A number of Hollywood celebrities advantaged much from learning “tai chi” from Bruce Lee– but Dean Martin was not among them. Martin, a famous vocalist and comedian, was one of the most popular performs of the 1950 s and 1960 s. During those times, he encountered a huge amount of success in the comedy, music, TV, and movie industries.

Dean Martin was one of several -Alist actors to come in contact with Bruce Lee during the 1960 s. At this time, Lee had yet to find a foothold in movies. While struggling to establish himself as a ace in Hollywood, Lee nurtured rapports with various far-famed performers in the area due to his knowledge in martial arts. Several of them had turned to Lee to learn the style of “tai chi” that he created in 1964, Jeet Kune Do. Due in huge fraction to word of mouth, Lee’s celebrity clientele grew to include quite a few big names, such as Roman Polanski, James Coburn, James Garner, and Steve McQueen.

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One of the actors Lee trained with was Dean Martin, but under different circumstances than normal. In 1968, Lee was hired as a “karate advisor” for a spy slapstick called The Wrecking Crew, performing Martin. Since the movie was to feature several campaigns, a person of Lee’s genius was needed to coordinate the martial arts strings. To that dissolve, Lee was responsible for properly bracing The Wrecking Crew’s stars for their panoramas by belief them to perform the necessary moves. Bruce Lee biographer Matthew Polly wrote in his diary, Bruce Lee: A Life, that Lee had no trouble working with Nancy Kwan, Sharon Tate, or Elke Sommer. He considered Tate and Kwan to be fast learners, but the same couldn’t be said for the movie’s lead.

Apparently, Lee tried to teach Martin some kicking skills, but the actor regrettably proved to be a difficult student. Harmonizing to Polly’s book, Lee claimed that Martin was “too lazy” and “too clumsy” to learn his kung fu moves. Lee too condemned the unpleasant experience partly on Martin’s on-set imbibe. After a while, Lee came to realize that his schooling with Martin wasn’t going to work out and decided to seek an alternative path. As a develop, Lee reassured fellow martial artist Mike Stone to serve as Martin’s double during war scenes.

While Lee did maintain contact with Sharon Tate and Nancy Kwan after filming for The Wrecking Crew ended, it’s presumed that he didn’t work with Dean Martin again. While luminaries like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, McQueen, and Coburn welcomed Bruce Lee’s teaches and devoted much of their time to their development as martial artists, it seems that not all of his students shared the same level of interest. The brief occasion the iconic singer consume with Bruce Lee was likely his last-place experience with kung fu.

More: The One Martial Arts Star Bruce Lee Wanted To Surpass

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