With his bowl haircut, lightning fast moves, and ultra-defined muscles, Bruce Lee Jeet Kune Do'ed his way to our hearts and become a legitimate American icon. The man who inspired us to kick open doors and karate chop invisible enemies also served as fantasy fodder for the naught-minded martial arts lovers everywhere. The son of Cantonese opera stars, Bruce was born in San Francisco but headed back to Honk Kong as a kid, where he studied martial arts and was in a bunch of non-action flicks. At nineteen, he moved to the USA to go to college, started teaching martial arts and embarked on a Hollywood movie career. At 26, Bruce became a superstar by flashing his fighting skills as the faithful valet and bodyguard Kato on the crime series The Green Hornet. The slight and sexy star sure got our hornets buzzing! A true cutie pioneer of martial arts who emphasized learning every style decades before MMA became a thing, since the butt-kicking babe’s life was cut short, likely due to an allergic reaction from a painkiller, Bruce is mainly known for five films: Marlowe (1969), the classic Fists of Fury (1971), The Chinese Connection (1972), The Way of the Dragon (1972), and likely the most famous martial arts movie of all time: Enter the Dragon (1973). Thankfully for us, Bruce rarely kept a shirt on in his films. We get to watch him do a little pre-fight stretching before facing Chuck Norris in the coliseum during the finale of Way of the Dragon (1972). In Enter the Dragon (1973), Bruce even does battle in some skimpy briefs. The fist-flying, karate-kicking stud has left a lasting image of what a real man should look like! Our last looks at his shredded body came when he did some shadow boxing in Game of Death (1978), which was released well after his death in 1973. The man who opened the door for Asian leading men in Hollywood, created damn near every martial arts movie trope, and whose impact continues to ripple throughout foreign and domestic cinema, there will never be another Bruce Lee. Let's honor him by watching him take his shirt off and practicing a little skeet kune do!
