Brandon Lee - The Biography                            

“I had a normal childhood. I never wanted a different one”.  – Brandon Lee

Brandon Bruce Lee made his way into the world on February 1, 1965, in Oakland, California. He was the first and only son of Linda Emery (an American of Swedish descent) and the legendary martial artist Bruce Lee.  Weighing in at a healthy eight pounds and eleven ounces, Brandon was off to a good start. Brandon’s father Bruce although born in the United States in 1940, lived from age 3 months in the British Colony of Hong Kong. In 1959, at age 18 he left to live with family friends in the U.S, finally settling in Seattle, Washington, where he met Brandon’s mother, Linda in 1963.

The happy occasion of Brandon’s birth was marred by the sudden death of Bruce’s father Li Hoi Cheun only five days. Shortly after Bruce was asked to test for TV producer William Dozier. The test paved the way for Bruce to be chosen to co-star in a new action drama that was based on the comic book ‘The Green Hornet’. Although busy trying to build a career in Hollywood for himself, Bruce took great pride in his new role as father.

Brandon’s childhood could hardly be compared by most. His father Bruce (born in the U.S but had migrated from Hong Kong in 1959) was a uniquely committed martial artist who founded his own martial art, Jeet Kune Do in 1966. He was eager to share this new art with his toddler son, who took to it like a duck to water.

Brandon’s Mother Linda, commented that, "Brandon was a challenging kid to raise because he was always challenging the norm.”  As a child he was not afraid of trying new things, as he wanted to experience all he could (not unlike how he was as an adult). As an adult he developed the reputation among his circle of friends of somebody that was a seeker.  Brandon described his childhood as “normal”, despite the unusual experiences that he occurred that his classmates could hardly relate to. Having older men yelling and screaming in the backyard was considered normal to Brandon, however, it was not always considered normal outside of his family’s walls. This proved to be the case when Brandon would bring his playmates home from his class. As soon as they would observe Brandon's father and his friends sparring and performing numerous drills, they would run screaming from the house. For Brandon, his friend’s reactions must have been very confusing.

In 1967, the TV series that Bruce was staring in as Kato, The Green hornet was cancelled. The event left Bruce Lee’s Hollywood career to take a dramatic stop. Bruce began giving Gung Fu lessons to celebrity clients, but he remained frustrated at the level of racism in Hollywood, that prevented him from perusing more mainstream Hollywood roles. In 1970, while trying to arrange a visa for his mother to come to the United States, the older Lee took Brandon to Hong Kong. Brandon later recalled the "smell of Hong Kong" was his first impression of the city. In Hong Kong, Bruce found out that the Green Hornet show had been renamed the Kato show, and he was indeed a hero in his hometown. Taking advantage of whatever opportunities he could, Bruce was invited to appear on a talk show, with Brandon in tow, they performed a father and son marvel. Bruce showed off his JKD skills on Hong Kong television, as did 5-year-old Brandon, who demonstrated that he was very much like his father by kicking and then breaking a board. As an adult, Brandon recalled the experience, joking that “ Here I was Bruce Lee’s son and you on TV to break a board. What if I didn’t break the board? Can you imagine?”

Brandon did break the board and the appearance caught the eye of Hong Kong producer Raymond Chow, who signed Bruce to a film contract with his company Golden Harvest Pictures. Soon after Bruce relocated the Family (Brandon’s younger sister, Shannon was born April 19, 1969), from Los Angeles to Hong Kong, where Brandon started to attend La Salle College, a Chinese catholic boy school, which his father Bruce had attended as a child. He had to wear a uniform, and was required to learn to speak and write in Chinese. For such an adventurous child, the discipline standards of a Catholic boys school would have been an eye-opener to say the least. As his father's career started to soar, he began having trouble at school because of Bruce's celebrity status in Hong Kong. Bruce career became so high profile that Brandon and his younger sister, Shannon had to be escorted to school of a morning, because of fears that they might be kidnapped. Brandon later recalled the kind of crowds that used to await him and his sister as they were driven to school saying that," they would often have to push people out of the way so they could open the gate to get the car out of the driveway."

Brandon also would visit his father on the sets of his films, which he later described as “Magic”.  It was around the time his father’s career was rising in Hong Kong that Brandon developed a keen interest in performing, acting and movie making in particular. Armed with the family’s SUPER 8 camera, Brandon with the aid of his sister and some childhood friends, Brandon created little films and plays that they would often perform for family members. As an adult, Brandon recalled that while the films were hardly what one would consider “great art”, they were his first attempts at film acting that usually were comprised of brief storylines such as that of a lover handing a girl a rose.  Children mirror what they see, so the progression for Brandon to explore the “actor” in him at an early age was very natural. However, there were challenges for the young boy, one being that his father’s “star” status in Hong Kong also brought certain luxuries with it. As an adult, Brandon described this time in retrospect as a “testing” time in his childhood, and one particular incident involving a conversation with a brother (teaching priest) at La Salle College, where the young 8 year old announced that he could do what he wanted that his father was “more famous than Jesus Christ”. It was no great shock that this remark was not well received at a Catholic school, and the result was disciplinary action. Despite the difficulties with understanding what stardom exactly meant at his age, Brandon also observed the kind of negative aspects it could have on a person’s physical capabilities, saying in 1991 that one night he had stayed up late to wait for his father, who was working late at the studio, when he came home he was physically drained. Brandon kept hold of that memory and as he grew into his own film career it served as an important lesson of what potentially actors sacrifice for their art.  While Brandon observed some of the pitfalls of being the son of a famous actor, it never affected how he felt about his father. Shortly before Bruce Lee’s death in1973, Brandon wrote in a letter that, “Bruce Lee is my hero”. Bruce was equally proud of his young son and expressed to journalists that Brandon “takes after me. He is full of energy and does not sit still for a moment”. The tight bond that was Bruce and Brandon shared would be challenged by the sudden death of Bruce Lee on July 20, 1973. Brandon was just 8 years old.

The “sorta” fairytale that Brandon lived as a young boy was about to enter a new direction, one that would prove to be the source of his life wound – the death of his hero and father, Bruce Lee.  Like most children who lose a parent at a young and impressionable age, the experience changed Brandon’s world forever, his mother, Linda Lee Cadwell saying that, “to explain to this child that the hero of his life was no longer coming home was incomprehensible to him”.  The sudden and unexpected death of Bruce Lee at 32, who was still as invincible to his son would be the beginning of a long journey Brandon would endure within his soul, trying to come to terms with not only losing his role model, but of one who became more famous in death than he was in life to the world.  Brandon and his sister, Shannon were blessed with the strength and good instincts of their mother, Linda Lee, who at only 28 was a widow of two young children, and in change of a martial art legacy much bigger than they could ever imagined. Bruce’s death was immediately the darling of the tabloid media with headlines in Hong Kong taking on epic strength, filled with outrageous rumors. Linda took her children on the first plane out to Hong Kong and back to the calming environment of Seattle, Washington.

After his father's very public funeral in Hong Kong, and a more private one in Seattle, Washington, Brandon's mother Linda settled the family in Los Angeles in 1974, later describing the move from Seattle of “not being able to go back”. The dramatic rise of Bruce Lee to iconic status in the U.S.A made it virtually impossible for Brandon and Shannon to have completely normal lives, but Linda was determined to make it as normal as possible.  While Brandon grew up mainly in Los Angeles, he did not grow up in the scene of “Hollywood”, and avoided nearly all of the trappings that many children of celebrities faced.  The peaceful environment of the South Bay area of Rolling Hills provided the Lees with a new life, and a new kind of normal for the growing Lee children. It was in Los Angeles where the 9 year old had to adjust to his now very different life and his new role as head of the family.  The natural friendly and extroverted Brandon became more introspective and distant. Brandon’s mother tried to open up dialogue with her children to discuss the passing of their father, with the 4 year old, Shannon not quite understanding what dead meant, and the 8 year old brooding, Brandon refusing to speak about his father. Linda Lee started to realize that the pain of his father’s death was not about to get easier by trying to force Brandon to speak about his father, instead she left Brandon to grieve in his own way and not push the issue anymore.

Not long after settling back into Los Angeles life, Linda Lee enrolled Brandon in a martial arts school, the IMB Academy. The IMB academy, located in Torrance, California which at that time run by Bruce Lee's students, Dan Inosanto and Richard Bustillo. The experience of picking up his martial arts training with his father’s students was not an easy one to adjust to for the young Lee. Brandon was still coming to terms with his own grief, and the many photos that graced the academy were too much for him and he ran crying from the class. It was also at the academy that the 9-year-old Brandon would first met the 18-year-old Jeff Imada, who would became one of his best friends and his primary training partner as an adult. Imada was a newly made junior instructor and would help teach the children's class. Imada would go on to much success as a stunt coordinator in Hollywood, and would later work on all of Brandon's American feature films. Brandon eventually drifted from the martial arts, turning his back on the only tie he had to his father's chief discipline and life’s passion.

However, Brandon was never one to shy from action and throughout his childhood he was active in all sports, including baseball, soccer and table tennis. As he grew older, his natural talent in comedy begun to emerge. He was a great comedian, who was blessed with a wonderful sense of humor.  This humor began to be expressed in practical jokes. In the fourth Grade, he taped a sound effect of a monster from TV, and then during a class presentation of one of his fellow students, he left a tape recorder in the class closet, and left the first 10 minutes blank, so the noises progressively got louder. While one of the students was making a speech, the sonic volume increased. The class was in laughter at the marvel of the joke and the teacher in amazement, but Brandon was sent to the principal’s office. Such activities became frequent throughout his teenage years. As an adult Brandon adored playing elaborate practical jokes on his friends, often going to extraordinary lengths to make his jokes achieve legendary status.  The exploration of his self through comedic acts during his childhood provide some solace away from his father’s shadow, and allowed Brandon to attract friends on his own terms. Still, there were challenges, especially since Brandon often felt his first name was overlooked for the comma of “Bruce Lee’s son”.

The older Brandon got, the more he struggled with the shadow of Bruce lee. He was constantly being challenged at school in the playground. Brandon later referred to this period of his life as the “ gunslinger syndrome”. Childhood it is said often can feel like the cruelest place on earth, and this was surely the case for young Brandon Lee. As an adult, Brandon recalled how easy it was for someone to provoke a fight with him, “Frankly all someone had to say was ‘Your Bruce Lee's son, well your father was a wimp', I don't consider getting into fights particularly admirable. I think it's the natural responsibility of an involved martial artist to avoid a confrontation. Within the last few years I have taken great pains to that unless someone physically threatens me”. It was often his lack of self- restraint that got him kicked out of several high schools for insubordination.

In his senior year, while he was attending an exclusive private school, The Chadwick School, located in Palos Verdes Peninsula section of Los Angeles, he was elected student body president, but his ideas for the private school did not fit in well with the strict environment of the administration. He started to display disrespect, even antagonism for teachers and three months shy of graduating he was asked to leave the school, he later saying, " The little piece of paper they gave me said I had a bad attitude toward the educational process and was a poisonous influence on the minds of my fellow students.'' Brandon received his GED, from a nearly High school.

His erratic nature during his teenage years was not confined to his school. As a teenager he had erected a tree house in the backyard and one night decided to liberate a car. After realizing that he was being followed by the LAPD patrol car, he decided to “ride it out”, as he later recalled and drove it home to his mother’s house. He then casually walked into the house. The following patrol officer woke his sleeping mother. No charges were filed, but she ordered Brandon to destroy his tree house as punishment. Brandon was trying hard to find his own identity and tearing down the 'Bruce Lee's' son image any way he could.

Brandon was eager to be free of the constraints of parental and worldly expectations. In the summer of 1982, the then 17-year-old decided to spend his summer hitchhiking around the western United States. As avid fan of the infamous road trip book, 'On The Road', Brandon later described the adventures and stories he received from the older men and women, who would pick him up as he made his way traveling. Brandon would have a lifelong fascination with road trips and loved getting the wind in his hair. Freedom, some people felt, should of been his middle name.

Brandon’s practical joking manner became more elborate as he aged. In 1983, when he was 18, Brandon went to the DMV and posed as a driving instructor. He managed to convince a 16-year-old girl that he was her instructor. He commented later that it was his last joke that potentially could have gotten him arrested, " I figured this was the last time I'd be able to get away with anything serious - like committing a felony, such as impersonating an officer." Brandon joked in his later years that one day the girl was going to go to the films and realize he was the “dumb jerk who made me take my test twice”. Despite his need to perform humorous acts, if only for his personal enjoyable, he did start to develop some maturity and knowing when not to push things too far.

After he received his GED he had not wanted to go to college, but family friend Andre Morgan convinced him otherwise. Brandon moved to the east coast city of Boston to attend the arts orientated university Emerson College. At Emerson, he majored in Theatre Studies, but the academic life was one not for him, stating in 1992, that he “never had any intention of graduating,'' and he soon left. Brandon was still struggling with not only being Bruce lee's son, and accepting other people's perception of him, but was desperate for people to see that he was serious about acting.

After a year in Boston, he moved to New York City to take acting lessons under the tuition of Eric Morris, and  later forming a theatre group in Los Angeles, The American New Theatre with Morris, screenwriter John Lee Hancock, Bill Allen, and another actor George Davis. While still in NYC he preformed repertory plays such as Fool for love, Cowboy Nam, and Into the fire, as well as one man plays like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintainence. He also Played ‘Ged’, in an Equity Waver House production of Zoo Story. To support himself like many struggling actors he worked as a waiter. In addition to Eric Morris classes, he attended the Lee Strasburg Acting Academy. At the time of his death in 1993, he was still actively involved in acting classes, studying under Lynette Katselas in Los Angeles, and had a regular theatre group called Illegal Aliens, with who he frequently preformed plays with. It was Brandon's hope that after he was more established, he could financially support the group, so they could perform more often in their own theatre space. To Brandon, it was more important to continue to act in whatever fashion, and to support others in his field with theatre groups, instead of going for the big bucks and buying a bigger home, stating ' if it means not having the largest mobile home or whatever, then that's fine.'

In 1985, while back in L.A, working as a office boy for Ruddy/Morgan productions, he was introduced to casting director Lyn Stalmaster, who was looking for a young actor to play a bit part in Cannonball 3. Brandon looking for a chance to gain his SAG union card and to get out of the mundanely of office life, he went along to the casting call. He did not get the part, but he was asked to read for the part in a tele-movie that Stalmaster was casting. The project was Kung Fu: The movie. At first Brandon didn't want to do the part, he had worked hard at acting, and did not want to be pigeon holed into doing Kung Fu films, because of his father. He was intensely proud of his father, but still unable to come to terms with the shadow and impact of his father's legend. Brandon sought some solace in his mother's advice, who told him that doors may open to him, but it was up to him to get behind that door to prove to others what he is made of. He decided to take the role but promised himself that he would not ride on his father’s coat tails.

Brandon makes his debut....

Brandon knew comparisons would be made between him and his father, but he also knew that he had the opportunity to make a name for himself, and had to take it. On Brandon's 21st Birthday, he made his Debut in ‘Kung Fu: The Movie’ co-staring with David Carradine, who stared in the original TV series. The original series was in fact partly created by his father Bruce under the title of ‘ The Warrior’. Bruce was later denied the lead role because it was feared 1960's American audiences could not relate to an Asian actor in the lead role.

Brandon was not entirely comfortable with performing martial arts on screen, but still was able to shine in such a stereotypical role. With the help of martial arts guru, Mike Vendrell, he was able to look like he never had had a break in his martial arts training. After filming, Brandon took up more regular training with Vendrell for several years, before he decided to go back to Dan Inosanto and train more specifically in his father’s arts, plus all Inosanto had to offer. Brandon followed the Kung Fu: The Movie role with a leading role in a Hong Kong production ‘Legacy of Rage’. After which he returned to L.A to film a pilot of ‘Kung Fu: The next Generation’, but the show was not picked up. Brandon was very disappointed that the pilot was not picked up, and was starting to realize how difficult the Hollywood game was. He then stared in an episode of O'Hara in 1988, playing his first and only bad guy role, staring along side Jeff Imada (who played one of Brandon's henchmen).

In the summer of 1988, he went to South Africa to star in an English-German production called ‘Laser Mission’. Brandon now was becoming increasing frustrated at his lack of opportunities in the U.S. The experience filming Laser Mission was not a good one, though the role would best be described as a B-grade attempt at a James Bond thriller, and he did get the chance to practice his comic timing, and diversity within an action setting. Later, when he began working steadily in Hollywood films he refused to discuss Laser Mission.

 Time for a change...

By 1989 times were tough for Brandon. He was in professional abyss, surviving just barely. His life both professional and personal had come to a crossroads, and so he decided something had to change. Pondering over the unpaid bills, and how his film career had not really gone as planned. He made the bold decision to go back to where it all started. Instead of running away from his heritage, he was going to embrace it. He returned to the instructorship of Dan Inosanto, his father chief student. Brandon started to train several times a week at the world famous Inosanto Academy (which Inosanto set up after he left the IMB academy) located in the Los Angeles area of Marina Del Rey. At first, Inosanto was unsure at how his other students would react to the news of Brandon training at the academy saying, "I was Afraid that some of my students might take it easy on him because of his father ,however, he turned out just beautiful."   In fact Brandon's parentage was hardly even an issue. His appearance at the academy was very low key. Brandon embrace not only training in his father's art of JKD, but he also wanted to learn anything he possibly could from a wide variety of other martial arts. He attended seminars given by the academy, and in 1990 he took and passed his Muay Thai test for level one instructorship, which was an extremely difficult test to pass. Brandon Became only one out of 16 people certified that year under the Thai kick boxing master, Chai Sirisute. His commitment to his training paid off when a burglar broke into Brandon's house in Echo Park in late 1990. Brandon's martial artist’s instinct set in. The burglar in question not only did not escape, but Brandon managed to break several limbs of the burglars. After the burglar got out of the hospital he was sentenced to 2 years in Jail for breaking and entering. The story of the burglar became legendary, with Brandon bragging about the successful fight for several years.

Brandon had also reached new heights in his confidence towards himself and his own martial arts abilities. He began to take an interest in how fight scenes worked. He studied his father's films and those of Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung, as well as other Hong Kong films and martial artists. He broke the scene down to see what fights worked. Setting his mind on future roles he took his video camera down to the Academy and filmed how people moved naturally. It was his hope to portray more realistic fights on screen. Brandon's friend Chad Stahelski, who frequently trained with Brandon remembers Brandon's drive, "He'd have this idea of martial arts, what was cool and how to shoot it." Often Brandon asked his academy friends to meet him at the Inosanto Academy of a Sunday, when it was closed to film mock fight scenes. In preparation for Rapid Fire, Brandon wanted to construct realistic fighting in a fantasy scenario. For the first time in his young life, he was starting to finally being making strides in martial arts on his own, away from the label of being Bruce Lee’s son.

There had been a lot of changes in his life. 1990 served as the year Brandon would meet the love of his life, Eliza “ Lisa” Hutton. The perceived shy and reserved brunette impressed Brandon at their first meeting. It soon became apparent that the couple were very much in love. Eliza was action director Renny Harlin's Personal assistant. Harlin and Brandon shared the same agent, David Goldman at the William Morris Agency at the time. After Brandon met Eliza he told his own manager/friend Jan Mc Cormack that he had found the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. The pair became inseparable. Note: For more on Brandon and Eliza please visit our page on this aspect of his life.

In early 1991, Brandon won the supporting role in Showdown in Little Tokyo (SILT). At the time Brandon had been working with Producer Robert Lawrence on getting Rapid fire off the ground. He had been active on the audition circuit when SILT fell in his lap. It became his American feature film debut. After the completion of SILT, Brandon started filming Rapid fire (Originally called "Moving Target"). He was finally getting the chance to star in his own lead role and he was ready for this. In preparation, Lee had enlisted the help of a personal trainer to tone his body and make him look right for the part of an athletic college student. He met Darryl Chan on the set of SILT, where Chan was hired as a stuntman. On the first day of shooting Lee had approached Chan and told him that he would be the first person he would be killing on screen, Chan replied that he was "honored” such a role. Brandon observed Chan around the set, and quickly noticed how his biceps would not contract, assuming that Chan was not contracting his muscles on purpose, in order to make them look bigger, he finally got tired of staring at them, went towards Chan and grabbed arms and blurted out "Jesus you cant be holding them in that long". After that, Brandon and Darryl talked. Brandon confided in Chan that he was searching for a good personal trainer, and after the film wrapped, Chan gave Lee his card, Lee was impressed that Chan was certified in sports medicine, after that the two exchanged phone numbers and started training.

Between doing promotion for SILT, and getting ready for Rapid fire, Brandon trained at Darryl's gym in what limited time they had. Six days a week, he worked on his biceps, triceps, quads, and though at times they were large gaps in between their sessions, Brandon did achieve what he set out to do. If you watch SILT, and then Rapid Fire, you will notice how much more toned Lee is in the latter.

Rapid Fire started filming in the summer of 1991. Its location was mainly in Los Angeles, but also filmed a much difficult scene on the Chicago train tracks. Brandon had worked long and hard in pre production to not only look the part, but also to prove that he was up to what acting the script called for. He worked closely with the scriptwriter, Alan Mc Elroy to ensure that his character was one the audience would sympathize with. With Jeff Imada as the stunt coordinator for the film, Brandon had all round confidence in not only his acting, but his martial arts abilities as well. The experience arranging his own fight scenes was an enjoyable once, so much so that Brandon later said that he would never do another action film with him not arranging his own fight scenes. He felt that this project was going to be a stepping-stone to a great start in a long career. In addition to Jeff, Brandon hired his young sister, Shannon to work as his assistant on the film. Shannon had just graduated from her voice degree in New Orleans and enjoyed watching her big brother at this important stage in his career. Shannon later revealed she really loved the experience, but commented that it was probably a good thing that she was related to Brandon, as he joked that he wished that he could “call her up at 3am and ask her to bring a six pack down to set”. However, he felt that he couldn't do that because she was his baby sister. During Rapid Fire's filming Brandon learned about suffering for his art. In a scene, he kicked against a much stronger padded door and broke several bones in one of his feet. The accident caused him to take 1 month off production on bed rest.

After filming the film, Lee prepared himself for heavy promotion. He was made more appealing after he signed to film deals with both Carolco and 20-century Fox Studios. Lee was enjoying the spotlight. Finally he was having his moment in the sun, and one that he had worked so long and hard to obtain. In Interviews, there were always the questions about Bruce, which Brandon tolerated. Brandon was very polite at shifting the focus off negative aspects like his Father's death on to more positive ones like his own career and his movie at hand. Brandon understood that the public were interested in knowing about Bruce's son. His charm and wit won over even the most cynical journalist. He was living proof that sheer determination and natural talent can accomplish and overcome any obstacle life may deal you. Brandon lee was his own little American dream.

Enter the Crow...

It was the summer of 1992, when Brandon first read the Crow script. After only reading half the script, he told his manager that, "you just have to get me this part." Through his talent Agency William Morris, Lee was introduced to producer Jeff Most and executive producer Edward R Pressman. Several meetings later he was given the part.  Contary to popular belief, no other actor was offered a deal. Lee was eager to prove to critics and film producers that there was so much more to him then just his surname. Brandon felt that he could finally bring a deep sense of emotional maturity in his work, that would promise to give him the opportunity to express his versatility as an actor, much more than what he had up till then. 

Brandon was on the promotional tour for Rapid Fire in Europe in late 1992, where he discussed his new upcoming role in The Crow, “ My next role is called ‘The Crow’. In it I play a musician who is murdered and returns to avenge the murders. I am looking forward to the role a lot”. The role promised Brandon the opportunity to branch out of the limitations of straight martial arts features, whilst

The story of two soul mates love being the power to bring justice in the world help finally legalize things with him and his own soul mate, Eliza. Whilst on the tour, Brandon proposed to his longtime girlfriend, Eliza on a trip to Venice, Italy. After returning home to the United States, Brandon, and Eliza threw a cocktail party for their family and friends. They took this opportunity to announce their engagement. At last, it seemed every dream of happiness was coming true for Brandon.

Say goodbye to Hollywood…

In late January 1993, Brandon arrived in Wilmington, North Carolina with Eliza by his side.

The principle photography began the day of his 28th birthday, February 1st, 1993. Everyone on the set was enthusiastic watching Lee as the painted face un-dead rocker, Eric Draven.

Brandon had done sufficient research into his character, though Eric Draven was obviously fiction. He even packed himself with bags of ice in order to prepare. This was in order to determine how his character would walk, when he came back from the dead. Producers of The Crow were furious with the actor because if this incident. Brandon said in an interview before his death, that he got into argument with one of the producers over his research techniques, but was totally unapologetic for how he method acted.

It was not long into production when frequent on-set accidents started to happen. First, a carpenter was badly burned in a set fire, then a freak storm destroyed one the back lots. There were rumors some crew had resorted to taking cocaine to deal with the long hours required on set, but has never been supported by any kind of factual evidence or statements. Brandon, ever the humanitarian, became concerned with the safety of his and his co-stars, and even put in a formal complaint via his Manager Jan McCormack, just days before his death. He had told Jan that for was barely getting any sleep, and that conditions on the set had become ' sub-human.' When McCormack put in a complaint, the response from Bob Rosen was less then helpful. Rosen said in no unspoken terms that the production had to finish at all cost, and he did not care what it cost as long as it was not money. Jan Mc Cormack's fired back at Rosen, not knowing how poignant her words would later become, saying, " I don't care about your damn movie Bob. You guys are killing Brandon down there". Brandon's complaint was ignored and safety conditions did not improve. Four days later Brandon was dead.

The weeks leading up until Brandon’s death were stressful indeed. Brandon, himself started to suffer from chronic insomnia, and was by all accounts counting the days until he was back home in California. However, not even poor working condition was going to hamper his happiness to finally marrying the love of his life, and the person he credited for changing his life for the better - Eliza. He was intensely excited about his upcoming marriage to Eliza, slated for April 17th, 1993, and the event was his chief motivation to get the film finished. His thoughts were constantly on his new role as husband to Eliza, and boasted to any crew member or visitor to the set how much he was in love with Eliza  He proudly would tell journalists visiting the set of his next project, commenting to A Magazine Editor, Jeff Yang when asked what his next role was, that “It starts production April 17th, it's all been cast, and is going to go on for about 50 years – I am getting married”.

His beloved fiancée, Eliza Hutton was on set for much of the production, but returned to LA just days before his death, in order to make the final preparations for their wedding in Mexico.

It happened one night…

March 30, 1993 started out like a normal day. Brandon woke up late afternoon, he called his fiancée Eliza, and she advised him that her wedding ring had finally arrived from the jewelers (it has been custom designed and built). Brandon arrived on set at a little before 8pm. Earlier that afternoon he had been happily chatting about his wedding with the staff at the local gym he trained at most days. After a light dinner, he called his mother from the set. They chatted casually about his wedding, which was only less than three weeks away. He told his mother of his relief that this was the last night of all the action scenes. The rest of the week was to be flashback scenes – relatively easy work.

The scene Brandon was shooting was his character’s death scene. A few weeks before the scene began shooting it had been decided that Eric Draven – Brandon’s character would be stabbed by the killers, and then thrown out the window. Only hours before the shoot Director Alex Proyas had decided that Draven would be shot as well. Once it was decided how his character was to be killed, they worked out that he should be carrying an object. A ‘Squib’, which is a small explosive charge used with a small bag of blood, was placed instead a bag his character would be carrying. When the squib is detonated, it bleeds fake blood to make it look like the subject had been actually shot. The squib was placed in a brown grocery bag not on Brandon, as one would expect of such a production.

Brandon had worn a bullet- proof safety vest on one previous scene. In it, he was shot close to 90 times, but on this night, the stunt team determined that a vest would not be warranted. It was not expected that the gun would be directed aimed at his body, which was against safety regulation laws on film sets. There were more then forty squibs in the bag that Brandon was carrying. The gun was not to be pointed at the bag, just vaguely in the direction. It was felt that Brandon was a safe distance from the gun, and vests were only used when characters were shot at point blank. The gun expert, who had oversaw the previous gun fights had finished his time on The Crow. Much speculation has been made about the production crew wanting to save a few bucks, but there is significant evidence that points to the fact that originally Brandon's character was not to be shot, only stabbed and thrown out a window. Later after all the action film was winding down, Proyas decided that Brandon's character should be shot also. Unknown to Proyas, but the prop team (who were put in charge of maintaining and cleaning the weapon) had not been doing their job, and had in fact made dummy bullets themselves, to save money. The prop team failed to follow through with standard gun safety routine of cleaning of the weapon after the 2nd unit crew had done dummy film shots.

Brandon was blissfully unaware that the fire arms expert had been left go 10 days before. During rehearsal, Brandon had a thought, he felt that his character should be wearing a walkman. His feelings were that his character would not just walk into his apartment knowing that someone was attacking his girlfriend, saying that if he was in Eric’s position he would never walk straight into his house if he heard such noises, stating the only way he would do that is if he couldn’t hear what was going on.  So, it was decided that Brandon would now wearing a walkman and carrying a grocery bag. Alex Proyas had decided that evening that Brandon’s character would be shot. Actor Michael Massee, who was playing one of the villains, had been randomly chosen to shoot Brandon’s character, as the other actors playing the villains each had a weapon specialty.

At a little past midnight on March 31st, Brandon walked through his character’s wooden door, wearing a walkman and bopping to the music completely unaware of what was about to happen.  Imada gave some basic directions to Massee of where he should aim the gun (away from Brandon’s left shoulder, towards the top of the wall), but in the confusion, it all went wrong.  Brandon entered the room, when Michael Massee’s character Funboy said a line and then pointed the prop gun at Brandon and fired. Brandon fell, but not forward as  they previously planned and practised. At this time, no one had suspected anything was wrong. Some of the crew members thought Lee was joking around, as he had previously done in other scenes by not moving.  Imada knew instinctively that something was wrong, as not only did Brandon hand differently and very hard on his back, but his movement was all wrong. Imada walked over to Lee hoping he was playing a joke, but Brandon was not joking, in fact he was barely conscious and was losing blood FAST.

On-set medic Clyde Baisey came over to Brandon, who it appeared to be staring out into space, but was in fact unconscious, and was fast slipping into a coma. At first, it was thought that because he fell backwards near the doorway, that he had somehow hit his head, or hurt his spine in some way. Because the wound was not a standard shape of either a .44 caliber bullet or a blank, it was assumed that someone else might of hit him, possibly even the spuib.

After tearing away some clothing, Baisey noticed as he was taking his vitals how alarming low they were.  Brandon was now unconscious, although his eyes were open. Within a few minutes Brandon did not seem to have a pulse. It was difficult to determine where his injury was coming from since the squibs had exploded fake blood all over his stomach, together with the mess of what came out of the grocery bag, it was a confusing scene all around. Baisey could not find any evidence of a wound – the actual wound was no bigger then a quarter coin it was later determined. Baisey fearing the worst shouted for 911 to be called. At this time, Brandon’s abdomen started to swell, which indicated that he had internal bleeding. Michael Massee, the actor who shot Brandon went into shock, and had to be consoled by one of the crew. The majority of the cast and crew were in a state of panic. Some left the room, but many had decided to stay since it was too difficult to get out of the now crowded room, due to where Brandon was positioned.

Precious minutes went past and there was still no sign of the ambulance. It was close to 15 minutes after they were called that they were allowed to enter the back lot at Carolco studios. When the ambulance arrived Brandon had no pulse. The paramedics immediately set up an IV. Once on the gurney it was determined that his heart had stopped. The heart monitor was showing a flat line, while the brain was alive and telling the heart to beat, the blood was not getting to the heart. Emergency CPR was done, but his organs were fast breaking down due to the internal bleeding. His chances of survival were fading fast.

After arriving at the emergency department at the New Hanover Medical Centre, an X-Ray of his abdomen revealed that a projectile was sitting next to the spine. Despite this discovery, the immediate threat to his life was the lack of blood circulation. His artery had been damaged when he was shot, and without surgery to replace the lost blood, he had no hope. A surgeon was on that night, and Brandon was rushed into surgery to replace the lost blood. He received multiple pints of blood, but little progress was made.

Imada fearing the worst, thought he should call to see how Eliza was taking the news. He had previously been told that someone had called her, but the truth was much different. No one had called Eliza, despite reports to the contrary, and he would be the first one to break the news to her. L.A was three hours behind Wilmington time, and Eliza was getting ready for bed when Imada called. She at first thought Imada was helping Brandon play a Practical joke on her, it was after all near April Fools Day and Brandon was notorious for playing elaborate practical jokes on his loved ones, including quite regularly - Eliza. Imada on the other had called with the assumption that she had been told of the accident. He asked her if she was taking a plane out. Eliza asked him what he was talking about and if “Brandon put you up to this?”

He told her no, and that there had been a accident and Brandon was in the hospital. Fearing the worst, Eliza Hutton jumped on the first plane to Atlanta from L.A to meet a connecting flight to Wilmington, North Carolina. She also made a call to Brandon’s mother Linda. According to a 2000 interview with Shannon Lee, Eliza said that Brandon had been hurt, but that none of them knew what exactly happened.

Jeff Imada volunteered to meet Eliza’s plane in Atlanta. While waiting for the connecting flight, he broke the news that Brandon's injuries were much more serious then they had first thought. Eliza called The Crow’s costume designer Arianne Phillips, who she shared mutual friends with in New York City from the airport frantic with worry, because the connecting plane had no phone on it, and until she arrived in Wilmington there would be no way she could check on Brandon’s condition. Phillips tried to calm her down, and tried to assure her that Brandon's injuries probably were not as bad as she had been led to believe.  This was not the first time Brandon had gone to the hospital from a film accident, Brandon had been injured on the set of Rapid Fire in 1991, when a bad timing move had broken part of Brandon's foot. However, this time it was different.

Hutton and Imada landed in Wilmington just after midday on March 31st. They went straight to the hospital where Lee was laying in intensive care. Eliza was taken directly to Brandon’s room where she spent her last moments with Brandon in private, though, Brandon still was unconscious and now in a coma. A short time later, she and Imada were called into the surgeon’s office. Eliza in the company of Jeff Imada and Jeff Cadiente, Brandon’s two best friends, she received the worst news possible. Brandon was not expected to make it through the day. Hutton was understandably an emotional wreck and was being consoled by Imada when the doctor was called out for a code red. Closely following, Hutton and his closest friends witnessed the emergency, and with all them by Brandon’s side, he flatlined.

Brandon’s heart had stopped again. All measures had been done, but his organs had all failed. He was pronounced dead at 1:04pm on the afternoon of Wednesday 31st of March 1993. He was 28 years of age.

Meanwhile, Linda did not know how badly hurt he was, and did not get on a plane until the hospital called her with an update at 4am. She called his sister Shannon, who was living in New Orleans. They both jumped on the first plane they could and made their way to Wilmington. The Lee women would not reach Wilmington until several hours after Brandon had died. Eliza Hutton and Jeff Imada met their plane and Eliza broke the bad news to them that Brandon was dead.

Disclaimer: This is a CONDENSED brief biography of Brandon’s Life. Every effort has been made to ensure only the accurate truth has been reported. This biography has been written based on numerous books, print articles, statements by witnesses, and Tv or Film documentaries shown on the subject. If you find an error please email me.