Ever since Bruce Lee's first major role ("The Big Boss": a 1971 Hong Kong martial arts film directed by Lo Wei and Wu Chi-hsiang) there seems to be a wave, a hot wave in fact, of finding 'another Bruce Lee' among all types of people, particularly martial artists. Ranging from karate men, hapkido men, judo men, etcetera, etcetera. Forgetting about whether or not they possess the ability to act, just so long as they can halfway decent kick or punch and know a few tricks or gimmicks, the producers will make them a 'star.' Now, let's stop about here. Is it that simple to become a star? Well, I can assure you it's not that simple. Also, I can tell you that as more (of) Bruce Lee's films are shown, the audience will soon realize-not only in acting ability but in physical skill as well-they will see the difference. Of course, 'It is only moviemaking,' people will say, but certainly the audiences are not so insensitive as to not be able to see and judge for themselves."

A noted brawler in Hong Kong, Bruce Lee received formal training in wing chun under legendary sifu Yip Man. He later trained in a variety of arts but eventually found classical style limiting and, counter-productive. He developed Jeet Kune Do (Way of the Intercepting Fist), which, he stressed, is not a style but a way of approaching martial arts beyond style. It is the forerunner to mix martial arts.

Lee's development of Jeet Kune Do came partially out of an incident with his school. A rival martial artist challenged him to a duel over his decision to teach non-Chinese students. Lee accepted the challenge and won the duel but later thought that the fight took too long because his martial art technique was too rigid and formalistic. Thus he decided to develop a better system with an emphasis on practicality and flexibility. His students in Jeet Kune Do martial arts included Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Steve McQueen, and James Coburn.

During the early half of the 1960s, Lee became associated with many key martial arts figures in the USA, and made guest appearances at notable martial arts events including the Long Beach Nationals. Through one of these tournaments Bruce met Hollywood hair-stylist Jay Sebring who introduced him to producer William Dozier. Based on the runaway success of his television series "Batman," Dozier was keen to bring the cartoon character of The Green Hornet to television, and was on the lookout for an East Asian actor to play the Green Hornet's sidekick, Kato.

Bruce's screen test was successful, and "The Green Hornet" starring Van Williams aired in 1966-1967 with mixed success. Lee's fight scenes were sometimes obscured by unrevealing camera angles, but his dedication was such that he insisted his character behave like a perfect bodyguard, keeping his eyes on whoever might be a threat to his employer except when the script made this impossible. The show was canceled after only one season (twenty-six episodes), but by this time Lee was receiving more fan mail than Williams.

With his success in Hollywood, Lee returned for a visit to Hong Kong and was approached by film producer Raymond Chow who had recently started Golden Harvest Productions. Chow was keen to utilize Lee's strong popularity amongst young Chinese fans, and offered him the lead role in "The Big Boss" (1971). In it, Lee plays a distant cousin coming to join relatives working at an ice house, where murder, corruption, and drug-running lead to his character's adventures and display of Kung-Fu expertise. The film was directed by Wei Lo, shot in Thailand on a very low budget and in terrible living conditions for cast and crew. However, when it opened in Hong Kong the film was an enormous hit. Chow knew he had struck box office gold with Lee and quickly assembled another script entitled "Fist of Fury" (1972), again directed by Wei Lo and set in Shanghai in the year 1900, with Lee returning to his school to find that his beloved master has been poisoned by the local Japanese karate school. Once again he uncovers the evil-doers and sets about seeking revenge on those responsible for murdering his teacher and intimidating his school. The film features several superb fight sequences and, at the film's conclusion, Lee refuses to surrender to the Japanese law and seemingly leaps to his death in a hail of police bullets.

Once more, Hong Kong streets were jammed with thousands of fervent Chinese movie fans who could not get enough of the fearless Bruce Lee, and his second film went on to break the box office records set by the first! Lee then set up his own production company, Concord Productions, and set about guiding his film career personally by writing, directing and acting in his next film, "The Way of the Dragon" (1972). A bigger budget meant better locations and opponents, with the new film set in Rome, Italy and additionally starring hapkido expert Ing-Sik Whang, karate legend Robert Wall and seven-time U.S. karate champion Chuck Norris. Bruce plays a seemingly simple country boy sent to assist at a cousin's restaurant in Rome and finds his cousins are being bullied by local thugs for protection.

By now, Lee's remarkable success in East Asia had come to the attention of Hollywood film executives and a script was hastily written pitching him as a secret agent penetrating an island fortress. Warner Bros. financed the film, titled "Enter the Dragon" (1973) and also insisted on B-movie tough guy John Saxon starring alongside Lee to give the film wider appeal. The film culminates with another show-stopping fight sequence between Lee and the key villain, Han, in a maze of mirrors.

Shooting was completed in and around Hong Kong in early 1973 and in the subsequent weeks Bruce was involved in completing overdubs and looping for the final cut. Various reports from friends and coworkers cite that he was not feeling well during this period and on July 20, 1973 he lay down at the apartment of actress Betty Ting Pei after taking a head-ache medicine called Equagesic and was later unable to be revived. A doctor was called and Lee was taken to hospital by ambulance and pronounced dead that evening. The official finding was death due to a cerebral edema, caused by a reaction to the head-ache tablet Equagesic.

"Absorb what is useful, Discard what is not, Add what is uniquely your own."