What Really Happened When Bruce Lee Met Gene LeBell

There are many inconsistencies and rumors surrounding the meeting of legends Bruce Lee and Gene LeBell. One undisputed fact is that they met for the first time on the set of The Green Hornet. At the time, Bruce Lee worked as Kato who was a main character in the series and LeBell was a stunt and fight coordinator.

It is widely accepted that when Bruce Lee first came to America, he was not happy with the quality of American stuntmen. It was not unusual for him to punch and kick the stuntmen when he got frustrated with their lack of ability, which is why Gene LeBell was bought in. Many stuntmen would not work with Bruce Lee since they didn’t want to be beaten on set. However, Gene LeBell was a 10th degree judo black belt and one of the toughest men on the planet, so the director knew this wouldn’t happen to him.

Instead of being hit first, it was LeBell who would put Bruce Lee in a headlock and carry him around the set. After this display of physical dominance, Lee became good friends with LeBell and would trust him to perform stunt work. Not only this, but LeBell introduced Lee into the world of grappling, which is the complete opposite of the Hong Kong fighting style Wing Chun. Lee did not have a good opinion of the grappling arts until he met LeBell, who he trained under until his untimely death.

Despite what some people believe and say, it seems that LeBell and Lee had a mutual affection and respect for one another. This stemmed from them both being very top level mixed martial artists, something that was pretty much unheard of in the late 1960s.

The Inaccuracies Of The Once Upon A Time In Hollywood Scene

In the scene, Bruce Lee is shown bragging about his abilities to a group of stuntmen and camera operators who don’t really seem to care. Whilst Bruce Lee may have been cocky, he was the most famous martial artist on the planet in his late 20’s at this point. However, there is no record of him calling people out and openly bragging to whoever would listen to his stories. The story can be seen in more detail here.

Here, Gene LeBell possibly inspired Brad Pitt as the character “Cliff Booth”. This scene does both of the men an injustice as it shows Bruce Lee challenging LeBell to a fight, who subsequently throws him into a car. As mentioned previously, it did not take long for Lee to respect LeBell once he showed him his grappling and stunt abilities. LeBell also had respect for Lee and was never bullied or intimidated by him.

Lastly, LeBell uses Wing Chun (or a variation of the martial art) to defend against Bruce Lee’s punches and kicks during the final moments of the scene. This is not how LeBell fought as he has expressed on numerous occasions, for striking he prefers head movement and boxing, rather than blocking. This is an area of martial arts where he fought very differently from Bruce Lee who was a student of the original Wing Chun master Ip Man.

If you’d like to learn more about Gene Lebell then check out his autobiography here.