12 THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW ABOUT BRUCE LEE
1. Lee used to play Mahjong (a Chinese gambling game, a more complicated version of Dominoes) with Shaw Brothers' actor David Blood Brothers Chiang. While planning to make his directorial debut, Chiang wanted to use the exterior of Bruce's house in Cumberland Road. He spent the 20th of July, the day of Lee's death, looking for Bruce. As this was in the pre-mobile phone/pager era, he couldn't find Lee. It was he who told the press that Bruce Lee definitely didn't die at home.
2. Contrary to popular belief, Lee did have "real" fights with other martial artists. These prearranged duels, called "Bei Mo", were popular in Hong Kong at that time. Bruce's most memorable encounter was with a Mongolian wrestler named Lau Dai Chun. The fight took place at the home of a police detective. It only lasted a few seconds. Bruce knocked the guy out with one kick to the head.
3. The filming of The Big Boss was delayed when actor/stuntman Lam Ching Ying, later of Mr Vampire fame, was arrested for fighting in Hong Kong.
4. After Lee's death, Betty Ting Pei married to Charles Heung Wah Keung, the head of Win's Film Co., who played "Mr. Dragon" in, God Of Gamblers and had a daughter with him. They subsequently divorced.
5. When The Star newspaper film reviewer, Terry Geary, criticized Lee's acting, Bruce, always ultrasensitive about press coverage, called him to complain, asking why, if he was such a bad actor, he was getting paid so much per film.
6. Bruce Lee's house at 41, Cumberland Road was called "Mui Hok Siu Juk", which means "Plum Crane, Little Bamboo". There was a plaque outside the house with this name on it.
7. Lee's Cantonese nickname was "Saam Gerk Lee". Three Legs Lee. It was a reference to his kicking skills, and to his alleged sexual prowess!
8. Bruce's Japanese style garden featured expensive "ginseng grass", specially imported from Japan. He did most of his own gardening, mowing the lawn barefoot.
9. None of the Lee brothers, Pete, Bruce and Robert, could crouch down on their heels because of a genetic defect. One of their legs was longer than the other. However, after training himself to balance, Bruce managed to accomplish this.
10. Bruce's poor eyesight meant that he would often narrow avoid being hit by Hong Kong's crazy drivers as he crossed the street. After one such near miss, he engaged in an angry altercation with a truck driver, which ended with Lee grabbing the other man by the nose.
11. In The Way Of The Dragon Bruce whistles a tune as he and Nora Miao walk up the stairs to the apartment, and again when he goes to the boss' headquarters, If you see the Cantonese version, you hear him whistle the tune Siu Lay Fei Do, which was a popular tune at that time. Originally, the films weren't released in Cantonese, but Mandarin. In that version of the film had him whistle another tune, Gum Ting Wui Gah, which was a famous Mandarin song. They had to change it as that song had been banned in Taiwan, because it was to depressing!
12. Assistant cameraman Charles Lowe shot some Super 8 footage of Bruce on the set of The Way Of The Dragon. The extras used to bring instruments and have jam sessions during their lunch hour. Bruce used to dance the Cha-Cha. In one sequence, he's dancing and swinging his double nanchukus. Someone borrowed the film from Lowe and never returned it.