Eliza Hutton is a casting director who did extensive works in Hollywood during the 1990’s. But she is better known as the fiancee to actor, Brandon Lee, the charismatic son of Bruce Lee before his tragic demise in 1993.
Who is Eliza Hutton?
Eliza Hutton was born in 1964 in Kansas City, Missouri. There is no information available about her early life and education. Her first work in the film industry was in 1988 as an executive assistant to director Renny Harlin who is known for hit movies such as Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990) and Cliffhanger (1993). In 1991, she worked as a story editor at Stillwater productions, a company owned by British-Canadian actor, producer and director, Kiefer Sutherland. She also worked on a couple other casting and production companies.
Hutton first met Brandon Lee the son of legendary movie star and martial artist Bruce Lee in 1990 while working on a job with director Harlin. The duo began dating and by October 1992, they were engaged after Brandon proposed while they were on a trip to Europe promoting his movie Rapid Fire (1992). The couple already had their romantic dream wedding plans in top gear, but their hopes and Brandon’s trajectory to stardom were cut tragically short in 1993 on the set of the gothic-comic film The Crow. Brandon, unfortunately, died on March 31, 1993, in Wilmington, North Carolina while shooting a scene from the movie when a dummy bullet accidentally hit his abdomen and lodged in his spine. Young Brandon died 12 hours after being shot. He was only twenty-eight years old.
In spite of the events that led to Lee’s death, his mother and Eliza Hutton were supportive of the film’s completion. However, Hutton petitioned for stricter gun regulations on movie sets in order to avoid such tragedies in the future, given the cause of her fiancé’s death. More so, after completion, the movie Crow was dedicated to Hutton and Brandon. A gun safety program was also set up in Brandon’s name to educate actors on gun arms safety and regulations on film sets. She also fought to ensure the producers of the movie donated a proportion of the film’s marketing sales to the safety program.
Where Is She Now, Is She Dating Anyone?
Since after Brandon’s death, Hutton has maintained a very low profile. Though she continued her casting work, she first put her career on hold and relocated to New York in 1994, probably to grieve but eventually returned to Los Angeles four years later.
In recent years, she has been involved in volunteer work for child welfare. Together with a couple of charities within Los Angeles, she spends time researching and working for abused and neglected children, especially for the safe care and placement of those who are not in permanent foster homes.
See Also: Who is Sunetra Sastry – Rowan Atkinson’s Ex-Wife, What Happened To Their Relationship?
Hutton who currently resides in Los Angeles later married another man in 2004. Though she has been less involved in the movie industry in recent years, in 2011, she worked as a crew assistant to Kiefer Sutherland on the series The Confession.
About Brandon Lee – His Life and Legacy
Brandon Lee was born on February 1, 1965, in Oakland, California to Linda Emery, a teacher, and Bruce Lee, the famous martial artist and actor. Growing up, Brandon lived in Oakland, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong. Sadly, his father Bruce Lee mysteriously died from a brain oedema in 1973, when Brandon was eight years old. Thereafter, his family eventually settled in in Seattle.
Brandon attended Chadwick School and the Bishop Montgomery High School both in Los Angeles. He later studied theater at the Emerson College, Boston, Massachusetts but soon relocated to New York where he enrolled for acting classes from the famous Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute. Brandon eventually moved back to Los Angeles in 1985 to fully pursue his acting dreams. Brandon Lee was best known for his roles in action thriller movies such as Crime Killer released in 1985, Kung Fu and Legacy of Rage both released the next year, the 1989 movie Laser Mission and more popularly, Rapid Fire (1992) and of course The Crow (1994), the infamous gothic film that ended his young life.
