[dramatic music]
‐ Tonight on "History's Greatest Mysteries"...
♪ ♪
He was an action hero,
a cultural icon,
a martial arts legend on the cusp of superstardom.
♪ ♪
I'm Laurence Fishburne.
On July 20th, 1973,
Bruce Lee died tragically at the age of 32,
the official cause of death a fatal reaction to aspirin.
On tonight's mystery, Bruce Lee's surviving brother
has questions about what really happened.
♪ ♪
‐ It was total shock. I mean, how could that be?
♪ ♪
I need answers about Bruce's death.
♪ ♪
‐ Now, Robert Lee has enlisted a former
Hong Kong police detective
to launch an investigation into the truth.
‐ Do you think there was foul play?
‐ Good question.
You know, I would sure like to find out.
‐ Was Bruce Lee killed because of bad blood?
‐ Bruce pulls out knife.
Threatens that if Lo Wei says anything or does anything,
he's going to stick it in Lo Wei's neck.
‐ Was his death self‐inflicted?
‐ I was rather shocked to discover
Bruce had had his sweat glands removed.
‐ Could the answers lie in Bruce Lee's
previously unseen autopsy?
‐ They looked for arsenic.
Quite a common way of poisoning people.
‐ Or could Bruce Lee have been caught up in a gangland feud
with Hong Kong's underworld?
♪ ♪
‐ The mysterious death of a true action hero.
Who or what
killed the one, the only, Bruce Lee?
♪ ♪
[gentle acoustic guitar music playing]
♪ ♪
‐ ♪ At the dawning ♪
♪ Of the morning ♪
♪ Of the Year of the Dragon ♪
‐ Today, Bruce Lee's brother Robert
is a musician who lives in Los Angeles.
Bruce is far more than just his big brother.
He is his inspiration.
‐ ♪ Into this world ♪
♪ Came a little dragon, Bruce Lee ♪
Every time I do "The Ballad of Bruce Lee,"
yeah, just think of him.
It's hard not to miss him, hard not to think about him,
because he is my idol, really.
♪ ♪
♪ For he was strong ♪
♪ And his will untamed ♪
♪ ♪
Well, this was early on and‐‐you know,
I think this was taken in the '60s in L. A.
♪ ♪
‐ Mr. Marlowe? ‐ Yes.
‐ In the late 1960s and early '70s,
Bruce Lee had begun to find fame on American television...
‐ Kato strikes with the deadly art of kung fu.
‐ Supporting roles in Hollywood pictures.
‐ It's Lee unleashed.
‐ And in low budget Hong Kong action movies.
‐ Against the Dragon,
even the best are better off dead.
‐ [high‐pitched shout] [bones crack]
‐ But Bruce wasn't satisfied.
He had far bigger ambitions.
♪ ♪
‐ He did write down on a piece of paper,
which he put under his pillow every night,
that he wanted to be
the highest‐paid actor in the world.
[chuckles]
‐ He doesn't write down, "Man, I'd just really like a job."
He doesn't write down, "I'd like steady work."
He writes down, "I want to be the biggest star in the world."
Like, that's the level of his ambition.
♪ ♪
‐ As this rare interview shows,
Bruce's ambitions reached far beyond simple fame.
He saw his films as the perfect platform
to fight back against prejudice
and racial stereotypes.
‐ In the United States.
I think something about the oriental‐‐
I mean, the true Oriental
should be shown.
‐ Hollywood sure as heck hasn't.
‐ You better believe it, man.
I mean, it's always that pigtail and bouncing around,
"chop‐chop," you know,
with the eye slant, and all of that.
‐ Bruce always wanted to be a pioneer,
and I'm sure that's what he wanted,
you know, people to remember him by.
♪ ♪
‐ On July 20th, 1973, Bruce Lee was in Hong Kong,
awaiting the release of the movie
he hoped would finally bring him
the international fame he craved.
‐ Warner Brothers presents, "Enter the Dragon."
♪ ♪
‐ Made with one of the biggest studios in Hollywood,
he knew this film could make or break his career.
‐ "Enter the Dragon" is the first time
a Chinese‐American male actor
has ever starred in a Hollywood movie,
‐ Starring Black Belt Hall of Fame,
undisputed martial arts champion,
and international film star Bruce Lee.
‐ For Bruce Lee, this had been everything
he had been working for.
And if it succeeds, it will launch him into superstardom.
If it fails, he's never gonna make it as a Hollywood actor.
And so this is the ultimate big break for Bruce Lee.
‐ Bruce is not just the movie's star.
He is also the fight choreographer
and directs the martial arts scenes.
‐ Fighting techniques are carefully choreographed
by Bruce Lee.
Discipline and coordination are the only protection
against possible lethal accident.
♪ ♪
‐ Less than a month before the movie's release,
Bruce Lee complains of a headache,
takes a painkiller,
goes for a nap, but never wakes up.
♪ ♪
[news anchor speaking Chinese]
His death leaves the whole of Hong Kong in shock.
‐ One day he was alive and well,
and he was being Bruce Lee, and he was on the verge
of achieving everything he'd ever dreamed of.
And the next, he just was gone.
♪ ♪
‐ How could their hero have died so suddenly?
[news anchor speaking Chinese]
The crowds and the cameras give Bruce's widow, Linda,
little chance to grieve in private.
An American, she and her two children
have only been living in Hong Kong
for a little over a year.
‐ Raymond Chow, who is Bruce's producer, business partner,
and his friend, has to take on the role of, like,
uncle or father‐protector to Linda and the children
through what would be a very unfamiliar ritual
of a Chinese funeral.
♪ ♪
‐ What do you know about Han?
‐ We know everything. We can prove nothing.
♪ ♪
‐ Just 30 days after Bruce Lee's passing,
"Enter the Dragon" is released.
‐ "Enter the Dragon,"
where the world's greatest martial arts athletes
meet the ultimate challenge.
‐ To this day, the movie has grossed
an excess of $400 million,
making it one of the most profitable films of all time.
‐ Bruce Lee on screen is just captivating.
‐ [grunts]
‐ You cannot take your eyes off of him.
He's a shining, incandescent star,
the kung fu hero,
the idea of the Asian male as this martial arts master,
who beats up all the bad guys.
‐ [high‐pitched shout] ‐ [groans]
♪ ♪
‐ There was no question that he was the superstar
of this particular movie.
I think for young people of Asian descent,
and I think young people of all kinds of backgrounds
all around the world, to be able to see that picture
was transformative.
It was, like, mind‐blowing.
♪ ♪
‐ To this day, Bruce Lee is a global superstar and icon.
In death, his life's dreams had come true.
♪ ♪
For Robert Lee and his sister Phoebe,
the cruel timing of Bruce's passing still weighs heavily.
‐ [speaking Chinese]
♪ ♪
‐ Almost half a century after Bruce's passing,
they are still haunted by rumors.
♪ ♪
‐ After his death, so many stories floated around.
Oh man. My goodness.
♪ ♪
Yeah, there's always this doubt.
I mean, how?
Why?
I don't know, but if there's a doubt,
there is a doubt, you know?
That's all I can say.
♪ ♪
‐ The official autopsy claims Bruce is killed
by an allergic reaction to aspirin
in the painkiller he took.
‐ I mean, I think there was a perception on the part
of everybody around the world, particularly in Hong Kong,
that aspirin was just too ordinary
to kill somebody so extraordinary.
‐ Is that really how Bruce died?
I mean, it's hard for me to believe.
This was very difficult.
I need answers about Bruce's death.
♪ ♪
‐ At 72,
Robert wants to understand why his brother died
before it's too late.
And he knows just the man to re‐investigate
Bruce Lee's mysterious death.
‐ Hey, Robert. ‐ Hey, Philip!
‐ His old school friend, Philip Chan,
a Hong Kong police detective
during the city's most volatile decade, the 1970s.
Chan investigated murders, gangland feuds,
and Hong Kong's most high‐profile cases.
‐ I remember there was one time,
he solved a hostage situation.
He was able to get all the hostages out and all that.
He became a hero.
I know you are a stand‐up person,
and you have done a lot of investigations,
and I trust you, okay?
So, Philip‐‐ so if you can really help me
to come up with some good, solid information,
I would really thank you so very much.
‐ Do you think there was foul play?
‐ You know, good question.
You know, I would sure like to find out.
♪ ♪
‐ The Hong Kong authorities keep the official records
of any mysterious death out of the public domain,
but Chan thinks these files could provide vital clues.
‐ I still have to get into the official record,
the coroner's inquiry.
‐ Right. ‐ But I cannot get it myself.
I need your authorization as a member of his family.
‐ Yes. I'll be more than happy to do that.
‐ Okay, okay, Robert,
I think I would be very happy to help you.
‐ Thank you.
‐ The memory of a great hero,
your beloved brother‐‐
I'm very interested, and I will help.
‐ Thank you, Philip. I really appreciate that.
You're very kind, really.
From the bottom of my heart, really, thank you.
‐ Okay. So please wait for my call.
‐ I will. ‐ All right?
♪ ♪
‐ As Bruce Lee passed away in Hong Kong,
Philip Chan will center his investigation in this city.
♪ ♪
His first step is to reconstruct the day
Bruce Lee died.
He starts with veteran journalist Robert Chow.
♪ ♪
‐ Come on in, come on in.
‐ Sorry to interrupt.
‐ No, no, no, no.
♪ ♪
‐ In 1973,
Robert Chow was an editor of one of Hong Kong's
most popular English language newspapers, "The Star."
‐ Now, how did
Bruce Lee's death come into your notice?
‐ It was on a Friday night, you know, the 20th,
I think it was around about 11:00, 11:30 that night.
Now we had stringers at hospitals.
‐ "The Star" relied on freelance journalists,
known as stringers,
who prowled Hong Kong
searching for breaking news stories.
‐ And the stringer actually went to the police desk
in the hospitals.
So they did confirm that Bruce Lee was hospitalized,
and he was dead on arrival.
And then everybody went mad and, you know, crazy,
and we all followed that up.
That was how the story came about.
‐ Knowing that the press had the story,
Bruce's business partner, Raymond Chow,
releases a statement,
claiming Bruce collapsed at his family home
while walking with his wife Linda.
It is a story that soon unravels.
‐ It was about two days later that the news came out that,
you know, Bruce Lee didn't die in his home
as Raymond Chow claimed he did, right?
This is actually the telex
that says where Bruce Lee was actually found.
♪ ♪
Ambulance number A43
was summoned to Beacon Hill Road,
second floor, flat A2.
A 32‐year‐old man was taken to Queen Elizabeth hospital,
and he arrived at 2300 hours that night‐‐
certainly not Bruce Lee's home.
‐ This apartment on Beacon Hill
is the home of 26‐year‐old actress Betty Ting Pei.
It is here that Bruce Lee is found unconscious
and not breathing in her bed.
The pair were reportedly having an affair.
♪ ♪
‐ Why do you think Raymond Chow lied?
‐ What Raymond Chow wanted to do was to protect Linda.
You know, it's bad enough your husband dies suddenly,
and even worse was that he was actually in bed
at his girlfriend's place.
♪ ♪
‐ Raymond Chow told the press that Bruce Lee had collapsed
at home with his wife to try to cover up the affair.
♪ ♪
And this turns this into the biggest scandal
Hong Kong has ever seen.
♪ ♪
‐ Because of Raymond Chow's deceit,
the death of Bruce Lee is shrouded in mystery
from the very beginning.
‐ The immediate thing the public learns
is that they had‐‐were lying about where Bruce Lee died,
and so their assumption, quite naturally,
is what else did they lie about?
Maybe they lied about how he died.
♪ ♪
‐ In Hong Kong, former police detective Philip Chan's
re‐investigation into Bruce Lee's death is underway.
♪ ♪
He has discovered that from the very beginning,
the martial arts superstar's passing
was shrouded in deceit and lies.
♪ ♪
‐ Bruce Lee didn't die at his home, you know,
as Raymond Chow claimed he did.
♪ ♪
‐ Nearly 50 years after the event,
a myriad of rumors and theories
still swirl around Bruce Lee's death.
But with the help of Bruce's brother, Robert Lee,
Chan has obtained documents which might contain the truth.
‐ In this envelope are Bruce Lee's death files,
official documents from the court inquest into his death.
These documents would include his autopsy reports,
toxicology report, statements from witnesses,
police officers, and medical officers.
‐ The Hong Kong government has never publicly
released these records.
♪ ♪
At his office, Chan scours the evidence.
♪ ♪
‐ I'm looking for inconsistencies
and for any decision which would be strange, dubious,
and worthy of my further investigation.
‐ He creates a timeline of the day Bruce Lee died.
♪ ♪
On July 20th, 1973,
Bruce arrives at the home of his alleged mistress,
Betty Ting Pei, at 5:00 p. m.
But he isn't alone.
With him is Raymond Chow,
Bruce Lee's business partner and producer
on the film "Enter the Dragon."
‐ What I'm interested in is understanding
what Betty Ting Pei, the actress,
and Raymond Chow say happened
in the apartment that night.
♪ ♪
‐ According to both witnesses, the three sit down
and discuss the script for Bruce's planned follow‐up
to "Enter the Dragon," a film called "Game of Death."
♪ ♪
At 7:00 p. m., he complains of a headache.
♪ ♪
Betty gives him a painkiller which contains aspirin.
Bruce goes to sleep, and Raymond heads off for dinner,
leaving just Bruce and Betty at the apartment.
♪ ♪
At 9:30, Raymond calls to check on Bruce.
Betty says she can't wake him up.
‐ Bruce!
‐ Now, if you found somebody in your bed unconscious
and unresponsive, what's the first thing you do?
You dial 999, call an ambulance.
But that's not what happened.
♪ ♪
‐ Raymond tells the police he rushed back to the apartment
and rang for medical assistance,
but not for an ambulance.
‐ He called his personal doctor about 20 times,
and there was no answer.
Then he called Betty's personal doctor.
♪ ♪
‐ Ten minutes later, Dr. Eugene Chu arrives...
♪ ♪
And finds Bruce is not breathing
and there is no heartbeat.
He tries CPR,
but can't revive him.
♪ ♪
It's Dr. Chu who finally calls the ambulance.
♪ ♪
‐ Bruce doesn't get to the hospital until 11:00 p. m.,
a full hour and a quarter
after he is first found unconscious and unresponsive.
[somber music]
‐ Bruce Lee is officially declared dead at 11:30 p. m.
♪ ♪
When the public learns Bruce Lee died
in Betty's apartment,
she is seen as a prime suspect.
‐ The Bruce Lee‐Betty Ting Pei scenario
is like one of the classic locked room mysteries,
which is that Bruce, Raymond, Betty
are together at Betty's apartment.
Raymond leaves.
Betty and Bruce are alone in the apartment.
Bruce dies.
Seeing as Bruce is the one that ended up dead,
Betty must be the one responsible
'cause there was nobody else there.
‐ Her lifestyle choices
further fuel public suspicions.
‐ Betty Ting Pei ran with a fast crowd
and was involved in the darker aspects
of Hong Kong show business and the underworld.
‐ There are death threats against Betty Ting Pei,
and there were bombing threats that occurred
where the bombers wrote on the‐‐on the bomb,
"Betty Ting Pei knows why Bruce Lee died."
‐ But she wasn't the only person in the apartment.
Raymond Chow was also in her home
on the night Bruce Lee died.
‐ Why was Raymond so slow in giving Bruce
the medical help that he needed so desperately?
♪ ♪
‐ Over the years, questions have been raised
about his role in Bruce Lee's death.
‐ Raymond's persona as a shadowy figure,
as a bad guy,
as the untrustworthy element in the equation,
it comes from a very obvious scenario,
which was that it was show business,
and Bruce handled the show,
and Raymond handled the business.
‐ Raymond built up his company, Golden Harvest,
from nothing to being a leading studio
in Hong Kong's movie industry, but in doing so,
he also built up a reputation for ruthlessness.
‐ Raymond Chow was known as the Smiling Face Tiger
because he would smile to your face and nod
and agree to everything, and then he would rip you apart
when you turned your back to him.
♪ ♪
‐ Raymond and Bruce had made three films before
"Enter the Dragon."
All three had broken box office records in Hong Kong.
But in the months before Bruce's death,
the two were openly clashing over money.
‐ Bruce Lee was growing in frustration
about what he perceived
as being the inaccurate accounting,
and that he had not had the money back
from his films that he should've done.
He would just confront Raymond and say,
"Okay, I'm seeing in the trades
"the movie's made this much money.
Where's mine?"
‐ In response,
Bruce had started talking to other studios
about making films without Raymond,
leaving Golden Harvest in danger
of losing its golden goose.
‐ There's no studio who wants to lose their biggest star
to some other studio.
And I think the situation was even more extreme
for Golden Harvest, because Bruce Lee
was such a dominant part of their revenue stream.
Probably 80% of their revenues was based on Bruce Lee.
So it was an existential threat to have Bruce Lee leave.
♪ ♪
‐ Public suspicion has continued
to swirl around Raymond Chow and Betty Ting Pei.
But in 1973,
both were cleared of any wrongdoing.
‐ Obviously, the authorities didn't think
there was any suspicious circumstances,
and there was no foul play, but why did they rule that out?
♪ ♪
‐ Former Hong Kong police detective Philip Chan
has zeroed in on two people of interest
in his investigation of Bruce Lee's death‐‐
Bruce Lee's alleged mistress, Betty Ting Pei,
and his business partner and collaborator,
Raymond Chow, owner of Golden Harvest Films.
‐ Do you think there was foul play?
‐ I would sure like to find out.
‐ With the aid of Bruce's surviving brother Robert,
Chan's been able to get access
to previously unreleased documents.
‐ This is a death certificate
issued by the Hong Kong Register of Births and Deaths.
And there it states, "The cause of death
was acute cerebral edema due to hypersensitivities."
♪ ♪
‐ Cerebral edema is swelling of the brain.
The authorities claim it was triggered
by a hypersensitivity, or allergy,
that Bruce Lee had to the aspirin
in the painkiller Betty gave him.
‐ Then we come to "death by misadventure."
This means that the death is considered to have been caused
by an accident, which happened
because of a risk that the person took voluntarily.
‐ The authorities decided that Betty didn't know
Bruce would have a fatal reaction to the tablet.
‐ Obviously, the authorities didn't think there was
any suspicious circumstances and there was no foul play.
But when did they come to that conclusion?
Why did they rule that out?
‐ This official verdict is based on one big assumption:
the fatal swelling of Bruce's brain
was caused by the aspirin in the painkiller.
♪ ♪
But does the evidence back this up?
♪ ♪
Chan is on his way to the office
of one of Hong Kong's foremost forensic pathologists,
Dr. Philip Beh,
to review a key document in Bruce Lee's
death files‐‐the autopsy.
‐ Hi, Philip. ‐ Hello.
Thank you for having me.
‐ No, not at all. ‐ Yeah.
Well, I brought some documents relating to Bruce Lee's death.
‐ Okay. ‐ The first thing I would like
to find out is about the cerebral edema.
‐ Mm‐hmm. ‐ I know, in layman terms,
it means a swelling of the brain.
‐ Yeah. ‐ But how does it kill you?
‐ Oh, it's simple. Let me show you.
♪ ♪
The brain fills up
almost all the space in the skull.
There's very little spare space.
As soon as the brain swells, where is it gonna go?
There's nowhere to go.
♪ ♪
Now, this is the underside of the brain.
This is your brainstem.
This controls your breathing.
And this is exactly sitting against the bone here.
So when this brain swells,
it's pushed down,
and that brainstem gets crushed.
So you can't breathe.
And when you can't breathe, of course you will die.
♪ ♪
Okay, so this is the autopsy report.
♪ ♪
‐ If Bruce's fatal cerebral edema really was caused
by an allergic reaction,
Dr. Beh would expect the autopsy to note skin rashes
and swelling across many parts of Bruce's body.
♪ ♪
‐ No description of swelling of the eyes,
of the lips,
or of the tongue.
No mention that there was any skin rash, okay?
And...
if you‐‐yep, here it talks about the respiratory system.
So the airways‐‐ there's no swelling.
So nothing‐‐ there's nothing here
that would suggest to us that Bruce Lee
had a allergic reaction that would kill.
♪ ♪
‐ Basically what you're saying is that Bruce Lee did not die
because of this taking aspirin.
‐ Personally, if you ask me, I don't think so.
The autopsy report shows no evidence
that there was a allergic reaction.
‐ In 1973, the authorities misinterpreted
the evidence in the autopsy.
The fatal swelling of Bruce Lee's brain
must have been caused by something other than aspirin.
‐ So what's the latest?
‐ I've talked to one of the top forensic pathologists
in Hong Kong, and, well, he told me
that there wasn't‐‐you know, wasn't a shred of evidence
that your brother died of an aspirin.
‐ Okay. ‐ So yeah.
‐ So what‐‐
‐ So we have to cover the other angle.
One of the first things that I would like to look into
would be foul play. ‐ Mm.
‐ During those months, in maybe May,
June, or July,
did he tell you any stories about any encounters‐‐
you know, unusual encounters,
like fights or, you know, challenges?
And physically, did he bear any signs
or anything that was‐‐ that was unusual?
‐ He did mention that, you know,
he was challenged by one person on the set.
You know, he actually walked up to Bruce during a break
and says that, you know,
"Well, Bruce Lee, you know, I've seen action fighting,
"you know, your heroism on the silver screen,
"but I don't know how well you can do,
I mean, in life‐‐person."
‐ Mm.
♪ ♪
‐ The Hong Kong film industry in the 1970s
was notoriously rough and violent,
and Bruce Lee reportedly did make enemies,
some with connections to the city's seedy underworld,
‐ In 1970s,
Hong Kong is not the Wild West.
It was the wild east.
♪ ♪
‐ In 1973, Bruce Lee died from swelling of the brain.
The authorities ruled this was caused
by a fatal reaction to aspirin.
But a leading forensic pathologist
has cast doubt on this verdict.
‐ The autopsy report shows no evidence
that there was a allergic reaction.
‐ Basically what you're saying is that Bruce Lee did not die
because of this taking aspirin.
‐ I don't think so.
‐ If aspirin didn't cause the deadly swelling
of Bruce Lee's brain, what did?
Could the answer lie in Bruce Lee's past?
♪ ♪
Growing up in Hong Kong, Chan remembers hearing stories
about Bruce Lee's legendary love of violence and fighting.
♪ ♪
Bruce Lee's mother gave birth in San Francisco at 7:12 a. m.
on November 27th, 1940.
According to the Chinese Zodiac,
Bruce was born in the Hour and the Year of the Dragon.
♪ ♪
‐ The dragon represents the pinnacle of power,
and the sort of myth, the legend of Bruce Lee
is really bound up with this symbol of him as a dragon.
‐ From childhood, Bruce lived up to his birth sign.
He was infamous for his fiery temper.
‐ Oh, yeah. Don't cross Bruce.
‐ But it was Bruce's short fuse that led him
to the martial arts skill which made him famous.
♪ ♪
Bruce Lee's family moved back to Hong Kong in 1941.
Growing up in the city in the 1950s,
Bruce studied Wing Chun,
a style of closeup fighting that uses quick arm movements
and powerful kicks to defeat opponents.
‐ Pa‐ta, pa‐ta.
‐ He learned this skill alongside this man,
Chan Chee Man.
Their teacher was a kung fu legend.
♪ ♪
‐ In recent years,
the Grandmaster Ip Man has risen to mythical status,
even spawning a series of movies about his life.
[gentle Chinese string music]
But much of his fame
comes from one very naturally gifted student,
Bruce Lee.
♪ ♪
‐ Then a British colony, Hong Kong was rough, chaotic,
and flooded with refugees fleeing communist China.
Bruce found this the ideal place to show off
his natural skills and vent his anger.
♪ ♪
In crowded Hong Kong,
students from rival kung fu schools
staged bloody challenge fights
wherever they could find space.
♪ ♪
‐ When he was seven years old,
Carmel Chow became one of a small number of people
to have witnessed Bruce Lee fighting for real.
♪ ♪
‐ There's only one fight which I saw myself,
which is up the rooftop of this building.
♪ ♪
I begged my brother to take me up, you know, to watch.
He didn't want me to go there,
because obviously it wasn't suitable for me,
but I insist that he took me there.
‐ Even though he was only 17,
Bruce was an old hand at these challenge matches.
‐ Let's go to the rooftop now, where the fight took place.
♪ ♪
Fight happened here.
Bruce came up with his mates,
yelling, shouting.
So when the guy says "ready," and they start the fight.
‐ [shouting]
‐ And within minutes,
the other guy was been knock off, been hit badly,
and Bruce walk away within no time.
So it happened very quickly.
And I saw the other guy lying somewhere here, I think,
with blood in his face, really badly injured,
his whole‐‐ bashed about by Bruce.
♪ ♪
‐ I think he came back with a black eye.
It was the first time I saw Bruce with a black eye.
And I say, "Wow, what happened?"
He said, "You know,
"I got a black eye, but you know what?
"My opponent,
he lost a lot of teeth, you know, from the fight."
[chuckles] You know?
"So I know I won." [laughs]
♪ ♪
‐ Martial arts did prove a perfect release
for Bruce's temper,
but his love of fighting also landed him in trouble.
‐ Around 1958,
as Bruce was involved in so many fights,
you know, he was being observed by the police.
♪ ♪
[laughs]
‐ He said, you know,
"If your son gets involved in another fight,
we'll definitely, you know, take him to jail."
♪ ♪
‐ Bruce's parents took radical action,
sending the 18 year old to the United States
with just a $100 in his pocket.
♪ ♪
But as this footage from 1965 reveals,
Bruce gets his big break in Hollywood
because of the talents he learned
on the rooftops of Hong Kong.
‐ What's interesting about Bruce Lee,
when you see him in that screen test,
is he's got this real charisma.
They ask him to show some punches and kicks,
and he grabs this, like, 60‐year‐old cameraman...
[punch whooshes] And has him stand there
while he throws these punches
that are faster than the eye can see,
but, like, millimeters from the man's face.
[kicks whooshing]
No one had ever seen this before.
So this is the break that he needs
to launch his sort of Hollywood career.
♪ ♪
‐ It is this spellbinding display
that lands Bruce his breakout role
as the Green Hornet sidekick and driver Kato.
‐ Each week, ride with Kato and the Green Hornet
on their relentless fight against crime.
‐ But despite his star billing,
Bruce is treated as a second‐class citizen.
‐ He didn't want to play the part of Kato, initially.
He had to play the house boy to a white guy.
‐ I'm with you, boss.
‐ He was telling me how disappointed he was,
you know, not being used as the main character.
But I guess back in the '60s, you know,
there's still discrimination going on.
‐ Kato strikes with the deadly art of kung fu.
‐ He was paid the worst of any of the actors,
even though he was the second lead in the show.
He got paid half of what the secretary,
who had no lines on "The Green Hornet," got paid.
The ratings start off pretty good,
but then they take a nosedive and it gets canceled.
♪ ♪
‐ After just 26 episodes,
Bruce's first taste of U. S. stardom is over.
He is now another jobless actor in L. A.
But as a non‐white male, he finds it difficult to land
the lead roles he feels his talent deserves.
‐ Back in '69, he only had $50 left in the bank.
That's what Bruce told her.
So he decided that maybe he should get a job
as a security guard.
But Linda said, "No, no, no, you can't.
"You cannot do that.
"Because once you start doing that,
"Hollywood will not use you anymore,
because, you know, you've really gone downhill."
♪ ♪
‐ But there is opportunity on the other side of the Pacific.
Raymond Chow offers Bruce Lee a movie deal
with his new studio, Golden Harvest, in Hong Kong.
‐ Bruce Lee very much was worried
that he would make a movie that was terrible.
And so he wanted control over the script
and the martial arts choreography in the movie.
And Raymond Chow said,
"I'll give you whatever you want,"
because Raymond Chow was desperate.
‐ Bruce jumps at the chance to return to Hong Kong.
But could this choice be linked to his death?
♪ ♪
Philip Chan wants to understand
if Bruce Lee's short fuse
made him enemies in 1970s Hong Kong.
♪ ♪
On his return to the city,
Bruce instantly struck up close relationships
with his stuntmen,
socializing with them both on and off set.
One of them was Ah Be.
‐ Ah Be. ‐ [speaking Chinese]
‐ When you did "Enter the Dragon,"
you were very, very young.
How old were you?
‐ [speaking Chinese]
♪ ♪
‐ The Po‐Hing snooker club
was a place where movie stars rubbed shoulders with members
of Hong Kong's organized crime gangs, the Triads.
These mobsters controlled much of the city
from nightclubs, bars, and movie theaters,
to gambling, massage parlors, and opiate.
They were infamous for handing out brutal
and often fatal beatings to anyone who stood in their way.
‐ In 1970s, Hong Kong is not the Wild West.
It was the wild east.
♪ ♪
I mean, Sammo Hung, who Bruce Lee had fought
at the beginning of "Enter the Dragon,"
has a unique round scar
between his nose and his mouth.
And that's actually the shape of a Coke bottle
that had been broken off
and then driven into his face like that during a gang fight.
♪ ♪
‐ Hong Kong in the '70s was rough and chaotic,
and this violent atmosphere extended to movie sets,
where Bruce Lee seemed wary of everyone.
‐ Actually, he lose control.
♪ ♪
‐ According to a close friend,
Bruce Lee was getting into fights
in the months before his death.
Could this be the smoking gun
Philip Chan has been looking for?
A head injury sustained in a fight
could fit the fatal brain swelling
that claimed Bruce Lee's life.
But who would dare take on Bruce Lee?
And who would have a motive?
One suspect‐‐ a director Bruce Lee
publicly quarreled with, Lo Wei.
According to multiple witnesses,
ten days before Bruce Lee's death,
their feud turned violent.
‐ Bruce pulls out a knife,
threatens that if Lo Wei says anything or does anything,
he's going to stick it in Lo Wei's neck.
♪ ♪
‐ Former detective Philip Chan has learned
from a personal friend of Bruce Lee
that the film star was getting into fights on movie sets
shortly before his death.
‐ A blow to the head sustained in a fight
could trigger swelling of the brain,
the known cause of Bruce's death.
But who would want to hurt Bruce?
In the past,
suspicion rested on Bruce Lee's business partner
and producer, Raymond Chow,
and Bruce's alleged mistress, actress Betty Ting Pei,
but Chan has unearthed another person of interest
who had a fraught relationship with Bruce Lee:
the film director, Lo Wei.
‐ It's well‐known that Lo Wei and Bruce Lee
had a long‐running, often very public feud.
This feud had been running like a soap opera.
‐ In 1971, Lo Wei was the director on Bruce's
first martial arts film with Golden Harvest,
"The Big Boss."
From the start, their relationship was hostile.
‐ Lo Wei was an egomaniac,
and Bruce Lee was an alpha male,
and they clashed, as you would expect.
♪ ♪
‐ But "Big Boss" broke box office records in Hong Kong.
In 1972, the pair reunited to make a second movie,
"Fist of Fury."
The film is an even bigger success,
but their relationship deteriorates
to name calling and sniping in the press.
‐ Lo Wei had done interviews in the media where
he played down Bruce's ability
and played up his own directorial skill.
‐ Lo Wei thought Bruce Lee
was a snotty little disrespectful actor
who wasn't giving him enough face.
And Bruce Lee thought Lo Wei was, you know,
a know‐nothing, second‐rate hack
with too big of an ego and unprofessional behavior on set.
And they both were probably right about each other.
‐ Just ten days before Bruce's death,
Hong Kong's newspapers reported
that his feud with Lo Wei
had escalated beyond insults and name‐calling.
‐ When I was digging through all this material,
I found something very intriguing that an incident
which took place on the 10th of July, 1973.
Now, here's the headline. It's in Chinese.
My translation.
A conflict broke out between Lo Wei and Bruce Lee
during a screening at the Golden Harvest Studio.
It almost developed into a bloody incident,
but friends intervened.
Police had to be called to the scene
to end the "Film Studio Stomp."
That's what they called it.
‐ Bruce pulls out a knife,
threatens that if Lo Wei says anything or does anything,
he's gonna stick it in Lo Wei's neck.
Lo Wei then, having been threatened with a knife,
calls the police.
‐ Lo Wei would have lost a lot of face in that incident.
Would it have triggered an act of revenge?
I cannot rule that out as a possibility.
♪ ♪
I'm afraid I have to put Mr. Lo Wei
as one of the key persons of interest.
♪ ♪
‐ Supposedly, Lo Wei had a dark side.
♪ ♪
In the late '70s, he was contracted to direct
Jackie Chan's first films.
There was a falling out,
and Jackie refused to work with him anymore.
According to Jackie, Lo Wei sent mobsters
to intimidate him until he came back on set.
In Hong Kong, mobsters mean only one thing:
the feared and violent Triads.
♪ ♪
In the 1970s, there were tens of thousands
of Triad gang members in Hong Kong.
Coming into contact with organized crime
was a fact of life for the city's residents.
♪ ♪
And Lo Wei wasn't the only one of Philip Chan's suspects
with alleged connections to the mob.
Bruce was found unconscious in the bed
of 26‐year‐old actress Betty Ting Pei.
‐ Betty was running with a fast crowd.
She was gambling. She was drinking too much.
So that meant that Bruce sometimes had to step in
and pick up the pieces when stuff fell apart.
‐ Betty's fast lifestyle reportedly drew her
into the seedy world of the Triads.
‐ Betty had run up a lot of debts gambling
and some Triad thug was demanding she pay him back.
Bruce and Betty met this guy and his henchmen
in some shadowy back street,
and the guy got paid by Bruce.
And he's being all cocky like, "See, even the great Bruce Lee
has to pay big brother so‐and‐so."
And in response, Bruce takes out a Coke can,
takes a finger, stabs it through the can,
and the carbonated beverage sprays
all over henchman number one, and Bruce throws that down,
gets in the car, and he and Betty leave.
♪ ♪
He was not intimidated by anybody.
And he felt, as he famously said,
"To tell you the truth, I could beat anybody in the world."
♪ ♪
‐ Could disrespect for the Triads
or a feud with Lo Wei have made Bruce Lee a target?
Through his contacts in the movie industry,
Chan has received a previously unheard audio recording
of a retired actor
who Chan knows had connections to the criminal underworld.
‐ [speaking Chinese]
‐ The actor claims the official verdict is wrong‐‐
Bruce didn't die in Betty Ting Pei's apartment.
‐ [speaking Chinese]
♪ ♪
‐ Chan knows from years of experience
that brutal beatings fit with the Triads' modus operandi.
But would the organized crime gangs
really have targeted someone as high‐profile as Bruce Lee?
by talking directly to a self‐confessed Triad.
‐ [speaking Chinese]
♪ ♪
‐ In his investigation into Bruce Lee's death,
Philip Chan has unearthed a new lead.
♪ ♪
‐ A recording that alleges Bruce was beaten to death
by Triads with metal bars.
Chan has discovered
Bruce had reportedly clashed with the mob.
‐ Bruce takes out a Coke can, takes a finger,
stabs it through the can,
and the carbonated beverage sprays
all over henchman number one.
‐ And ten days before his death,
Bruce had threatened director Lo Wei,
a man with suspected links to the criminal underworld.
‐ Bruce Lee got into Lo Wei's face
and essentially physically threatened him,
if he talked smack about him to the press.
♪ ♪
‐ In the 1970s,
organized crime activity in Hong Kong
was centered in the seedy area of Mong Kok.
Philip Chan was a detective
trying to keep law and order in this neighborhood.
He knows Triads are secretive and rarely speak in public,
but he has convinced a former gang member to talk.
Today, Chan Wei Man is a wine importer.
♪ ♪
In the 1970s,
he was a martial arts film star in his own right.
He had learned his fighting skills
as the personal bodyguard of one of the most feared Triads,
the heroin kingpin Fat Boy Kwun.
♪ ♪
‐ As an actor, Chan Wei Man worked with both Bruce Lee
and his arch enemy, the director Lo Wei,
a man with a known connection to the Triads.
Philip asks about the altercation
Bruce Lee had with Lo Wei just ten days before his death.
‐ We're told that Bruce Lee went into Lo Wei's office
one day and brandished a spring knife
and threatened to beat him up.
Did you know about this?
♪ ♪
‐ According to Chan Wei Man,
Lo Wei brushed off this altercation
as nothing more than a clash of egos.
He is adamant the director had nothing to do
with Bruce Lee's death.
But how about the infamous Triads?
‐ Since Bruce Lee was such a great fighter,
would any Triad who wanted to advance
want to challenge him?
And if you defeat Bruce Lee,
you immediately make yourself famous?
You rise from the ranks?
♪ ♪
‐ A man at the very heart of the Triads is categorical
that the gangs had no interest in harming Bruce Lee.
His status as an idol and symbol of power
to Chinese people around the globe
meant he was untouchable.
Philip Chan is aware this is only one man's opinion,
but he knows it is in line with the information
in Bruce Lee's death files.
‐ The Triads are renowned for carrying out
violent beatings and attacks.
But could Bruce Lee have succumbed to this?
♪ ♪
One thing I would expect to see is, if a person is attacked,
he would raise his arms to defend himself
and deflect the punches.
That would surely leave bruise marks on his arms.
♪ ♪
Here's the autopsy report.
First of all, on the very front page,
it says there are no signs of injury.
This is vital evidence.
Then, further down here,
it notes that his scalp is free of bruising
and his scalp shows no evidence
of fracture or injury.
It says Bruce Lee's ribs are not fractured.
Now none of this is consistent with a violent attack.
I have to conclude that there's no evidence to suggest
that Bruce Lee was ambushed and attacked by the Triads.
♪ ♪
‐ It is time for Philip to share this new information
with Bruce's brother Robert.
‐ Hey, Philip.
‐ Hi. Time for an update.
‐ Okay.
‐ You remember our old friend, the Triad guy Chan Wei Man?
‐ Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
‐ I tend to believe his analysis
that Bruce wasn't
involved in any Triad attack
or any Triad ambush
or any Triad animosity at all.
‐ That's good to hear.
‐ 'Cause he was well loved by the Triads.
‐ Yes, yes.
‐ So we can cast those things aside, you know,
when it comes to foul play.
‐ But Robert isn't satisfied that murder can be ruled out.
A friend who worked at the funeral parlor
that prepared Bruce Lee's body noticed a strange detail.
‐ Well, come to think of it, I mean,
I met one of our family friends,
whose family owned the funeral parlor
that Bruce's service was carried in.
And she told me that, you know,
she noticed that his nails were black.
‐ Were Bruce Lee's black fingernails
a sign of foul play?
It matches a popular theory of how Bruce Lee died,
but one that has never been proven.
‐ One possibility is that, you know, he was poisoned.
♪ ♪
‐ Martial arts superstar Bruce Lee died
from swelling of the brain.
The official verdict:
it was triggered by an allergic reaction to aspirin.
But a new investigation
by former police detective Philip Chan
has raised doubts.
♪ ♪
‐ Basically what you're saying is that Bruce Lee did not die
because of this taking aspirin.
‐ The autopsy report shows no evidence
that there was an allergic reaction.
‐ Now Bruce's brother Robert
has brought up an alternative possibility.
‐ Bruce's fingernails were black.
I said, "Why could that possibly be?"
He said, "One possibility
is that, you know, he was poisoned."
‐ Some poisons starve the victim of oxygen,
which can lead to blackening of the fingernails.
And poisons can trigger swelling of the brain,
the cause of Bruce Lee's death.
But this information is from one witness
who saw Bruce's body at the funeral parlor in 1973.
Chan searches Bruce Lee's death files for other evidence
that Bruce Lee was poisoned.
He finds a potential clue in a statement
by Bruce Lee's business partner, Raymond Chow.
‐ This is on 10th of May, 1973,
just ten weeks before his death.
♪ ♪
Raymond Chow describes how one of his workers
rushes into the room
and tells him that Bruce has collapsed in a sound studio.
♪ ♪
‐ Raymond describes Bruce struggling to breathe,
pale, drenched in sweat, and convulsing.
♪ ♪
‐ He then rings the doctor and orders four of his employees
to carry Bruce Lee into his own car.
Then he drives him to the Baptist Hospital.
♪ ♪
And here, we have exhibits eight and nine...
♪ ♪
Police statements from two doctors.
♪ ♪
‐ In these statements from 1973,
the doctors described Bruce as completely unresponsive
and showing little sign of life.
They diagnose him with swelling of the brain,
the same condition that kills him just ten weeks later.
♪ ♪
‐ As one doctor generally remarks,
"He was very close to his death medically on that day."
Now that sounds like a very serious condition.
♪ ♪
‐ The doctors inject a drug called Mannitol,
which reduces the swelling and saves Bruce's life.
The medic suspect the swelling of Bruce's brain
was triggered by toxicity or poisoning from drugs.
♪ ♪
‐ Now this is intriguing.
Bruce cheated death once.
But on the second occasion, he wasn't that lucky.
♪ ♪
‐ Within a ten‐week period, he has two collapses
and one near‐death experience
and one fatal experience from cerebral edema.
So my logical conclusion
is those two things are linked.
And if you want to understand the reason
he died on July 20th, 1973,
you need to look more closely at what happened
on May 10th, 1973, ten weeks earlier.
And if you can explain what happened that day,
you can explain why Bruce Lee died.
♪ ♪
‐ A poisoning link between the two events
was investigated in 1973,
and the spotlight fell on one illegal drug.
♪ ♪
Cannabis was found in Bruce's autopsy.
And as official records reveal,
he admitted to eating some
moments before he collapsed on May 10th.
♪ ♪
There is no known medical link between cannabis
and swelling of the brain,
but could this lethal condition have been caused
by something else in the marijuana Bruce consumed?
‐ I think the question is, was his cannabis in some way
tainted on those two special occasions?
And if it was tainted, was it somebody
had intentionally tainted the cannabis to hurt,
to weaken him, or even to kill him?
♪ ♪
‐ Chan returns to forensic pathologist Dr. Beh
to see if there was anything in Bruce Lee's autopsy
that points to poisoning.
‐ So this is the toxicology report.
They look for alcohol, in case he drank a lot.
That wasn't there. Morphine, we know.
Morphine is common in heroin.
They found nothing. ‐ Mm.
‐ They did a lot of other tests.
Heavy metals,
so quite a common sort of way of poisoning people,
and particularly, arsenic is one.
Lead would be another one that's common, okay?
Those weren't found.
‐ So can we say conclusively
that there's nothing in the autopsy which suggested
that there was administering of poison on Bruce?
‐ A lot of the poisons that you feed someone are irritants.
So the stomach would show bleeding,
or they might be vomiting or having diarrhea.
So we're not seeing that. We're not getting that history.
‐ There is no hard evidence
that Bruce took poisoned cannabis
or that he was killed by any toxic substance.
‐ Everything that we have in terms of the toxicology report,
the autopsy report,
the way Bruce was supposed to have died
doesn't support, really, poisoning.
♪ ♪
‐ Previously, Chan had ruled out a physical attack
as the reason why Bruce Lee died.
Now, he has eliminated poison.
With no evidence of foul play,
he can exonerate his three suspects in the case:
Bruce's business partner, Raymond Chow,
his alleged mistress, Betty Ting Pei,
and the director of his first martial arts movies, Lo Wei.
But if Bruce Lee wasn't murdered,
and if he wasn't killed by an allergic reaction to aspirin,
why did he die at just 32 years of age?
Could the answer to this mystery
lie with Bruce himself?
Could he have been secretly suffering
from a medical problem?
And could it have been self‐inflicted?
‐ I was rather shocked to discover
Bruce had had his sweat glands removed.
♪ ♪
‐ In his investigation into the death of Bruce Lee,
Philip Chan has eliminated the official verdict
that he died from an allergy to the aspirin in a painkiller
and he has found no evidence
that Bruce Lee was a victim of foul play.
‐ Everything that we have,
in terms of the toxicology report,
the autopsy report,
doesn't support, really, poisoning.
‐ Now Chan is returning to an event that happened
ten weeks before Bruce's death.
On May 10th,
Bruce collapsed because of swelling of the brain,
the same condition that claims his life in July.
On the first occasion, his life is saved
by fast‐thinking doctors.
♪ ♪
Bruce jetted to Los Angeles for a full medical checkup.
While in California,
he visited his younger brother Robert.
‐ When he came back to L. A. in May 1973,
did he mention about his condition in the hospital
and the emergency of that situation that particular time?
‐ No, I mean, he just‐‐he just brushed
all those details aside because
to him, I mean‐‐you know,
he said that, you know, it was no big deal, you know?
‐ Bruce Lee may have told his brother it wasn't serious,
but according to the doctors, he had stopped breathing
and was extremely close to death.
Why would he pass off this episode so lightly?
‐ If he had a health problem, let's presume,
would he be the kind of person
to just keep it within himself and not tell anybody?
Or would he confide into anyone at all?
‐ You know, he‐‐ okay, first of all,
his pain threshold is pretty high,
because I remember he was shooting "Marlowe,"
one of the movies that he was doing with James Garner,
and in between shots,
he was showing people his flying kick.
And one‐‐ I mean, some muscles
pulls one of the ribs,
and it broke the rib, okay?
So they took him to the hospital,
and lo and behold, I mean, come afternoon,
after lunch, he would‐‐
they were shooting again. ‐ Mr. Marlowe.
‐ He would bear the pain and‐‐
‐ Oh, yeah, yeah.
Anything, he can just, you know, continue doing,
he'll do, you know?
‐ Mm.
‐ If Bruce Lee had a history
of ignoring medical issues,
was he keeping a condition secret
that caused his collapse in May
and led to his death ten weeks later?
‐ As purely as an exercise in logic, you would say
he collapsed in May, he died in July.
What links these two events?
♪ ♪
‐ Could there be a clue in the task
Bruce was doing on the day of his first collapse?
‐ What happened on May 10th is that Bruce Lee
was redubbing lines from "Enter the Dragon."
This day was the hottest day of May
in tropical Hong Kong summer.
And they turned off the air conditioning,
and people there describe the room as becoming like a sauna.
So while Bruce Lee is doing these lines,
he starts to feel dizzy.
He needs to take a break.
He walks out of this superheated room.
He goes to the bathroom,
and he ends up collapsing on the floor.
♪ ♪
‐ Did he collapse because of something
he'd done to himself?
♪ ♪
‐ Once I looked at May 10th,
I was rather shocked to discover
that six months earlier,
on November 15th, 1972,
Bruce had had his sweat glands removed.
♪ ♪
‐ There was no medical reason
for this extreme surgery.
Bruce had the sweat glands removed from his armpits
because he was a perfectionist.
‐ He had been doing all these martial arts scenes
with his shirt off,
and they kept having to kind of wipe him down between takes.
And he was like‐‐he went to the doctor and said,
"Can you do anything about this?"
And they said, "Well, actually,
we can remove your sweat glands."
♪ ♪
‐ The sweat glands is a symptom
of that idea of, like, you know,
"If I need to achieve a goal, I don't mind what it costs.
"I don't mind what's involved with it.
"I'm going to do it.
"If nobody else has done it, that's fine.
I'm going to be the first one."
‐ Did Bruce's decision
to have the sweat glands removed from his armpits
leave him unable to control
a critical biological process‐‐
regulating his own body temperature?
Bruce's collapse on May 10th bears the classic hallmarks
of a medical condition that can be fatal.
‐ There's certain symptoms of heatstroke
that are common throughout.
One is faintness, dizziness,
headache, collapse, convulsion,
and cerebral edema.
♪ ♪
‐ But how about on the day he dies?
Does he have symptoms on July 20th?
‐ He is at the apartment of Betty Ting Pei
on a day which, when we look back at the records,
was the hottest day of the month of July.
And when I spoke to Raymond Chow,
Raymond Chow said that Bruce Lee had been
demonstrating kung fu scenes from his upcoming movie.
And at a certain point,
Bruce complained to being dizzy
and feeling like he had a headache.
Betty Ting Pei gives him one of her pain medications.
♪ ♪
He takes it, he lies down...
♪ ♪
And he never gets back up again.
♪ ♪
‐ On the day he dies,
Bruce does have some symptoms that match heat stroke,
which can cause fatal swelling of the brain.
♪ ♪
Could this explain Bruce's sudden death?
♪ ♪
Chan returns to the office of Dr. Beh
to scour the autopsy for other evidence
that Bruce died from heatstroke.
♪ ♪
‐ Interesting question.
Let me answer the sweat glands first, okay?
Your armpit sweat glands, or auxiliary sweat glands,
they're not that important.
Because we have sweat glands all over our skin,
for temperature control, they are not critical at all.
♪ ♪
‐ Humans lose most heat via the sweat glands
on their chest and back.
Our armpits play virtually no role
in regulating our body temperatures.
‐ I don't think that surgery is important.
But to be sure, if we look at the autopsy report‐‐
and here, we have it‐‐
here, it talks about the microscopy of the kidneys.
So it's looking down the microscope,
looking at the kidneys.
One of the things with heat‐related deaths
is that your muscles‐‐ the cells die.
The protein in the muscles actually would leak out
and get into your bloodstream,
and this protein actually will clog up your kidneys.
But it's not that.
The histology of the kidney here
is entirely normal.
‐ The autopsy contains
no evidence of kidney damage,
meaning heatstroke can be ruled out.
But Chan has uncovered that Bruce had a history
of hiding medical problems.
Maybe there was another health issue
that the martial arts superstar was keeping quiet.
♪ ♪
Could there be clues hiding in plain sight
in this fight scene from "Enter the Dragon"?
♪ ♪
‐ Bruce had lost even more weight
and looked significantly skinnier in that footage,
which was the last thing Bruce ever shot.
‐ [high‐pitched grunt]
♪ ♪
‐ Just a few months before his death,
Bruce Lee was filming "Enter the Dragon."
Some have said the final scene
filmed in the movie holds clues to his death.
‐ From the photographic record that we have,
and the film record that we have,
Bruce maintained a certain fighting weight
throughout the bulk of the shoot
of "Enter the Dragon," where he was ripped up, cut.
Well, if you look at him
in the underground fighting chamber,
when he fights with all the guys underground,
you just see every part of his physique
popping out against that black background.
‐ A month after filming has finished,
studio executives watch a screening,
and agree they want to see more of Bruce
at the beginning of the film.
‐ So they decided to pay for the fight sequence
between Bruce Lee and Sammo Hung,
which was the last thing shot for the film,
the last thing Bruce ever shot,
that we know of, in this lifetime.
And by the time they came to shoot it,
Bruce looks significantly skinnier in that footage.
♪ ♪
‐ Philip Chan wants to know
if this is a trick of the camera,
or if Bruce Lee really had lost weight,
and if so, could this be linked to his sudden death?
♪ ♪
[elevator dings]
♪ ♪
Bruce Lee was famous for making strong friendships
with his stuntmen.
One who appeared in many of his films,
including the last scenes Bruce ever shot,
is Yuen Wah.
‐ [speaking Chinese]
‐ Yuen Wah was Bruce's
stunt double in "Enter the Dragon."
♪ ♪
‐ Unlike Bruce, Yuen trained in Chinese opera,
which placed emphasis on acrobatics.
His superior tumbling skills are apparent
in "Enter the Dragon," if you know where to look.
♪ ♪
‐ So this, they shot the opening scene
at the end of the shoot.
♪ ♪
‐ The finished movie is edited
so it looks like Bruce does everything in the scene.
But according to Yuen Wah, that wasn't the case.
[laughs]
‐ This wasn't the only time in the scene
that Yuen Wah doubled for Bruce Lee.
‐ [grunting]
‐ It might look like a piece of Bruce Lee magic,
but it isn't totally of his own making.
♪ ♪
‐ Did you see anything very, very different in his physique
and his mentality compared to the beginning of the shoot?
‐ [speaks Chinese]
♪ ♪
‐ Chan has confirmation‐‐
Bruce Lee did lose weight
during the last months of his life.
Yet, Yuen Wah doesn't think
this signaled a physical health problem...
♪ ♪
‐ But was the result of Bruce overstretching himself.
♪ ♪
‐ He believes the stress of trying to make
"Enter the Dragon" a success
was the root cause of Bruce's weight loss.
‐ Well, he was already getting into his thirties,
and perhaps if we wanted
to read something more poetic into it,
he had a sense that time was running out.
I think he was driven and obsessive and‐‐you know,
and utterly committed, day‐by‐day,
to achieving his goals.
♪ ♪
‐ Bruce's autopsy backs up Yuen Wah's opinion
that the weight loss was caused by stress
rather than a deadly medical condition.
Bruce's heart is normal.
There are no signs of disease or evidence of a heart attack.
All of his other internal organs,
except his brain, are noted as being in good shape.
There are no signs of any disease
that could account for Bruce's weight loss
in the last months of his life.
♪ ♪
With this final piece of evidence,
Philip Chan can discount a medical condition
as the cause of Bruce Lee's death.
He has already eliminated poisoning,
a hit by the Triads,
and the official verdict
of fatal allergic reaction to aspirin.
He is running out of options.
But could the mystery of Bruce's passing
finally be solved by a brand new theory?
‐ I wasn't expecting that answer, but I accept it.
♪ ♪
‐ In "Enter the Dragon,"
Bruce Lee announced himself on the world stage.
He brought martial arts to a global audience
for the first time.
The movie is one of the most profitable ever made
and proved that a Chinese‐American
could be the hero in a Hollywood film.
‐ For anybody who has felt like they're the underdog,
Bruce is, like, a hero in that respect,
because you could be like, "Oh, wow, like,
"look at this 5'7" guy,
"who weighs maybe 120 pounds,
"beating up all of these villains,
"and he's able to do it with grace,
"he's able to do it with dignity,
and he's able to do it with a sense of style."
You're like, "I can be that too."
And that's the power of representation.
‐ As well as breaking down barriers,
"Enter the Dragon" is one of the most influential movies
in the history of cinema.
‐ When you watch a movie like "The Matrix" or "Jason Bourne,"
what you see is Bruce Lee‐type choreography.
It's high‐impact. It's, like, hyper‐realism.
And yet it's grounded in a certain kind
of messy reality.
It's bloody. It's brutal.
It's not dance choreography.
All of our fight choreography in the west
is Bruce Lee fight choreography.
♪ ♪
‐ But cruelly, Bruce never knew
of the movie's cultural and financial success...
‐ One day he was alive and well,
and he was being Bruce Lee, and he was on the verge
of achieving everything he'd ever dreamed of.
And the next, he just was gone.
‐ Leaving the people of Hong Kong in disbelief
at the loss of their hero.
‐ They had read in the newspaper Bruce Lee was dead.
They had to come to the funeral to be absolutely sure.
It just didn't feel like it could be possible.
And you see the massive throng of crowds outside,
and then you see the mass of people inside the funeral home
and you get a sense of the loss
and a communal sharing of grief.
♪ ♪
‐ Those who knew him personally
struggled for answers.
♪ ♪
‐ There is one person who has never fully come to terms
with Bruce's passing.
‐ After his death, so many stories floated around.
I wish, you know, somebody can really prove to me
the real truth.
♪ ♪
‐ Bruce's brother Robert has asked his friend
and ex‐detective Philip Chan to re‐investigate,
but he has struggled to find a cast iron reason
for Bruce's death.
♪ ♪
Now he is returning to forensic pathologist Dr. Beh,
who has spotted something unusual
on the night that Bruce Lee died.
‐ Now, as far as the information I get
from all the documents you have,
the Equagesic that Betty gave Bruce...
♪ ♪
It wasn't something that Bruce took regularly.
‐ Equagesic is the painkiller Bruce takes
to combat a headache.
It contains aspirin,
but also another drug called meprobamate.
‐ Realistically, the discussion boils down
to the aspirin and the meprobamate.
‐ In 1973, the official verdict
was Bruce Lee was killed by the aspirin,
but there is no scientific evidence
that he reacted to this drug.
‐ Aspirin is so common.
Now, you know, people take it for prevention of stroke,
for prevention of heart attacks.
So that leaves us with this‐‐with meprobamate.
‐ Meprobamate is a tranquilizer,
which was very popular in the U. S. during the 1950s.
Under the name Miltown, it was prescribed to millions
as a reliever of stress and anxiety.
But in recent years,
the drug has been banned in numerous countries
because of its harmful side effects.
‐ There are reports of people having
idiosyncratic reactions to meprobamate
and it possibly causing death.
♪ ♪
‐ These idiosyncratic reactions
are hard to predict,
as they only happen in a handful of people.
Dr. Beh thinks Bruce was one of the unlucky ones.
‐ Meprobamate caused this swelling of the brain
in Bruce Lee, leading to him dying.
‐ So Bruce Lee was killed by idiosyncratic reaction
to one tablet.
‐ Yep. Sadly.
♪ ♪
‐ This is a brand new theory.
Meprobamate has never before been put forward
as Bruce Lee's killer,
but the emergence of new scientific evidence
in the years since Bruce died makes it a prime suspect.
Just as in 1973,
the conclusion is that Bruce Lee's death
was a tragic accident,
his fate was sealed the moment he chose to take
a single Equagesic tablet.
♪ ♪
‐ Would his death be painless?
‐ Well, from what we know of the scene,
the description was he looked like he was in a deep sleep,
lying there, you know, peacefully.
And probably, because of the cerebral swelling,
he was unconscious.
So again, probably no pain either.
♪ ♪
‐ For Chan, this marks the end of the investigation,
but there's one more person he needs to talk to‐‐
Bruce's brother, Robert Lee.
‐ Robert. ‐ Yes.
‐ Are you ready for my conclusion?
‐ Yes.
♪ ♪
‐ Okay.
First of all, I would like to tell you
that your brother didn't die of an allergy to aspirin.
♪ ♪
And there was no evidence of Bruce
being the victim of foul play.
Now,
despite your brother's reluctance
to reveal medical problems to you or anybody else,
you know, I can't find a link between a medical condition
and his death at all.
Actually, we left no stone unturned.
‐ Okay.
‐ I returned to what happened on that‐‐
on the night of 20th of July, 1973.
The only thing out of the ordinary
was that he took that‐‐
that one single tablet of Equagesic, okay?
It contains aspirin, but aspirin
isn't the only thing in that drug.
There's another chemical called meprobamate.
Now, in recent years, medical findings
have discovered that this particular element
could have a fatal effect on some patients,
although it wasn't known at the time.
The conclusion that I reached, therefore,
is that your brother
seem to have reacted to meprobamate,
and this was the only thing that killed him.
So it was a very tragic accident.
♪ ♪
‐ Well... [sighs]
I wasn't expecting that answer, but...
coming from you, I accept it.
I accept it. ‐ It's very unfortunate.
I can‐‐ I can share your feelings,
now that we've‐‐we've been involved in this for a while.
And at least we can get a lot of the other
so‐called mysteries out of the way
and do him the justice he deserves.
But I can tell you one thing‐‐ there was no pain.
He passed away peacefully.
‐ Yeah. Yeah.
Thank you. Thank you, Philip.
I was expecting to get an answer
that will make me fall off my chair.
But instead, it didn't,
but I felt good and peaceful about it,
because I was hoping
that it will not be foul play,
that it will not be some freak,
weird person trying to kill Bruce.
You know, this so solid
and scientific an answer that I can really accept.
♪ ♪
Bruce passed away when he was 32 years old
when he was at the prime,
at the peak of his physique,
and at the peak of his intelligence.
And he did something that nobody can achieve.
And I think I have closure now.
♪ ♪
‐ Bruce will always be with us. ‐ Yep.
He will always be with us. Yep, that's right.
[sighs]
♪ ♪
‐ Bruce Lee's death has always been surrounded by mystery
and subject to wild conspiracy theories.
Now this investigation has forensically searched
through the evidence and arrived at a new conclusion.
After almost five decades of hurt,
Robert Lee finally has an answer for how his brother,
the greatest martial arts movie star of all time,
really died. [all shouting]
Thank you for watching
"History's Greatest Mysteries."
♪ ♪