(Credit: Far Out / Golden Harvest)
It's been more than 50 years since Bruce Lee died at just 32 years old, and his career was about to go into the stratosphere, but he remains as iconic as ever.
If you stopped 100 people on the street and asked them to name the most famous fighter to ever appear on screen, there's a good chance Lee would come out the winner. No offense to those who followed in his footsteps (many of whom were directly inspired by him), but it's simply the place he occupies in pop culture.
An international crossover superstar who was as popular in the United States as he was in his native Hong Kong, Lee used his own inspiration and years of extensive training to develop the philosophy of Jeet Kune Do, was happily shared with some prominent Hollywood people. name. Some of them became his firm friends, but there were occasional smoldering rivalries along the way.
The icy-cool Steve McQueen was a close friend and training partner, and Lee trained through their bond. brit He became a martial arts star while receiving advice on how to further develop his acting skills. McQueen once served as a pallbearer at Lee's funeral, along with James Coburn, another actor who studied under Lee.
Lee worked as an action director and played Winslow Wong in the 1969 film, further demonstrating how small-town Hollywood can sometimes be. Marlowe'', starring James Garner. Garner was a friend and former co-star of McQueen, but which of the two was the more technically superior is unfortunately lost to history.
On the 50th anniversary of Lee's death, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar described him on his website as “not only my martial arts teacher, but my best friend” and credited him with coaching the lightning star. His feature film debut came during a legendary basketball career that he said kept him injury-free. death game.
Lee was credited as a “karate advisor” in the 1968 spy comedy wrecking crew, however, he was much more impressed with Sharon Tate than Dean Martin. Tate, who reportedly described the latter as “clumsy” and “lazy”, charmed him enough that they not only became friends, but also began mentoring his partner at the time, Roman Polanski.
That led to the bizarre situation in which the filmmakers launched an investigation into Lee based entirely on the spectacles, shortly after the Tate murders, and before Charles Manson and his associates were convicted.That's quite a collection of names enter the dragon The frontman must have been training from time to time, which shows how obsessed he was with the A-list before his untimely death.
