Bruce Lee ‘never before seen’ footage to be unveiled by Hong Kong actor and lifelong fan Stephen Au, on 50th anniversary of martial artist’s death

Hong Kong actor Stephen Au will show the ‘only copy’ of some lost Lee scenes, among other memorabilia, in Vancouver, to mark 50 years since the star died

Au, who is a karate black belt, explains how ‘Superman’ Lee inspired him to get into martial arts, and why Enter the Dragon is his favourite Bruce Lee film

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Bruce Lee in a still from “Enter the Dragon”. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the martial arts icon’s death, Hong Kong actor and avid fan Stephen Au will show the “only copy” of lost Lee movie footage to an audience in Vancouver’s Chinatown.

Bernice Chanin Vancouver

Published: 6:15pm, 18 Jul 2023Updated: 7:38am, 20 Jul 2023

Actor Stephen Au Kam-tong vividly remembers the morning of July 21, 1973.

“I was still sleeping and I was woken up by my eldest sister,” the 60-year-old actor recalls in a video call in Vancouver, Canada.

“She said, ‘Sai lo, sai lo [little brother] look! Bruce Lee is dead!’ I can still remember her voice was shivering. She couldn’t believe that. Nobody could believe that.”

His sister then showed him the newspaper and the headline read: “The sudden death of Bruce Lee”.

Au is a Hong Kong actor and a well-known fan of Bruce Lee. Photo: Stephen Au Kam-tong

“These five Chinese characters [that made up the headline] just shocked me into silence for minutes,” Au says. “I couldn’t believe that. To me, he was not merely a hero, but a Superman in real life. Who could believe he passed away so suddenly.”