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Enter the Dragon: The Life of Bruce Lee
Though Seattle is most famous for its influence on the grunge scene, its sports teams and being the home of corporations like Microsoft and Starbucks, one of Seattle’s most famous residents was martial arts legend Bruce Lee.
Born to a Chinese father and a mother of Chinese and German ancestry in San Francisco in 1940, Lee moved with his parents to Hong Kong when he was only three months old. Lee’s father was a famous Cantonese Opera star, and was encouraged to follow in his footsteps. However, after getting into trouble with the police following a streetfight when he was 18, Lee’s parents decided to send him to the US to live with a friend of his father’s.
After living in San Francisco, Lee moved to Seattle, where he completed his high school education and received a diploma from Edison Technical School. He would go on to enrol at the University of Washington as a drama major and also took philosophy classes. During his studies he would go on to meet Linda Emery, his future wife, with whom he had two children, Brandon and Shannon.
Upon his arrival in the United States, he decided to abandon thoughts of a film career and pursue one in martial arts instead. However, after an impressive show at the 1964 Long Beach Karate Tournament, he gained the attention of important figures in the entertainment industry, which would land him the role of Kato alongside Van Williams in the TV series The Green Hornet. Though the show only lasted one season, it was massively popular in Hong Kong, where it was billed as the Kato Show. He would reprise his role of Kato on the Batman TV show starring Adam West, and gained further media attention thanks to a role in the 1969 neo-noir film Marlowe.
Fed up with his sidekick roles, Lee returned to Hong Kong and was given his first leading role in 1972’s The Big Boss. It was a phenomenal success in Asia and propelled him to superstardom. These were followed by Fist of Fury and Way of the Dragon, both showcasing Lee’s exceptional physique, mastery of all forms of martial arts and relentless work ethic.
In 1973 Bruce starred in Enter the Dragon, giving him his big break in the US and Europe. The film was made on a budget of US$850,000 and has to date grossed over $200m worldwide. Sadly, just three weeks before its release, Lee mysteriously died in his sleep after complaining about a headache, aged just 32.
Lee was buried in Seattle, and today the hotels in Seattle receive fans from all over the world looking to make the pilgrimage to their hero’s grave at Lake View Cemetery.
Though he lived a short life, his influence on the popularity of martial arts as a sport and its incorporation into motion pictures is undeniable – three decades after his death, he is still the yardstick against which all other martial arts practitioners and films must be measured.
