https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn38jrnp9jeo
"China-born actress Cheng Pei-pei, who starred in Oscar-winning film
Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon, has died in San Francisco at the age of 78.
A pioneer of martial arts roles for female actors, Cheng became a major
performer in action films after she starred in
Come Drink with Me by King Hu
in 1966. The film achieved critical acclaim and won Cheng international
attention.
After moving to the US she inspired a new generation of directors from East
Asia to Hollywood to make female-driven swordplay films.
Cheng's family said she had been privately battling a neurodegenerative brain
disease with symptoms similar to Parkinson's since 2019 and passed away on
Wednesday.
“Our mom wanted to be remembered by how she was: the legendary Queen of Martial
Arts... a versatile, award-winning actress whose film and television career
spanned over six decades, not only in Asia but internationally as well,” her
family wrote on Facebook.
Born in Shanghai in 1946, Cheng moved to Hong Kong in 1962 and soon won acclaim
as an actor with the release of
Come Drink with Me. The film is considered
one of the best examples of "wuxia" films - a period movie genre celebrating
legendary martial artists from ancient China.
In the film she played the role of Golden Swallow, the sister of an important
leader who was kidnapped by a band of thugs. A kung-fu master, her character
was dispatched to rescue her brother.
The film, selected as the Hong Kong entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at
the 39th Academy Awards, launched her career at the age of 19.
Coupled with its 1968 sequel,
Golden Swallow, the role saw Cheng win scores
of parts in martial arts films as a fearless swordswoman.
Her character went on to establish the motif of the lone female assassin, sent
out to seek revenge. The genre would heavily influence Quentin Tarantino’s box
office hits,
Kill Bill: Volume 1 and
Kill Bill: Volume 2.
Cheng moved to California in the early 1970s and played dozens of roles as an
iconic action heroine during the golden age of Hong Kong martial arts films."
Via Susan ****
RIP,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
