On July 20, 1973, actor and martial arts legend Bruce Lee died in the Kowloon Tong district of Hong Kong at age 32 due to brain swelling known as a cerebral edema.
Collection Christophel/Alamy Stock PhotoBruce Lee died at age 32 on July 20, 1973.
Few martial artists reached the same heights as Bruce Lee. A renowned fighter, TV and film star, artist, and poet, Lee was at the forefront of the San Francisco martial arts scene in the 1960s before becoming an international superstar in the early 1970s.
He has widely been credited with helping to bring martial arts to the West. Lee was also the founder of his own hybrid martial arts philosophy known as Jeet Kune Do, which featured prominently in the five feature-length martial arts films he starred in. Having risen to such great heights at such a young age, many expected Lee to have a long and fruitful career.
Fate, however, had a different plan, and Bruce Lee died suddenly in Hong Kong at the age of just 32 on July 20, 1973.
By that time, Lee was a worldwide sensation and he was developing a variety of projects. In fact, he was working on several during that summer, including the post-production for his film Enter the Dragon. He and his wife Linda Emery Lee had been married for eight years and had two children, eight-year-old Brandon and four-year-old Shannon.
Despite his fitness and young age, however, Lee had been suffering from headaches. Perhaps it was stress from spreading himself so thin, or perhaps it was something else. In any case, he decided to treat his headache with the (now discontinued) pain reliever Equagesic and lay down for a nap on the evening of July 20. Only, Lee never woke up.
By the time he arrived at the hospital, Bruce Lee was dead. Initially, doctors determined that his cause of death had been a cerebral edema — brain swelling — potentially brought on by hypersensitivity to the medication. More recent studies have suggested heat stroke or drinking an excessive amount of water may have been the cause.
However, for others, Bruce Lee’s death could not be so easily explained. Numerous conspiracy theories surfaced in the wake of his passing, some of which have survived to this day. This is the full story of how Bruce Lee died and what caused it.
How Bruce Lee Helped Bring Martial Arts To The West And Becomes A Star
Public DomainBruce Lee as a baby, with his parents Grace Ho and Lee Hoi-chuen.
Bruce Lee was born Lee Jun-fan on Nov. 27, 1940, in San Francisco’s Chinatown, during both the hour and year of the Dragon, a detail often highlighted in discussions about his life. His father, Lee Hoi-chuen, was a Hong Kong opera singer and part-time actor, and his mother, Grace Ho, came from a prominent Eurasian family. Shortly after his birth, the family returned to Hong Kong, where Lee spent his formative years.
Immersed in the entertainment industry from a young age due to his father’s profession, Lee appeared in numerous films as a child actor, frequently portraying juvenile delinquents or street urchins. Despite this early exposure to cinema, his teenage years were marked by street fights and involvement with local gangs. Seeking to defend himself and channel his energy positively, he began studying Wing Chun kung fu under the tutelage of Master Yip Man at the age of 13.
Public DomainBruce Lee at 18 with Yip Man.
In 1959, after a series of street fights and concerns about his safety, Lee’s parents decided to send him to the United States.
He initially lived in San Francisco and later moved to Seattle, where he completed his high school education at Edison Technical School and subsequently enrolled at the University of Washington, majoring in philosophy. During this period, Lee also began teaching martial arts, blending traditional techniques with his own philosophies, which laid the foundation for his later development of Jeet Kune Do.
Lee’s charisma and martial arts prowess eventually caught the attention of Hollywood, leading to his role as Kato in the television series The Green Hornet.
Public DomainVan Williams and Bruce Lee in a publicity photo for The Green Hornet.
Although the show was short-lived, it introduced Lee to American audiences — and audiences overseas. Frustrated by limited opportunities in Hollywood and stereotypical roles offered to Asian actors, Lee returned to Hong Kong in the early 1970s. Unbeknownst to him, The Green Hornet had become a hit there, known as The Kato Show, which significantly boosted his popularity.
Capitalizing on this newfound fame, Lee starred in a series of martial arts films that achieved international acclaim. His breakout role came with The Big Boss (1971), followed by Fist of Fury (1972), and Way of the Dragon (1972), which he wrote, directed, and starred in.
These films showcased his martial arts philosophy and cinematic vision, propelling him to global stardom. His final completed film, Enter the Dragon (1973), was the first joint venture between Hong Kong and Hollywood studios, solidifying his status as a cultural icon.
Unfortunately, Lee’s career came to a sudden and tragic end just as he was at the height of his popularity, in July 1973.
What Happened The Day Of Bruce Lee’s Death
Wikimedia CommonsBruce Lee’s death has caused much controversy over the years.
The story of what killed Bruce Lee started two months earlier when he collapsed on May 10, 1973 during an automated dialogue replacement (ADR) session for his movie Enter the Dragon. He was rushed to the hospital, where he complained of a severe headache and was wracked by seizures.
Doctors recognized the symptoms of cerebral edema, a condition in which excess fluid in the brain causes swelling and pain, and were able to treat him immediately with mannitol. After a brief hospital stay, he felt much better — this wasn’t, he told his friends, how Bruce Lee would die.
On his release, he promptly resumed his usual fitness regime and continued eating his usual diet: a strictly enforced combination of vegetables, rice, fish, and milk that excluded all baked goods, refined flour, and most refined sugars.
Until July 20, he seemed to be recovering extremely well from his cerebral edema and, aside from complaining of an occasional headache, gave his friends no reason to worry.
The day of Bruce Lee’s death was a busy one. He was in Hong Kong, where many of his movies were made, and had been meeting with producer Raymond Chow for most of the day discussing his upcoming movie. He was reportedly filled with enthusiasm, acting out scene after scene with energy despite the scorching summer heat.
Wikimedia CommonsBruce Lee in 1967.
After the meeting, Bruce went to the apartment of a friend — or, as some would later clarify, his mistress, Taiwanese actress Betty Ting Pei. They were alone for several hours, then made dinner plans with Lee’s producer to finalize his movie deal.
Around 7:30 in the evening, shortly before they were due to depart, Lee complained of a headache. Ting Pei gave Lee an Equagesic, a common painkiller containing aspirin and a tranquilizer known as meprobamate. After taking it, he went to lie down.
After a few hours, when Lee didn’t come down for dinner, Ting Pei went up to check on him and found him unresponsive. She called Chow back to the home, and he attempted to wake Lee without success.
They were forced to call a doctor, who spent ten more minutes attempting to revive Lee. Unable to recall the martial artist to consciousness, they sent him to a nearby hospital in an ambulance.
By the time the ambulance arrived at the hospital, Bruce Lee was dead.
A Shocked World Wonders: How Did Bruce Lee Die?
Wikimedia CommonsBruce Lee and his son Brandon Lee.
Because Lee’s body showed no external signs of injury, an autopsy was performed, revealing that Bruce Lee’s death was the result of severe brain swelling: a buildup of fluid had resulted in a 13 percent increase in brain size.
Chow claimed that Bruce Lee’s death was the result of an allergic reaction to the painkiller he had been given, and the autopsy report seemed to partially substantiate his claim.
The coroner officially ruled Bruce Lee’s death the result of a second cerebral edema brought on by taking Equagesic. He called Lee’s end “death by misadventure,” which, unlike death by accident, implies that death occurred due to a dangerous, voluntary risk — though Equagesic was not generally considered dangerous to take.
Though several subsequent investigations backed up the coroner’s report about what Bruce Lee died of, that didn’t stop a flood of conspiracy theories.
As with other Hollywood stars who also died of drug complications at young ages, including Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe, it seemed to the public that the coroner’s report just wasn’t good enough.
Conspiracy Theories About How Bruce Lee Died
Wikimedia CommonsThe famous Bruce Lee statue in Hong Kong.
Bruce Lee’s friend Chuck Norris claimed in 1975 that there had been an interaction with muscle relaxants that Lee was taking, and that was how Bruce Lee died. Norris’s words sparked a debate about what else Lee was taking: Stimulants to keep him in shape? Herbal supplements to keep him healthy?
There was also a rumor that Bruce Lee’s death was caused by a prostitute with whom he had gotten violent. The rumor claimed that Lee was under the influence of a powerful aphrodisiac that caused him to lose control. The prostitute then killed him in self-defense.
Some fans of Lee’s who had heard that the fatal dose of Equagesic was administered by Betty Ting Pei claimed that she had poisoned him on purpose and that she had been working for a secret society that wanted Bruce Lee dead. No immediate answers as to why a secret society would want Bruce Lee dead presented themselves.
Collection Christophel/Alamy Stock PhotoBruce Lee with his wife Linda and son Brandon.
Other theories blame everyone from the Mafia (Italian, Chinese, and American) to his fans to even his family.
But the theory that continues to hold the most sway among Lee’s admirers is the story of the Lee family curse.
Understanding Bruce Lee’s Death: Why Some Fans Have Spooky Theories
MiramaxBrandon Lee in The Crow, during the production of which he was fatally shot.
The legend of the Lee family curse came to light 20 years after the famous martial artist’s death, when Bruce Lee’s only son, Brandon Lee, was following in his father’s footsteps as both an actor and martial artist.
In 1992, Brandon Lee was a star on the rise — the 28-year-old had just landed the biggest role of his career. He was playing Eric Draven in The Crow, a comic-book-turned-movie about a murdered rock musician who returns from the dead to avenge his and his fiancée’s murders in a dark, Gotham-esque landscape.
The tortured story would make his career — but he wouldn’t be alive to read the reviews. In a freak accident, Lee was shot on set during filming when a prop gun that wasn’t meant to be loaded fired a live round into his abdomen.
As with his father, rumors of a conspiracy swirled even after officials ruled his death an accident, and the untimely end of a second young Lee led to the story of a Lee family curse.
Tony Fischer/FlickrThe graves of Bruce and Brandon Lee in Seattle’s Lake View Cemetery.
Someone dug up the information that Bruce Lee’s older brother had also died under mysterious circumstances before Bruce Lee was born — and with that, rumor became a full-fledged mystery.
How did Bruce Lee die? In the end, the simplest explanation seems the most likely. In fact, in the years since, further studies have made connections between his brain swelling, heat stroke, and an overconsumption of water. Lee had several risk factors that could have caused his body to hold on to extra water, including marijuana, opioids, anti-epileptic drugs, diuretics, alcohol, chronic low solute intake, a past history of acute kidney injury, and exercise.
But perhaps Lee, ebullient and dramatic, wouldn’t mind a little mystery around his last hours, a fitting end for the legend who inspired so many to join the fight.
After learning about Bruce Lee’s death, read these Bruce Lee quotes that will change your life. Then, learn about Bruce Lee’s fight with Wong Jack Man.
