As a kid, I associated Bruce Lee with the following words - Kung-Fu, martial arts and dragon. I still do. Most of us are unaware of the difference between Taekwondo, Karate or Kung Fu but most of us do have a very fond memory of Bruce Lee kicking everyone's ass with his trademark shout.
I'm pretty sure you've seen his iconic fight scene with Chuck Norris. The compassionate assassin,= that he was, patiently waited for his prey before delivering the final knock out punch.
Lee's famous one-inch punch where he knocked down an opponent with an inch's force earned him a name. He performed it in 1968 at the International Karate Tournament in Long Beach, California. What followed was an illustrious career in a short span of time.
Rumour has it that a large section believed Lee was murdered by a secretive Chinese organization 'Triad' for unknown reasons. However, the actual cause of his death was 'Cerebral Edema'.
On the day of his death, Bruce Lee had met producer Raymond Cho in Hong Kong for his next film, 'Game of Death'. The meeting happened at around 4 PM and apparently, Lee had a severe headache in the evening. Lee's friend and fellow actress, Betty Ting Pei, gave him an analgesic medicine which was a combination of two drugs - Aspirin and Meprobamate.
The same evening, Lee was supposed to have dinner with actor George Lazenby (James Bond fame) with an intention to make a film. When he did not get up for dinner, a doctor was called who took him to Queen Elizabeth Hospital where he was declared dead. According to the post-mortem report, Aspirin and Meprobamate had an allergic reaction and his brain's size had increased by 13%.
Lee's body was returned to Seattle, where it was eventually buried.
The world lost this legend way too soon. On his 77th birthday, we remember the dragon.