Bruce Lee: the kung fu star who inspired a generation Unfortunately, the stigma attached to Asians in the era of the Vietnam War meant no Hollywood producer would risk casting Lee in a major role. But, on a visit to Hong Kong, Lee was greeted as a star: The Green Hornet was a huge hit in Hong Kong, so Lee was offered major roles. Meanwhile, US film companies noticed that imported martial arts films were drawing big crowds in black and Hispanic cinemas. A handwitten poem by Bruce Lee, taken from The Treasures of Bruce Lee, by Paul Bowman, published by Carlton Sensing an untapped audience demographic, they took the plunge with Enter the Dragon - but they still divided the lead role three ways: Lee played the superlative fighter, a Shaolin monk; John Saxon played an ersatz Bond character; and Jim Kelly took the mandatory black role of the era: the good guy who is killed early on. This film exploded into the world. It showed Westerners something they'd never seen before: amazing martial arts. A whole "Bruce Lee generation" grew up in the wake of this transformation: the Tarantinos, the Wu Tang Clans, untold numbers of kids, choreographers, athletes, artists, cinematographers, and more, whose inspiration continues to be Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee's Kung Fu notes pad with his sketches PHOTO: Carlton Sadly, in his moment of success, Bruce Lee was already dead. But he was therefore always larger than life, forever young, forever invincible - forever the original and best. Paul Bowman teaches Cultural Studies at Cardiff University. He is the author of The Treasures of Bruce Lee, foreword by Shannon Lee (Bruce Lee's daughter), published by Carlton, £30