John Blake at CNN:
“Neither,” Lee said. “I think of myself as a human being.”
Forty-three years after his sudden death in July of 1973, more people are starting to think of Lee as something else: A profound thinker whose mind was as supple as his body.
That may seem like an odd claim. Lee was a fighter, not a philosopher, according to popular perception. He left behind some of the most exhilarating fights scenes ever captured on film in movies such as “Enter the Dragon” and “The “Chinese Connection.”
But his legacy also includes a revolutionary book on the martial arts and Eastern philosophy, and seven volumes of writings on everything from Taoism, quantum physics, psychotherapy and the power of positive thinking.
John Little, who examined Lee's papers after the actor's death, says he was stunned when he first entered Lee's library. He had at least 1,700 heavily annotated books. That's when he realized that Lee sharpened his mind as much as his body.
More here.