On Jul 20,1973 Bruce Lee, one of the biggest icons ever on the planet died of a cerebral edema caused by a hypersensitive reaction to a pain killer. On July 26th, 1973 his first Hollywood movie “Enter the Dragon” was released.

After years of ER and other Medical shows on Network TV it’s still nearly impossible to find a male Indian Doctor even though in reality they are in practically every American hospital in huge numbers. Hollywood  also couldn’t find anyone more appropriate than Jake Gylenhaal to play a Persian Prince. The list of such racism is endless.

 

Imagine what it was like in the 1960’s when Bruce Lee said he wanted to be a Hollywood movie star. It didn’t quite happen to plan but Bruce Lee did become one of the most influential actors of all time in Hollywood & world cinema. The use of kicks and other martial arts moves is a direct result of the impact of Lee’s movies in the 1970’s.

Every fight, every superhero from Superman and Batman, to  the X-men and the Transformers use martial arts techniques. 

 

Muscled action stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sly Stallone followed in the footsteps of Bruce Lee and 

Jackie Chan and Jet Li are the heirs of Bruce Lee’s breakthrough. Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel said “As a kid I would sneak downstairs and see my Dad watching Enter the Dragon, and I’d watch Bruce Lee and he just exuded this energy, I started doing Martial Arts because that .” 

 

The writer of this article, in the 1980’s, embarked on his own (eventually aborted) journey to become the Bruce Lee of Bollywood, culminating in a meeting with legendary Bollywood Director & Producer Raj Kapoor. But look at the Bollywood stars of today like Hrithik Roshan, Akshay Kumar or go back to Amitabh Bachchan to see the influence of Bruce Lee. Akshay Kumar took the name of Akshay, meaning “without limit” influenced by Bruce’s saying “”using no way as a way, using no limitation as limitation”.

 

African Americans were early fans of Bruce Lee and remain so fervently. Hip Hop stars like LL Cool J, Wu Tang Clan, Lil Wayne, Drake to name a few, idolize and reference him  often.  Bruce Lee is an integral part of African American society.

 

Bruce Lee also became one of the most influential athletes ever. He trained with and earned the respect of all the top American martial artists of the 1960’s like Chuck Norris, Joe Lewis,Vic Moore, Bill”Superfoot” Wallace etc.

 

Bruce definitely originated “sports-specific weight training” . As he put it In Tao of Jeet Kune Do, :

“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”.

 

Bruce felt that martial artists at that time, like American cricketers today, did not do enough physical training. Before him use of weights was anathema to athletes looking for speed,skill and flexibility. Bruce Lee showed how weight training could could enhance those qualities and many later followed like Michael Jordan, Evander Holyfield and just about every athlete in every sport.

 

Mixed martial arts stars to athletes in every sport cite Bruce Lee as a hero and inspiration. MMA star Tito Ortiz said, Bruce Lee is ” somebody I’ve looked up to as an athlete and as a mixed martial artist .”

 

Bodybuilders from Lou Ferigno and Lee Haney to Flex Wheeler and Shawn Ray and the father of Bodybuilding Joe Weider himself admired Bruce’s muscular definition..

 

Around the world people were historically, and still usually bound by the ties of national & ethnic  groups but Bruce Lee is the rare phenomenon who transcended national, racial,ethnic and other boundaries. The name and the figure is instantly recognizable to people all over the world. A statue of him was erected in Bosnia, which after years of religious and ethnic strife honored Lee as an icon who had bridged differences among people.

 

Bruce Lee was born November 27th, 1940, in San Francisco of a Chinese father and a German/Chinese mother. This resulted in him facing discrimination in Hong Kong where he spent his early years. 

 

He moved back to the USA and went to the University of Washington in Seattle (he later dropped out). During the early 1960’s he made guest appearances at major US martial arts tournaments including the Long Beach Nationals, performing stunts like his “one-inch” punch (a skill the writer imitated but not to a Bruce Lee-like level)).

 

He appeared as Kato in the “Green Hornet” but the show only lasted 1 year. This was enough to make him a huge star in Hong Kong  which he found out when he went there in 1971 to make “Big Boss“. The film became a huge hit in Hong Kong, and was followed by “Fist of Fury” aka “Chinese Connection” in 1972.  

 

The Chinese people were ecstatic to see a tough athletic Chinese hero , standing up for them – a martial arts Gandhi ! He redefined the image of a billion Chinese people, to them,selves and to the rest of the world. In addition,pint-sized boys and small men everywhere now had a hero their size who could kick anybody’s ass.

 

“Way of the Dragon” aka “Return of the Dragon” had a bigger budget and was set in Rome. US Karate Champion Chuck Norris fought Bruce in a memorable fight in the Roman Colosseum. More box office records in Asia were broken and Hollywood came calling – the result was “Enter the Dragon“, also starring American karate legend Bob Wall,Jim Kelly,Bolo and a relatively bigtime American actor John Saxon.

 

“Game of Death” in which he fought 7 foot 4 inch basketball great Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Dan Inosanto was released in 1978 using about 20 minutes of footage of Lee, in his now famous yellow with black stripes jumpsuit. 

 

Bruce Lee’s influence is everywhere, from video games and sports to movies and real life. Recently fired  top General of US Armed Forces in Afghanistan & former Head of Joint Special Operations (the most secretive military ops, modern day ninjas)  General Stan McCrystal used a Bruce Lee quote each day. .

 

Bruce Lee’s speed and power was truly extraordinary.

 

At the 1967 Long Beach International Karate Championship he demonstrated his “unstoppable punch” on USKA Champion Vic Moore. Vic Moore.in his career, won fights against karate greats like Chuck Norris,Bill “Superfoot” Wallace, Joe Lewis and Mike Stone. but in 8 attempts could not stop Bruce Lee’s “unstoppable punch” to the face, even though Moore knew it was coming.

 

Bruce Lee performed many physical feats in public demonstrations which were practically superhuman. Examples: his  “One inch punch” and side kick :

 -Moving his fist only 1 inch he could knock 200 lb plus men backwards and to the ground.

– He would kick a 300 lb heavy bag so hard it would swing up and hit the ceiling.

-in a reactive speed demonstration he could snatch a coin off a person’s palm, and replace it with another coin, before the person could close their palm. The other person initiated movement  (the writer at his fastest imitated this move but could only snatch the coin, not replace it).

– his movements were at times too fast to be properly captured on film, so a faster rate of filming was often used.

 

More than a movie martial artist, there are many documented instances of him fighting and defeating highly skilled opponents in street and other fights

 

We could write on and on about Bruce Lee but a History Channel Special sums it up in its title “How Bruce Lee changed the world” . 

 

Read more about this great man, and check out his movies- the production quality may be poor, but the movements of the man is mesmerizing.