Bruce Lee was a martial arts legend and a pioneer of action cinema. Lee excelled in blending realistic action with masterful storytelling. However, he also wowed theatergoers with martial arts skills the western audience had never witnessed. Simultaneously, Lee’s Big Boss (1971) also made him a superstar for the Hong Kong audience.

In 1971, Lee appeared on the Pierre Berton Show. During the interview, Berton talked about Lee becoming a superstar in Hong Kong while finding success in Hollywood. However, Lee said he didn’t enjoy the superstar moniker. The legendary actor and filmmaker had a nuanced answer for the host.

Bruce Lee explained how he felt after being dubbed a superstar

“Well, let me say this. First of all, the word superstar really turned me off,” Bruce told the host. While he knew people only called a select few a superstar, he also felt bittersweet about it. Lee explained that the word was like an illusion. While it denoted fame, Lee didn’t make movies for fame. Lee told Berton he would be pleased if someone said, “Hey man, you are a super actor.”

The Jeet Kune Do founder also said that he did not think of himself as a superstar. While he found success, Lee focused on improving his craft instead of basking in fame. When he appeared on the Pierre Berton Show, he had already appeared in Batman and had played the lead of the famous TV show, The Green Hornet. The host asked which industry Lee was planning to choose.

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“Are you gonna stay in Hong Kong and be famous? Are you gonna go to the United States to be famous?” Berton asked the Wing Chun expert. Lee made a bold prediction and said he was going to do both. While Ip Man’s star student would continue to make movies in Hong Kong, he wanted to show Hollywood what “true Oriental” means.

A Hong Kong superstar who didn’t speak mandarin

During the same interview, Berton said how Lee became a superstar for the Mandarin audience when he didn’t speak the language. Lee said there was a simple workaround to the problem. He revealed that in Hong Kong, they film most movies without audio. A dubbing artist then records Lee’s lines. The martial arts legend also said he only speaks Cantonese.

However, Lee revealed the challenge was to act without audio. “Cantonese have a different way of saying things,” and in the Mandarin version, the use of different words meant the meaning would get slightly changed. To solve the issue, Lee used words that had a similar interpretation in both languages to match.

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Bruce Lee had a passion for cinema. While he became a worldwide superstar, Lee remained humble throughout his life. What do you think of the ‘super actor’s’ opinion?