BRUCE LEE RUMOURS
Bruce Lee's death was the
greatest single shock ever experienced by Hong Kong film
industry. It's hard to describe the reaction on the
21st of July 1973, when everyone woke up to find that Lee had
died. Almost immediately, wild rumours and speculation began to
circulate concerning the circumstances of his death.
* The most popular story printed in the Hong Kong scandal sheets
after Lee's death had it that he had been killed by the American
Mafia. Apparently, after The Green Hornet, the Mafia wanted to
sign him to a contract to become the first Oriental star in
Hollywood. Bruce refused, and that was why he had to go back to
Hong Kong.
Why did he die? Because he tried to move back from Hong Kong to
Hollywood. Later, the rumours tied Brandon's death in with the
same story. Brandon came back to Hong Kong a few times after
filming Legacy Of Rage to investigate his father's death. He
found out the truth, and that was why he had to die. These
stories formed the basis of a number of the Bruce Lee
exploitation films, including Game Of Death. However, they had
been reported as "fact" by Hong Kong newspapers.
* A recurring aspect of the stories concerning Bruce's death is
that he did not die in Betty Ting Pei's apartment, that he was
killed elsewhere and his body moved there after his demise. Ting
Pei was set up, in other words. The "Mafia story"
believers say he was held at gunpoint, beaten to death and then
had his body taken to Ting Pei's apartment. His face had to be
heavily made up for the funeral because of the injuries he had
suffered.
* Another popular story has it that Lee was having an affair with
the wife of a powerful gangster boss. Bruce had been training
hard, took a powerful new aphrodisiac, and then, "lost
control" while they were making love. This woman didn't know
how to handle it. This was in the same building as Ting Pei's
apartment. After he died, as result of taking this "love
potion", he was moved to Betty Ting Pei's apartment. Again,
we have the idea of Ting Pei being part of a cover up.
* Raymond Chow was very smart to tell the press that Bruce died
at home. It's also alleged that he paid some cash to the Hong
Kong press, which is a common occurrence to this day, to suppress
elements of the story. After one week, the truth came out, thanks
to a very small Chinese paper, and it was a big new story:
"Lee found at Ting Pei's apartment". No one ever
considered that Bruce might have died elsewhere and been moved
there. It might have been a secret to project another secret. No
one ever checked it out.
* A lot of people in the industry place Kung Fu actor Chan Wai
Man with Bruce Lee on the day of his death. They alleged that he
alone knows all the facts surrounding Bruce's death, but refuses
to reveal the truth. They say it was he who went to the Japanese
restaurant, Gum Tin Jung, in the Miramar Hotel, on Nathan Road,
where Raymond Chow and George Lazenby were waiting for Bruce, to
tell them that Lee had died. The first question Raymond is said
to have asked him was
"How many other people are dead?" He imagined Bruce
must have died in a fight, and killed some of his attackers!
* If there was a cover up, it would have been very easy to
execute. In those days, before the creation of
Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption, you could
buy any medical report, any newspaper story you wanted.
* There was one persistent rumour circulating Hong Kong while
Bruce was alive. It said that he had been attacked in an airport
lounge by Japanese Karate men. The fight was said to have been
witnessed by one of his American movie star students, maybe James
Coburn. Lee is said to have slipped, because he was wearing
leather shoes, and sustained a heavy kick to the back. After
that, he never liked to wear leather shoes, just sports shoes.
Again, I should stress that this was just a rumour.
* There haven't been any Bruce Lee ghosts stories in Hong Kong.
No one has seen him in Kowloon Tong or at Golden Harvest Studios!
One newspaper reporter told a story about how Bruce Lee came to
him in a dream and revealed the identity of his murderer. The
newspaper actually printed the name of the alleged mastermind
behind Lee's death, but given that the man concerned is still
alive and very influential, I don't think I'd better give his
name here! Naturally, I don't attach much weight to this. At that
time, if you wanted to sell your newspaper or magazine in Hong
Kong, you had to come up with some special angle.
* After Bruce's death, a lot of local people congregated outside
his house in Kowloon Tong. There were reporters, of course, and
some old men went there for the whole day to say prayers for
Bruce Lee's spirit. Some Kung Fu people, including the actor
Leung Siu Lung, used to practice martial arts outside the house,
to attract attention to themselves. Many people called the
hospital asking them not to perform an autopsy on Bruce. They
believed he was practicing some special kind of Kung Fu
meditation and would wake up within seven days!
* En Route to America, Bruce Lee's coffin began to leak liquids,
and had to be replaced. The Chinese press made jokes, saying that
Lee had kicked the lid off!
* The press discovered that Lee's house and his Mercedes Benz
were not registered in his name, but in the name of his company
Concord. This was probably for tax reasons.
* After Bruce died, Golden Harvest delayed the release of
Enter The Dragon. Instead they made a documentary called
Bruce Lee: The Man And The Legend, and released that. It made HK$
2.000.000, and was very cheap to make. In fact Enter The Dragon
only made HK$ 4.000.000 something. The Way Of The Dragon had been
much more successful.
* Documentaries, books and magazines have purported to tell the
"true" story of Bruce Lee's death. As far as the people
of Hong Kong are concerned, the full facts surrounding Lee's
passing have never been revealed, and probably never will be.