John Saxon, friend and student of Bruce Lee, and co-star in ‘Enter the Dragon’ dies at 83
- The Brooklyn-born actor played the character Roper in 1973’s ‘Enter the Dragon’
- He also appeared in three ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ movies and earned a Golden Globe nomination for ‘The Appaloosa’
John Saxon, Bruce Lee’s friend and student, who co-starred with the Hong Kong martial arts superstar in Enter the Dragon, has died. He was 83.
Saxon gained prominence – especially with martial arts fans – with Lee in the Hong Kong star’s first mainstream American movie in 1973. Lee died just a few days before the Hong Kong premiere of Enter the Dragon.
The Italian-American Brooklyn-born actor Saxon also appeared in three Nightmare on Elm Street movies for director West Craven.
Saxon died of pneumonia in Murfressboro, Tennessee, his wife, Gloria, said according to The Hollywood Reporter.
An underrated actor who earned a Golden Globe nomination playing a Mexican bandit opposite Marlon Brando in The Appaloosa (1966), Saxon will always be remembered for his breakthrough role playing the martial artist gambler Roper in Warner Brothers’ Enter the Dragon, which would launch Lee to superstardom before his untimely death on July 20, 1973.
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In Enter the Dragon, Saxon and Lee enter a martial arts tournament organised by the mysterious Han, played by veteran Hong Kong actor Shek Kin.
It was to become Lee’s last completed movie. Lee had half finished Game of Death, which was later released in 1978 after extensive reworking.
Saxon’s martial arts skills was, in real life, nowhere near the level of Lee, fellow US actor Jim Kelly, who also appeared in Enter the Dragon, or Chuck Norris, but he was popular with martial arts fans all the same. Saxon trained with Lee and was proficient in judo and Shotokan karate.
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A few years ago, Saxon told an amusing story when he visited Lee in his home while filming Enter the Dragon.
“He [Bruce Lee] asked me to show him my side kick. I had strained my ankle but I showed him. Then it was time to show me his kick. He moved around with a chair and I didn’t know what he was doing. All of a sudden, he slid in front of me and he did a hop, skip and a jump and he knocked me clear across on my heels across the room and the chair fell and broke. I got up, and I saw he was very anxious and quiet and I said ‘it’s OK, I’m not hurt’. He said ‘I know but that was my best chair!’”
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Saxon was married three times. His first marriage was to screenwriter Mary Ann Murphy. He then married airline attendant turned actress Elizabeth Saxon. He married for the third time in 2008 to cosmetician Gloria Martel. He is survived by his son, Antonio, and his sister, Dolores.
