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		Wong Yu

Other names :	汪志权汪禹 Wang Yu Wong Chi Kuen Young Wong Yu Wong Yue Yung Wong Yu

Birthdate :	26/10/1955
Date of death :	1/5/2008
Nationality :	China
Workplace :	Hong Kong
Activities :	Action Director (1), Actor (65), Brief appearance (6), Cameo (1), Stuntman (1)

	Biography
Largely forgotten nowadays, Wong Yu was kung fu cinema’s first comic jester. Alexander Fu Sheng may have been the kung fu genre’s first naughty kid, but back in the 1970s he was starring in straightforward and bloody potboilers. Wong Yu, on the other hand, was a real clown who starred in the first patented kung fu comedy back in 1975 - master martial filmmaker Lau Kar Leung’s brilliant, groundbreaking directorial debut SPIRITUAL BOXER. The film was made a full two and a half years before Jackie Chan starred in SNAKE IN THE EAGLE’S SHADOW, which while certainly a landmark kung fu comedy was not the very first one, as later incorrectly credited by many. Some even called Wong Yu Shaw Brothers' answer to Jackie, while in fact he preceded him. Wong Yu has a similar name as the early swordplay/kung fu star Jimmy Wang Yu, Wong being the Cantonese pronunciation of the same name. He also bears something of a passing resemblance to him. That’s no coincidence. The story goes that Run Run Shaw, the Shaw Studio owner, was so angry at Wang Yu for leaving him in 1970, that he hired a look-alike - originally a luggage clerk – and gave him a stage name that mimicked Wang, and had him play the buffoon onscreen so as to embarrass his former star. That’s a nice story, but one that sounds a little too good to be completely true. Regardless, if Wong Yu was originally meant to ridicule Wang Yu, he quickly developed his own original screen persona: the goofy, puppy eyed, mischievous trickster. This was a far cry from being a mere parody. In truth, both Wang and Wong were very much products of their time. In the late sixties and early seventies, Wang Yu echoed Hong-Kong’s restless angst-filled youth with his stoic, grim faced, fiercely heroic image. In the later seventies Wong Yu’s mischievous trickster, trying to live by swindling and cheating with his quick wit and fast mouth, was the ideal hero for the working class youth caught up in Hong Kong’s difficult struggle for survival. Wong Yu’s beginnings are a bit clouded. His first recorded appearance is as an extra in the independent production BLOODY FISTS (72), which suggests that he most likely had a background as a stuntman. About one year later Wong appeared either as an extra or in a bit part in the Shaw Brothers adult period film GOLDEN LOTUS (74). The next thing we know though, is that Wong was the lead player in a pair of movies that, judging from their titles, would appear to be youth oriented romantic dramas: THIRTEEN (starring a young Tien Niu) and YOUNG PASSION. Such a sudden rise may suggest there is some truth to the idea that he was chosen for his resemblance to Wang Yu. Considering the nature of his first couple of films though, it seems unlikely that he parodied Wang Yu. More likely he would have played a puppy eyed youth in love with the film’s leading lady. Wong Yu can also be seen in THE FLYING GUILLOTINE as a victim of the titular device. Wong Yu’s real breakthrough role however was in Shaw Brother’s house choreographer Lau Kar Leung‘s aforementioned directorial debut, SPIRITUAL BOXER (75). At the time, kung fu cinema had been in a creative quagmire, getting quite stale with it’s done-to-death, formulaic, angst-filled tales of revenge that always ended in carnage. Kung fu was out of the public’s favour and irreverent burlesque comedy was in. Lau, a genuine kung fu master and a descendant of Cantonese legendary folk hero Wong Fei Hung, came-up with this oddball mixture of kung fu and slapstick comedy in a tale of a young folk magician with expertise in exorcism as well as spiritual boxing. The character is actually a con-martial artist who uses his skills to earn some money but also helps the locals against a ruthless landowner. This was the first genuine kung-fu comedy, and Wong Yu truly excelled in it. Rather scruffy looking, he might not have had the physical presence of Shaw’s earlier martial stars such as Ti Lung or Chen Kuan Tai (who made a cameo appearance at the beginning of the film) but he was quite agile, and through Lau Kar Leung’s training he was made to look at least like a passable screen fighter. His great talent though wasn’t in straight kung fu fighting but in his great comic flair, which allowed him to both effectively parody the original Wang Yu when the occasion demanded, to engage in some wicked monkey-like antics, and to create his own endearing, good-hearted, goofy character. SPIRITUAL BOXER ranked seventh in that year’s box office charts - the highest grossing Kung fu film of the year. Wong Yu’s next role, in the Lau Kar Leung picture CHALLENGE OF THE MASTERS (76), was the serious elder student of a kung-fu school, but he became the goofy oddball again in Lau’s third entry, EXECUTIONERS OF SHAOLIN (77). As Hung Wen-Deng, the “effeminate” son of Chen Kuan Tai and Lily Li, he battles and baffles the invincible white-haired Taoist priest Bai-mei using his father’s Tiger Claw and his mother’s Crane techniques. In 1977 Wong Yu strayed outside of Shaw for the first time to star in the independently produced directorial debut of Lau Kar-leung’s younger brother Lau Kar Wing, HE HAS NOTHING BUT KUNG FU. This paired him with the Lau siblings’ adopted brother Lau Kar-fei (better known in the west as Gordon Liu). As in SPIRITUAL BOXER, Wong Yu played another mischievous trickster , this time a pick-pocket instead of a fake spiritualist. That Wong Yu was able to work outside of the studio shows that he was not a contract player since Shaw imposed strict contracts on their actors, including a rule to never act for any other company. Wong Yu worked again for the younger Lau the following year in DIRTY KUNG FU (78). 1978 saw the full blossoming of kung fu comedy as well as Wong Yu’s career with PROUD YOUTH (78), SPIRITUAL BOXER 2 (79), KUNG FU INSTRUCTOR (79), YOUNG AVENGER (80, probably Wong’s last venture outside of Shaw) and KID WITH A TATTOO (80). His best role, though, would find him again with Lau Kar Leung in DIRTY HO (79), which paired him again with Gordon Liu, playing a bumbling, arrogant scoundrel who becomes the devoted servant and bodyguard of a Manchurian Prince. From the early eighties on, and for the next several years, Wong Yu made an average of three movies a year as star or supporting player in various genres. These films range from typical kung fu comedies like KID FROM KWANGTUNG, YOUNG VAGABOND (both 82) and TALES OF A EUNUCH (83) to more straightforward martial arts pictures like ROAR OF THE LION (81), CRAZY SHAOLIN DISCIPLE, MASTER STRIKES BACK (both 85), as well as rompish farces THE SHY BOY (83), HOW TO CHOOSE A ROYAL BRIDE (84) and historical dramas BATTLE FOR THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA (81). Wong continued to work regularly for Lau Kar Leung (LADY IS THE BOSS (83), EIGHT DIAGRAM POLE FIGHTER (84)) but also made several films with the Shaw Brother's notable veteran director Sun Chung (PROUD YOUTH, KUNG FU INSTRUCTOR, KID WITH A TATTOO, RENDEZVOUS WITH DEATH, MASTER STRIKES BACK). But while Wong was settling comfortably within the cocoon-like Shaw studio lot, things were not going well for the studio itself. Indeed as the seventies wound down and the eighties began, a new wave of fresh, vigorous talents, trends and film companies started to emerge. These met with instant success while Shaw, on the other hand, was still stuck in their obsolete, stale, studio-bound practices. Thus Shaw saw its share of the Hong Kong movie market melt away like ice in summer, so that within only a few years it had become a minor player in the Hong Kong film industry. Jackie Chan and Cinema City caper comedies were in; Shaw Brothers and their martial art films were out. Shaw tried to cope by making kung fu caper comedies of their own, many of them starring Wong Yu (hence the idea that he was a response to Jackie Chan), but to little avail. On July 2, 1983, a tragedy occurred when Wong Yu, fellow Shaw Brothers actor Alexander Fu Sheng and the latter’s brother Chan Cheng-po were in a terrible car accident. Both Wang and Chan survived but Fu Sheng later died of his injuries at the hospital. Wong Yu was quite close to Fu Sheng and was very affected by the tragedy. Months later, in the kung-fu production CRAZY SHAOLIN DISCIPLES (85), he would play the part of the mischievous kung fu kid, Fong Sai-yuk, a role which had been Fu Sheng’s own martial art debut in HEROES TWO (74) more than a decade earlier. After a couple more years and its market share continuing to decline, Shaw at long last realised it was fighting a losing battle and shut down its movie-making facilities. One of Wong Yu’s last Shaw pictures was GIRL WITH THE DIAMOND SLIPPER (85), starring a perky young Miss Hong Kong named Maggie Cheung. The studio closure left Wong Yu and his fellow Shaw players out on a lim, in a movie world that had long passed them by. What did not help matters is that Wong Yu was having serious alcohol and drug problems. It seems that Wong Yu found work in television, and from then on made only sporadic appearances in movies, generally as bit parts. Thus he can be seen in a handful of action films, many of them starring Japanese female nutcracker Yukari Oshima - FRAMED (89), GODFATHER'S DAUGHTER MAFIA BLUES (91), SPIRITUALLY A COP (91). He also had bit parts in Stanley Kwan’s great cinematic masterpieces ROUGE (87) and CENTER STAGE (92). Interestingly, many of Lau Kar Leung’s regular players somehow found their way into Kwan movies (Wong Yu, Lau Kar Wing, Kara Hui in ROUGE, Gordon Liu in ISLAND TALES (2000), most likely because Kwan himself started out at the Shaw studio. Wong Yu’s last couple of movies were the Category III soft-porn adult productions POWER OF LOVE and PEACH SEX NOXIOUS STAR (both 93). Wong was also credited as action choreographer for the former; his only credit as such, it would seem. His glory days as one of Hong Kong’s great mischievous tricksters now long behind him, Wong Yu eventually left the movie industry altogether. He overcame his drug problem and was even regarded as a role model by the police narcotics department. He then served as deputy boy-scout commissioner for a Hong Kong district. Wong Yu later engaged in several business ventures, unfortunately without much success. It was said that he ended up working as a factory worker for a while. Wang Yu passed away in May 2008. Having once been plucked out of obscurity, Wong Yu had sadly returned to it. Yves Gendron (edited and updated by Sylvia Rorem, 28/03/2001)
	Top

Filmography

[ 2000 - 1990 - 1980 - 1970 ]

Alternate lists by alpha / genre / year

Title ( HK - All )		Year	Activity

	Dance Of A Dream	2001	Actor
	Easy Money	1994	Actor
	Peach Sex Noxious Star	1993	Actor
	Power Of Love	1993	Action Director, Brief appearance
	Center Stage	1992	Actor
	Handsome Siblings	1992	Brief appearance
	Godfather's Daughter Mafia Blues, The	1991	Actor
	Spiritually A Cop	1991	Actor
	Framed	1989	Actor
	Dragons Forever	1988	Stuntman
	Mistaken Identity	1988	Actor
	Rouge	1988	Actor
	Innocent Interloper, The	1986	Cameo
	Seventh Curse, The	1986	Brief appearance
	Crazy Shaolin Disciples	1985	Actor
	Flying Mr. B, The	1985	Brief appearance
	Girl With The Diamond Slipper, The	1985	Actor
	Master Strikes Back, The	1985	Actor
	Why Me ?	1985	Actor
	Young Vagabond	1985	Actor
	Comedy	1984	Actor
	Dress Off For Life	1984	Actor
	How To Choose A Royal Bride	1984	Actor
	Wits Of The Brats	1984	Actor
	Big Sting, The	1983	Actor
	Eight Diagram Pole Fighter, The	1983	Actor
	Lady Is The Boss	1983	Actor
	Mercenaries From Hong Kong	1983	Actor
	Shy Boy, The	1983	Actor
	Take Care, Your Majesty	1983	Actor
	Tales Of A Eunuch	1983	Actor
	Kid From Kwangtung	1982	Actor
	Winner Takes All	1982	Actor
	Battle For The Republic Of China, The	1981	Actor
	Challenge Of The Gamesters	1981	Actor
	Lion Vs Lion	1981	Actor
	Notorious Eight	1981	Actor
	Kid With A Tattoo	1980	Actor
	Rendezvous With Death	1980	Actor
	Swift Sword	1980	Actor
	Young Avenger, The	1980	Actor
	Dirty Ho	1979	Actor
	Kung Fu Instructor, The	1979	Actor
	Shadow Boxing, The	1979	Actor
	36th Chamber Of Shaolin, The	1978	Actor
	Dirty Kung Fu	1978	Actor
	Proud Youth, The	1978	Actor
	Adventures Of Emperor Chien Lung, The	1977	Actor
	Call Girls, The	1977	Brief appearance
	Executioners From Shaolin	1977	Actor
	He Has Nothing But Kung Fu	1977	Actor
	Challenge Of The Masters	1976	Actor
	Criminals, The	1976	Actor
	Emperor Chien Lung	1976	Actor
	King Gambler	1976	Actor
	Last Tempest, The	1976	Actor
	Snake Prince, The	1976	Actor
	White Butterfly Killer	1976	Actor
	Big Brother Cheng	1975	Actor
	Cuties Parade	1975	Actor
	Flying Guillotine, The	1975	Actor
	It's All In The Family	1975	Actor
	Spiritual Boxer	1975	Actor
	That's Adultery !	1975	Actor
	Golden Lotus	1974	Actor
	Gossip Street	1974	Actor
	Hong Kong 73	1974	Actor
	Tea House, The	1974	Actor
	Thirteen	1974	Actor
	Two Faces Of Love, The	1974	Actor
	Young Passion	1974	Actor
	Facets Of Love	1973	Brief appearance
	Bloody Fists, The	1972	Actor