Fifty years ago the death of Bruce Lee

Fifty years ago Bruce Lee died.

Exactly fifty years ago, on July 20, 1973, Bruce Lee died in Hong Kong. He was not even 33 years old; he would have been 33 in November. An autopsy did not entirely dispel doubts about the cause of death: a couple of months earlier he had suffered a cerebral edema.

The penultimate of the five children of Lee Hoi-chuen, an actor and opera singer from Canton, China, who had also later established himself in the movies, Lee had been born in San Francisco’s Chinatown during a U.S. tour of the company of which his parents were also members: his mother’s name was Grace Ho.

Although he starred in only four films, Bruce Lee is greatly credited with introducing the world to Chinese martial arts, especially Kung fu. Between 1971 and 1973, before his tragic end, the actor and athlete achieved worldwide popularity through his fighting.

Bruce Lee rests in Seattle, in Lot 276 of Lake View Cemetery, next to his son Brandon, who died at age 28 in 1993 from an incredible accident on a movie set.