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Yolk Magazine
12/31/94

Brandon Lee Remembered

When Brandon Lee was killed on the set of the film The Crow on March 31, 1993, speculation about the cause of his death ran rampant with everything from curses to various conspiracy theories being served up as possible explanations for what had happened. With all the focus on the tragedy, Brandon Lee, the man and human being, took a second seat to the sensationalistic aspects of the case. And when magazines like Life and Rolling Stone dedicated their year-end issues to remembering those celebrities who had died in 1993, Brandon Lee was nowhere to be found among the tributes.

 Now, over a year after his death, YOLK pays homage to Lee by allowing his friends and colleagues to share their memories of a man who in his brief life and career, entertained, inspired and touched countless people around the world.

Jeffrey Imada (Stunt Coordinator, The Crow)

 As an artist, he was very gifted. He was a pleasure to work with because he was such a talent, not only with his acting -- he was coming into his own as an actor -- but his physical ability was just unmatchable. He was able to do almost anything; anything we wanted him to do with ease and without thought.

Dustin Nguyen (Actor, Rapid Fire)

I found him to be a very gentle being, very vulnerable. I think those are the two words that come to mind when I think of Brandon -- very gentle, very vulnerable...and very driven -- that's a quality I saw in him and related to.

James Katsuyuki Taenaka (Actor, Showdown in Little Tokyo)

After meeting Brandon, my first impression was that he was a gentleman, pure gentleman. I saw Brandon as somebody who had a lot of fire in him, but it was contained. He liked to take risks. He liked speed, not the drug, just the feeling of speed. When he did Showdown in Little Tokyo, he got a new car, an NSX Acura. I heared him mention that one thing he tried to avoid was getting tickets on Mulholland Drive...driving that NSX at over 100 mph.

Kate Hodge (Actor, Rapid Fire)

I met him in the make-up trailer. I walked in and he just turned and smiled and just lit up the entire trailer. It was the warmest thing. He put everyone at ease.

Jeffrey Imada

There was an incident when we were working on Rapid Fire. We were watching dailies and he looked at me after watching one of his scenes and he says, "Did you see that?" And I go, "Huh?" "Who'd that remind you of?" I go, "Your dad?" He goes, "Yeah..." And I say, "Yeah, it sure did, looks just like your dad." And he goes, "Man, I'll be damned. There's something about genetics, isn't there?"

Darryl Chan (Brandon's Personal Trainer)

We all went up to his cabin on Thanksgiving. I was a little late and he had called a couple of times on my answering machine, just checking to make sure I was OK. He just wanted to know what was going on. I was very touched when I heard his messages because he was so concerned. Things like that just really make you realize that he was really a very genuine person.

 
[Transcribed by Samantha/BLM]