Bruce Lee Auditions for The Green Hornet (1964)

Here’s where the leg­end of Bruce Lee all began (at least for Amer­i­can audi­ences). Back in 1964, Lee, only 24 years old, was invit­ed to audi­tion for The Green Hor­net. And he nailed it, land­ing a star­ring role on the short-lived ABC tele­vi­sion series. Dur­ing these eight vin­tage min­utes, Lee gives you, the view­er, the the­o­ry and prac­tice of kung fu. It’s all rather enjoy­able to watch, unless you’re the slow-reflexed man shar­ing the stage with him. The real action begins at the 4:05 minute mark.

Thanks to Maria Popo­va, aka @BrainPicker, for giv­ing us a heads up on this…

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Comments (7)
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  • Jim mckechnie says:

    This is won­der­ful footage of one of the most remark­able men to have lived. He is tru­ly missed to this day. The world has been deprived of an incred­i­ble man and expo­nent of Kung Fu

  • Noel says:

    Won­der­ful footage?!These arse­holes cut every video off after 9 sec­onds!

  • Dgrees says:

    Great clip. But this was a screen test for a tv series which was going to be called Char­lie Chans No 1 Son. It was nev­er made but after the sucess of Bat­man the pro­duc­er want­ed to make The Green Hor­net and remem­bered Bruce for the role of Kato.

  • Tyler says:

    Some­times ad-block exten­sions can mess with videos. You can try dis­abling AdBlock (or some­thing like that) if you have it installed.

  • Brad says:

    This was the audi­tion for Char­lie Chan’s Num­ber One Son, not the Green Hor­net. And it was done in Feb­ru­ary 1965, not 1964.

  • tanlyeean says:

    The late Bruce Lee was the epit­o­me of water! His awe­some kung-fu move­ments were so flu­id , fast and furi­ous like a water­fall.

  • Rory Carton says:

    Bruce is a man com­plete­ly at one with who he is at that time. peo­ple are not allowed to be like that now.And he was not either. A sweet crys­talline cry of the soul.

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