Remembering Master Bruce Lee, 41 Years...

[Denali]

I have always been amazed by how they turned him down for the lead in the television series "Kung Fu" because he was an Asian...

[SteyrAUG]

I have always been amazed by how they turned him down for the lead in the television series "Kung Fu" because he was an Asian...

Especially considering it was basically his idea to the point they gave him a writing credit after the fact.

[Denali]

Especially considering it was basically his idea to the point they gave him a writing credit after the fact.

Really it was just astonishing, turning down Lee for some douche bag who would eventually turn up dead in a hotel room after trying to achieve a deviant orgasm, while Lee would exit the planet as one of the most iconic humans of the 20th century, probably as well known as any religious figure anywhere on earth, ever, absolutely worshiped by adolescent males of virtually every possible skin color, as a god....Go figure...

[Sam]

Really it was just astonishing, turning down Lee for some douche bag who would eventually turn up dead in a hotel room after trying to achieve a deviant orgasm, while Lee would exit the planet as one of the most iconic humans of the 20th century, probably as well known as any religious figure anywhere on earth, ever, absolutely worshiped by adolescent males of virtually every possible skin color, as a god....Go figure...

Couldn't agree more. I was barely 11 when he died. My parents and I were flying into Hong Kong on a trip the same day that his body was flown out of the same airport to his final resting place in Seattle. We didn't know it until afterward.

[SteyrAUG]

Really it was just astonishing, turning down Lee for some douche bag who would eventually turn up dead in a hotel room after trying to achieve a deviant orgasm, while Lee would exit the planet as one of the most iconic humans of the 20th century, probably as well known as any religious figure anywhere on earth, ever, absolutely worshiped by adolescent males of virtually every possible skin color, as a god....Go figure...

Yep, huge missed opportunity. But if he got the show he might never have gone to Hong Kong and done movies. Also despite the stories of "racist Hollywood" it wasn't the fact that he was Asian that was the main consideration, Lee had a very thick accent and they were concerned middle America wouldn't understand him.

If you watch the film "Marlowe" (1969) starring James Garner where Lee played the heavy for a gangster, his English is almost impeccable and according to most sources he worked very hard with an English coach on his accent. This is because he was trying to sell himself to Hollywood and prove he could handle the lines.

But when he sat down to discuss "Kung Fu" with Warner Bros. some of the old timers had some trouble understanding him. This is one of the reasons he had so few actual lines in the film "Enter the Dragon" and when he does speak, his accent isn't nearly as coached as it was for "Marlowe", especially lines like "Now why doesn't somebody pull out a .45 and BANG...settle it?" Another big reason of course is fewer lines let's Lee express himself physically, where he is the most effective, and gave him broader international appeal and fewer dubbed lines for international distribution.

Another indicator that racism didn't play a strong role in the decision to pass Lee over for the "Kung Fu" series is that it was Warner Bros. who was the primary producer and distributor of the film "Enter the Dragon" (1973) having learned their lesson the hard way when they missed the boat the first time around. They were keenly aware that they missed out on a hot property after "Way of the Dragon" (1972) and they went to Hong Kong looking to sign a deal. So despite the popular opinion that a racist Hollywood picked a white legacy actor with dance skills (David Carradine was the son of John Carradine) over the Chinese guy isn't quite what happened.

Now certainly, in the 1960s and especially in Hollywood it's almost guaranteed that Lee encountered some manner of racism on a regular basis and it probably was one of the factors that made it difficult for him to find work despite the efforts of people like Stirling Silliphant writing screenplays specifically for him and guys like Ed Parker getting him work as martial arts adviser on films from The Green Berets" (1968) to "The Wrecking Crew" (1969).

John Wayne's "The Green Berets" actually had quite a bit of talent that most people don't know about.

Full Cast and Crew for The Green Berets:

Other crew

George Coleman .... transportation coordinator
Wayne Fitzgerald .... title designer
Bruce Lee .... martial arts choreographer
Joe Lewis .... martial arts performer
Chuck Norris .... martial arts performer
Eddie Parker .... martial arts performer
Crayton Smith .... script supervisor
Lee Sollenberger .... costumer
Mike Stone .... martial arts performer
Mervyn LeRoy .... studio advisor (uncredited)

[Cincinnatus]

I didn't know Lewis was in Green Berets. I trained with him some back in the 90s!
I also did not know Lee worked on the film.

[SteyrAUG]

I didn't know Lewis was in Green Berets. I trained with him some back in the 90s!
I also did not know Lee worked on the film.

Yep, everyone was trying to keep Lee working in Hollywood so they could keep working with, training with and learning from Lee. And if Lee got something steady and there was an opening for a few of the guys...even better.

[tb-av]

Not exactly a fight scene but I always thought this was pretty cool...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SncapPrTusA

[SteyrAUG]

Not exactly a fight scene but I always thought this was pretty cool...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SncapPrTusA

You know that isn't really Bruce Lee and is completely CGI like "Forrest Gump" right?

[tb-av]

Oh jeeze ok, I feel pretty stupid now... are the matches fake too.... I thought the ping pong looked a bit too much.... but the matches I thought looked possible. I can remember seeing this quite some time ago I thought. I just happened to see it again.

So that's all fake... damn... I wondered why it had a Nokia phone at the end.... oh well... I've been stupid before and I'm sure it will happen again.... that's the only good thing about getting old.. the bouts of intense stupidity don't seem to bother you as much.