The bronze statue, erected last year, serves as a symbol of healing ethnic tensions in a land that in the 1990s was racked by civil war among Muslims, Serbs and Croats.
He was famous for a combat technique called the "one-inch punch."īut it was not only his skill at martial arts that won fans, Cadwell said, it was his philosophy and way of life.ĪROUND the world, his likeness has taken on a symbolic life of its own, even in places as far-flung as Mostar, Bosnia, where a life-size statue of Lee posed in a defensive fighting posture stands. Lee's style was known as Jeet Kune Do (Way of the Intercepting Fist). In his teens, he had formal martial arts training in Wing Chun kung fu under a master teacher in Hong Kong. He is still regarded as one of the most influential martial artists of the 20th century, a precursor to kung fu stars such as Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Chuck Norris. Indeed, although he achieved stardom three decades ago, Lee's fame has hardly dimmed. "He is an icon that is known throughout the world, and when you have someone like a Bruce Lee or a James Dean, someone who has a very strong name recognition, their myth and their legend seems to grow over the years and they can maintain a very consistent revenue source." Mark Roesler, chairman and chief executive of CMG Worldwide, the business agent for the heirs of more than 300 dead celebrities, estimates that Bruce Lee could generate yearly licensing fees in the seven-figure range.Īlthough Roesler doesn't represent Lee's estate, he sees the martial arts star's earning prospects as good. Now, though, Bruce Lee would seem to be a natural as a brand name advertisers and vendors could use to sell products. "There were key chains or a puppet doll that looked like Bruce," but little else. "In the early years, there really weren't things to license," Cadwell said.
The estates of dead celebrities hadn't yet amassed the staggering licensing fees that they do today, when, say, Elvis Presley or Marilyn Monroe can generate millions annually. In those days, there weren't the movie-based action figures and video and computer games that line store shelves today. When he died July 20, 1973, in Hong Kong, Lee left no will and was not a wealthy man. "Professionally, I'm sure he probably would have stayed in the film industry and the performing industry, but maybe not always as an actor, because he loved to write." Then, pausing, she added that this year, "He would be 66." "I think about it a lot - what he missed," Cadwell said in a recent interview. It's a question that his widow, Linda Cadwell, 61, often asks herself.
What if, people often ask, he hadn't died at age 32, barely a month before the release of his blockbuster film "Enter the Dragon"? Most believe that film would have catapulted him into the ranks of Hollywood's superstars. "I believe we will see another round of Bruce Lee fever," Wang said.Īlthough he has been dead 33 years, Bruce Lee remains an enduringly powerful cultural figure. They all have their sights set on completing the works by the Beijing Olympics.
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Meanwhile, Bruce Lee's brother, Robert, is planning a movie about him, as is one of Lee's former students. Wang, who now works for Shunde's cultural and sports authority, hopes to move the museum to the new theme park, which he says is projected to cost $19 million and open before the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.ĬCTV, China's national network, has plans to produce a 40-part documentary about Bruce Lee. Since then, more than 300,000 people, some paying $1 for admission, have come to see its collection of Bruce Lee's rare letters, film posters and other memorabilia. Shunde is the hometown of Lee's father and grandfather, and that was enough for local resident Wang Dechao to prod the government to plow $125,000 into opening a Bruce Lee museum in an old teashop in Shunde in 2002. Never mind that the legendary Chinese American kung fu star was born in San Francisco and visited Shunde only briefly, when he was a boy of 5. In the southern Chinese city of Shunde, a two-hour boat ride from Hong Kong, government officials are finalizing plans to build a Bruce Lee theme park, complete with a memorial hall and a large statue of the man they call the town's favorite "son." Welkos and Don Lee, Times Staff Writers August 27, 2006
The one that's making a lot of news now is Shunde's Bruce Lee Museum.īruce Lee's family tries to guard his legacy against Chinese entrepreneurs looking to turn a profit. It's a big issue since unlike the estates of Elvis or Marilyn Monroe, it crosses into China where estate rights aren't necessarily upheld (the lawsuit about Jet Li's FEARLESS is a classic example). Lately there's been a wave of 'unauthorized' Bruce Lee projects ().
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