When a film director wants to give the impression the most evil character is psychotically obsessed, he shoots them sitting in a darkened room, the walls plastered with photographs of the object of their weirdness. To see a scene almost as chilling, enter the interior of Krauseworld martial arts academy, where the high walls are teeming with snapshots of martial artists, most notably Bruce Lee.

It is blindingly clear that when Bruce Lee died - 30 years ago on Sunday - he didn't just leave a

cinematic legacy: his name is constantly on the mind of jeet-kune-do students as the inventor of their art. As calls are made by fans in Hong Kong for a commemorative museum to celebrate Lee's life, it appears that in the heart of Glasgow there is already a living, breathing tribute.

''Lee is the Rembrandt of martial arts,'' says Mike Krause, a senior jeet-kune-do instructor, as he sways on his new-age spherical chair. ''He was so intelligent, way ahead of his time. His idea of combining martial arts to make jeet-kune-do was truly inspirational. He was a total genius.''

Nevertheless, Little Dragon Lee is most widely loved for making fast-action films with lots of fighting in them. The cha-cha champion who became one of the greatest martial artists of the past century was accurate, impossibly speedy, and thus constantly challenged to a fight

by his co-stars. He was Steve McQueen's martial arts trainer before dying in mysterious circumstances. He collapsed on the set of Game of Death in Hong Kong with cerebral edema, thought by some to have been caused by drug abuse.

Others thought he was cursed and that the misfortune was inherited by his son, Brandon, who was shot during the making of The Crow 10 years ago. Tragic it may be, but it is the stuff of legend.

Tellingly, another black-belted man takes up more wall space at Krauseworld than Lee. Dan Inosanto, training partner and best friend of Lee, thought to be the only man qualified to teach Lee's art, is equally revered and remembered. ''Inosanto is the Pope of jeet-kune-do,'' says Krause. ''Inosanto is a humble individual; one of the world's greatest martial artists in terms of knowledge and skill. When I see him, he talks about Lee as if they had been brothers.''

During his 32 years, Lee made only three people instructors of jeet-kune-do: Inosanto, Taky Kimura, and James Lee (no relation, now deceased). After Lee died, martial-arts teachers the world over tried to make a fast buck by claiming to be learned masters of the art.

In 1979, Inosanto went on a world tour to promote the real jeet-kune-do, which included a visit to London. There, he met Krause, who already had a seventh-degree black belt. Four years later, after much coaching, Krause and his brother, Steve, became the first people to represent Inosanto's LA academy in Scotland. They visit the LA academy annually to hone their skills.

Lee's big-screen enormity is only a small part of the hero-worship, says Krause. For martial arts students, saving jeet-kune-do from

the cowboys makes Inosanto just

as much of a hero. The films just keep the students walking through the door.

''There is a small Bruce Lee fanaticism to it. There are those who come in who just want to be like Bruce, the film star, and they don't really appreciate what he is really about. They usually become aware there is much more to it than that. The Matrix, Die Hard, Tomb Raider, and Charlie's Angels make it very appealing,'' says Krause.

Since 1970, more than 40,000 students have followed the Krauseworld programme. It would be no great exaggeration to say that most of them did so because of Lee. Lynsey Curran, a 14-year-old from Glasgow, is among the class of high-kickers. Despite being too young to remember the explosion of Lee's career and young enough to count the new bunch of Charlie's Angels among her heroines, her admiration is for the former. ''I just liked Enter The Dragon and wanted to have a go,'' she says. ''I've been coming for over a year because I like the self-defence aspect to it.''

In one year, Mark Bradley has transformed himself from a unfit, middle-aged man, to an aspiring master. He says: ''It's character building; it's a great work-out and it's the martial art that makes the most sense. I suppose I got caught up in a drinking culture in my twenties and forgot about doing something like this but, a long time ago, I was excited by the buzz surrounding Bruce Lee and really wanted to try his moves. It's just taken me a while to get round to it.''

A 76-year-old Roman Catholic priest, children, and visiting Americans, Canadians, and Scandinavians are also among the students.

Airline pilots claim it helps their concentration. Parents of young martial artists at the academy say it has boosted their offspring's self esteem. As Keanu Reeves will confirm, there is much kudos involved in being able to simply utter: ''I know kung-fu.''

Although he claims not to have been seduced by the enduring sexiness of his lifestyle, Krause's knowledge is rare enough for him to receive regular requests for help from film and TV makers. He appeared on Sky Movie's Hollywood In Your Home, Miramax's Fighting Talk, and finished work on The Purifiers, the first British-made kung-fu film, last month. Forty-five students from Inosanto's academy have gone on to work in Hollywood, on and off camera. Chad Stahelski worked closely with Reeves on The Matrix and one distinguished student went on to train Brad Pitt for Fight Club.

Cinema and martial arts have long enjoyed a symbiotic relationship. Krause assures, however, that Lee did not invent jeet-kune-do, the first art to combine all fighting ranges (kicking, boxing, trapping, and grappling) just because it would look good on screen. ''What Lee

did was to develop the science of combat. As he studied each art, he found there were weaknesses in each one of them. He wanted jeet-kune-do to be the ultimate art. There's a difference between theatrical martial arts and the practical strand that we teach. I don't even watch the films much now,'' he says. ''I'm too busy teaching Lee's real art. You can't learn from the theatrics on film.''

All the same, the appeal of Lee's genre is steadfast. While The Matrix was the thinking person's sci-fi blockbuster, it was, on another level, a spectacle of choreography. ''Such films are comparable to musicals, where the music isn't important but the choreography is,'' says Shane Danielsen, artistic director of the Edinburgh Film Festival.

''Watching the fight is like watching a dance, and audiences respond to that movement. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was the equivalent of seeing Gene Kelly in an MGM film. If the great choreography is freighted with danger and intrigue, it's all the better for it.''

The films behind Lee's fame are, in fact, rather crude, says Danielsen but, as the first American east-Asian actor to make it big, he truly broke ground. Between the thirties and sixties, the representation of east-Asian actors had been piecemeal and Caucasian actors often played the parts of Asian characters. ''Not only was he capable, but he was sexy,'' says Danielsen.

Krause does not believe playful, self-effacing films, such as Jackie Chan's fish-out-of-water comedies, are an insult to the martial arts he treats with such seriousness. He says: ''They might be funny but

there is still skill involved. The exposure maintains a healthy interest in

people like us. Even if someone comes in wanting to learn how to fight, they soon learn that martial arts isn't anything to do with mindless violence. It's all about preservation of the human race.''

For further information on Krauseworld, call 0141 333 1817 or visit www.krauseworld.com

the essential bruce lee

l Fist of Fury (1972)

A gang murders the teacher of a kung-fu fighter, who seeks revenge.

l Enter The Dragon (1973)

Lee's best-known film. British intelligence ropes in a martial arts expert to stop a band of opium smugglers.

l The Way of the Dragon (1973)

A restaurant owner in Rome is being terrorised by local gangs. A martial arts expert flies over to rescue her.

l Game of Death (1979)

(Posthumously re-edited). The first of Lee's movies to be filmed with sound, padded out with old footage.

l Dragon (1993)

Bio-pic of Lee's life, starring Jason Scott Lee.