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Bruce Lee
The dominant figure in martial arts related entertainment in modern culture, and one of the most enduring pop icons of the twentieth century, Bruce Lee was an actor, director, and instructor whose films and philosophy popularized martial arts in both Western and Eastern cultures in the late 1960s and into the early 1970s. Though as a mature performer he made only a handful of films between 1971 and 1973, his graceful yet lethal screen presence was so magnetic - and such a source of pride for Asian audiences - that his influence continued to shine decades after his sudden and mysterious death in 1973.