Bruce Lee's death was officially attributed to cerebral edema.

On July 20, 1973, Lee was in Hong Kong, due to have dinner with former James Bond star George Lazenby, with whom he intended to make a film. According to Lee's wife Linda, Bruce met producer Raymond Chow at 2 P.M. at home to discuss the making of the movie Game of Death. They worked until 4 P.M. and then drove together to the home of Betty Ting Pei, a Taiwanese actress (claimed by some to be Lee's mistress) who was to have a leading role in the film. The three went over the script at her home, and then Chow left to attend a dinner meeting.

A short time later, Lee complained of a headache, and Ting Pei gave him a prescription analgesic known as Equagesic.

At around 7:30 P.M., he laid down for a nap. After Lee didn't turn up for the dinner, Chow came to the apartment but could not wake Lee up. A doctor was summoned, who spent ten minutes attempting to revive him before sending him by ambulance to Queen Elizabeth Hospital. However, Lee was dead by the time he reached the hospital. There was no visible external injury; however, his brain had swollen considerably, from 1,400 to 1,575 grams (13%). Lee was 32 years old. The medical staff examining him concluded that the immediate cause of death was Cerebral Edema. Dr. R. R. Lycette of Queen Elizabeth Hospital determined that the swelling in the brain, and Lee's untimely death, was the result of an adverse reaction to one of the compounds in the prescription equagesic tablet. [16] [17] On October 15, 2005, Chow stated in an interview that Lee was allergic to Equagesic. When the physicians announced Bruce Lee's death officially, it was pronounced “death by misadventure”. However, the exact details of Lee's death were controversial from the moment it was announced. Bruce Lee's iconic status and unusual death at a young age led to several conspiracy theories about Lee's death, such as a murder involving Triads seeking protection money, vengeful rival martial artists, or other enemies like Chinese and American directors and producers — but none of these are supported by any evidence. His sudden death has since passed into the realm of legend, with one legend claiming that Lee faked his death, and will return when he has perfected his martial arts.