16 Things You Didn't Know About BRUCE LEE!

 

16 Things You Didn’t Know About Bruce Lee!

 16.

 By Any Other Name?

 Bruce Lee was born November 27, 1940 in Chinatown, San Francisco in the Year of the Dragon at the Hour of the Dragon (6:00 am to 8:00 am).

 At the Chinese Hospital where he was born, he was given the name “Bruce” by the doctor, Mary Glover.

 But the name his parents gave him was Lee Jun Fan which means “return again.” His parents returned to Hong Kong when Bruce was just three months old and Lee’s mother thought he would go back to the US one day so she chose this predictive name.

 However, this wasn’t the first name Lee’s mother had given young Bruce.

 She first called him Sai-fon which means “small Phoenix.”

 15.

 Bruce Weed?

 Bruce Lee only had only one formal instructor in Wing Chun, a Chinese martial art, when he was 13 to 18.

 His instructor, Yip Man, was known to use opium regularly and one student claimed he used his school’s tuition money to support his habit.

 Bruce later adapted the Wing Chun he had learned from Man into what he called “Bruce Lee’s Kung Fu” or “Style of No Style,” considered by many to be the beginning of Mixed Martial Arts.

 Dana White of the UFC called Lee “the father of MMC.” Lee’s most famous philosophical quote to “be like water” came directly from Yip Man’s teaching of the art of detachment.

 Lee was never known to use opium to detach himself but he was reported to use cannabis, specifically edibles, and a small amount was found in his stomach during his autopsy.

 However, doctors never linked the cannabis to his death, instead blaming it on a bad reaction to pain medication.

 14.

 Lee’s Earliest Work Movies and acting were in Lee’s blood from a very young age.

 He appeared in over 30 films with the earliest, Golden Gate Girl, in 1941 at just 3 months old.

 The film was directed by the first Chinese female director, Esther Eng, and Kuan Man-Ching who were friends with Bruce’s father, a noted opera singer.

 Esther used Bruce as a stand in for baby girl for just a few seconds.

 However, his name was not listed in the credits.

 13.

 Cha-Cha Ching

 In addition to being a master martial artist, Bruce Lee was also an award-winning cha-cha dancer.

 Initially to gain the attention of a girl, Lee started lessons and soon realized how much the footwork practice could help his fighting.

 When he left Hong Kong at 18 and made his way to America on an 18-day steamer trip, he made extra money teaching other passengers how to dance.

 He arrived to San Francisco with $115 in his pocket.

 It was during this same trip that Lee practiced his English with fellow travelers, embraced his American-given name, and shed his Chinese name, Lee Jun Fan.

 12.

 Average Student

 He attended Edison Technical School in Seattle and then the University of Washington there in 1962 (with a low GPA of 1.84) where he took philosophy and drama classes.

 He even only received a C in gymnastics!

 He wasn’t paying attention to school while he attended.

 Instead he was focused on opening his kung fu studios in Seattle and Oakland.

 He was also writing his first book then, “Chinese Gung Fu: The Philosophical Art of Self-Defense.” Despite being an average student, Lee spoke English, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Japanese.

 In fact, his good English helped him to get the role of Kato in The Green Hornet in 1966.

 Lee said that it was because he was one of the only Asian actors who could correctly pronounce the lead character’s name, Britt Reid, that he got the part.

 11.

 Health

 With a body as fit and tight as Bruce Lee’s, you would never suspect that he wasn’t a perfect specimen of health.

 Surprisingly, he was administered an exam by the US Army Draft in 1963 and he failed!

 His eyesight was not good as evidenced by photos of him behind the camera with big Coke-bottle glasses.

 He also wore contacts, which back then, were probably especially brutal on the eyes.

 Then in 1970, Lee suffered a back injury that almost kept him from continuing his martial arts.

 He was attempting to do a “good-morning,” a move that requires holding a barbell across the back shoulders while bending over keeping the back straight and knees slightly bent.

 10.

 Way of the Cat

 A lot of people want to know why the cat was featured so prominently in the fight scene in Way of the Dragon between Lee and Chuck Norris.

 During the intense fight, there are several shots of the cat and even some zooming action near the end.

 Apparently, Lee wanted to use the footage of the cat to play off the idea of a cat pawing at a toy, or Lee viewing Norris’ character as a plaything.

 Rather, it just sent a message of confusion to movie-goers.

 But channeling animals through the loud, sometimes shrieking noises Lee would make when fighting served great purposes of helping him focus and to disorienting his opponents.

 The Mortal Combat character, Liu Kang, who is based on Bruce Lee, also features these unique animal sounds.

 9.

 Black and Yellow

 You have seen it on Uma Thurman in Kill Bill, and on characters Grand Theft Auto.

 It shows up every Halloween at parties and doorsteps each year.

 The famous yellow jumpsuit with the black strip down the sides is trademark Bruce Lee attire.

 While it was rumored that Lee choose the color to make a statement about his race, film producer Andre Morgan said that was not the case.

 In fact, Lee was only offered two jumpsuits to wear in Game of Death – one yellow, and one black.

 When they were reading the script, they saw the fight scene with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had a portion where Kareem kicks Lee in the chest.

 The big footprint wouldn’t show up on a black suit, so Lee chose yellow.

 It was auctioned off in 2013 and a private Hong Kong bidder won it for $780,000.

 8.

 Multi-tasker

 According to his daughter, Shannon, one of the greatest things she has learned about her father over the years is that he was an “insane multi-tasker.” According to his friend, Lee would drop down and do push-ups if he had to wait for an elevator.

 He could do push-ups with a man weighing 250 pounds sitting on his back.

 He was also known to read a book, watch boxing, and exercise all at the same time.

 Not to mention the fact that he was a martial artist, actor, producer, writer, dancer, choreographer, and philosopher.

 7.

 Crunchy Smoothies?

 Breakfast for the champion often included protein shakes with eggs, but get this…with the shells!

 Along with powdered milk (the only time he really ate any dairy), peanut butter, brewer’s yeast, and some supplements, the shakes provided the energy he needed for his very active lifestyle.

 In addition to shakes, he often had muesli cereal which included grains that could be soaked overnight for a porridge effect.

 To this, he would add dried fruits and nuts and 2% milk.

 He liked Chinese food over western food because he thought western food didn’t focus enough on carbohydrates and instead paid too much attention to protein and fat.

 6.

 Seattle Home

 Lee referred to Seattle as his home.

 He attended school there and worked as a waiter at Ruby Chow’s restaurant.

 On his first date with his wife, Linda, he took her to the space needle.

 He worked out at two studios – which are now Ho Ho Seafood in Chinatown and the other is Szechuan Noodle Bowl.

 He loved the nature of Seattle, Lake Washington and how it made him think of a place where his father took him to fish in Hong Kong.

 Now, there is an exhibit dedicated to Lee at Wing Lake Museum with the hopes of having a permanent “Bruce Lee Action Museum” in the future.

 So when Lee passed away, it was clear that he would be laid to rest in Seattle.

 He is next to his son Brandon at Lake View Cemetery.

 5.

 Quick Draw

 Not only was he a skillful martial artist, Lee was plain fast.

 He was so fast, in fact, that during filming of Enter the Dragon, the shot had to be slowed down to 34 frames so that moviegoers could actually see his kicks.

 In an 11 second fight in 1962, Lee won with a knock out but also included 15 punches and a kick.

 It only took Lee .05 seconds to react and punch from a 3 feet distance.

 He quickness wasn’t limited to just fighting.

 He was known to steal a dime out of someone’s palm and leave a penny before they could make a fist.

 4.

 Top Students

 Bruce Lee had three instructors that he certified himself.

 They were Taky Kimura, James Yimm Les, and Dan Inosanto.

 Right before Lee died, he told the two living instructors (Kimura and Inosanto) to close his schools because he wanted low numbers of students in order to keep the quality of the teaching high.

 They taught small classes and Lee himself trained with Chuck Norris, Joe Lewis, and Mike Stone.

 Each of them won every karate championship while they were training with Lee.

 He also taught Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Steve McQueen, and James Coburn.

 His teaching was in such high demand that he could charge up to $275 per hour.

 It’s possible they trained to the Mission Impossible theme song as that was a favorite of Lee’s.

 He told the composer, Lalo Schifrin, in 1973 that he often trained to the well-known soundtrack.

 Another one of his students?

 James Bond star George Lazenby but there is no word on whether or not they trained to any James Bond theme songs.

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 3.

 NO-kia

 In 2008, Nokia created an online commercial featuring Bruce Lee playing ping-pong with his nunchaku and then setting matches on fire as they were thrown to him.

 The viral article caused quite a commotion as many people thought it was real footage.

 Unfortunately, no footage exists of Lee actually performing these amazing feats and it was something Nokia created from scratch.

 2.

 Lemme Take a Selfie The best place to take a selfie with the legend in the United States is at 943 Sun Mun Way in the Chinatown district of Los Angeles.

 There you can see the only public statue of Lee in America often surrounded by visitors in fighting stances with cameras and phones ready.

 The sculpture is 7 feet tall (Lee was actually 5’7”) and includes his amazing abdominal 6-pack (maybe 8-pack or even 10-pack as his pants are too high to count).

 Why Chinatown?

 Lee was a regular there while he filmed the TV series The Green Hornet and he also opened a martial arts school nearby.

 The sculpture was created by a Chinese artist but Lee’s daughter, Shannon, worked for 5 years to have it moved to the US.

 Besides this free option, you can also pay for tickets to Madame Tussauds in Hollywood and see the wax version of Lee busting through a window while doing a side kick.

 1.

 Final Movie

 Filming for the movie Game of Death was underway when Bruce Lee died on July 20, 1973.

 In order to complete the film, the studio decided to rewrite the ending with the main character faking his own death.

 Shockingly, they also included shots from Lee’s funeral with 25,000 crying fans and footage of his body in an open casket.

 When he was finally laid to rest in Seattle, WA, Lee was wearing the traditional Chinese outfit from Enter

 the Dragon.