Talking about Martial arts the first name that strikes our mind is Bruce Lee. However, we aren’t aware of the actual person who started the Kung Fu craze in 1970s. Well, it was Lo Lieh, an Indonesian actor. But of course, Bruce Lee made it more popular.
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People tend to think that Bruce Lee was the very first superstar who brought Martial Arts into the movies. But this credit is actually in the name of Lo Lieh. He was a really talented actor who died when he was 63 in 2002. The Martial arts artist and actor performed incredibly in around 100 movies.
The first film of Lo Lieh’s carrier came in the mid of 1960s and he worked for Shaw brothers. You must be remembering Shaw Brothers if you are a Kung Fu Fan because they were the biggest studio in the Kung Fu Industry. However, many other Kung Fu Studios came after that.
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After that he also worked as side actor beside some big actors in sword fight movies for Shaw Brothers who basically made movies regarding ancient China time sword fight movies. Jimmy Wang Yu and Cheng Pei-pei are some popular actors he has worked with.
Then after some years film makers wanted some real martial artists for the roles so Lo became their first choice. All this started in 1972. Whereas, Bruce Lee came in 1973 showcasing his martial arts skills in the movie, Enter The Dragon. People thought that he was the one to bring martial arts into film industry because his first film only became so popular worldwide.
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Lo Lieh performed as a lead actor for Shaw brothers in 1972 for the movie, Five Fingers of Death. Thus, Bruce Lee is indeed an awesome martial artist but he is not the one to introduce it to the entertainment industry.