BRANDON LEE, the heir apparent to the action-hero throne, didn't want to be known as Bruce Lee's son. He didn't really want to be an action hero. He did want to be an actor.

 That this gentle, sensitive young man wasn't the typical macho star made his death March 31 on the set of ``The Crow,'' an action flick that was in its last week of filming, doubly tragic (Page G1). ``Eventually, I'd like to be directed by Martin Scorsese or Oliver Stone,'' Lee told me when we talked last year in Atlanta.

 Lee was raised by his mother, Linda, an American of Swedish heritage, but he and his younger brother grew up in the shadow of a legend. His father was Bruce Lee, the subject of an international cult following that continues to grow.

 It is bizarre that Bruce Lee also died on the set of an action movie under mysterious, still unexplained circumstances. The coroner ruled that the death was due to a cerebral hemorrhage, probably caused by a freak reaction to a pain killer. This is the version supported in Linda Lee's book; others, however, claim the reaction was aggravated by use of marijuana.

 One popular theory holds that the Chinese government was involved. Lee had become the Asian version of James Dean. Violent rebellion against authority by Oriental youths had developed throughout the Far East.

 Brandon Lee's response is tragically ironic today: ``I don't mind walking in my father's shoes,'' he said. ``It's the way I was raised. I'm proud of be my father's son. I was never made to feel that I would be a failure.

 ``I was taught values at a very young age. As I was growing up, I became aware that they were more serious than those of my American friends. I carry that with me.''

Transcribed by Samantha/BLM