Mystery still shrouds Lee’s death

In Seattle, martial arts icon Bruce Lee and his son Brandon are buried side by side at the Lake View Cemetery, about a 20-minute drive from the Space Needle downtown.

The grave-site has become almost a tourist attraction. Cemetery manager George Nemeth, quoted by Elizabeth Gillespie of the Associated Press, said at least five persons ask caretakers where the Lees are buried every day and others find it on their own.

A volunteer spruces up the grave-site twice a week during the summer and once a week during the winter. Stephan Cardona told Gillespie he washes the headstones, rearranges flowers left by visitors, and disposes of wilted bouquets.

Last Sunday marked the 30th death anniversary of Lee who died under mysterious circumstances in Hong Kong at the age of 32 in 1973. Fans, tourists and curiosity-seekers visited his grave at the sprawling graveyard established in 1872. There were fresh carnations, sunflowers, roses, and sticks of burning incense around Lee’s tomb.

A year ago, I visited the Lees’ grave site accompanied by my brother-in-law Robert Genato who lives in a Seattle suburb. An eerie feeling came over me as I prayed over the tombstones.

A black-and-white picture of Lee is encased in red granite on a tombstone where his name is etched in gold. A shiny, black slab juts out with the engraved words: "Your inspiration continues to guide us toward our personal liberation." Beside Lee’s tomb lies his son Brandon to the right. Brandon, known as the "Crow" in the movies, was shot dead by accident in 1992 at the age of 28. A gun used in the movie set was supposed to be loaded with blanks but had live ammunition when fired at Brandon.

To this day, nobody knows for sure what really caused Lee’s death. Doctors said he suffered an "apparent" cerebral edema, or swelling of the brain, and declared it "death by misadventure." Reports said there was "much confusion and debate" before doctors issued their report. Several hours before his death, Lee complained of a severe headache, took a prescription pain killer, and slept in his mistress Betty Ting Pei’s apartment. He never woke up.

Ting Pei, a Taiwan actress, recently said she will clear up the mystery in a book she plans to write. Lee was with her when he fell asleep and lapsed into a coma.

Doctors said "death by misadventure" could be the result of a myriad causes. Lee could’ve taken illegal drugs that triggered a reaction on the brain. Or the swelling could’ve been triggered by kicks or punches to the head as Lee actively engaged in actual fight sequences.

In 1970, Lee injured his sacral nerve and experienced severe muscle spasms in the back. Doctors initially said he would never be able to kick again. But Lee recovered and continued to fight.

There were hair-raising signs or premonitions that pointed to Lee’s death. Five months before he died, Lee told his sister Grace he did not expect to live a long life. Three months before his death, he collapsed in a Hong Kong studio and was unconscious for 20 minutes. Lee passed out again after he was revived and entered the hospital. Four days before his death, he told his movie agent in a long distance phone call he was worried about his constant headaches. Two days before he succumbed, a typhoon blew away the bad Feng Shui deflector that Lee had installed on the roof of his Hong Kong home.

Lee was born in San Francisco in 1940, the Year of the Dragon. His father Lee Hoi Chuen was born in Shunde, Guangdong, and performed for the Cantonese Opera Company in the US. Lee was only three months old when he played the role of a baby in "Golden Gate Girl," a stage show in San Francisco.

In 1941, Lee was brought to Hong Kong by his parents. It was in the former British Crown Colony where he went to school (La Salle College), learned kung fu from master Sifu Yip Man, won the national cha-cha championship, appeared in a string of movies, and became a boxing champion.

In 1959, Lee took a trip to the US with $115 in his pocket–$100 from his mother and $15 from his father. He did odd jobs in San Francisco and later moved to Seattle where he worked as a busboy in a restaurant owned by Ruby Chow, a family friend. He earned his high school diploma at Edison Technical School and enrolled at the University of Washington to study philosophy. On the side, Lee set up kung fu schools. He eventually married one of his kung fu students Linda Emery in 1964.

Lee’s fighting schools flourished and he created "the art of the intercepting fist" or jeet kune do which includes techniques of various forms of martial arts. He was discovered by producer William Dozier during a karate tournament in Long Beach and paid a $1,800 retainer plus $400 each episode to appear as Kato in the TV series "Green Hornet" in 1966. As his popularity grew, Lee charged as much as $250 an hour to teach jeet kune do to celebrities like Steve McQueen, James Garner, James Coburn, Lee Marvin and Kareem Abdul Jabbar.

In 1971, Lee resettled in Hong Kong after agreeing to appear in a series of movies for Golden Harvest Productions. The action movies spawned a new genre that took the industry by storm. In 1973, he starred in "Enter the Dragon," the first martial arts film backed up by a large Hollywood studio, Warner Brothers. Lee died two months before the film hit the screens. Another movie "Game of Death" was finished after his death and a double was used to complete his scenes.

Over 25,000 people attended Lee’s funeral rites in Hong Kong. He was dressed in the Chinese outfit he wore in "Enter the Dragon." Abdul-Jabbar, who engaged Lee in a fighting scene in "Game of Death," flew to Hong Kong to pay his respects. Lee’s body was brought to Seattle for burial. Lee lived over four years in Seattle where he met his wife. At the Lake View burial rites, Lee’s pallbearers included McQueen, Coburn and his brother Robert.

Lee’s wife Linda has remarried. Their only daughter Shannon is now 34 and married to Ian Keasler with a seven-month-old baby Wren. His widow, carrying her married name Cadwell, said she’s proud of how her husband broke the barriers of race, social class, and physical superiority. "Everyone can relate to having limitations in life," said Linda, quoted by Gillespie. "And Bruce is an icon to them in overcoming those limitations."

On his 30th death anniversary, Lee remains an enigma. Despite his mistress’ recent pronouncement of exposing his real cause of death, there will forever be a cloud of doubt shrouding his untimely death. Lee would probably like it that way.