The London-based Asian Awards will honour Bruce Lee with its Founders Award.

The third-annual awards, held April 16 at the Grosvenor House, will see Lee’s wife Linda Lee Cadwell pick up the award. 2013 marks the 40th anniversary of Bruce Lee’s death.

Paul Sagoo, founder of The Asian Awards, said: “Bruce Lee was the first person of Asian descent to successfully crossover into Hollywood and make such a dramatic impact on western cinema. You can argue that if it wasn’t for Lee, Asian culture and martial arts would never have really penetrated western culture and we wouldn’t have the likes of Jackie Chan, Jet Li and now actors like Irfan Khan, who starred in Life of Pi.”