On July 20, 1973, Bruce Lee, perhaps the world's most famous actor of Chinese descent, died suddenly in Hong Kong. He was only 32 years old. The mystery of this strange death has not yet been solved.
Career from the cradle
Bruce Lee was born on November 27, 1940 in San Francisco. His parents were the actor-comedian of the Cantonese Chinese opera Lee Hoi Chen and his wife Grace Lee - half German, half Chinese.
As a child, the boy bore the name Li Xiaolong (which is translated from Chinese as Little Dragon). In adulthood, they began to call him Li Zhenfan. Although the birth certificate issued in San Francisco was named Bruce Lee.
Already at the age of three months, Lee starred as a baby in the film "The Golden Gate of the Girl", and at the age of 6 - in the film "The Origin of Humanity". Then other movie roles followed. At the age of 18, the young man won an interschool boxing competition and after that began to seriously engage in kung fu.
At 19, Lee left for the United States. He already had American citizenship. In Seattle, he got a job as a waiter in a restaurant owned by an acquaintance of his father. After graduating from Edison Technical School, the young man entered the philosophy department of the University of Washington, where he met his future wife Linda Emery. In 1964, the couple entered into a marriage, in which two children were subsequently born - a son, Brandon and a daughter, Shannon.
The young actor began acting in films and television series, demonstrating martial arts skills in the course of the plot. He also opened his own school of martial arts, where he began to teach the style of kung fu, jitkundo, developed by him.
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Yet Lee was unhappy with his career in America. As a rule, he did not get the main roles in films. In 1971, he decided to return with his family to Hong Kong, where by then a new film studio, Golden Harvest, had opened. Studio director Raymond Chow gave Bruce the lead role in Big Boss and gave him the opportunity to direct the action scenes himself. The picture was a huge success. It was followed by Fist of Fury and Return of the Dragon. They were shown at the world box office and made Bruce Lee a superstar.
Dark omens
Meanwhile, it seems that the actor was not too happy about the success and million-dollar fees. For some reason, Bruce fell into depression and often repeated that he would not live to be 33 years old.
In June 1973, a mirror man fell from the roof of the Lee family's house in Hong Kong, which Bruce considered his talisman to protect from evil spirits.
In July, Lee teamed with Taiwanese actress Betty Ting
Pei worked on the painting "The Game of Death". One day he went to Betty's hotel room to work on the role, but suddenly complained of poor health, went to bed and did not wake up. An autopsy showed that the cause of death was a brain aneurysm.
Why did the movie idol die
What caused a brain hemorrhage in a young athletic man? On this occasion, various versions have been put forward.
Drugs
An autopsy revealed substances in the actor's stomach that are formed when using light drugs, such as marijuana. True, their concentration turned out to be insignificant.
But where did they come from? While at Betty's, Lee complained of a severe headache. The hostess, without thinking twice, offered him the drug "Ecuadjestic", which she herself took for migraines. It included aspirin and meprobamate, which has a weak narcotic effect. By itself, meprobamate is not dangerous, but in combination with other factors, it could cause cerebral edema. This version became official.
Death at the hands of the "Triad"
Back in his youth, Bruce had clashes with the Chinese mafia, the famous Hong Kong "Triad". At one time, the bandits from the "Triad" even hunted for him.
The killer could kill Lee using the legendary "delayed death" technique: a person can die months or even years after the blow. Two months before his death on the set, a stranger approached Bruce and offered to help him perform one combat stunt. After the impact, the actor collapsed to the ground, losing consciousness. When he regained consciousness, the stranger was gone.
A curse
According to Chinese astrologers, a curse lies on a person whose birth is associated with the symbol of the Dragon. And Bruce Lee was born just in the Year of the Dragon and at the hour of the Dragon (between 6 and 8 am).
The last film the actor worked on was called The Game of Death. The Chinese generally avoid mentioning death, so as not to incur the wrath of otherworldly forces.
Ironically, 20 years later, Bruce's son, 28-year-old actor Brandon Lee, tragically died on the set of the mystical film The Raven. This once again reminded of the curse.