Bruce Lee is often credited for introducing the genre of martial arts into mainstream western cinema and actually made it interesting to watch for the audiences. Martial arts have also influenced many Asian films giving rise to action, horror and animated martial arts movies. They can all be traced back to some of the phenomenal movies starred by Bruce Lee.

Here are some of the lesser known facts about the pioneering martial artist.

• Bruce Lee was of Chinese and German descent and was born in San Francisco, USA. His mother is of German-Chinese descent while his father, a full blooded Chinese.

• He was born in 1940, the year of the dragon according to the Chinese astrological calendar.

• Bruce was by the name Sai Fon meaning Little Phoenix by his family members. His parents with the belief of warding off evil spirits gave him this name which was traditionally a girl’s name.

• Not only was Bruce Lee great at Martial Arts, he was also a great dancer. He won the 1958 Hong Kong Cha Cha Championship for his dancing skills and the Boxing Championship as well.

• Bruce Lee attended the University of Washington where he majored in philosophy trying to delve deeper into the principles of Martial Arts. He was never interested or good in academics.

• Lee supported himself and paid for his college tuition by offering Martial Arts courses and even dropped out of college for opening his own martial arts school.

• In 1964, Bruce was invited to a karate championship in Long Beach California. It was here that he performed his famous ‘œone inch punch’ for the first time.

• The ‘œOne Inch Punch’ involved delivering a blow to the opponent from only an inch away thereby sending the person flying back.

• He improved his kicking power by regularly practising on a 300lb. heavy bag.

• Bruce Lee’s martial arts moves were so fast that they were incapable of being shot at the regular 24 inch frames per second for movie scenes. His action sequences used to be shot at 32 fps and run it slower for better understanding of his actions.

• Lee injured his back with damage to his sacral nerve as a result of overtraining and a weight training exercise in 1970. He recovered partially and even went on to film 4 and half films from 1970-73.

• Lee started using focus gloves way back in 1962. It was he who popularised its use and is now used by every martial artist in USA.

• There grew such high demand for Bruce Lee’s private Kung Fu lessons that the hourly rate soared to as high as $275 per hour.

Bruce Lee died unexpectedly while filming for the movie ‘œGame of Death’. The filming of the movie did not end with his death but was completed and even included footages taken from Bruce Lee’s actual funeral and featuring his casket with his embalmed face. His body double was used in many scenes and the plot changed completely explaining a changed appearance of the protagonist. In spite of having started his acting career at an early age of six, he always considered himself a martial artist before an actor.