The Failure Pledge

Actor and martial artist

Next

Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee

What failed

He dropped out of the University of Washington in early 1964. A screen test for the producer William Dozier in February 1965, for a proposed series called Number One Son about the son of Charlie Chan, led nowhere - the show was never made. The Green Hornet gave him Kato and ran one season of twenty-six episodes, September 1966 to March 1967; with the series over he taught for a living at the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute he had opened in Chinatown, Los Angeles. The Silent Flute, a script he wrote in 1969 with Stirling Silliphant and James Coburn, was not made. He injured his lower back in August 1970 and spent months in bed - three of them flat, by Matthew Polly's account - and was told by doctors that he would never practise martial arts again. In 1971 he auditioned for Kwai Chang Caine in Kung Fu and was passed over; the studio was reluctant to hire a Chinese actor, had concerns about his accent, and thought his intense personality unsuited to a quiet, serene character. That December, two months after The Big Boss had opened in Hong Kong, he told Pierre Berton that his own series, The Warrior, was probably not going to be on.

What happened next

He signed with Golden Harvest and The Big Boss opened in Hong Kong in late October 1971, an enormous box-office success that made him a star across Asia. He never signed Ted Ashley's development deal at Warner Bros.: he waited to see how The Big Boss performed, and when it was a hit he dropped his television plans for the cinema. Fist of Fury broke The Big Boss's records in 1972, and he wrote, directed and starred in The Way of the Dragon the same year. Warner Bros. offered him Enter the Dragon in November 1972; he died on 20 July 1973 aged thirty-two, and the film premiered in Hong Kong six days later and in Los Angeles on 19 August. His own treatment was produced as Warrior on Cinemax in 2019, forty-eight years after he wrote it.

The point

The record does not show a long shut-out followed by a breakthrough. It shows work and no work in alternation for a decade: a series that lasted one season, a screen test that led nowhere, a script never shot, a part given to another actor, months in bed. What finally worked was in a different country and a different industry. Enter the Dragon opened in Los Angeles on 19 August 1973, a month after he died, and the series he had outlined in 1971 reached American television on 5 April 2019, nearly forty-six years after his death.

The sequence

8 documented failures, shown with the successes in between. Every entry carries its own source — the wins are part of the record, and leaving them out is how these stories get distorted.

  1. 1950

    Aged nine, he co-stars with his father in The Kid, his first leading role; by eighteen he has appeared in twenty films.

    successBruce Lee (Wikipedia)

  2. 1964

    He drops out of the University of Washington in his third year and moves to Oakland.

    failureBruce Lee (Wikipedia)

  3. 1965

    His 1964 Long Beach demonstration brings a screen test for the producer William Dozier in February, for a series about the son of Charlie Chan; the show never materialises.

    failureBruce Lee Steals the Show in The Green Hornet (American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming)

  4. 1966

    He is cast as Kato in The Green Hornet, his first continuing American role.

    successBruce Lee (Wikipedia)

  5. 1967

    The Green Hornet ends after one season of twenty-six episodes, September 1966 to March 1967.

    failureBruce Lee (Wikipedia)

  6. 1967

    With the series over, he opens the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute in Chinatown, Los Angeles, and teaches for a living.

    failureBruce Lee (Wikipedia)

  7. 1969

    The Silent Flute, written with Stirling Silliphant and James Coburn, is not made; the script is filmed nine years later, without him, starring David Carradine.

    failureBruce Lee (Wikipedia)

  8. 1970

    Warner Bros. executive Fred Weintraub receives the finished Kung Fu screenplay from Ed Spielman and Howard Friedlander on 30 April, more than a year before Lee is offered a development deal of his own.

    noteKung Fu (1972 TV series) (Wikipedia)

  9. 1970

    He injures his lower back in August and is bedridden for months; doctors tell him he will not practise martial arts again. The sources disagree on how long: the Hong Kong Heritage Museum says half a year in bed, Matthew Polly three months flat and three more confined to the house.

    failureA Man Beyond the Ordinary: Bruce Lee - Hong Kong Heritage Museum, 'Stillness'

  10. 1971

    He auditions for Kwai Chang Caine in Kung Fu and is passed over; the studio is reluctant to hire a Chinese actor, has concerns about his accent, and thinks his intense personality unsuited to a quiet, serene character. David Carradine takes the role at his second audition.

    failureKung Fu (1972 TV series) (Wikipedia)

  11. 1971

    In October, Warner Bros. executive Ted Ashley offers him an exclusive development deal; Lee submits a treatment called Ah Sahm, later retitled The Warrior, and does not sign it, preferring to see how The Big Boss performs.

    noteKung Fu (1972 TV series) (Wikipedia)

  12. 1971

    The Big Boss opens in Hong Kong, his first leading film role and an enormous box-office success across Asia.

    successBruce Lee (Wikipedia)

  13. 1971

    In a December television interview, two months after The Big Boss opened, Lee tells Pierre Berton that his own series is probably not going to be made.

    failureKung Fu (1972 TV series) (Wikipedia)

  14. 1972

    Fist of Fury breaks the box-office records set by The Big Boss; he then writes, directs and stars in The Way of the Dragon.

    successBruce Lee (Wikipedia)

Sources

Use the ← and → keys to move between entries.

Others in film & television, and nearby.

← All of them