Bruce Lee was TOO MACHO for the role. They wanted someone who was peaceful. David Carradine fit that character. They needed someone who could pass for an American and yet could also be Chinese. Bruce would not have been able to fit that role.
Read “The Kung Fu Book of Caine.” Herbie J Pilato writes all about the show. The idea was never Bruce Lee’s it was Ed Spielman’s. The idea that is attributed to Bruce Lee is the movie Circle of Iron (The Silent Flute).
Bruce Lee was considered for the role, but he wasn’t the cult film hero at that time (1971).
Harvey Frand said and I quote, "In my eyes and in the eyes of Jerry Thorpe, David Carradine was always our first choice the play Caine, but there was some disagreement because the network was interested in a more muscular actor, and the studio was interested in getting Bruce Lee.
Frand says Lee wouldn’t have really been approppriate for the series - despite the fact that he went on to considerable success in the martial arts film world. The Kung Fu show needed a serene person, and Carradine was more appropriate for the role."
That comes straight from the book
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AJCrane
