Bruce Lee’s cause of death still raises questions.
One of the interesting facts about Bruce Lee is that his death still raises many questions. Officially, cerebral edema, or swelling of the brain, was determined to be the cause of Bruce Lee's death on July 20, 1973, at the age of 32. On the day of his passing, Lee had complained of headaches, and an actress who claimed to be his mistress, Betty Ting Pei, gave him medication before he took a nap. Never did he get up.
Polly notes a mystery that dates back to May 10, 1973, when the star collapsed in a hot recording studio while dubbing new dialogue for entering the Dragon. Although many reports at the time suggested Lee had an allergic reaction to an ingredient in the painkiller, Polly points to a mystery that began on that day.
Polly believed that Lee's collapse was due to heatstroke because of his prolonged exposure to a hot recording studio and the fact that he lacked sweat glands, which prevented his body from naturally cooling down. In the brain, heatstroke can also result in enlargement, as was observed during Lee's autopsy. A person who has experienced one heat stroke is at increased risk for another, and there might be long-term problems following the initial episode, according to Dr. Lisa Leon, a hyperthermia expert at the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine.
