A flying kick, a yellow brushstroke, and lettering split in two.
Bruce Lee (1940–1973) was the first Asian leading man in American film, and this stamp honours a legacy that runs from action cinema to popular music and the evolution of mixed martial arts. He came to American television as Kato in The Green Hornet (1966–1967), then found Hollywood slow to cast him as a star, at a time when Asian characters were often written as passive and subservient. Hong Kong's Golden Harvest gave him the chance: The Big Boss (1971), Fist of Fury, then The Way of the Dragon (1972), which he produced, directed, wrote and starred in. Enter the Dragon became a worldwide phenomenon; he died on July 20, 1973, a month before its premiere, at 32. Illustrator Kam Mak painted the kick in egg tempera on gesso, against a calligraphic yellow stroke recalling the tracksuit from The Game of Death, with BRUCE LEE and USA FOREVER angled as if the kick were breaking them.
The type is falling apart because he kicked through it.
PERFECT FOR: letters to martial arts students, film-buff gifts, journal pages, gym and dojo walls, and pop-culture collections that mean it.
