Linda Emery Lee Cadwell (born March 21, 1945) is a retired American teacher and writer. She is the author of the

Bruce Lee Bruce Lee (; born Lee Jun-fan, ; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong and American martial artist and actor. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that ...

biography '' Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew'', upon which the film '' Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story'' is based, as well as the founder, a former trustee of, and an unpaid advisor of the

Bruce Lee Foundation Bruce Lee (; born Lee Jun-fan, ; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a British Hong Kong, Hong Kong and American martial artist and actor. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different comba ...

. Lee Cadwell is the widow of martial arts master and actor

(19401973) and the mother of actor

Brandon Lee Brandon Bruce Lee (February 1, 1965 – March 31, 1993) was an American actor and martial artist. Establishing himself as a rising action star in the early 1990s, he landed his breakthrough role as Eric Draven in the dark fantasy film ''The ...

(19651993) and actress

Shannon Lee Shannon Emery Lee Keasler (born April 19, 1969) is an American actress and businesswoman. She is the only living child of martial artist Bruce Lee and retired martial arts teacher Linda Lee Cadwell, the granddaughter of Cantonese opera singer L ...

(born 1969).

Life and career

She was born in Everett,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, the daughter of Vivian R. (née Hester) (1911-1998) and Everett Emery. Her family was

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

and of Swedish, Irish, and English descent. She met Bruce Lee while she was attending Garfield High School, where Bruce came to give a

kung fu Chinese martial arts, often called by the umbrella terms kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (), are multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. These fighting styles are often classified according to common ...

demonstration; he was attending the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

at the time. Eventually, she became one of his kung fu students when she was attending the University of Washington, studying to become a teacher. They married on August 17, 1964. Linda was a few credits short from graduation. They had two children,

and

. Bruce Lee had opened his own kung fu school at the time and was teaching Jun Fan Gung Fu, Lee's modified version of

Wing Chun Wing Chun (Chinese: 詠春 or 咏春, lit. "singing spring"), sometimes spelled Ving Tsun, is a concept-based fighting art, form of Nanquan (martial art), Southern Chinese kung fu and close-quarters system of self-defense. In Mandarin, it is ...

, which would later serve as the basis for

Jeet Kune Do Jeet Kune Do is a primarily wing chun kung fu inspired eclectic martial arts philosophy heavily influenced and adapted by the Taoist personal life philosophy and experiences of martial artist Bruce Lee. Overview and philosophy Jeet Kune ...

. He died suddenly on July 20, 1973, of an

allergic reaction Allergies, also known as allergic diseases, refer a number of conditions caused by the hypersensitivity of the immune system to typically harmless substances in the environment. These diseases include hay fever, food allergies, atopic derma ...

to an

analgesic An analgesic drug, also called simply an analgesic (American English), analgaesic (British English), pain reliever, or painkiller, is any member of the group of drugs used to achieve relief from pain (that is, analgesia or pain management). It ...

. Linda married Tom Bleecker in 1988, and they divorced in 1990. She later wed stockbroker Bruce Cadwell in 1991 and they lived in

Rancho Mirage, California Rancho Mirage is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. The population was 17,218 at the 2010 census, up from 13,249 at the 2000 census, but the seasonal (part-time) population can exceed 20,000. Incorporated in 1973 and located ...

. On March 31, 1993, her son Brandon was accidentally shot to death by a prop gun while filming ''

The Crow The Crow is a supernatural superhero comic book series created by James O'Barr revolving around the titular character of the same name. The series, which was originally created by O'Barr as a means of dealing with the death of his fiancée at t ...

''. Cadwell has continued to promote Bruce Lee's martial art Jeet Kune Do. She retired in 2001, and her daughter Shannon (who now heads the Lee family estate), together with son-in-law Ian Keasler, run the Bruce Lee Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching Bruce Lee's philosophy on martial arts and his writing on philosophy.

Books

Cadwell wrote the 1975 book '' Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew'' (), on which the 1993 feature film '' Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story'' was based. She was portrayed by actress

Lauren Holly Lauren Holly (born October 28, 1963) is an American actress. She has played the roles of Deputy Sheriff Maxine Stewart in the television series ''Picket Fences'', NCIS Director Jenny Shepard in the series '' NCIS'', Dr. Betty Rogers on ''Motive' ...

in the film adaptation. She also wrote the 1989 book ''The Bruce Lee Story'' ().

References

External links

Bruce Lee Foundation website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cadwell, Linda Lee 1945 births Living people American biographers American women biographers American people of English descent American people of Swedish descent Garfield High School (Seattle) alumni 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers People from Everett, Washington Writers from Washington (state) American people of Irish descent University of Washington College of Education alumni Family of Bruce Lee