Bruce Lee once named his favourite Hollywood actor
Bruce Lee is famous in the West for bringing Eastern martial arts culture to Hollywood. While there were many formidable martial artists before him, it was Lee who bridged the gap between this wide cultural divide by popularising kung-fu action flicks in countries like the US, where the genre developed a large fan following.
Although Lee died at the tragically young age of 32, he achieved unprecedented things within his brief lifetime. His legacy has been immortalised in the minds of film fans who consider his work to be indispensable to cinematic history. In addition, Lee will always remain one of the definitive popular culture icons of the 20th century.
Lee wasn’t just popular among western fans, but he also generated interest among Hollywood stars who were fascinated by his philosophy of life. Interestingly, Lee conducted private lessons for stars like Steve McQueen, Roman Polanski and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but he charged a lot of money to deter those who just wanted to pass the time.
While the press has extensively documented the relationship between Lee and McQueen, his favourite Hollywood student was actually James Coburn, who joined Lee’s classes later. According to Lee, Coburn was his finest student, which is why he soon became Lee’s favourite Hollywood actor of all time.
They met at a party where Lee shocked him by demonstrating the one-inch punch on him. Lee recalled: “I had him stand in front of a small sofa and placed a cushion to his chest. When I hit him, he fell perfectly onto the sofa, tipping it right over. You should have seen the shock on Coburn’s face. He was so shook up, he looked funny. He made all of us laugh.”
Coburn was so impressed that he began training with Lee, developing a lifelong respect for the man who had dedicated all of his time to the demanding craft of martial arts. In later interviews, Lee claimed that Coburn was his most talented student because he was able to understand the philosophy of martial arts.
Lee commented: “As a fighter, Steve McQueen is good in that department because that son of a gun’s got that toughness in him… [but] James Coburn is a peace-loving man. He’s really nice, super mellow. Now he appreciates the philosophical part of [martial arts], therefore his understanding of it is deeper than Steve.”
However, they later had professional conflicts, which is why Coburn held a grudge against him for a while. After Lee passed away, Coburn put those grievances aside and said: “He was amazing. Really amazing. And he’s a great loss. I lost him, and I miss him daily.” Steve McQueen and James Coburn were actually two of the pallbearers at Bruce Lee’s funeral.
