John Little - Bruce Lee: The Celebrated Life of the Golden Dragon

Early Years

My name is Lee. Bruce Lee. I was born in San Francisco on November 27, 1940. My birth name is Lee Jun Fan. Bruce is a name I later acquired from one of the nurses in the hospital because it was Western and easy to remember.

My father spent a lot of time traveling. I was born when he brought along my mother on one of his performance trips in the United States. Yet, my father did not want me to receive an American education. When I reached three months of age, he sent me back to Hong Konghis second homelandto live with his kinsmen. [Living in Hong Kong] was a very crucial experience in my life. I was confronted with genuine Chinese culture. The sense of being part of it was so strongly felt that I was enchanted.

I didnt realize it then, nor did I see how great an influence environment had on the molding of ones character and personality... Nevertheless, the notion of being Chinese was then duly conceived.

That I should be an American-born Chinese was accidental, or it might have been by my fathers arrangement. My father, Lee Hoi Chuen, was a famous artist of the Cantonese opera and was very popular with the Chinese people.

I started acting when I was around six years old.

When my mother went to church on Sunday, my father sat at home. This didnt seem to worry herand it didnt worry my father that she was sending me to a Catholic school [Bruce at St. Francis Xavier, Hong Kong1 st row, 4 th from left.]

My father was then well acquainted with lots of movie stars and directors. They brought me to the studio and gave me some roles to play.

Up until I was around 18 years old, I did primarily co-starring roles.

It could have been a matter of heredity or environment, but I came to be greatly interested in the making of films when I was studying in Hong Kong. [Bruce on the set of The Big Boss; his first starring role would prove to be an unprecedented success.]

Chinese children dont argue with their parents. No, my father never struck methough my mother sometimes spanked me good!

From boyhood to adolescence, I was a bit of a troublemaker and was greatly disapproved of by my elders. I was extremely mischievous and aggressive.

Then, when I was thirteen, I wondered one day what would happen if I didnt have my gang behind me if I got into a fight. I decided to learn how to protect myself and I began to study gung fu. I studied under Yip Man. He was my instructor in a Chinese martial art. It was from Mr. Yip that I took up the style of wing chun.

A Chinese boy growing up in Hong Kong knows that if he disgraces himself he brings disgrace upon all his kinupon a great circle of people. And I think this is good. [Bruce, 2nd from left, with his siblingsfrom left to rightPhoebe, Agnes, Peter. Younger brother, Robert, is in front.]

There was a time when a Chinese son could nevernevercontradict his father, but thats no longer true except in the very rigid, old families. Things are a little more relaxed than that in most households. [Right: Bruce with his father, Lee Hoi Chuen.]

After four years of training in gung fu, I began to understand and feel the principle of gentlenessthe art of neutralizing an opponents effort and minimizing the expenditure of ones energy. All this must be done in calmness and without striving. It sounded simple, but in actual application it was difficult.

Definitely in the beginning I had no intentionwhatsoeverthat what I was practicing, and what Im still practicing now, would lead to this.

But martial art has a very deep meaning as far as my life is concerned.

Because as an actor, as a martial artist, as a human beingall theseI have learned from martial art.

I came back to the United States in 1959. I wanted to further my education, so I went to Seattle to study philosophy at the University of Washington.

Hollywood

You know why I got that Green Hornet job? Ill tell you why I got that Green Hornet job. Because the heros name was Britt Reid, and I was the only Chinese in all of California who could pronounce Britt Reid, thats why!

In 1964, just about the time I discovered that I really didnt want to teach self-defense for the rest of my life, I went to the Long Beach International Karate Tournament [where] I gave a demonstration. A Hollywood producer, William Dozier, just happened to be in the audience. That night I received a phone call at my hotel for a tryout. Early next morning, I stopped by 20 th Century Fox and was hired to be Charlie Chans Number One Son. They were going to make it into a new Chinese James Bond type of a thing. Now that, you know, the old man, Chan, is dead, Charlie is dead, and his son is carrying on.