Bruce Lee was born in San Francisco on November 27 1940 at the Jackson Street Hospital under the birth name Lee Jun Fan. His father Lee Hoi Chuen, was a prestigious member of the Cantonese Opera Company. In 1941, the 1 year old baby returned with his parents to the family home in Kowloon, Hong Kong. By age 6, Bruce had already begun to develop the charisma and confidence that would later make him a star. He appeared in his first major childhood movie, "The Beginning of a Boy" in 1946. Later in the same year, Bruce performed in "The Birth of Mankind" and "My Son, Ah Cheun" and went on to make over 20 movies, before commencing his studies at "La Salle College" in 1952.
1953 was a pivotal year in the life of Bruce Lee. After losing a street fight with a local gang, Bruce began to train in the art of Wing Chun under famed Sifu, Yip Man. His natural speed and timing, and acute mental focus, guaranteed that Bruce would excel in this complex and exacting art. In fact his precocious talent developed so quickly, that despite numerous other encounters with street gangs, Bruce would never again lose a fight. As well as indulging his passion for the martial arts, Bruce also began taking Cha Cha lessons in 1954, at age 14. The dance was popular amongst local teenagers at the time, and Bruce not only went on to win the ‘Crown Colony Cha-Cha Championship’ in 1958, but also broke the hearts of many local girls.
Again in 1958, Bruce defeated reigning three year champion, Gary Elms, in the Hong Kong Boxing Championships, putting to practical use the combat theory he had devised with Sifu Yip Man. Like many Hong Kong teenagers of the time, Bruce became caught up in the ‘turf wars’ which surrounded the illicit activities of the local street-gangs. Participating in numerous street-fighting incidents, Bruce soon came to the attention of the police. Terrified that their son would forever become embroiled in a life of crime, Bruce’s mother and father, decided that he should visit San Francisco, the place of his birth, to claim his American Citizenship and finish his education.
With only $115 (one hundred and fifteen dollars) Bruce arrived in United States in 1959. Bruce enrolled for a degree in Philosophy at the University of Washington in America. It was at this time that he took on a waiter's job and also began to teach some of his skills to students who would pay. He met his American born, wife Linda at the University he was studying. Linda influenced Bruce to move his Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute to 4750 University Way near the university campus. He benefited greatly from a major influx of students who became interested in his teachings and principles of self-defense.
In 1964, Bruce met Jhoon Rhee, the man considered by many to be the “Father of Tae-Kwando in America”. Rhee subsequently invited Bruce to appear at tournaments in Washington and other locations throughout the United States to demonstrate his breath-taking skills. Due to his success with the school in Washington and his growing profile within the United States as a renowned master of the martial arts, Bruce opened a second Jun Fan Gung-Fu School in Oakland, and his good friend and student Taky Kimura took over the responsibility as head instructor. Bruce Lee’s mesmerizing performance on August 2 1964 at the International Karate Championships in Long Beach California caught the attention of Jay Sebring, hair-stylist for the popular “Batman” TV series starring Adam West and Burt Ward. Sebring was so impressed with Bruce’s physical prowess and magnetic charisma, that he immediately put him in touch with "Batman" producer William Dozier, who invited Bruce to Los Angeles to take part in a screen-test for his forthcoming TV series "The Green Hornet".
In 1966, Lee starred as the character “Kato” in the Green Hornet for 26 episodes with a $400 pay per episode. Around this time, Bruce Lee had developed his fighting technique of “Jeet Kune Do” or “way of the intercepting fist”. Lee incorporated diverse arts as Wing Chun, Thai Boxing, Judo, Japanese Karate, and Western Boxing into his own style. Bruce’s key principle for his new system is a ‘style without style’, an ideology and physical training regime which conditions the mind and body to respond instinctively to any given attack , without reliance on set patterns or movements.

BRUCE LEE AS A PHENOMENON
After the abrupt end of the “The Green Hornet” series in 1969. Bruce Lee became increasing frustrated over his inability to get major roles in Hollywood movies. Bitterly disappointed with Hollywood, Lee travelled to Hong Kong with his young son Brandon in 1970. Unknown to him, the Hong Kong audience were already aware of his acting and martial skills. Lee eventually signed a contract with Golden Harvest production owned by Raymond Chow. Bruce starred in the low budget film “The Big Boss” shot in Thailand. Surprisingly, the movie raked in over $3.5m in the first three weeks of release. The Big Boss was more successful than “The Sound of Music” at the box office. This catapulted Lee into an overnight star. In 1971, Lee’s second movie, “Fist of Fury” was released. The movie literally took Asia by storm and Bruce became a mega-star in Hong Kong, unable to walk the streets of Kowloon, for fear of being mobbed by hoards of adoring fans.
Lee’s third movie “The Way of the Dragon” was shot in Rome along with popular American martial artist and actor Chuck Norris. Predictably "Way of the Dragon" smashed the box-office record previously set by "Fist of Fury", and public demand for the movie was so high that the police had to re-route traffic away from theatres during screenings.
In August 1972, Lee temporarily abandoned the shooting of his dream movie titled “Game of Death” in order to star in the first Hong Kong-Hollywood co-production. Enter the Dragon with an $850,000 production budget broke box office records at that time, the movie was reported to have grossed over $200,000,000 till date making it one of the most successful movies ever made in history.
Sadly, Lee’s glittering life was cut short on July 20 1973 due to a reaction from an anti-pain drug. His unfinished movie “Game of Death” was released in 1978.

EFFECTS ON GLOBAL CULTURE
Bruce Lee had a remarkable impact on the global scene. Firstly, Bruce Lee’s fighting technique has been infused into movie production all around the world. Hollywood, Indian movies (Bollywood) and other major movie industries have continued to copy and re-modify his fighting techniques and theatrics in their movie productions.
Secondly, Lee was able to promote global interest in Chinese culture, language, food, dress and history through his movies. For this reason, the Chinese culture and people have been shown great respect and admiration all across the world. Thirdly, Lee is seen as a symbol of courage and defender of justice all over the world. Lee’s interpretation of his roles in movies continues to endear him to many who see in him uprightness, selflessness, courage and intelligence.
He portrayed the symbol of anti-imperialism which thrilled many less disadvantaged people all over the world.
Bruce Lee has influenced the globalization of martial arts. After his death, there has been rapid increase in the knowledge and training in Judo, Taekwando, Karate and Kick Boxing. Infact, these Oriental martial arts have become globally recognized mainstream indoor sporting activities in Olympics, Commonwealth games and other major Athletics competitions.
Again, Lee’s fighting styles have been commercialized in the entertainment and IT industries. There are several video games and children’s cartoon series that have been modeled after Bruce Lee, thereby transcending from one generation to another.
Lastly, Lee’s amazing physical fitness continues to inspire Athletes, Body Builders and Martial Artists. He made physical fitness attractive to the public. His image remains a reference point in health circles all across the world.

CONCLUSION

Bruce Lee was able to harmonize the traditions and culture of the Chinese into the American public and ultimately the world over through his Jeet Kune Do technique and character roles in movies. Time magazine listed him among the top 100 most influential personalities of the 20th century. He utilized the Chinese cultural production and Western capital production to create and represent values people across races could identify with. It is not a co-incidence that the emergence of Bruce Lee will culminate with remarkable economic growth experienced by China and Asian Tiger countries.
Indeed, Bruce Lee’s legacy will forever remain in the hearts of his fans around the world. His short lived sojourn on earth impacted massively on global culture. REFERENCES

http://www.activebodi.com/2011/04/03/bruce-lee/ http://www.allbrucelee.com/biography.htm http://www.bruceleedivinewind.com/biography.html http://www.allbrucelee.com/article/bruce_lee_feats.htm