Actor Lo Lieh dies after suffering heart attack
Lo Lieh (1939 - 2002)
Father Geek here... genre actors have had a bad weekend and this death hits KUNG FU fans hard. I first saw Lo Lieh, like most american kung fu fans in Five Fingers of Death at a Drive-in, annnnnd I followed his career eagerly for years after that flick which I saw many times... His Pai Mei character has been recently revived by Quentin Tarantino in his upcoming KILL BILL played by another great old school Kung Fu artist, Gordon Liu...
Here's what the HONG KONG ENTERTAINMENT NEWS has to say about Lo Lieh's passing...
Father Geek here... genre actors have had a bad weekend and this death hits KUNG FU fans hard. I first saw Lo Lieh, like most american kung fu fans in Five Fingers of Death at a Drive-in, annnnnd I followed his career eagerly for years after that flick which I saw many times... His Pai Mei character has been recently revived by Quentin Tarantino in his upcoming KILL BILL played by another great old school Kung Fu artist, Gordon Liu...
Here's what the HONG KONG ENTERTAINMENT NEWS has to say about Lo Lieh's passing...
November 3rd, 2002: Veteran actor Lo Lieh has died. He was 63. Born Wong Lap-Dat in 1939, Lo was a staple in old-school kung fu movies from the mid-1960s through to the mid-1980s. He appeared in such classic films as GOLDEN SWALLOW, EXECUTIONERS FROM SHAOLIN and MIRACLES.
In 1973, Lo's FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH (aka KING BOXER) became the first Hong Kong movie to make a splash at the American box office. Lo parlayed the recognition from that film into a role in the 1974 "Spaghetti-Western"-style movie THE STRANGER AND THE GUNFIGHTER. "Spaghetti-Western" legend Lee Van Cleef co-starred.
Lo died in Shenzhen on Saturday morning at around 10 am after suffering a heart attack. He was rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival. Lo had reportedly been dealing with a heart condition for the past two years. Lo lived a turbulent life filled with ups-and-downs in business and in his personal life. He was married four times and leaves behind three children. His widow, his fourth and current wife, is twenty-three years old. She and Lo have a two-year old child from the marriage. Lo also has two sons from previous marriages. One of his wives, Tong Ka-Lai, is the older sister of director/producer Stanley Tong Kwai-Lai.
Two years ago, reports emerged stating that Lo was in financial difficulty. However, according to Stanley Tong, Lo was making a comfortable living of late by running an advertising agency and a massage parlour in the Mainland.
Despite the fact that he is probably most well-known for his work as a villain in various Shaw Brothers and Chang Cheh movies, Lo was a devout Buddhist renown for a gentle off-screen demeanour. In 2001, Lo capped his film career with a critically-acclaimed performance as a lonely security guard in the drama GLASS TEARS. A funeral is expected to be held later this month in Shenzhen.
Related images (courtesy Ming Pao):
