13 Bruce Lee facts for the anniversary of his death

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Karina ChanZachary Perez Jones
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Take a look at the things you may not have known about Hong Kong's most famous and celebrated martial arts sensation

Karina ChanZachary Perez Jones |
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Bruce Lee in "Enter the Dragon".

46 years ago, the world lost Bruce Lee, one of the most iconic Cantonese actors, who died at the age of 32 as a result of a brain aneurysm. In honour of this legend, here's a list of some of the most interesting facts that you might not have known about this martial arts master: 

1. Bruce Lee's kicks were so fast, they had to film them in slow motion so they didn't seem fake.

2. He could land 15 punches and a kick and knock his opponent out in the span of 25 seconds.

3. He started his acting career young, appearing in his first film, Golden Gate Girl, at three months old. 

List of Fury: 75 things you didn’t know about Bruce Lee

4. He got the name “Bruce” from a nurse at the hospital where he was born and his family barely used it while he was young, instead preferring to call him "Little Phoenix.

5. His father, Lee Hoi-chuen, was a famous Chinese opera singer and actor in Hong Kong. 

6. Bruce Lee kickstarted Jackie Chan’s acting career when Chan had a small cameo in Enter the Dragon as a guard, in which he jumps in and grabs Lee from behind just before he is killed by Lee. At the time Bruce Lee was Jackie Chan’s idol.

7. He hated water and couldn't swim. He also had a traumatic experience in a swimming pool after he pushed his sister Phoebe in. 

8. He suffered from near-sightedness and was one of the first people to use contact lenses, but stopped using them because he found them uncomfortable.

9. He inspired video game characters like Liu Kang from Mortal Kombat, Fei Long from Street Fighter II and Law from Tekken

10. His house in Kowloon Tong, nicknamed “The Crane's Nest,” is set to be demolished to make way for a Chinese studies centre which plans to teach Mandarin and Chinese music to children. The Yu Panglin Charitable Trust that owns the house said that it is no longer possible to maintain the building due to structural issues.

Have you heard of the curse of the Lee family? Three facts that will leave you wondering.

11. Around the time of Way of the Dragon, the Hong Kong press voted Lee "Worst Dressed Actor of the Year" because of his love for silk suits and other elaborate outfits.

12. As a martial arts instructor, he had celebrity pupils like Chuck Norris, a famous American television actor known for his martial arts expertise and the subject of "Chuck Norris jokes" such as "There is no theory of evolution, just a list of animals Chuck Norris allows to live."

13. His son Brandon Lee was also an actor and also suffered from a tragic death at a young age. While filming the 1993 movie The Crow, he was shot and killed with a real gun during a scene in which his character was meant to be shot with a prop gun. 

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