[quote=“rantheman”]yo, rick and igor. thanks for the input.
according to tom bleecker, the author ( tom is the 2nd husband,3rd husband is bruce cadwell) bruce’s use of steriods combined with diuretics killed him. [/quote]
There has never been any proof of Bruce using steroids: ever. Outside of Bleecker’s speculation, no concrete evidence has turned up about this. Given that the actual medical professional who performed the autopsy identified the culprit pretty much settles that steroids were not the factor.
However, I hold Bleecker suspect based on three things:
1.) He could have an axe to grind
2.) He didn’t know Bruce Lee. Evidence exists to support a solitary meeting, and one that was totally public and places Bleecker more as a bystander than having any profound interaction with Lee.
3.) He claims to want to “debunk” the “myths,” around Bruce Lee’s life (largely Linda’s creation), and I therefore suspect the book is more about getting even with her than in providing anything beyond intelligent (albeit suspect) speculation on Bruce’s death. Bleecker does not appear to be a medical professional, nor someone who knew Bruce Lee first hand, outside of his widow - who really didn’t know Bruce Lee that well either! Additionally, I’ve heard claims that Bleecker says Bruce was coming off of steroids during the making of THE GAME OF DEATH and thus wore the infamous yellow and black track suit to hide this fact, but the previously-unreleased, original footage Bruce shot for the project (which was never completed as intended, since he halted production to work on ENTER THE DRAGON and died before he could resume work on the film - which would have also featured James Coburn, a cameo by Steve McQueen, and Muhammed Ali!!! The footage shot featured James Tien Chun, Danny Inosanto, and the infamous, kick ass brawl against the man we now know a Kareem Abdul Jabarr (sic?) that filmmaker John Little reconstructed (according to Lee’s production notes), has him sans shirt and in the same phsyical form as his earlier films like THE BIG BOSS.
FWIW, the footage was released in 2002, and can be seen in its entirety in Little’s documentary: BRUCE LEE: A WARRIOR’S JOUNREY, and with additional outtakes in the bizarre Japanese docudrama BRUCE LEE IN G. O. D. from 2003 (I think, maybe 2002. I saw it in 2003).
I’d like to add that I’ve worked with people who were stereoid users. There are telltale signs of steroid use that Bruce never displayed, further leading me to believe he was not on steroids (perhaps something akin to stereoids, the supposed “other diuretics” that I gather Bleecker insinuates).
Bruce’s pecs were rounded, as they shold be. Folks on the juice tend to have squarer pectorals.
Backne and chest acne (read: SEVERE) tend to be one of the first signs.
Intense deepening of the voice, noticible gain in muscle mass and even abnomral growth in height are also obvious signs. A great example is Hulk Hogan going from 6ft 8 to 6ft 5 (his actual height) between 1992 to 1993 (when he came clean about it in a notorious trial) and the present, a case in point.
A flattening of the ass, squaring it (like the pecs), shrinking of the gonads, hair loss and rashes are also attributable to steroid use.
Other signs include the 'roid rage (given Bruce’s lifelong reputation for being a hothead - one that got his father, Lee Hoi-chuen to send him back to America - where he was born - after he tangled with the tongs, and one that his Wing Chun master, the late Yip Man, always scolded him about). Accounts from family and friends (including Bruce’s brother Robert, and his best friends/inner circle of Danny Insanto and Taky Kimura - with Taky having known him since he arrived in Seattle from Hong Kong) suggest Bruce was a hot head as well.
So, while it could be argued that he had 'roid rage and been on the juice, I still have serious doubts about this, given the source.
Whatever the case, Bruce’s abuse of his body brought about his downfall, and that is what all of us - save his widow - agree upon, be it the casual fan, or bitter ex-husband of his widow.
It will be a book I try to grab when I head out on winter break. Good food for thought.
While I’m a fan of Bruce Lee (I prefer Sammo Hung Kam-bo, actually, but Bruce was fantastic in his four completed films - I don’t consider GAME OF DEATH, as released, to be an honest Bruce Lee film,I like the real, flawed, tragic Bruce Lee. The one that history is starting to shine a light upon, despite Raymond Chow (who has profited the most from the deification of Lee) and Linda Lee Caldwell’s attempts to bang the tired, old drum.
Now, how would he know about the gnads? Really. I seriously doubt Linda would have talked about that, given she strikes me as a dilusional bird who believes the myths she’s fabricated about the man. She certainly lived in denial of his affair with Ting Pei.
But is he a medical professional?
For a while she was married to Charles Heung, a known triad (considered one of the “good ones” in the HK film industry) and former actor who has since headed up Win’s Film (now known as China Star Entertainment). He can be spotted as “ng gor,” or “Brother 5” in Wong Jing’s GOD Of GAMBLERS and its direct sequel, GOD OF GAMBLERS’ RETURN, for example.
Supposedly she became a buddhist nun. I am not so sure about that, but I have heard she resides in Taiwan.