On this day in 1973, Bruce Lee was taken from this world as a result of a brain edema thought to be caused by pain killers. Lee, who was only 32 years old, had become a film star in China, but had only found mild success in Hollywood in bit roles and small projects like playing Kato in the series The Green Hornet. Lee was born in San Francisco in 1940, and bounced back and forth between Hong Kong, Seattle, and Los Angeles. It wasn’t until he returned to Hong Kong in the early 70’s that he found his biggest success in films like The Big Boss, The Way of the Dragon, and Enter the Dragon. Sadly, by the time Warner Bros. released Enter the Dragon state-side, which catapulted Lee to American stardom, he was a month-departed; however, his legacy as one of the greatest martial arts actors and an all-around bad mo-fo’s endures. A speculative curse surrounds Lee, as his son Brandon also perished at an early age (28), as a result of being accidentally shot on the set of The Crow in 1991. For more on history: read a book.