Timeline

Bruce Lee's Timeline

1940

November 27 Lee Jun Fan (Bruce Lee) is born.



1941

February Appears in his first film at the age of
3 months



1952 Enters La Salle College, a catholic boys’
school in Hong Kong



1953 Begins to study Wing Chun gung fu under
Yip Man



1958 Wins Hong Kong’s Crown Colony Cha-Cha
Championship

March 29 Enters St. Francis Xavier High School



1959

April 29 Departs Hong Kong for the United States

May 17 Arrives in San Francisco

September 3 Arrives in Seattle and enters Edison
Technical School



1960

December 2 Graduates from Edison Technical School



1961

May 27 Enters the University of Washington at the
spring quarter



1963

March 26 Returns to Hong Kong to visit family for the
first time since leaving for the US.

August Returns to Seattle and opens gung fu
school



1964 Leaves University of Washington after
spring quarter

July 19 Establishes a gung fu school in Oakland,
California

August 2 Performs at the International Karate
Tournament in Long Beach, California

August 17 Marries Linda Emery in Seattle



1965 accepts challenge and wins right to teach
gung fu to non-Chinese students

February 1 Son, Brandon Bruce Lee, is born in
Oakland

February 8 Bruce Lee’s father, Lee Hoi Chuen, passes
away in Hong Kong



1966

March The Lee family moves to Los Angeles

June 6 Begins shooting “The Green Hornet” TV
series





1967

January 8 First appearance of the name “Jeet Kune
Do” in Chinese in his daytimer

February 5 Opens the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute,
Los Angeles

May 6 Performs at National Karate
Championships in Washington D.C.

June 24 Appears at All-American Open Karate
Championship, Madison Square Garden, New York

July 14 Hired to appear in an episode of “Ironside”
in Los Angeles

July 30 Performs at Long Beach International
Karate Tournament



1968

June 23 Attends National Karate Championships in
Washington D.C.

July 5 Hired as the technical director for the movie
“The Wrecking Crew”

August 1 Hired to play a bad guy in MGM movie
“Marlowe”

October 1 Moves to Bel Air

November 12 Films an episode of “Blondie”



1969

April 19 Daughter, Shannon Emery Lee, is born in
Santa Monica, California

1970 Returns to Hong Kong with Brandon to visit
family



1970-71 Works with James Coburn and Stirling
Silliphant on screenplay about the
philosophy of martial are to be called,
“The Silent Flute”



1971 Pitches a TV series to Warner Brothers
called “The Warrior” (later called “Kung
Fu”)and begins collaborations to develop
it.

July Goes to Thailand to film “The Big Boss” for
Golden Harvest

December 7 Hears word from Warner Brothers he will
not star in “The Warrior”; instead
Caucasian actor, David Carradine, will
star



1972 Films second film for Golden Harvest
(“Fist of Fury”)

Forms his own production company called
“Concord”

Writes, directs, choreographs and stars in
"The Way of the Dragon”

Oct – Nov Begins filming fight sequences for “Game
of Death”



1973

February Interrupts filming of “Game of Death” to film
“Enter the Dragon”

July 20 Bruce Lee passes away in Hong Kong

July 31 Laid to rest in Seattle, Washington