Personal check, 6 x 2.75, filled out and signed by Bruce Lee, payable to the Screen Actors Guild for $224, June 17, 1966. A secretarial hand has added to the top: "OK-membership." In fine condition. Encapsulated in a PSA/DNA authentication and grading holder, evaluating the autograph as "GEM MT 10."
Lee was living in a tiny apartment on Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood, California, preparing for his television debut on The Green Hornet, when he wrote this check. Producer William Dozier was so impressed by Lee's audition for the scrapped show Number One Son, that he cast Lee as Van Williams' crime-fighting sidekick Kato. Although The Green Hornet was canceled after a single season, Lee's iconic portrayal of Kato enabled the actor to make three crossover appearances on the wildly popular live-action Batman series between 1966 and 1967. A decidedly early check from Lee that predates his breakthrough role on The Green Hornet—quite possibly the first SAG dues that Lee ever paid.
