Linda Lee Cadwell

Linda Lee Cadwell

Linda Claire Emery Lee Cadwell (née Emery; born March 21, 1945) is an American retired teacher and writer, the widow of martial artist and actor Bruce Lee (1940–1973), and the mother of actor Brandon Lee (1965–1993) and actress Shannon Lee (born 1969). She is the author of the Bruce Lee biography Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew, upon which the film Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993) is based, as well as the founder, a former trustee of, and an unpaid advisor of the Bruce Lee Foundation.

Life and career

Linda Lee Cadwell

Linda Lee at the First Day of Issue stamp celebration in Seattle on Feb. 18, 2026. She shakes hands with a member of the American Legion color guard.

She was born and raised in Everett, Washington, the daughter of Vivian R. (née Hester; 1911–1998) and Everett Emery (1910–1950). Her family was Baptist and of Swedish, Irish, and English descent.

She met Bruce Lee while she was attending Garfield High School, where Bruce came to give a kung fu demonstration; he was attending the University of Washington at the time. Eventually, she became one of his kung fu students when she was attending the University of Washington, studying to become a doctor.

They married on August 17, 1964. Linda was a few credits short from graduation. They had two children, Brandon Lee and Shannon Lee. Bruce Lee died suddenly on July 20, 1973, of an allergic reaction to an analgesic.

Linda Lee Cadwell on a shoot for documentary about Bruce Lee in 1998.

Linda married Tom Bleecker in 1988, and they divorced in 1990.

On March 31, 1993, her son Brandon was accidentally shot to death by a prop gun while filming The Crow.

Books

Cadwell wrote the 1975 book Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew (ISBN 0-446-89407-9), on which the 1993 feature film Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story was based. She was portrayed by actress Lauren Holly in the film adaptation. She also wrote the 1989 book The Bruce Lee Story (ISBN 0-89750121-7).