Lee Hoi-chuen

Lee Moon-shuen (Chinese: 李滿船; 4 February 1901 – 7 February 1965) known professionally as Lee Hoi-chuen, was a Chinese opera singer and film actor in Hong Kong. He was the father of Bruce Lee, the father-in-law of Linda Lee Cadwell, and the paternal grandfather of Brandon Lee and Shannon Lee.[1]

In this Chinese name, the family name is Lee.
Lee Hoi-chuen
李海泉
Born
Lee Moon-shuen (李滿船)

(1901-02-04)4 February 1901
Jun'an town, Shunde, Guangdong, Qing China
Died7 February 1965(1965-02-07) (aged 64)
St. Teresa's Hospital, Kowloon, British Hong Kong
Burial placeSt. Raphael's Catholic Cemetery, Cheung Sha Wan, Kowloon, Hong Kong
OccupationActor
SpouseGrace Ho
Children5; including Peter Lee, Bruce Lee and Robert Lee
Relatives
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese李海泉
Simplified Chinese李海泉

Family
Lee Hoi-chuen with his wife and baby Bruce Lee

Lee Hoi-chuen was born in Jun'an, Guangdong, China on 4 February 1901. He moved to Hong Kong and became a Cantonese opera actor. There, he met and married Grace Ho (1907–1996) who was of half-Cantonese and half-English descent and a daughter of Ho Kom Tong. They had two daughters, Phoebe and Agnes, and three sons, Peter, Bruce and Robert.

Lee and his wife were on a one-year US tour with the Cantonese Opera Company in 1940 when their second son Bruce Lee was born in San Francisco. They later returned to Hong Kong when Bruce Lee was three months old. Soon after, the Lee family led an unexpected four-year hard life as Japan, in the midst of World War II, launched a surprise attack of Hong Kong in December 1941 and ruled for four years.[2]

Their youngest son Robert Lee, who was born in 1948, would go on to become famous in Hong Kong during the 1960s as the lead singer and founder of a popular beat band, The Thunderbirds.[3][4]

Lee died of a heart attack in Hong Kong on 7 February 1965, three days after his 64th birthday and six days after the birth of his grandson Brandon Lee. He was buried at St Raphael's Catholic Cemetery at Cheung Sha Wan in Kowloon.[5]

Lee Hoi-chuen was portrayed by Ric Young in the 1993 film Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story and by Tony Leung Ka-fai in the 2010 film Bruce Lee, My Brother.[6]

References
  1. "Hong Kong Cinemagic - Lee Hoi". www.hkcinemagic.com.
  2. 吳貴龍 (2018). 龍影中華──李小龍的光影片段. 中華書局(香港). p. 8.
  3. In The Shadow Of A Legend - Robert Lee Remembers Bruce Lee Archived 2009-03-30 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Trans World 60's Punk Hong Kong 60s Re-capture Archived 2007-03-07 at the Wayback Machine
  5. "Welcome to Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do HK Chapter". www.jkd.com.hk.
  6. "Bruce Lee, My Brother (2010)". www.hkmdb.com.
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