特稿｜李小龙在美国的岁月
西雅图——10 月 16 日，西雅图唐人街国际区的南金街（South King Street）与梅纳德大道（Maynard Avenue South）路口，一块新街牌在醒狮声中揭幕：「李小龙路」（Bruce Lee Way）。市政府把这一天定为「李小龙路日」，李小龙之女、李小龙基金会主席李香凝（Shannon Lee）专程到场；为这块街牌奔走数年的主要推动者，是他当年的学生 Abe Santos——街牌制作与安装所需的 7,000 美元，来自他发起的众筹。揭牌仪式上，副市长 Brian Surratt 说：「很多人以为旧金山才是李小龙的归宿，但我得说——不，李小龙属于西雅图，西雅图就是李小龙！」
这句话有它的道理。李小龙 1940 年生于旧金山，1973 年逝于香港，但他人生中以美国为主场的日子，前后十四年：1959 年，18 岁的他回到出生国，在西雅图端盘子、读大学、开武馆、成家；1964 年南下加州，从奥克兰的武馆一路打进好莱坞的摄影棚；1971 年，他带着一身在美国成形的武学回香港拍片，红遍亚洲，却在最盛之年骤然离世。他的美国岁月，始于西雅图，也终于西雅图——他长眠的湖景陵园，离新挂牌的这条街不过几英里。
1940 年 11 月 27 日，李小龙生于旧金山唐人街的东华医院（Chinese Hospital）。那一年是农历龙年，他出生的时辰又逢龙时。父亲李海泉是粤剧名伶，当时正随粤剧团在美国巡回演出，母亲何爱榆陪同在侧，为他取名「振藩」——据华盛顿州历史网站 HistoryLink 记载，英文名 Bruce 出自接生护士的建议。还在襁褓中，他就「出演」了父亲参演的电影《金门女》（Golden Gate Girl，1941 年上映）。未满五个月，全家返回香港。
香港的十八年只作背景：他是童星出身，前后拍过二十多部电影，以《细路祥》（1950）等片为港人熟知；少年时好勇斗狠，13 岁起拜叶问学咏春拳，1958 年拿过校际拳击冠军，还是恰恰舞好手。1959 年，父母担心他再在街头惹事，把刚满 18 岁的他送回美国。据其家人与多位传记作者的记述，他启程时身上只有 100 美元。
他在旧金山的姐姐家中短住数月，随后北上西雅图。父亲的友人、华人社区领袖周露比（Ruby Chow）在唐人街附近开了一家餐馆，他在那里当侍应，住在餐馆楼上一间小屋，同时进入 Edison 技术学校补完中学课程，1960 年毕业。1961 年 3 月，他考入华盛顿大学（University of Washington，UW）——校方校友刊物后来考证，他学籍上的正式主修是戏剧，同时大量研读哲学与心理学。课余，他在校园草坪、公园和学生家里教功夫。那个年代，华人武馆多只收华人子弟，他却来者不拒，学生不分族裔，第一批学生里有日裔的木村武之（Taky Kimura），后来成为他最亲近的助手与挚友。
1963 年，他出版了第一本著作《基本中国拳法》（Chinese Gung Fu: The Philosophical Art of Self-Defense）；同年，正式挂牌的振藩国术馆（Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute）先设在唐人街的地下室，秋天迁到大学区 University Way 4750 号——一间近三千平方英尺的场馆，楼上就是他的住处。在 Garfield 高中看过他功夫演示的 Linda Emery 成了他的学生，又考进华盛顿大学。1964 年 8 月 17 日，两人在西雅图成婚，木村武之是伴郎。
1964 年，他离开大学，与资深武术家 James Yimm Lee 在加州奥克兰合开第二间振藩国术馆。1965 年 2 月 1 日，长子李国豪（Brandon Lee）生于奥克兰。奥克兰岁月里最被后世反复讲述的，是一场比武：1964 年底，他与新近自香港来美的武师黄泽民在馆内交手。双方对胜负、时长和细节的说法至今互不一致，坊间的夸张版本远多于实据；较为一致的记载是，李小龙赛后对自己的表现并不满意——传统咏春的套路打法，在真实对抗中显得拖沓。这场比武成为他改造武学的转折点。同年 8 月，他应空手道名家 Ed Parker 之邀，在长堤（Long Beach）国际空手道锦标赛上演示「一寸拳」和双指俯卧撑，轰动美国武术界；演示的影像后来传到电视制片人 William Dozier 手中，为他赢得了试镜的机会。
1966 年，李小龙举家迁往洛杉矶，出演美国广播公司（American Broadcasting Company，ABC）的剧集《青蜂侠》（The Green Hornet，1966–1967，共 26 集），饰演主角的助手兼司机 Kato。据《大英百科全书》记载，他的出腿快得摄影机难以捕捉，剧组只好请他放慢动作。该剧只播出一季便被砍。此后好莱坞留给亚裔演员的角色寥寥，他靠私人授课立足：Steve McQueen、James Coburn 等影星是他的学生，篮球明星 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 也随他习武多年。1967 年，他在洛杉矶唐人街开设第三间振藩国术馆，并把自己的武学体系正式命名为「截拳道」（Jeet Kune Do）——其纲领「以无法为有法，以无限为有限」，后来刻在他墓前的石书上。
洛杉矶的几年并不顺遂。1969 年，他在电影《Marlowe》中客串一场踢碎办公室的戏份，开始受到注意；同年，女儿李香凝生于洛杉矶。1970 年，他因举重练功伤及腰背，一度卧床数月，停工期间系统整理多年武学笔记——身后出版的《截拳道之道》（Tao of Jeet Kune Do，1975）即源于这批手稿。1971 年，他在剧集 Longstreet 中饰演武术教师李宗（Li Tsung），并参与编剧，把截拳道的理念写进台词。同年，他在接受加拿大记者 Pierre Berton 的电视访谈时说出了流传最广的一段话：「让你的思想空无一物，无形无相，像水一样……做水吧，我的朋友。」
好莱坞的门迟迟不开，机会却从太平洋对岸传来：《青蜂侠》在香港播出时大受欢迎，观众冲着 Kato 而来，该剧被昵称为「Kato 的节目」。1971 年，李小龙携家人回港发展。《唐山大兄》（1971）与《精武门》（1972）接连打破香港票房纪录；《猛龙过江》（1972）由他自编、自导、自演，片尾在罗马竞技场与 Chuck Norris 对决一场，成为影史经典。他与制片人邹文怀合组协和电影公司，《龙争虎斗》（Enter the Dragon，1973）则是香港与美国华纳兄弟首次合拍的功夫片。1973 年 7 月 20 日，他在九龙塘女演员丁佩家中休息时昏迷不醒，送医后证实死亡，年仅 32 岁——距《龙争虎斗》在香港首映只差六天。死因研讯最终裁定为「死于不幸」（death by misadventure）：脑水肿，与他对止痛药成分的敏感反应有关。此后半个世纪，围绕他死因的种种猜测从未停歇，但均无实据。
香港的追悼会后，家人把他送回西雅图安葬。1973 年 7 月 31 日，葬礼在西雅图举行，Steve McQueen、James Coburn 等友人为他扶灵。他长眠于国会山（Capitol Hill）的湖景陵园（Lake View Cemetery），红色墓碑上刻着「李振藩」与「截拳道创始人」。1993 年，李国豪在拍摄电影《乌鸦》（The Crow）时中弹身亡，年仅 28 岁，葬在父亲身旁，两座墓碑至今仍是全球影迷到访西雅图的目的地之一。
他的身后声名一路生长：1999 年，《时代》周刊将他列入「20 世纪最具影响力的一百人」；2002 年，他的遗孀 Linda Lee Cadwell 与女儿李香凝创立李小龙基金会（Bruce Lee Foundation），保管并推广他的手稿与武学理念；唐人街国际区的陆荣昌亚洲博物馆（Wing Luke Museum）设有以「做水吧，我的朋友」为题的常设展览；2013 年，洛杉矶唐人街中央广场竖起一座李小龙铜像，是全美第一座李小龙像。
从 University Way 的武馆，到南金街口的街牌，隔了六十二年。西雅图人记住的，不只是银幕上那个快得看不清出拳的功夫巨星——还有一个在餐馆里端盘子、在大学草坪上教拳、在笔记本里写下「像水一样」的年轻人。这座城市给了他美国岁月的第一章；他把最后一页，留在了这里。
关联：
华人社区：西雅图唐人街揭牌「李小龙路」 市府定10月16日为「李小龙路日」 李香凝到场
Feature | Bruce Lee's American Years: Seattle, Oakland and Hollywood
SEATTLE — On October 16, at the corner of South King Street and Maynard Avenue South in Seattle's Chinatown-International District, a new street sign was unveiled to the sound of lion dances: "Bruce Lee Way." The city proclaimed the day "Bruce Lee Way Day." Shannon Lee, Bruce Lee's daughter and chair of the Bruce Lee Foundation, came for the ceremony; the sign itself exists because of years of effort by his former student Abe Santos, whose crowdfunding campaign raised the $7,000 needed to fabricate and install it. At the unveiling, Deputy Mayor Brian Surratt offered a line that has since traveled widely online: "Many think San Francisco is Bruce Lee's place, but I have to say — no. Bruce Lee belongs to Seattle. Seattle is Bruce Lee!"
There is substance behind the claim. Lee was born in San Francisco in 1940 and died in Hong Kong in 1973, but the years in which America was his home ground add up to fourteen: in 1959, aged 18, he returned to the country of his birth, waiting tables, studying, opening a school and starting a family in Seattle; in 1964 he moved down to California, fighting his way from an Oakland kung fu school to the soundstages of Hollywood; in 1971 he took a martial art formed in America back to Hong Kong and became a sensation across Asia, only to die suddenly at the height of his fame. His American years began in Seattle, and they ended there too — the grave at Lake View Cemetery lies only a few miles from the street that now bears his name.
Bruce Lee was born on November 27, 1940, at Chinese Hospital in San Francisco's Chinatown — in the lunar Year of the Dragon, and, by family reckoning, in the hour of the dragon as well. His father, Lee Hoi-chuen, was a leading Cantonese opera performer then touring the United States with a troupe; his mother, Grace Ho, traveling with him, named the boy Jun-fan. According to HistoryLink, the Washington state history encyclopedia, the English name "Bruce" was suggested by the nurse who delivered him. While still an infant he "appeared" on screen, carried by his father in the film Golden Gate Girl (released 1941). Before he was five months old, the family returned to Hong Kong.
His eighteen Hong Kong years are background here: a child actor in more than twenty films, known for pictures such as The Kid (1950); a teenager drawn to street fighting who, from age 13, studied Wing Chun under Ip Man; a schoolboy boxing champion in 1958 who was also an accomplished cha-cha dancer. In 1959, worried that he would keep getting into trouble, his parents sent the newly 18-year-old back to the United States. Family accounts and biographers record that he set out with $100 to his name.
After a few months at his sister's home in San Francisco, he headed north to Seattle. Ruby Chow, a Chinese community leader and a friend of his father's, ran a restaurant near Chinatown; Lee waited tables there and slept in a small room above the restaurant while finishing his schooling at Edison Technical School, graduating in 1960. In March 1961 he enrolled at the University of Washington (UW); the university's alumni magazine later established that his official major was drama, though he read widely in philosophy and psychology. In his spare time he taught kung fu on campus lawns, in parks and in students' homes. At a time when Chinese martial arts schools commonly taught only Chinese students, he taught anyone willing to learn; among his first students was Taky Kimura, a Japanese American who became his closest assistant and lifelong friend.
In 1963 he published his first book, Chinese Gung Fu: The Philosophical Art of Self-Defense. That same year his Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute took formal shape, first in a Chinatown basement and, in the fall, at 4750 University Way near the university — a studio of nearly 3,000 square feet with his living quarters behind it. Linda Emery had seen him demonstrate kung fu at Garfield High School; she became his student, then a UW freshman. On August 17, 1964, they married in Seattle, with Taky Kimura as best man.
In 1964 Lee left the university and opened a second Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute in Oakland, California, with the veteran martial artist James Yimm Lee. On February 1, 1965, his son Brandon Lee was born in Oakland. The Oakland years also produced the most mythologized episode of his life: a fight, at the end of 1964, with Wong Jack Man, a martial artist newly arrived from Hong Kong. The two camps' accounts of who won, how long it lasted and what exactly happened have never agreed, and the embellished versions far outnumber the documented ones. What is consistently recorded is that Lee was dissatisfied with his own performance — the set forms of traditional Wing Chun had felt cumbersome in a real fight — and that the bout pushed him to remake his art. In August that year, at Ed Parker's Long Beach International Karate Championships, he demonstrated the one-inch punch and two-finger push-ups that stunned the American martial arts world; footage of the demonstration eventually reached television producer William Dozier and earned him a screen test.
In 1966 Lee moved his family to Los Angeles to play Kato, the hero's aide and chauffeur, in the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) series The Green Hornet (1966–67, 26 episodes). Britannica records that his kicks were too fast for the cameras of the day, and that he was asked to slow them down. The show was cancelled after one season. Hollywood offered Asian actors almost nothing, and Lee made his standing instead in private lessons: Steve McQueen and James Coburn were among his students, and basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar trained with him for years. In 1967 he opened a third Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute, in Los Angeles's Chinatown, and formally named his system Jeet Kune Do — "the way of the intercepting fist." Its guiding line, "using no way as way, having no limitation as limitation," is now carved on the stone book at his grave.
The Los Angeles years were lean ones. In 1969 he drew notice for a scene in the film Marlowe in which he demolishes an office with his feet; that year his daughter, Shannon Lee, was born in Los Angeles. In 1970 a weightlifting injury to his back put him in bed for months; in enforced idleness he organized years of martial arts notes — the manuscripts that became the posthumously published Tao of Jeet Kune Do (1975). In 1971 he appeared in the series Longstreet as Li Tsung, a martial arts instructor, and contributed to the writing, folding Jeet Kune Do philosophy into the dialogue. That year, in a television interview with Canadian journalist Pierre Berton, he gave the answer for which he is still quoted: "Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water... Be water, my friend."
Hollywood's door stayed shut, but opportunity arrived from across the Pacific: The Green Hornet had been a hit in Hong Kong, where audiences came for Kato and nicknamed it "the Kato show." In 1971 Lee took his family back to Hong Kong. The Big Boss (1971) and Fist of Fury (1972) broke Hong Kong box-office records in succession. The Way of the Dragon (1972), which he wrote, directed and starred in, closed with a duel against Chuck Norris in the Roman Colosseum that became one of the most famous fight scenes ever filmed. With producer Raymond Chow he co-founded Concord Production Company; Enter the Dragon (1973) was the first co-production between Hong Kong and an American studio, Warner Bros. On July 20, 1973, resting at the Kowloon Tong home of actress Betty Ting Pei, he fell into a coma and could not be revived; he was 32, and Enter the Dragon was six days from its Hong Kong premiere. A coroner's inquest returned a verdict of death by misadventure: cerebral edema, linked to a sensitivity to an ingredient in a painkiller he had taken. Half a century of speculation about his death has produced no evidence to displace that finding.
After memorial services in Hong Kong, his family brought him home to Seattle. The funeral was held on July 31, 1973, with Steve McQueen and James Coburn among the pallbearers. He lies at Lake View Cemetery on Capitol Hill, under a red granite stone carved with his Chinese name, Jun-fan Lee, and the words "Founder of Jeet Kune Do." In 1993 his son Brandon was shot and killed on the set of The Crow at 28, and was buried beside him; the two graves remain a place of pilgrimage for fans from around the world.
His reputation kept growing after his death. In 1999, Time magazine named him among the hundred most influential people of the twentieth century. In 2002 his widow, Linda Lee Cadwell, and his daughter Shannon founded the Bruce Lee Foundation to preserve his writings and teachings. The Wing Luke Museum in the Chinatown-International District maintains a permanent exhibition titled for his most famous line, "Be Water, My Friend." In 2013, a bronze statue of Lee — the first in the United States — was unveiled in Los Angeles's Chinatown Central Plaza.
Sixty-two years separate the basement school on University Way from the street sign on South King Street. What Seattle remembers is not only the screen fighter whose punches were too fast to film, but the young man who waited tables, taught on a university lawn, and wrote "be like water" in his notebooks. This city gave his American years their first chapter; he left the last page here.
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来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）
图片来源：图：李小龙在美国广播公司（ABC）剧集《青蜂侠》（The Green Hornet，1966–1967）中饰演 Kato，1967 年宣传照。ABC 发布，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons 发布。Photo: Bruce Lee as Kato in ABC's The Green Hornet (1966–67), a 1967 publicity photo released by ABC. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
GSM Global · 本篇英文版 English edition of this story
