Bruce Lee Was Roman Polanski’s Number One Suspect After the Murder of Sharon Tate

Sep 04, 2020BJJEEArticles

In the the Quentin Tarantino film “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”, Bruce Lee was made to look as an arrogant martial arts actor. In one scene, Brad Pitt plays a stuntman (Cliff Booth) and beats up Bruce Lee on the set of The Green Hornet in Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.

This scene is loosely based on world class Judoka Gene LeBell having worked as a stuntman with Bruce Lee on the set of the Green Hornet. Sounds familiar?

Bruce Lee Scene in Once Upon A Time in Hollywood Was Inspired By Gene LeBell Grappling Lee

Bruce Lee, a few years before for the TV show “The Green Hornet” — was Hollywood’s martial-arts instructor for the stars. Lee was the martial arts instructor of Steve McQueen and even Roman Polanski and his late wife Sharon Tate.

Tate and her friends was murdered by members of the Manson family and that is what the movie ‘Once upon a time in Hollywood’ was about. Now it seems that new evidence has come up, about Roman Polanski having considered Bruce Lee a suspect in the murders of Tate.

In this article from the NYPost , we find out what lead to Polanski thinking to Bruce Lee being a prime suspect:

“When Polanski discovered the prescription for a pair of glasses found at the crime scene, the director obtained a pricy lens-measuring gauge. For months, he surreptitiously checked friends’ prescriptions to see if they matched, Sandford said.

Shortly after the murders, Bruce Lee was training Polanski in the Paramount Studios gym when he mentioned that he had recently lost his glasses and needed to replace them.

“It doesn’t surprise me that Roman came to the conclusion [that Lee might have committed the murders],” said Krakowski. “Anyone who wore glasses would have been a suspect to Roman.”

According to Polly, Polanski set into motion a potential trap. “Very coolly, Polanski said to Bruce, ‘On the way home, we can stop at my ophthalmologist for glasses. It will be my gift to you.’ Much to Polanski’s relief … the prescriptions did not match.”

By Dec. 1, 1969, Manson and five followers were arrested in connection to the murders. All were found guilty and sentenced to death (commuted to life in prison after California abolished the death penalty).

Perhaps out of guilt, Polanski later picked up the tab for Lee to join him in Gstaad, Switzerland. Officially, the actor was there as Polanski’s trainer, earning $10,000. Unofficially, it was a busman’s holiday for Lee — who complained of being bored with all the skiing and cocktailing.

“Bruce was a terrible skier and he borrowed a jumpsuit from Polanski,” said Polly. “It was the inspiration for his yellow jumpsuit in ‘Game of Death’ [the film that Lee died while making in 1973] — and that served as a model for the outfit worn by Uma Thurman in [the 2003 Tarantino movie] ‘Kill Bill.’ ”