves-to-look-for-breakdown-technique-oblique-kicks-jon-bones-gus |website=Bloody Elbow |publisher=Vox Media |access-date=June 16, 2020 |date=December 29, 2018 |archive-date=June 16, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200616005356/https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2018/12/29/18158029/ufc-232-jones-vs-gustafsson-2-moves-to-look-for-breakdown-technique-oblique-kicks-jon-bones-gus |url-status=live}} Former UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva has also cited Lee as an inspiration. Numerous other UFC fighters have cited Lee as their inspiration, with several referring to him as a "godfather" or "grandfather" of MMA.{{cite news |last1=Stets |first1=Michael |title=The MMA World Pays Tribute to Bruce Lee 40 Years After His Death |url=https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1710603-the-mma-world-pays-tribute-to-bruce-lee-40-years-after-his-death |access-date=June 15, 2020 |work=Bleacher Report |date=July 20, 2013 |archive-date=June 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200619051303/https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1710603-the-mma-world-pays-tribute-to-bruce-lee-40-years-after-his-death |url-status=live}}

Lee is credited with helping to change the way Asians were presented in American films. He defied Asian stereotypes, such as the emasculated Asian male stereotype. His friend Amy Sanbo recalls that, "In a time when so many Asians were trying to convince themselves they were white, Bruce was so proud to be Chinese he was busting with it.{{sfn|Polly|2018|pp=111–112}} In contrast to earlier stereotypes which depicted Asian men as emasculated, childlike, coolies, or domestic servants, Lee demonstrated that Asian men could be "tough, strong and sexy" according to University of Michigan lecturer Hye Seung Chung. In turn, Lee's popularity inspired a new Asian stereotype, the martial artist.{{Cite web |date=November 23, 2005 |title=In Bruce Lee's Shadow: Asians Struggle to Create New Hollywood Images |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=771790&page=1 |access-date=May 17, 2022 |website=ABC News |archive-date=May 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220517053914/https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=771790&page=1 |url-status=live}}

In North America, his films initially played largely to black, Asian and Hispanic audiences. Within black communities, Lee's popularity was second only to heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali in the 1970s. As Lee broke through to the mainstream, he became a rare non-white movie star in a Hollywood industry dominated by white actors at the time.{{Cite news |last=Early |first=Mwanafunzi Gerald |date=January 17, 1975 |title=The Fists of Bruce Lee |pages=4 |work=The Daily Pennsylvanian |location=Philadelphia |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/philadelphia-daily-pennsylvanian-jan-17-1975-p-4/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=April 7, 2022 |quote=Bruce Lee, at this time, rates behind only Muhamnad Ali as the most popular personality for Black folks. (...) Lee's films have played largely to Black, Puerto Rican, and Chinese audiences in America. Indeed, when "The Return of the Dragon" was released it grossed an unbelievable $185,000 in one week at two theaters in the Black section of Chicago (...) He became an image, a very powerful, very beautiful, non-white image in a world where only Liv Ullman and Robert Redford are supposed to be beautiful. |archive-date=April 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407224040/https://newspaperarchive.com/philadelphia-daily-pennsylvanian-jan-17-1975-p-4/ |url-status=live}} According to rapper LL Cool J, Lee's films were the first time many non-white American children such as himself had seen a non-white action hero on the big screen in the 1970s.

Numerous entertainment and sports figures around the world have cited Lee as a major influence on their work, including martial arts actors such as Jackie Chan and Donnie Yen, actor-bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor-comedians such as Eddie Murphy{{cite news |last1=Kilkenny |first1=Katie |last2=Beresford |first2=Trilby |date=October 26, 2019 |title=Eddie Murphy Talks Channeling Bruce Lee and Obama's Request for Him |work=The Hollywood Reporter |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/eddie-murphy-reveals-favorite-comedians-obamas-request-him-1250278 |url-status=live |access-date=January 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202230138/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/eddie-murphy-reveals-favorite-comedians-obamas-request-him-1250278 |archive-date=February 2, 2021}} and Eddie Griffin, actresses such as Olivia Munn and Dianne Doan, musicians such as Steve Aoki and Rohan Marley, rappers such as LL Cool J and Wu-Tang Clan leader RZA, bands such as Gorillaz, comedians such as W. Kamau Bell and Margaret Cho, basketball players Stephen Curry and Jamal Murray, skaters Tony Hawk and Christian Hosoi, and American footballer Kyler Murray, among others.

Bruce Lee influenced several comic book writers, notably Marvel Comics founder Stan Lee, who considered Bruce Lee to be a superhero without a costume. Shortly after his death, Lee inspired the Marvel characters Shang-Chi (debuted 1973) and Iron Fist (debuted 1974) as well as the comic book series The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu (debuted 1974). According to Stan Lee, any character that has been a martial artist since then owes their origin to Bruce Lee in some form.

Bruce Lee was a formative influence on the development of breakdancing in the 1970s. Early breakdancing pioneers such as the Rock Steady Crew drew inspiration from kung fu moves, as performed by Lee, inspiring dance moves such as the windmill among other breaking moves.{{Cite book |last1=Neal |first1=Mark Anthony |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VvYv0Sr05FAC&pg=PA39 |title=That's the Joint!: The Hip-hop Studies Reader |last2=Forman |first2=Murray |date=2004 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-96919-2 |pages=39 |access-date=May 17, 2022 |archive-date=February 11, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240211002500/https://books.google.com/books?id=VvYv0Sr05FAC&pg=PA39#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live}}

In India, Lee films had an influence on Hindi masala films.{{cite book |last1=Stadtman |first1=Todd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T0DXoQEACAAJ |title=Funky Bollywood: The Wild World of 1970s Indian Action Cinema |date=2015 |publisher=FAB Press |isbn=978-1-903254-77-6 |access-date=June 10, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200610022108/https://books.google.com/books?id=T0DXoQEACAAJ |archive-date=June 10, 2020 |url-status=live}} After the success of Lee films such as Enter the Dragon in India,{{cite news |date=September 15, 1979 |title=Bruce Lee storms Bombay once again with Return of the Dragon |work=India Today |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-the-arts/films/story/19790915-bruce-lee-storms-bombay-once-again-with-return-of-the-dragon-822544-2014-02-21 |url-status=live |access-date=January 20, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716194756/https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-the-arts/films/story/19790915-bruce-lee-storms-bombay-once-again-with-return-of-the-dragon-822544-2014-02-21 |archive-date=July 16, 2018}} Deewaar (1975) and later Hindi films incorporated fight scenes inspired by 1970s Hong Kong martial arts films up until the 1990s.{{cite book |last=Heide |first=William Van der |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k3HTdu1HuWQC&pg=PA148 |title=Malaysian Cinema, Asian Film: Border Crossings and National Cultures |date=2002 |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |isbn=9789053565803 |access-date=June 10, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605230859/https://books.google.com/books?id=k3HTdu1HuWQC&pg=PA148 |archive-date=June 5, 2020 |url-status=live}} According to Indian film star Aamir Khan, when he was a child, "almost every house had a poster of Bruce Lee" in 1970s Bombay.{{Cite web |last=Lee |first=Edmund |date=April 16, 2018 |title=Bollywood icon Aamir Khan, in Hong Kong, on being a star in China |url=https://www.scmp.com/culture/film-tv/article/2141949/bollywood-icon-aamir-khan-talks-secret-superstar-his-chinese |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180417025556/http://www.scmp.com/culture/film-tv/article/2141949/bollywood-icon-aamir-khan-talks-secret-superstar-his-chinese |archive-date=April 17, 2018 |access-date=May 16, 2022 |website=South China Morning Post}}

In Japan, the manga and anime franchises Fist of the North Star (1983–1988) and Dragon Ball (1984–1995) were inspired by Lee films such as Enter the Dragon.{{cite web |title=New Fist of the North Star: Interview with Buronson |url=http://www.advfilms.com/titles/fistofthenorthstar/interview.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070218190038/http://www.advfilms.com/titles/fistofthenorthstar/interview.html |archive-date=February 18, 2007 |access-date=May 5, 2010 |work=ADV Films}}{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/dragonballzlegen00iked |title=The Dragon Ball Z Legend: The Quest Continues |date=2004 |publisher=DH Publishing Inc |isbn=978-0-9723124-9-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/dragonballzlegen00iked/page/n8 7] |url-access=registration}} In turn, Fist of the North Star and especially Dragon Ball are credited with setting the trends for popular shōnen manga and anime from the 1980s onwards.{{cite news |last1=Jensen |first1=K. Thor |date=October 2, 2018 |title=The Absurd, Brilliant Violence of Fist Of The North Star |work=Geek.com |publisher=Ziff Davis |url=https://www.geek.com/games/the-absurd-brilliant-violence-of-fist-of-the-north-star-1753469/ |url-status=live |access-date=April 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181011110338/https://www.geek.com/games/the-absurd-brilliant-violence-of-fist-of-the-north-star-1753469/ |archive-date=October 11, 2018}}{{cite news |last=Thompson |first=Jason |author-link=Jason Thompson (writer) |date=March 10, 2011 |title=Jason Thompson's House of 1000 Manga – Dragon Ball |work=Anime News Network |url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/house-of-1000-manga/2011-03-10 |url-status=live |access-date=January 31, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916075738/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/house-of-1000-manga/2011-03-10 |archive-date=September 16, 2016}} Spike Spiegel, the protagonist from the 1998 anime Cowboy Bebop, is seen practicing Jeet Kune Do and quotes Lee.{{cite episode |title=Session #8: Waltz for Venus |series=Cowboy Bebop |network=Sunrise |date=December 12, 1998}}

Bruce Lee films such as Game of Death and Enter the Dragon were the foundation for video game genres such as beat 'em up action games and fighting games.{{cite web |last1=Gill |first1=Patrick |date=September 24, 2020 |title=Street Fighter and basically every fighting game exist because of Bruce Lee |url=https://www.polygon.com/gaming/2020/9/24/21440150/bruce-lee-movies-street-fighter-fighting-games |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310053038/https://www.polygon.com/gaming/2020/9/24/21440150/bruce-lee-movies-street-fighter-fighting-games |archive-date=March 10, 2021 |access-date=March 24, 2021 |website=Polygon}}{{cite news |last1=Stuart |first1=Keith |date=April 9, 2014 |title=Bruce Lee, UFC and why the martial arts star is a video game hero |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/apr/09/bruce-lee-ea-sports- |url-status=live |access-date=July 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517200634/https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/apr/09/bruce-lee-ea-sports- |archive-date=May 17, 2019}}{{cite book |last1=Kapell |first1=Matthew Wilhelm |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6s_-CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA166 |title=The Play Versus Story Divide in Game Studies: Critical Essays |date=2015 |publisher=McFarland & Company |isbn=978-1-4766-2309-2 |page=166 |access-date=June 10, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606083910/https://books.google.com/books?id=6s_-CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA166 |archive-date=June 6, 2020 |url-status=live}} The first beat 'em up game, Kung-Fu Master (1984), was based on Lee's Game of Death.{{cite web |last1=Spencer |first1=Spanner |date=February 6, 2008 |title=The Tao of Beat-'em-ups |url=https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/the-tao-of-beat-em-ups-article?page=2 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415175527/https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/the-tao-of-beat-em-ups-article?page=2 |archive-date=April 15, 2021 |access-date=July 20, 2020 |work=Eurogamer |page=2}} The Street Fighter video game franchise (1987 debut) was inspired by Enter the Dragon, with the gameplay centered around an international fighting tournament, and each character having a unique combination of ethnicity, nationality and fighting style; Street Fighter went on to set the template for all fighting games that followed.{{cite book |last1=Thrasher |first1=Christopher David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=77zwCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA208 |title=Fight Sports and American Masculinity: Salvation in Violence from 1607 to the Present |date=2015 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-1823-4 |page=208 |access-date=June 10, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606082039/https://books.google.com/books?id=77zwCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA208 |archive-date=June 6, 2020 |url-status=live}} Since then, nearly every major fighting game franchise has had a character based on Bruce Lee. In April 2014, Lee was named a featured character in the combat sports video game EA Sports UFC, and is playable in multiple weight classes.{{cite web |author=Jason Nawara |date=April 6, 2014 |title=Bruce Lee revealed as the hidden EA UFC character, release date confirmed |url=http://mmanuts.com/news/bruce-lee-revealed-hidden-ea-ufc-character-release-date-confirmed/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408225913/http://mmanuts.com/news/bruce-lee-revealed-hidden-ea-ufc-character-release-date-confirmed/ |archive-date=April 8, 2014 |access-date=April 6, 2014 |publisher=mmanuts.com}}

In France, the Yamakasi cited the martial arts philosophy of Bruce Lee as an influence on their development of the parkour discipline in the 1990s, along with the acrobatics of Jackie Chan.{{cite news |title=Parkour History |work=Parkour Generations |url=https://parkourgenerations.com/parkour-history/ |access-date=March 13, 2019 |archive-date=May 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190531105308/https://parkourgenerations.com/parkour-history/ |url-status=dead}}{{cite book |last1=Angel |first1=Julie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iAxjDAAAQBAJ |title=Breaking the Jump: The Secret Story of Parkour's High Flying Rebellion |date=June 16, 2016 |publisher=Aurum Press |isbn=978-1-78131-554-5 |access-date=May 16, 2022 |archive-date=February 11, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240211002443/https://books.google.com/books?id=iAxjDAAAQBAJ |url-status=live}} The Yamakasi considered Lee to be the "unofficial president" of their group.

The Legend of Bruce Lee (2008), a Chinese television drama series based on the life of Bruce Lee, has been watched by over {{Nowrap|400 million}} viewers in China, making it the most-watched Chinese television drama series of all time, as of 2017.{{Cite web |last=Magazine |first=Hollywood Stage |date=November 23, 2017 |title=Ted Duran, a star in The Legend of Bruce Lee TV series is becoming known for his adaptability in Films & TV around the world |url=http://hollywoodstagemagazine.com/2017/11/23/ted-duran-one-of-the-stars-of-the-legend-of-bruce-lee-tv-series-wanted-in-china/ |access-date=May 16, 2022 |website=Hollywood Stage Magazine |language=en-US |archive-date=May 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523135632/https://hollywoodstagemagazine.com/2017/11/23/ted-duran-one-of-the-stars-of-the-legend-of-bruce-lee-tv-series-wanted-in-china/ |url-status=live}}{{cite news |title=Largest Bruce Lee Museum opens in S. China |url=http://www.china.org.cn/culture/2008-11/11/content_16746809.htm |access-date=May 16, 2022 |work=China.org.cn |publisher=China Internet Information Center |date=November 11, 2008 |archive-date=May 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220516184338/http://www.china.org.cn/culture/2008-11/11/content_16746809.htm |url-status=live}}

In November 2022, it was announced that Taiwanese filmmaker Ang Lee was directing a biopic on Bruce Lee. Ang Lee's son Mason Lee was cast to star in the movie, while Bruce Lee's daughter, Shannon Lee, is set to produce the film.{{cite web |url=http://doublehammerfist.com/2022/11/30/bruce-lee-biopic-in-the-works-starring-mason-lee-and-directed-by-ang-lee/ |title=Bruce Lee Biopic in the works starring Mason Lee and directed by Ang Lee |publisher=doublehammerfist.com |author=Blaine Henry |date=November 30, 2022|access-date=November 30, 2022|archive-date=November 30, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221130202606/https://doublehammerfist.com/2022/11/30/bruce-lee-biopic-in-the-works-starring-mason-lee-and-directed-by-ang-lee/|url-status=live}}

In 2024, there was a proposal made to erect a statue of Bruce Lee in San Francisco. Lee's daughter is in favor of erecting it stating, "the Bay Area is a very rich and vital part of our legacy."

Underworld pay tribute to Bruce Lee in their song Bruce Lee from their 1999 album Beaucoup Fish, a blend of rock, techno, and guitar riffs. According to DAFT FM, the lyrics can be interpreted as encouraging the idea of self-actualization and individuals to be true to themselves, thus paying tribute to Lee's philosophy of empowering oneself and living life to the fullest.{{Cite web |title=Bruce Lee Lyrics |url=https://daft.fm/songs/underworld-bruce-lee/ |access-date=April 14, 2024 |website=www.daft.fm |language=en-US |archive-date=May 23, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240523004528/https://daft.fm/songs/underworld-bruce-lee/ |url-status=live}}{{rs|date=May 2025}}

Though Bruce Lee did not appear in commercials during his lifetime, his likeness and image has since appeared in hundreds of commercials around the world. Nokia launched an Internet-based campaign in 2008 with staged "documentary-looking" footage of Bruce Lee playing ping-pong with his nunchaku and also igniting matches as they are thrown toward him. The videos went viral on YouTube, creating confusion as some people believed them to be authentic footage.{{cite web |url=http://agency.asia/issue-02/126-inter%C2%ADviews/237-jwt-beijing.html |title=JWT Beijing and Shanghai |last=Agency.Asia |website=agency.asia |access-date=April 8, 2016 |archive-date=May 26, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160526202207/http://agency.asia/issue-02/126-inter%C2%ADviews/237-jwt-beijing.html |url-status=live}}

{{Further|List of awards and honors received by Bruce Lee}}

• 1972: Golden Horse Awards Best Mandarin Film{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}
• 1972: Fist of Fury Special Jury Award
• 1994: Hong Kong Film Award for Lifetime Achievement{{cite web |url=http://www.bruceleefoundation.com/index.cfm?pid=10384 |title=Awards, Honors, Achievements, and Activities |publisher=Bruce Lee Foundation |access-date=June 7, 2010 |location=Los Angeles|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090820055042/http://www.bruceleefoundation.com/index.cfm?pid=10384 |archive-date=August 20, 2009}}
• 1999: Named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century
• 2004: Star of the Century Award{{cite news |title=Enter the star of the century |url=https://www.smh.com.au/news/Film/Enter-the-star-of-the-century/2005/03/28/1111862310648.html |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |access-date=March 21, 2017 |archive-date=November 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111005937/http://www.smh.com.au/news/Film/Enter-the-star-of-the-century/2005/03/28/1111862310648.html |url-status=live}}
• 2013: The Asian Awards Founders Award{{cite web |url=http://bollyspice.com/57703/asian-awards-winners-night-event |title=Special Report: Asian Awards 2013 |date=April 18, 2013 |access-date=April 29, 2013 |archive-date=May 31, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130531002802/http://bollyspice.com/57703/asian-awards-winners-night-event |url-status=live}}

• Statue of Bruce Lee (Los Angeles): unveiled June 15, 2013,[https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-bruce-lee-statue-unveiled-in-las-chinatown-20130616,0,4835552.story Bruce Lee statue unveiled in L.A.'s Chinatown] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130617073812/http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-bruce-lee-statue-unveiled-in-las-chinatown-20130616%2C0%2C4835552.story|date=June 17, 2013}}, Los Angeles Times, June 16, 2013 Chinatown Central Plaza, Los Angeles, California
• Statue of Bruce Lee (Hong Kong): {{Convert|2.5|m|ft|abbr=on}} bronze statue of Lee was unveiled on November 27, 2005, on what would have been his 65th birthday.{{Cite news |date=July 24, 2005 |title=Hong Kong's honour for Bruce Lee |language=en-GB |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4711947.stm|access-date=March 26, 2019|archive-date=March 13, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170313213947/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4711947.stm|url-status=live}}
• Statue of Bruce Lee (Mostar): The day before the Hong Kong statue was dedicated, the city of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina unveiled its own {{Convert|1.68|m|ft|abbr=on}} bronze statue; supporters of the statue cited Lee as a unifying symbol against the ethnic divisions in the country, which had culminated in the 1992–95 Bosnian War.{{Cite news |date=November 26, 2005 |title=Bosnia unveils Bruce Lee bronze |language=en-GB |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4474316.stm|access-date=March 26, 2019|archive-date=March 26, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190326152101/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4474316.stm|url-status=live}}

A theme park dedicated to Lee was built in Jun'an, Guangdong. Mainland Chinese only started watching Bruce Lee films in the 1980s, when videos of classic movies like Fist of Fury became available.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

On January 6, 2009, it was announced that Lee's Hong Kong home (41 Cumberland Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong) would be preserved and transformed into a tourist site by Yu Pang-lin.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i7b57851228481ca584da06e5f92020f5 |title=Bruce Lee's home to become a museum |date=January 6, 2009 |access-date=August 28, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100807091304/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i7b57851228481ca584da06e5f92020f5 |archive-date=August 7, 2010|url-status=dead |magazine=The Hollywood Reporter}}{{cite news |url=http://www.hindu.com/2008/07/19/stories/2008071956432000.htm |title=Bruce Lee 35th anniversary |date=July 19, 2008 |work=The Hindu |access-date=June 3, 2011 |location=India |archive-date=November 9, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109234011/http://www.hindu.com/2008/07/19/stories/2008071956432000.htm |url-status=dead}} Yu died in 2015 and this plan did not materialize.{{cite news |last=Servando |first=Kristine |date=September 8, 2015 |title=Inside Bruce Lee's Hong Kong home: from Crane's Nest to love hotel and why it never became a museum |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1856266/inside-bruce-lees-hong-kong-home-cranes-nest-love |location=South China Morning Post |archive-date=April 19, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190419161435/https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1856266/inside-bruce-lees-hong-kong-home-cranes-nest-love |url-status=live}} In 2018, Yu's grandson, Pang Chi-ping, said: "We will convert the mansion into a centre for Chinese studies next year, which provides courses like Mandarin and Chinese music for children."{{cite news |last=Cheung |first=Gary |date=November 18, 2018 |title=Bruce Lee's Hong Kong mansion to become Chinese studies centre |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/2173803/bruce-lees-hong-kong-mansion-become-chinese-studies-centre |work=South China Morning Post |archive-date=April 19, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190419163851/https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/2173803/bruce-lees-hong-kong-mansion-become-chinese-studies-centre |url-status=live}}

{{Main|Bruce Lee filmography}}

• Chinese Gung-Fu: The Philosophical Art of Self Defense (Bruce Lee's first book) – 1963
• Tao of Jeet Kune Do (Published posthumously) – 1973
• Bruce Lee's Fighting Method (Published posthumously) – 1978

• Media about Bruce Lee
• Bruce Lee (comics)
• Bruce Lee Library
• Bruceploitation
• Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
• List of stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame – Bruce Lee at 6933 Hollywood Blvd
• The Legend of Bruce Lee

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin|30em}}

• {{Cite book |first=James |last=Bishop |title=Bruce Lee: Dynamic Becoming |publisher=Promethean Press |publication-place=Carrollton, TX |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-9734054-0-8 |oclc=62249595}}
• {{cite book |last=Bolelli |first=Daniele |author-link=Daniele Bolelli |title=On the Warrior's Path, Second Edition: Philosophy, Fighting, and Martial Arts Mythology |publisher=Blue Snake Books : Distributed by North Atlantic Books |publication-place=Berkeley, Calif. |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-58394-219-2 |oclc=321047750}} [{{GBurl|id=QTGtYRZsvXYC}} Partial preview] at Google Books.
• {{cite book |last1=Campbell |first1=Sid |last2=Lee |first2=Greglon |title=Remembering the master : Bruce Lee, James Yimm Lee, and the creation of Jeet Kune Do |publisher=Blue Snake Books/Frog, Ltd. |publication-place=Berkeley, Calif. |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-58394-148-5 |oclc=62348277}} [{{GBurl|id=iqVutksWfJkC}} Partial preview] at Google Books.
• {{cite book |last=Cheng |first=David |title=Jeet Kune Do Basics: Everything You Need to Get Started in Jeet Kune Do – from Basic Footwork to Training and Tournaments |publisher=Tuttle Publishing |publication-place=[United States] |year=1993 |isbn=978-1-4629-0267-5 |oclc=1445328209}} [{{GBurl|id=KivRAgAAQBAJ}} Partial preview] at Google Books.
• {{cite book |last1=Dennis |first1=Felix |last2=Atyeo |first2=Don |title=Bruce Lee, King of Kung-Fu |publisher=Wildwood House |publication-place=London |year=1974 |isbn=978-0-7045-0121-8 |oclc=1341744}}
• {{cite journal |last=Dorgan |first=Michael |title=Bruce Lee's Toughest Fight |journal=Official Karate |publisher=Charlton Publications |publication-place=Derby, CT |issn=0048-1505 |oclc=4085074 |date=July 1980 |url=http://www.kungfu.net/brucelee.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181018100523/http://www.kungfu.net/brucelee.html |archive-date=2018-10-18 |url-status=dead}}
• {{cite book |last=Lee |first=Bruce |title=Tao of Jeet Kune Do |publisher=Black Belt Communications |publication-place=Chicago |year=1975 |isbn=978-0-89750-253-5 |oclc=1302545972 |url=https://archive.org/details/taoofjeetkunedo0000leeb |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}
• {{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Linda |title=Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew |year=1975a |publisher=Warner Paperback Library |isbn=978-0-446-78774-1 |oclc=1365631}}
• {{cite book |last=Lee |first=Linda |editor-last=Vaughn |editor-first=Jack |editor-last2=Lee |editor-first2=Mike |title=The Bruce Lee Story |publisher=Ohara Publications |publication-place=Burbank, Calif. |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-89750-121-7 |oclc=1301805494 |url=https://archive.org/details/bruceleestory0000cadw |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}
• {{cite book |last=Little |first=John R. |author-link=John Little (writer) |title=Bruce Lee: Artist of Life |publisher=Tuttle Pub. |publication-place=Boston |year=2001 |isbn=978-1-4629-1790-7 |oclc=921999918}} [{{GBurl|id=N7mHCgAAQBAJ}} Partial preview] at Google Books.
• {{cite book |last=Little |first=John R. |author-link=John Little (writer) |title=The Warrior Within: The Philosophies of Bruce Lee to Better Understand the World around You and Achieve a Rewarding Life |publisher=McGraw-Hill |publication-place=New York |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-8092-3194-2 |oclc=156347843}}
• {{cite book |editor-last=Little |editor-first=John R. |editor-link=John Little (writer) |title=The Art of Expressing the Human Body |publisher=C.E. Tuttle Co. |publication-place=Boston |year=1998 |isbn=978-1-4629-1789-1 |oclc=922001030}} [{{GBurl|id=ErmHCgAAQBAJ}} Partial preview] at Google Books.
• {{cite book |last=Polly |first=Matthew |author-link=Matthew Polly |title=Bruce Lee: A Life |publisher=Simon & Schuster |publication-place=New York, NY |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-5011-8764-3 |oclc=1251715769}} [{{GBurl|id=ZGFEDwAAQBAJ}} Partial preview] at Google Books.
• {{cite book |last=Rafiq |first=Fiaz |others=Foreword by Diana Lee Inosanto |title=Bruce Lee: The Life of a Legend |publisher=Birlinn Limited |publication-place=United States |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-78885-330-9 |oclc=1445153108}} [{{GBurl|id=DHjnDwAAQBAJ}} Partial preview] at Google Books.
• {{Cite book |last=Sharif |first=Sulaiman |title=50 Martial Arts Myths |year=2009 |publisher=New Media Entertainment, Ltd. |publication-place=New York |isbn=978-0-9677546-2-8 |oclc=694518471}} [{{GBurl|id=BrttF8DY3JcC}} Partial preview] at Google Books.
• {{Cite book |last=Thomas |first=Bruce |title=Bruce Lee: Fighting Spirit: a Biography |publisher=Frog, Ltd. |year=1994 |publication-place=Berkeley, California |isbn=978-1-883319-25-0 |oclc=1148010280 |url=https://archive.org/details/bruceleefighting0000thom_d0z5 |url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book |editor-last=Vaughn |editor-first=Jack |editor-last2=Lee |editor-first2=Mike |title=The Legendary Bruce Lee |publisher=Ohara Publications |publication-place=Burbank, Calif. |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-89750-106-4 |oclc=1245297096 |url=https://archive.org/details/legendarybrucele0000unse |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}

{{Refend}}

{{Refbegin|30em}}

• {{cite book |last=Clouse |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Clouse |title=Bruce Lee: The Biography |publisher=Unique Publications |publication-place=Burbank, CA |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-86568-133-0 |oclc=647400929}}
• {{cite book |last=Glover |first=Jesse R. |author-link=Jesse Glover |title=Bruce Lee's Non-Classical Gung Fu |year=1978 |publisher=Glover Publications |isbn=978-0-9602328-0-2 |oclc=5196599}}
• {{cite book |last1=Lee |first1=Bruce |last2=Uyehara |first2=Mitoshi |title=Bruce Lee's Fighting Method: Self-Defense Techniques |publisher=Ohara |year=1976 |isbn=978-0-89750-050-0 |oclc=1020201854 |url=https://archive.org/details/bruceleesfightin0000leeb |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}
• {{cite book |last=Lee |first=Bruce |editor-last=Little |editor-first=John R. |editor-link=John Little (writer) |title=Jeet Kune Do: Bruce Lee's Commentaries on the Martial Way |publisher=C.E. Tuttle Co |publication-place=Boston |year=1997 |isbn=978-1-4629-1791-4 |oclc=920684483 |url=https://archive.org/details/jeetkunedobrucel0000leeb |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}
• {{cite book |last=Lee |first=Bruce |editor-last=Little |editor-first=John R. |editor-link=John Little (writer) |title=The Tao of Gung Fu: A Study in the Way of Chinese Martial Art |publisher=C.E. Tuttle |publication-place=Boston |year=1997 |isbn=978-1-4629-1788-4 |oclc=922001149 |url=https://archive.org/details/taoofgungfustudy0000leeb |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}
• {{cite book |last=Lee |first=Bruce |editor-last=Little |editor-first=John R. |editor-link=John Little (writer) |title=Words of the Dragon: Interviews 1958–1973 |publisher=C.E. Tuttle |publication-place=Boston |year=1997 |isbn=978-1-4629-1787-7 |oclc=921443293 |url=https://archive.org/details/wordsofdragonint0000leeb |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}
• {{cite book |last=Lee |first=Bruce |editor-last=Little |editor-first=John R. |editor-link=John Little (writer) |title=Striking Thoughts: Bruce Lee's Wisdom for Daily Living |publisher=Tuttle Pub. |publication-place=Boston |year=2000 |isbn=978-1-4629-1792-1 |oclc=1052565644}} [{{GBurl |id=FbqHCgAAQBAJ}} Partial preview] at Google Books.
• {{cite book |last=Thomas |first=Bruce |title=Immortal Combat: Portrait of a True Warrior |publisher=Blue Snake Books |publication-place=Berkeley, Calif. |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-58394-173-7 |oclc=73502148 |url=https://archive.org/details/immortalcombatpo0000thom|url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}
• {{Cite book |last=Uyehara |first=Mitoshi |title=Bruce Lee: The Incomparable Fighter |publisher=Ohara Publications |publication-place=Burbank, Calif. |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-89750-120-0 |oclc=20635150}} [{{GBurl |id=Z4qHatHRJlsC}} Partial preview] at Google Books.

{{Refend}}

{{Sister project links|n=no|wikt=no|b=no|s=no|v=no|species=no}}

• [http://www.bruceleefoundation.com/ Bruce Lee Foundation]
• {{Hkmdb name|1919|Bruce Lee}}
• {{IMDb name|45|Bruce Lee}}
• {{Discogs artist|Bruce Lee}}
• [https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv519882?q=06851 William Dozier papers] at the American Heritage Center

{{Bruce Lee|state=expand}}

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{{Universal Interactive}}

{{Huo Yuanjia and Chen Zhen related media}}

{{Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century}}

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