The Tragic Real-Life Story Of Brandon Lee

Only 28 years old, Brandon Lee was on the verge of establishing his identity as an actor outside the shadow of his legendary father, martial artist Bruce Lee, when he was killed in a tragic accident on the set of The Crow on March 31, 1993. Based on James O'Barr's indie superhero comic about an avenging anti-hero who rises from the grave, The Crow should have been Lee's ticket to mainstream stardom outside the supporting roles and B action films he had languished in for most of his short career. Tragically, it proved a sad and ironic link to his father, who also died an early, controversial death. Although the film did make Lee a star, his last performance would be remembered more for the young actor's violent and wholly preventable end.

Above all, Brandon Lee's death is a tragedy of unrealized potential. Young, talented, and good-looking, he was already beginning to make inroads into the entertainment industry that would have been impossible for his Asian American father in the often intolerant 1960s and 1970s. Had he lived, could Brandon Lee have eclipsed his father's fame? We can only speculate based on the handful of television and film appearances that are his legacy. This is the tragic real-life story of Brandon Lee. 

Growing up the child of the most famous martial artist of all time took an emotional toll on Lee. Having spent much of his childhood facing down schoolyard bullies anxious to get the best of Bruce Lee's son, Brandon's teen years were even more tumultuous. However, his adversaries were no longer wannabe tough guys. Authority itself became Lee's number-one enemy. 

According to an article in People published shortly after his death, young Lee presented a serious discipline problem to the authority figures in his life. Kicked out of two high schools, Lee confessed to People in a 1992 interview that he "always had a pretty good knack for raising hell." According to Jim Spalding, Lee's former chemistry teacher at the Chadwick School in Palos Verdes, California, "He didn't need school, and he thumbed his nose at the rules." The charismatic Lee organized protests against the school administration, convincing his fellow students not to attend class. He would find himself expelled from the prestigious school in the spring of 1983, only a few months short of graduation, for misbehavior and insubordination. Among his most notorious high school antics, and the last straw for the faculty, was driving his car in reverse through oncoming traffic through the Chadwick School's campus.

Lee's penchant for hell-raising would abate as he matured. Nevertheless, he still had a wild side. Close friend Lou Diamond Phillips described the late actor as "a boiling mass of energy."

Brandon Lee had a keen awareness of his role as the son of Bruce Lee and struggled with it to varying degrees throughout his life. As a budding actor, Lee considered the consequences being the son of a celebrity might bring and contemplated keeping his parentage secret. "Yes, I think that I could share the fact that I am Bruce Lee's son with someone else. It is a fact that it is both a burden and a blessing, which one it is will be determined in years to come when I intend to share it with the whole world," the late actor once wrote. Despite his obvious love and admiration, his relationship with his father's legend inspired ambivalence and, often, suspicion in Lee. When asked about living in his father's shadow, Lee told Black Belt's Jim Coleman,"It used to be a real problem in my own head when I was younger. [...] I would be thinking 'Does this person like me, or is this person just screwing with me because I'm Bruce Lee's son?'"

Although he became an action star, following in his father's footsteps was the last thing on Lee's mind. Acting, not martial arts, was his main focus. Searching for his own identity, Lee avoided martial arts training for a time, putting all of his energy into becoming a serious dramatic actor. Nevertheless, his family name seemed to close more doors than it opened, at least when it came to the kind of roles Lee wanted.

In 1987, just one year after his appearance in Kung Fu: The Movie, Lee would find himself once again involved in a follow-up to the 1970s TV hit, this time co-starring as young troublemaker Johnny Caine, the great-great-grandson of the original show's protagonist, along with David Darlow as his koan-spouting, kung fu master father. Unfortunately, the pilot for the proposed reboot titled Kung Fu: The Next Generation was an unqualified misfire. Although Lee has substantially more screen time, he's wasted in a supporting role opposite the frankly uncharismatic Darlow's weak impression of David Carradine in the original series.

Featuring a nonsensical plot involving arms dealers and a cameo appearance by the ghost of the original Kwai Chang Caine, Kung Fu: The Next Generation failed to generate network or audience interest. Airing only once as part of CBS Summer Playhouse, a showcase for unsold pilots that invited viewers to call in to decide the show's fate, Kung Fu: The Next Generation would be Lee's last major foray into television.

According to an interview with former Marvel CEO Margaret Loesch on Inverse, Stan Lee wanted Brandon Lee to star as a live-action incarnation of Marvel's Shang-Chi in either a film or television series. Shang-Chi, who first appeared in Special Marvel Edition #15 in 1973, was created by Jim Starlin and Steve Englehart in response to the kung fu craze of the early 1970s following Marvel's failed attempt to obtain the rights to the popular TV show Kung Fu starring David Carradine. Conceived as the son of Dr. Fu Manchu, the popular villain created by 1920s pulp writer Sax Rhomer, Shang-Chi rebels against his father's evil ways to become a hero. 

Loesch explains that Stan Lee had a particular affinity for the character. "Stan did believe in the character. He used that as an example of the comic that could transition into the movie and television world," Loesch explains. Brandon Lee caught the iconic comic mogul's eye in the late 1980s, and he called Brandon and his mother, Linda Lee Cadwell, in for a meeting to discuss potential Marvel characters the young actor could play. Stan Lee thought Brandon Lee was a perfect fit for Shang-Chi. "Stan had great hope [for Brandon]. He thought Brandon would be a future star," says Loesch. Nevertheless, the project never came to fruition.

The greatest tragedy regarding the accident that killed Brandon Lee is that it was avoidable. As reported by Entertainment Weekly, the scene seemed simple compared to many of the other action sequences in the film. Actor Michael Massee, as the villainous Funboy, was to fire a round from a .44-caliber revolver loaded with blanks. Lee, holding a grocery bag outfitted with a squib (a small explosive charge), was to react to the simulated bullet and fall. Initially, it seemed that Lee and Massee had nailed the scene. However, Lee did not get up. 

Bleeding from a silver dollar-sized wound in his abdomen, the actor was rushed to the New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, North Carolina, where he underwent five hours of surgery to repair the vascular and intestinal damage he'd suffered. Surgeons discovered what appeared to be a .44-caliber slug lodged in Lee's spine. Despite the doctors' best efforts, Lee passed away from massive blood loss. Somehow, a dummy slug used to make the prop weapon appear loaded for a close-up in a prior scene had lodged in the barrel, creating the equivalent of a real bullet. Unfortunately, weapons specialist J.B. Jones had been sent home prior to shooting the scene. No one had thought to check the weapon.

Brandon Lee will forever be linked to his father by his early death. As with any tragic, unforeseen event, there's an inevitable urge to make sense of seemingly inexplicable circumstances by finding links, connections, or conspiracies to explain away the unthinkable. Within days of his death, the press was connecting the imaginary dots between father and son.

Sadly, Brandon Lee's fate has become eternally intertwined with his father's, with countless books, magazine articles, and websites still attempting to draw parallels between the two. From rumors of a hit placed on father and son by organized crime to talk of black magic and family curses, the Lees' untimely deaths are an eternal source of speculation and exploitation. Some conspiracy theorists go as far as claiming that Brandon Lee's death was foretold in a scene in his father's film Game of Death in which the elder Lee is apparently shot while filming a scene for a movie. Although the many instances of coincidence and the similarities are eerie and interesting, in the end, they only serve to unfairly diminish Brandon Lee's life and career to a footnote in his father's legend.