The circumstances leading to Brandon Lee's death were the result of a series of
missteps and
events,
all falling in line to
bring his life to an end.
Basically everything that could go wrong, with
handling gun props and blanks, did go wrong.
He died on March 31st, 1993.
It happened during one of the last tapings of the The Crow. The scene was
that of Eric Draven's death. It involved Brandon walking in
with a bag of groceries and being shot by Eric's and his fiance's
killers. The gun that killed Brandon was used earlier in a close up.
In such cases, empty shells are used so the bullet tips can be clearly
seen in the view. Apparently the gun was also fired and one of the bullets was
pushed into the barrel of the gun and became stuck there. The armmaster
was also away that day. It was later determined that the empty shells
were actually real bullets but emptied of gunpowder. Brandon's scene required
the firing of the gun so, so by standard practice blanks were used. It's worth mentioning that blanks carry about two to three
times the charge as a regular cartridge, and can actually kill at
point-blank range. As a safety measure a blank gun is usually aimed
off target during firing. This did not happen. The gun was pointing at
Brandon when it was shot, propelling the lodged bullet, and causing
major damage to the actor. It took the crew several seconds to realize
the tragedy. He died soon after at the hospital.
The events described here are generally accurate. It may be that a
cartridge itself was stuck in the barrel instead of a real bullet.
The film containing the shooting was destroyed without being developed.
Brandon and his fiance were to be married soon after the filming was completed.
A sad loss. His career would have taken off after The Crow. The son
of Bruce Lee was starting to make a name for himself.
His tv and film credits include:
Kung Fu: The Movie (1986)
Legacy of Rage (1986)
Laser Mission (1989)
Showdown in Little Tokyo (1990)
Rapid Fire (1992)
The Crow (1993)