Lee missed all this because he died on 20 July, 1973. The official cause of death was death by misadventure brought on by an extreme adverse reaction to an Equagesic headache pill, but as we shall see recent opinions expressed by the doctors who cared for Lee after he was rushed to the hospital unconscious before his demise are now publicly suggesting a very different reason.
Enter the Dragon
Filming for Enter the Dragon began in early 1973 and from the off the production was beset with problems. Scriptwriter Michael Allin seemed determined to put the new star in his place and he remarked that the movie was only being made because it was cheap to produce and the promise of Bruce Lee headlining. Lee found such comments annoying. There are rumors that even Robert Clouse, the director, sought to undermine his star by demanding that the name of the British agent be purposely changed to Braithwaite in order to upset Lee’s pronunciation. Lee, like many Asians, had problems with the ‘r’ sound. Lee slowly became incensed until he demanded a new script. Allin was told to disappear for a while until things cooled down. Lee was under the impression the writer had been dismissed from the project. When he later found Allin was still around the Little Dragon became furious.
Then there were onsite problems. The movie was made with an American and Chinese crew but with very few translators making communication very difficult and very slow. Bruce was also having problems with his partner Raymond Chow. Lee felt that Chow was pushing himself as the key player in the creation of the movie, something Bruce knew to be simply untrue. The movie was the result of his own hard work and dedication. Soon Lee walked off the set. This went on for days as new script ideas arrived.
Lee himself appears to have begun succumbing to the pressure at this point. He wanted – he needed – the movie to be a success. It was his big chance to show the world what he was capable of but it must have seemed that events were conspiring against him. His self-confidence and energy, two key components to his success as much as his fighting ability and charisma, began to disappear. He was worn out from the bickering around the movie and the constant overload of media attention away from it.
Without Lee filming finally commenced and still problems were apparent. Many of the extras were from rival Triad gangs and fights would often break out between competing clans. This sorry state of affairs continued for another two weeks with still no sign of the star. Bruce had decided that the various egos were more intent on battling with one another than coming together to ensure the success of the movie. His nervousness increased and seemed to be revealed when he did finally make it onto the set. While filming close ups for the conversation in the first scene with the agent played by Betty Chung Lee’s face developed a nervous twitch. This didn’t last long and the crew worked around it, but it seemed to be indicative of how Lee felt at the time.
Along with all the mind games came the physical demands of filming and further exhaustion. Anyone who has seen Enter the Dragon will know that many of the scenes involved Bruce Lee fighting multiple attackers at the same time. This required endurance and split second timing, along with great acting ability to convey the correct emotional message. Nothing could be done half-hearted. No stand in was available as Lee was the choreographer so he needed to work on the precision of the fights himself. Added to these factors were the heat and humidity which caused rapid and massive weight loss. He was also sleep deprived being pumped full of far too much nervous energy to be able to rest adequately. There were also confrontations with stuntmen, some of whom were set on making a name for themselves as the one to beat the unbeatable Bruce Lee. Lee also had his hand cut while filming the fight scene with Bob Wall (real glass bottles were used). Other problems included Peter Archer, the co-star of the famous 'Fighting Without Fighting' scene almost drowning while filming.
Bruce Lee's first collapse
When filming on the movie was finally completed the work for most of the actors was over and they could relax. Not Bruce though. He remained busy in post-production and on 10 May, 1973 he was busy at the Golden Harvest studios recording dialogue. After weeks of intense work with little sleep, Lee found himself pushed to the limits of his endurance by the humidity caused by an approaching typhoon and the heat of the studio bereft of air conditioning so as to avoid the noise being picked up in the recording. Understandably he took a break to splash some water on his face...
Twenty minutes later a studio assistant found Bruce recovering from a collapse in the bathroom. Pale and sweating Lee made his way back to the studio before falling to the ground again, vomiting.
Bruce was taken to the nearby Baptist hospital where a doctor Charles Langford checked him out. Lee was unresponsive and running a dangerously high temperature. Neurosurgeon Peter Wu was summoned and a quick discussion took place to establish what the doctors thought the cause may have been. A swelling of fluid pressing on the brain was discovered and soon Lee fell into complete unconsciousness. He was left to rest and hopefully recover but the surgeon was ready to operate on his brain if need be.
He did pull through and he was taken to St Theresa’s hospital to a bed for complete rest.
Both Langford and Wu knew that Bruce had been very close to death.
In a statement made to police on May 13 Dr Wu noted that Lee had admitted to taking a piece of cannabis leaf prior to his illness. Wu’s diagnosis was cerebral oedema and suspected poisoning by cannabis.
Lee was advised to stop eating hash cookies; he ignored this advice.
Worsening health
In the last conversation Bob Wall had with Bruce Lee, the two martial artists disagreed over the benefits of wine vs hash as relaxants. Wall maintained that a couple of glasses of wine with a meal were sufficient to relax with. Lee stated the case for cannabis. Later in the evening, after eating a hash cookie, Lee began to ramble and show signs of depression. Wall advised him to take some time off and find some kind of balance. Bruce though had a very busy schedule coming up to promote Enter the Dragon. He didn’t want to risk losing all that he had worked to accomplish.
In June 1973 Lee returned to work on Game of Death in Hong Kong. Immediately the local press went to print with stories of rumors of a romance between the Little Dragon and the actress Betty Ting Pei. Other business matters produced more stress and Lee was quickly caught up in a lifestyle that never lived up to his expectations. He had little time for his training and turned to alcohol in conjunction with cannabis. His diet suffered in other ways. He was no longer taking vitamins and sipping herbal tea. Instead he drank liquidized steak. Restless nights followed, some filled with work, others spent elsewhere ‘relaxing’ without the constraints of his family.
Bruce Lee's death
On the evening of July 20, 1973 typhoon Dorothy pounded the streets and buildings of Hong Kong. Raymond Chow and George Lazenby (famous for his single appearance as James Bond and pursuing an opportunity to act with Bruce Lee at the time) sat waiting in a restaurant for Bruce Lee and Betty Ting Pei to show up. The two were late though for a meeting on Game of Death.
The reason the couple were late was dreadfully stark: Bruce Lee, having complained of a headache and taken a pill followed by what should have been a short sleep, was unconscious and Betty Ting Pei was unable to revive him. Finally, in desperation, she called Raymond Chow. But Chow was on the other side of the city and it took almost an hour for him to arrive. Chow also failed to revive Lee and so an ambulance was called, taking the Little Dragon to the Queen Elizabeth hospital to where Linda Lee would also make her way.
The medical staff did all they could but the body of Lee lay before them. Lifeless.
The first reports were that Bruce had died at home, following a statement made out of sympathy and respect to Linda Lee from Raymond Chow. Soon the truth came out though: Lee had died in Betty Ting Pei’s apartment.
Funeral
On the evening of July 20, 1973 typhoon Dorothy pounded the streets and buildings of Hong Kong. Raymond Chow and George Lazenby (famous for his single appearance as James Bond and pursuing an opportunity to act with Bruce Lee at the time) sat waiting in a restaurant for Bruce Lee and Betty Ting Pei to show up. The two were late though for a meeting on Game of Death.
The reason the couple were late was dreadfully stark: Bruce Lee, having complained of a headache and taken a pill followed by what should have been a short sleep, was unconscious and Betty Ting Pei was unable to revive him. Finally, in desperation, she called Raymond Chow. But Chow was on the other side of the city and it took almost an hour for him to arrive. Chow also failed to revive Lee and so an ambulance was called, taking the Little Dragon to the Queen Elizabeth hospital to where Linda Lee would also make her way.
The medical staff did all they could but the body of Lee lay before them. Lifeless.
The first reports were that Bruce had died at home, following a statement made out of sympathy and respect to Linda Lee from Raymond Chow. Soon the truth came out though: Lee had died in Betty Ting Pei’s apartment.
Inquest and official cause of death
On September 3 the inquest was opened in Hong Kong. The autopsy performed on July 23 had already found traces of cannabis in Lee’s stomach along with one tablet of Equagesic (for his headache).
Dr Lycette, from the Queen Elizabeth hospital, stated that the cause of death could not have been due to cannabis, but because of hypersensitivity to one or more ingredients of Equagesic. Bruce Lee’s brain had swollen rapidly and enormously. Another specialist, Professor Ronald Teare, was flown in from the University of London. He too concluded that the presence of cannabis was coincidental. Death by misadventure due to hypersensitivity to Equagesic was once more propounded.
This then had become the lore surrounding Bruce Lee’s death: a hypersensitive reaction to a headache pill (Equagesic).
How did Bruce Lee die?
To uncover the truth we need to first understand that in Hong Kong at the time cannabis was viewed in a wholly negative light. While opium was acceptable (Lee’s own father and his wing chun kung fu teacher Yip Man both indulged), cannabis most definitely was not; seen as it was as a foreign drug.
In truth, the cause of death was unknown. Equagesic certainly was found, but so was cannabis. So while death could have been caused by Equagesic, it could also have been caused by cannabis. Yet any allusion to the latter conclusion was omitted from the official report.
Speaking in 1992 Dr Wu felt unable at the time of the inquest to contradict the testimony of Professor Teare. Dr Langford went further and said that there was no doubt in his mind that cannabis should have been identified as the presumptive cause of death.
Cannabis and Bruce Lee's death
Through time both Dr Wu and Dr Langford became more forthcoming in expressing their opinions. Dr Langford stated simply “A headache tablet didn't kill Bruce Lee....The factors that caused his collapse in May are the same as those that caused his death in July. Bruce was affected by one or more alkaloids in cannabis. The official verdict wasn't so much a cover-up as an attempt to produce a verdict that was more socially acceptable.” (Bruce Lee: Fighting Spirit by Bruce Thomas).
Dr Wu supports this, saying “Bruce Lee could have died in May; he was in a very critical condition. It was sheer luck that there was someone there to help him. A lot of Nepalese hashish was taken from his stomach. Not wanting to damage his health by smoking cannabis, he chose instead to eat it. Unfortunately, this overloads the body with active ingredients far quicker than they can be processed. And his very low percentage of body fat along with all the stress he was under, made him even more vulnerable to the drug and dramatically intensified its effects.” (Bruce Lee: Fighting Spirit by Bruce Thomas).
The doctors warned Bruce of the dangers of taking cannabis the first time around, particularly given his bad reaction to it. Lee, feeling that he knew what was best for him, chose to ignore the advice.
Bruce Lee had started using cannabis while he was in Los Angeles. Steve McQueen had first exposed the Little Dragon to the drug and both Joe Lewis and James Coburn were witnesses to him using it. Bob Wall says that Lee was using the drug throughout the filming of Enter the Dragon. At the same time his punishing workout routine, his focus on diet and nutrition, along with increasing stress saw Lee’s body weight drop from 145 pounds to 122 pounds, leaving him with less than 1% body fat. His resistance accordingly dropped and his dedication to his health had reached the point where his obsession had become, paradoxically, extremely unhealthy.
In the final analysis then Bruce Lee’s death seems to have been directly linked to his use of cannabis and his refusal to quit the drug despite his near death experience in May 1973 and the advice of his attending doctors to steer clear of it. His rejection of this advice and his continued use of the drug was indicative of the kind of stress he was experiencing at the time and his desire to find some kind of immediate peace and timelessness (Lee stated that cannabis gave the impression that time slowed down) amid a hectic lifestyle far beyond anything he was used to or prepared for.
The master was gone. By the time audiences were wowed by Enter the Dragon and the Kung Fu craze really took off the hero of the story – arguably the most important martial arts figure in the twentieth century – was already dead. Lee never lived to see the pivotal part he played in popularizing martial arts; nor did he live to see his commercial success eclipse that of both Steve McQueen and James Coburn. With his death Bruce Lee left everyone else to just walk on.
