Lee was on the verge of becoming an international superstar when he died July 29, 1973 at the age of 32. American audiences knew him — sorta — as sidekick Kato in the late '60's television series The Green Hornet. But with the forthcoming martial arts film Enter the Dragon, Lee was set to be an ass-kicking golden child. About a week before the film's release, however, Lee died suddenly of brain swelling linked to a medicine he was taking for his back.
See TIME's 1973 review of Enter the Dragon