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 (19401973), and the mother of actor Brandon Lee (19651993) 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 is based, as well as the founder, former trustee, and unpaid advisor of the Bruce Lee Foundation.

Early life Cadwell 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. Cadwell's father died of a heart attack when she was five years old; she, her mother, and older sister subsequently moved to Seattle, where she attended Edward Meany Junior High. When Cadwell was eight, her mother remarried to a man who she says "did not participate in being a parent to us, not as a Dad and not financially at all either."

Personal life

Cadwell met Bruce Lee while she was attending Garfield High School, where Lee 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. Cadwell's mother disapproved of the relationship due to Lee's ethnicity.

Cadwell married Tom Bleecker in 1988, and they divorced in 1990. She married Bruce Cadwell in 1991, and they settled in southern California.

Cadwell became a grandmother when her daughter Shannon, who married Ian Kessler in 1994, gave birth to a daughter in 2003.

Books Cadwell wrote the 1975 book Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew , 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 .