Exit The Dragon

[Don1]

Enter the Dragon actor Jim Kelly dies aged 67

AGENCY MONDAY 01 JULY 2013



Actor Jim Kelly, who played a glib American martial artist in Enter The Dragon with Bruce Lee, has died. He was 67.

Marilyn Dishman, Mr Kelly's ex-wife, said he died on Saturday of cancer at his home in California.

Sporting an Afro hairstyle and sideburns, Kelly made a splash with his one-liners and fight scenes in the 1973 martial arts classic. His later films included Three The Hard Way, Black Belt Jones and Black Samurai.

During a 2010 interview with Salon.com, Mr Kelly said he started studying martial arts in 1964 in Kentucky and later moved to California. He said the role in the Bruce Lee film came about when his agent called him. It was his second film role.

"It was one of the best experiences in my life," he told Salon.com of working on Enter The Dragon.

"Bruce was just incredible, absolutely fantastic. I learned so much from working with him. I probably enjoyed working with Bruce more than anyone else I'd ever worked with in movies because we were both martial artists. And he was a great, great martial artist. It was very good."

[Muadib]

mi tink him dead ahready.. Han nevah kill him innah di opium room deh ?

[Historian]

Forgot about him!

I had completely forgotten about Jim Kelly!

The 1970s was an interesting period for blacks like Kelly, Richard Roundtree, Fred Williamson, Jim Brown, Calvin Lockhart, Tamara Dobson, Pam Grier, Raymond St. Jacques, Cleavon Little, Paul Winfield, Richard Pryor, Isaac Hayes, etc. as so-called “blacxploitation” films gradually came to dominate a segment of the Hollywood industry.

At least Jim Kelly got a chance to star in films other than the urban black crime or comedy fixtures, for example, “Enter the Dragon.”

I wonder how many of these black 1970s and 1960s actors and actresses are around today?

[Peter R]

I'd say not many. Wesley Snipes is/was the modern day black action actor... I think he has Entered the Dragon's Lair... isn't he in jail for tax evasion? I liked his brand of action movie....

Enter the Dragon was probably one of my favourite martial arts movie as a teen... it seemed real and not fake like the plethora of movies of that genre that exploded on our screens in JA back in the 70s... engendering the famous song "Kung Fu Fighting". Seeing Jim Kelly in the movie, a black man in a hero's role, on the side of the good guys, was uplifting... akin to the other black heroes like "Shaft" but somehow, Jim Kelly for me was different as he was a "good guy" who just happened to be black; whereas the "Shafts" were created for a black audience.

And unrelated, I also like "Kelly's Heroes" ( don't ask me why I included that bit of info., probably because of the "Kelly" name)..

May he RIP.

[Willi]

So Bruce Lee gone, Jim gone, Byron Lee gone... no more Dragons and no more dragoneers!

[Jangle]

Hong Kong Fuey was my guy still .....gone too soon.

[Gamma]

David carradine gone tuh....ongle Ralph Macchio leave....

[Assasin]

Still have dragonaires. Byron Lee Junior an the band still around

[Historian]

I Share Your View

I like your comments, Peter, and I share your views fully. By the way, Snipes had been sentenced to five years in prison. I think he recently completed his sentence.

Samuel L. Jackson, I believe I read somewhere, was the most employed actor during the 1990s, black or white! This is easy to believe as the man was in an amazingly great number of movies, and I’m talking here about movies of all kinds!

When we enter the realm of the “greats,” however, Sir Sidney Poitier probably tops my list. Significantly, he is the first black actor in history to win an Academy Award (Oscar).

Denzel Washington would be somewhere high on the list as well. Playing Shakespeare is no joke, and that’s the background that Samuel L. Jackson and Denzel Washington both have. (No wonder Jackson hit out so strongly back in the 1990s against rappers like Jah Rule playing movie roles.)

I'd say not many. Wesley Snipes is/was the modern day black action actor... I think he has Entered the Dragon's Lair... isn't he in jail for tax evasion? I liked his brand of action movie....

Enter the Dragon was probably one of my favourite martial arts movie as a teen... it seemed real and not fake like the plethora of movies of that genre that exploded on our screens in JA back in the 70s... engendering the famous song "Kung Fu Fighting". Seeing Jim Kelly in the movie, a black man in a hero's role, on the side of the good guys, was uplifting... akin to the other black heroes like "Shaft" but somehow, Jim Kelly for me was different as he was a "good guy" who just happened to be black; whereas the "Shafts" were created for a black audience.

And unrelated, I also like "Kelly's Heroes" ( don't ask me why I included that bit of info., probably because of the "Kelly" name)..

May he RIP.

[Gamma]

Geoffrey/Jeffrey Wright is an actor with serious range who doesn't dominate a role by the force of who is but rather plays the characters perfectly!

He was the gangster Peeples in the remake of Shaft with Samuel L Jackson and he played a congressman in the movie the idea of march, with George Clooney and Ryan Gosling

[Islandman]

Lawrence Fishbourne is very high on my list of great black actors. His portrayal of Ike Turner is a classic. I wish he did more movies.

[HL]

Remember Yaphet Kotto?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaphet_Kotto

[Willi]

You forget the red pill in Matrix!