The Death of Bruce Lee
On 20 July 1973, Lee was in Hong Kong, due to have dinner with former James Bond star George Lazenby, with whom he intended to make a film. According to Lee's wife Linda, Lee met producer Raymond Chow at 2 p.m. at home to discuss the making of the movie Game of Death. They worked until 4 p.m. and then drove together to the home of Lee's colleague Betty Ting, a Taiwanese actress. The three went over the script at Ting's home, and then Chow left to attend a dinner meeting.
Later Lee complained of a headache, and Ting gave him an analgesic (painkiller), Equagesic, which contained both aspirin and a muscle relaxant. Around 7:30 p.m., he went to lie down for a nap. When Lee did not turn up for dinner, Chow came to the apartment but could not wake Lee up. A doctor was summoned, who spent ten minutes attempting to revive him before sending him by ambulance to Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Lee was dead by the time he reached the hospital.
There was no visible external injury; however according to autopsy reports, his brain had swollen considerably, from 1,400 to 1,575 grams (a 13% increase). Lee was 32 years old. The only substance found during the autopsy was Equagesic. On 15 October 2005, Chow stated in an interview that Lee died from a hypersensitivity to the muscle relaxant in Equagesic, which he described as a common ingredient in painkillers. When the doctors announced Lee's death officially, it was ruled a "death by misadventure."
Controversy occurred when Dr. Don Langford, who was Lee's personal physician in Hong Kong and had treated Lee during his first collapse believed that "Equagesic was not at all involved in Bruce's first collapse."
However Professor R.D. Teare, a forensic scientist recommended by Scotland Yard who had overseen over 1000 autopsies, was the top expert assigned to the Lee case. His conclusion was that the death was caused by an acute cerebral edema due to a reaction to compounds present in the prescription pain killing drug Equagesic.
The preliminary opinion of the neurosurgeon who saved Lee's life during his first seizure, Peter Wu, was that the cause of death should have been attributed to either a reaction to cannabis or Equagesic. However, Dr. Wu later backed off from this position:
"Professor Teare was a forensic scientist recommended by Scotland Yard; he was brought in as an expert on cannabis and we can't contradict his testimony. The dosage of cannabis is neither precise nor predictable, but I've never known of anyone dying simply from taking it."His wife Linda returned to her home town of Seattle, and had him buried at lot 276 of Lakeview Cemetery. Pallbearers at his funeral on 31 July 1973 included Taky Kimura, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Chuck Norris, George Lazenby, Dan Inosanto, Peter Chin, and his brother Robert Lee.
His iconic status and untimely demise fed many theories about his death, including murder involving the Triad society and a supposed curse on him and his family. Black Belt magazine in 1985 carried the speculation that the death of Bruce Lee in 1973 may have been caused by "a delayed reaction to a Dim Mak strike he received several weeks prior to his collapse". As well other authors have said the death of Bruce Lee may have been due to a "Vibrating Palm technique".
Lee's son, Brandon Lee, also an actor, died 20 years after his father, in a bizarre accident while filming The Crow at the age of 28. It was released after his death and gained cult status, as had his father's last film. (The Crow was completed with the use of computer-generated imagery and a stunt double in the few but critical scenes that remained to be filmed.) Brandon Lee was buried beside his father.
After his death, many rumors spread such as Betty Ting as Bruce Lee's mistress, however, this is false. Even Betty Ting said that Bruce Lee was a good friend and said she would never do anything to harm Bruce Lee. In 1983, however, she decided to break her silence on an Asian TV show, and told the world that she would never have done anything to hurt Bruce as he was a very good friend. She's even writing a book because still many rumors of Bruce Lee still are spreading around.
"It's complicated because it involves other people. Maybe because I was too demanding, or people didn't understand me ... then later on I didn't want to deal with it. Perhaps it wasn't the right time [to publish the book]," Ms Ting said.
"But now I should be prepared for this. Bruce gave me a lot and he really respected me. So I must not disappoint him."
Later Lee complained of a headache, and Ting gave him an analgesic (painkiller), Equagesic, which contained both aspirin and a muscle relaxant. Around 7:30 p.m., he went to lie down for a nap. When Lee did not turn up for dinner, Chow came to the apartment but could not wake Lee up. A doctor was summoned, who spent ten minutes attempting to revive him before sending him by ambulance to Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Lee was dead by the time he reached the hospital.
There was no visible external injury; however according to autopsy reports, his brain had swollen considerably, from 1,400 to 1,575 grams (a 13% increase). Lee was 32 years old. The only substance found during the autopsy was Equagesic. On 15 October 2005, Chow stated in an interview that Lee died from a hypersensitivity to the muscle relaxant in Equagesic, which he described as a common ingredient in painkillers. When the doctors announced Lee's death officially, it was ruled a "death by misadventure."
Controversy occurred when Dr. Don Langford, who was Lee's personal physician in Hong Kong and had treated Lee during his first collapse believed that "Equagesic was not at all involved in Bruce's first collapse."
However Professor R.D. Teare, a forensic scientist recommended by Scotland Yard who had overseen over 1000 autopsies, was the top expert assigned to the Lee case. His conclusion was that the death was caused by an acute cerebral edema due to a reaction to compounds present in the prescription pain killing drug Equagesic.
The preliminary opinion of the neurosurgeon who saved Lee's life during his first seizure, Peter Wu, was that the cause of death should have been attributed to either a reaction to cannabis or Equagesic. However, Dr. Wu later backed off from this position:
"Professor Teare was a forensic scientist recommended by Scotland Yard; he was brought in as an expert on cannabis and we can't contradict his testimony. The dosage of cannabis is neither precise nor predictable, but I've never known of anyone dying simply from taking it."His wife Linda returned to her home town of Seattle, and had him buried at lot 276 of Lakeview Cemetery. Pallbearers at his funeral on 31 July 1973 included Taky Kimura, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Chuck Norris, George Lazenby, Dan Inosanto, Peter Chin, and his brother Robert Lee.
His iconic status and untimely demise fed many theories about his death, including murder involving the Triad society and a supposed curse on him and his family. Black Belt magazine in 1985 carried the speculation that the death of Bruce Lee in 1973 may have been caused by "a delayed reaction to a Dim Mak strike he received several weeks prior to his collapse". As well other authors have said the death of Bruce Lee may have been due to a "Vibrating Palm technique".
Lee's son, Brandon Lee, also an actor, died 20 years after his father, in a bizarre accident while filming The Crow at the age of 28. It was released after his death and gained cult status, as had his father's last film. (The Crow was completed with the use of computer-generated imagery and a stunt double in the few but critical scenes that remained to be filmed.) Brandon Lee was buried beside his father.
After his death, many rumors spread such as Betty Ting as Bruce Lee's mistress, however, this is false. Even Betty Ting said that Bruce Lee was a good friend and said she would never do anything to harm Bruce Lee. In 1983, however, she decided to break her silence on an Asian TV show, and told the world that she would never have done anything to hurt Bruce as he was a very good friend. She's even writing a book because still many rumors of Bruce Lee still are spreading around.
"It's complicated because it involves other people. Maybe because I was too demanding, or people didn't understand me ... then later on I didn't want to deal with it. Perhaps it wasn't the right time [to publish the book]," Ms Ting said.
"But now I should be prepared for this. Bruce gave me a lot and he really respected me. So I must not disappoint him."
In Conclusion
It seems though people took the rumor too far of Betty Ting being mistress of Bruce Lee, it's not the fact. It says it right up there that Bruce Lee, Ray and George were all invited to Betty Ting's house for dinner and Chow left after dinner meeting but Bruce Lee only stayed probably to go over the script. But who knows, Betty Ting is writing the book about that day, for years, she was hiding in the shadow of media, reporters and people because she was scared of facing such thing after Bruce Lee just passed away.
