Ok, BL was not a great actor, but it's a stretch to call Chuck or Segal actors. Though, afa the question of fighting, Segal didn't do tournaments. And Judo Gene could choke out Chuck or Steven or Bruce or Ali. Still, it's funny to hear people argue about whether they could fight. Afa as the 8ft in 5/100ths of a second, that's not exactly what was said. The 5/100ths was measured on a reaction timer. The covering 8 feet before someone could react to him is anecdotal, but was part of BL's shtick at demonstrations.
Imo, the "fight" question is moot. He's been dead fifty years, anyway. What is undeniable is his effect on martial arts, particularly Chinese mas. If you weren't around in 1965, you can't possibly realize that tcmas were only known to people living in cities with Chinatowns. In 66, was the first person to introduce "gong fu" to a wider audience specifically because he was an actor. First in his role as Kato on The Green Hornet, after which interest in tcmas exploded. and people started looking for teachers. And, teachers began coming, specifically to cities on the east and west coast.
Then, his script "Kung Fu" made it to tv. in 1972. Even though they didn't hire him to play the part he invented, the show was a hit. Few people in the US had ever heard of a Shaolin Temple before that. Of course, because of that, many westerners started wanting to go to China to study. But, they couldn't, yet. That only changed because of diplomatic relations with China changed, in spite of the Cultural Revolution. After Nixon went, the first cultural representatives the PRC sent were martial artists.
In 73, a month after BL died, Enter the Dragon was released. By 1974, "Everybody was kung-fu fighting" was a hit on the radio. If you were born after 1980, you probably would never heard of tcma if it weren't for BL.
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