Bruce Lee Essay Research Paper Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee Essay, Research Paper

Bruce Lee (Enter the Dragon)

I chose to do my video report on the legend, Bruce Lee. The biography was on A&E at 10:00 Sunday February 1, 1998. It told the amazing life of possibly the greatest martial artist ever. He was a man filled with talent. Unfortunately, he died at a very young age. Here is his story.

Bruce Lee is my personal favorite martial artist of all time. His physical ability was truly amazing and fascinating. He was also gifted in the areas of philosophy, teaching, and movie making. It.s hard to imagine a man of his size doing the things he did. I admire his skills to the greatest degree. I really wish that I could do any of the things that he made look so easy. The world really lost a good person in Bruce. We will always remember him.

On the morning of November 27, 1940(in the Chinese year of the Dragon), Lee Jun Fan was born in San Francisco. The mother, Grace had not planned on an American name, and the father, at the time, was performing a popular Chinese opera in New York. So it was one of the Hospital employees who thought of the name Bruce. The mother concurred and from then on it was Bruce Lee. A legend was born. Shortly afterward, the family returned to Hong Kong.

Bruce.s Hong Kong film career began when he was only six years old. The director of his father.s latest film saw him on the set and was so impressed that he offered him a part in his father.s film. This was the beginning, leading to over twenty motion picture roles and steadily increasing popularity among Hong Kong audiences.

Bruce started training in the martial arts mainly to overcome his fear of being humiliated in a street fight. As a teenager he began to get into more and more fights for no reason at all. And if he didn.t win, he was furious. As a result, under the great master Yip Man.s Wing Chun (meaning .beautiful springtime.) teachings, Bruce became a proficient martial artist, not to mention a feared street fighter. However, Bruce actually had more than one teacher. As time went by, Bruce grew. His enthusiasm towards martial arts was more apparent. He was young, energetic, and competitive. He soon became acquainted with Wing-chun.s basic Kung Fu. Since he was very clever, Mr. Yip loved him very much and taught him many secret techniques in Win Chun Kung Fu. He became an expert in Wing Chun Kung Fu.

When Bruce was about fourteen, he discovered that .dancing. could be a great deal of fun. He had a real Knack for it and rapidly became quite polished, never lacking eager partners. Much of the balance and footwork became evident in his later fighting style. His favorite was the Cha Cha, and he spent many hours practicing extremely complex dance routines. He eventually became the Hong Kong Cha Cha Champion.

At the age of 19, Bruce was becoming more and more involved in street fighting. So in 1959, his parents decide to send him to live with friends in the United States, where he would finish high school. While restaurant.s attic in exchange for his services as a busboy and waiter. Bruce finished high school and went on to college. By day he attended the University of Washington and nights he was working in the restaurant. After a few months of this, he decided that this lifestyle was not for him. He quit his job at the restaurant and began teaching Kung Fu. At the age of twenty-two, Bruce authored an extremely unique text, which he titled .Chinese Kung Fu: The Philosophical Art of SELF-DEFENSE.. This book reflected his preoccupation with spiritual as well as physical development.

Before Bruce finished his Bachelor Degree in Philosophy, he met Linda Emery, a pretty blonde coed, enrolled in his class and in 1964 they were married. Shortly afterward, they moved to California. In 1965, Bruce.s son, Brandon, was born. A couple years later his daughter Shannon was born.

When Bruce debuted to the world giving a demonstration of Martial Arts at Ed Parker.s 1964 internationals, Ed was getting it all down on film. Fate intervened a few years later while Ed was teaching Jay Sebring(one of the people later killed along with Sharon Tate in the Sharon Tate murders). Jay mentioned that his friend Bill Dozier(the producer of .Batman 1966 T.V. series.) had bought the rights to the .Green Hornet. and needed a Kato. Parker showed Dozier the film on Bruce and the rest is history. As Kato on the popular T.V. series .The Green Hornet., Bruce introduced millions to the beauty, creativity, and power of the martial arts.

Bruce felt certain that .The Green Hornet. was going to be his .Big Break,. but after the series went off the air after only one season, Bruce found that parts calling for orientals were few and far between. He landed a small role in .Marlowe,. a feature film starring James Garner, and also appeared in a few episodes of .Longstreet,. a television series starring James Franciscus, but for the most part, his career was going nowhere. Then, he decided to open up three Knoons (schools) designed for only the most serious of martial arts students. It was here that he developed and taught what was to become JEET KUNE DO. Which he had a group of students like Steve McQueen, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Coburn, and Dan Inosanto.

In the U.S., Bruce knew many good friends in the field of martial arts. One of them was an expert in the nunchaku and Ka-li- Mr. Dan Inosanto. Th