BRUCE LEE
TIMELINE OF BRUCE LEE'S LIFE
November 27, 1940. San Francisco. Bruce "Jun Fan" Lee is born in the "hour of the dragon" (between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m.) and the "year of the dragon."
February, 1941. San Francisco. Appears in his first film. He is three months old.
1946. Hong Kong. Begins to film the first of what will total 18 twenty Cantonese-language films before he reaches the age of 18.
1952. Hong Kong. Bruce Lee enters La Salle College, a Catholic boys school.
1953. Hong Kong. Begins to study Gung Fu under the venerated grandmaster Yip Man of the Wing Chun system.
1958. Hong Kong. Wins the "Crown Colony Cha-Cha Championship."
March 29, 1958. Hong Kong. Enters St. Francis Xavier high school.
April 29, 1959. Hong Kong. Departs Hong Kong for America.
May 17, 1959. San Francisco. Arrives in America.
September 3, 1959. Seattle. Arrives in Seattle, Washington. Enters Edison Technical School -- Fall quarter.
December 2, 1960. Seattle. Graduates from Edison Technical School.
May 27, 1961. Seattle. Enters the University of Washington -- Spring quarter.
March 26, 1963. Hong Kong. Returns to visit his family for the first time in four years.
August, 1963. Seattle. Returns from Hong Kong. Leaves the University of Washington after Spring quarter 1964.
July 19, 1964. Oakland. Leaves Seattle to establish a Gung Fu Institute in Oakland, California.
August 2, 1964. Long Beach. Bruce performs at the International Karate Tournament in Long Beach, California. August 3, 1964. Oakland. Bruce starts Gung Fu instruction in Oakland.
August 17, 1964. Seattle. Bruce marries Linda Emery.
February 1, 1965. Oakland. Bruce and Linda's son, Brandon Bruce Lee, is born on Chinese New Year's Eve day in the "year of the dragon."
February 8, 1965. Hong Kong. Bruce's father, Lee Hoi Chuen, passes away.
March, 1966. Los Angeles. The Lee family moves to Los Angeles, California.
June 6, 1966. Los Angeles. The shooting of The Green Hornet TV series begins.
January 8, 1967. Los Angeles. The first written indication that Lee has decided to call his way of martial art “the Stopping Fist Way” appears in his daytimer entry (written in Chinese) for this day. It will be close to seven months before he officially determines the correct English language spelling of the phonetic of the art: “Jeet Kune Do.”
February 5, 1967. Los Angeles. Officially opens the Los Angeles chapter of the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute.
July 1967. Los Angeles. The first appearance of the English words "Jeet Kune Do” appear in his daytime diary.
May 6, 1967. Washington, D.C. Performs at National Karate Championships in Washington, D.C.
June 24, 1967. New York. Appears at All-American Open Karate Championship at Madison Square Garden in New York.
July 14, 1967. Los Angeles. Hired to appear in one episode of the Ironside TV series.
July 30, 1967. Long Beach. Performs at the Long Beach International Karate Tournament. June 23, 1968. Washington, D.C. Attends the National Karate Championships in Washington, D.C.
July 5, 1968. Los Angeles. Hired as the technical director for the movie The Wrecking Crew.
August 1, 1968. Los Angeles. Hired to play a bad guy in MGM's "Little Sister" (later renamed "Marlowe").
October 1, 1968. Los Angeles. Moves to Bel Air.
November 12, 1968. Los Angeles. Films an episode of the television series Blondie for Universal.
April 19, 1969. Santa Monica. Bruce and Linda's daughter, Shannon Emery Lee, is born.
1970. Hong Kong. Returns to Hong Kong with his son, Brandon, to visit his family.
1970-1971. Los Angeles. Works with actor James Coburn and screenwriter Stirling Silliphant on a screenplay about the philosophy of the martial arts entitled The Silent Flute.
June 27, 1971. Los Angeles. Films the premiere episode of the television series Longstreet for Paramount.
1971. Los Angeles. Begins to collaborate with Warner Bros. on developing a TV series called The Warrior (later renamed Kung Fu).
July 1971. Thailand. Films The Big Boss (called Fists of Fury in North America) for Golden Harvest Studios, which breaks all previous box office records in Hong Kong.
December 7,1971. Hong Kong. Receives official word that he will not star in The Warrior TV series and that the part has been given to American Caucasian David Carradine.
1972. Hong Kong. Films second film for Golden Harvest, Fist of Fury (called The Chinese Connection in North America), which breaks all records set by his last film, The Big Boss.
1972. Hong Kong. Forms his own production company, Concord, and makes his directorial debut in his next film, The Way of the Dragon (called Return of the Dragon in North America), which, again, shatters all previous box office records in Hong Kong.
October-November, 1972. Hong Kong. Begins preliminary filming of fight sequences for his next film, The Game of Death.
February, 1973. Hong Kong. Interrupts filming of The Game of Death to begin filming a feature film for Warner Bros. entitled Enter the Dragon.
July 20, 1973. Hong Kong. Bruce Lee passes away in Hong Kong, his death the result of a cerebral edema caused by hypersensitivity to a prescription medication.
July 31, 1973. Seattle. Laid to rest in Lakeview Cemetery. His pallbearers are friends and students, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Dan Inosanto, Peter Chin, Taky Kimura, and his younger brother, Robert Lee.