Brandon Lee

Ask a martial artist what he or she misses most about Brandon Lee, and you will get several different answers. Ask his mother what she misses most about Lee, and you can't get an answer. "What do I miss most about him?" asks Linda Lee Cadwell. "That is impossible to answer." It's impossible to answer because there is so much to miss. In 28 years, some of the memories include his girlfriends, school, the martial arts, hard times, good times, laughing, crying and learning how to ride a bicycle. The list goes on. "I used to have great talks with him regarding life, love, his career and the future," Cadwell continues. "He had a philosophical side. Maybe what I miss most are the great talks we used to have." That broke the ice. "He had such a terrific sense of humor," Cadwell adds. "He used to tell jokes, play jokes and he used to laugh so much. And he could always make you laugh. He used to do some elaborate things with that sense of humor, but it was always done with good taste." Lee's wonderful sense of humor developed at an early age. In the fourth grade, for example, he taped some sound effects of a monster from television and put the tape recorder in the school closet. He left the first 10 minutes of the tape blank and recorded it so the noises progressively got louder. "One of the students was making a speech when the noises started coming out of the closet," she says. "Everyone was amazed, and the teacher chuckled about it. He was, however, sent to the principal's office." Cadwell has many other fond memories of her son, who died last March 31 after being shot in the abdomen during the filming of The Crow, a $14 million movie that was being filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina. He was 28. "I remember how he matured," Cadwell says. "He was also a man with a great future in front of him, and I am proud of how he got back into the martial arts." When Bruce Lee (Brandon's father) died, Brandon repudiated the martial arts, mainly because training reminded him too much of his father, she says. "I thought it was a shame that he didn't want to train, but I was not going to force him," Cadwell says. "l figured when he is ready he would do it. When he was 18, he began training again, and I was proud of him. He was always a determined young man, outspoken and goaloriented."

Brandon — who was born in Oakland, California, and raised in Los Angeles - demonstrated those traits early in life. "I remember very clearly when he wanted to go into acting," Cadwell says. "He was 8 years old, which is how old he was when his dad died. Maybe that is why he wanted to go into movies." Cadwell never dissuaded him from acting, but she always stressed the importance of an allaround education so he would have something to fall back on in case he changed his mind or found out that show business was not what he expected. "From Bruce's experiences, I knew that show business can be tough on your psyche," she says. "Therefore, I wanted him to consider all of his options. There were times, however, when it was tough to get Brandon to go to school because he did not see any reason to study math and science." Brandon's determination definitely paid off. He got his first professional acting job at age 20 when he appeared in the television pilot Kung Fu: The Movie with David Carradine, and his first starring role was in the Hong Kong film Legacy of Rage. In 1991, he made his American movie debut in Showdown in Little Tokyo, starring with Dolph Lundgren. The 1992 release Rapid Fire was the first of a three-picture deal Lee negotiated with 20th Century Fox. Alan Nierob, Brandon's publicist, said his client's career was just beginning to blossom. "He had a hugh future in the film buisness," Nierbo says. "Brandon had a broad mass appeal nationally and internationally. He was on his way. Not only did he have talent and looks, but he had ability." When Brandon finally made it to the silver screen, Cadwell was not surprised. "I never doubted that he would do it," she says. "He worked so hard to achieve this. He was driven. He never sat around and waited for breaks. He went out and created his own opportunities."

When she watched him perform, she usually forgot he was her son. "I remember watching him in a lead role in high school, and I thought he was a natural," Cadwell says. "He assumed the character easily, and he was believable. When I saw him on the screen, he got into the role the same way, and I would forget that I was watching my son. I was very proud of him." In Lee's final project, The Crow, he portrayed a rock star who was killed by a drug gang, but is reincarnated and avenges his death. Ironically, Brandon, who was engaged to Eliza Hutton at the time of his untimely death, was killed during the filming of the scene in which his character dies. In the scene, filmed shortly after midnight on soundstage four at Corolco Studios, Brandon walked through a doorway carrying a bag of groceries when actor Michael Massee, who played a villain, fired at him from about 15 feet away. Brandon's friends were saddened and shocked by his death. "His death was unexpected, and I was speechless," says Dan Lee, chief instructor at the Southern California Tai Chi Chuan Center in Pasadena, and a former training partner of Bruce Lee. "This was Bruce's only son. It is tragic." Carradine, who stars in the television series, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, initially thought the news report of Brandon's death was a mistake. "When one of our number goes down, it touches me deeply, especially with someone I worked with," Carradine says. "We had a lot of fun together. He was easy to get along with, and he put a lot of effort into his work. I will really miss him." No one, however, will miss him as much as his mother. "I will miss him every day of my life," Cadwell says.

by Douglas Jeffrey
Entertainment, 1995


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