Dick Liu Kai-chi (, 30 September 1953 – 28 March 2021) was a

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

actor, best known for his

everyman The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them. Origin The term ''everyman'' was used as early as ...

supporting roles. His career spanned over 40 years, with appearances in over 90 television series and 70 films. He earned eight nominations at the

Hong Kong Film Award The Hong Kong Film Awards (HKFA; ), founded in 1982, is an annual film awards ceremony in Hong Kong. The ceremonies are typically in April. The awards recognise achievement in various aspects of filmmaking, such as directing, screenwriting, act ...

s for Best Supporting Actor, two of which he won; one for his role in the 1992 comedy ''

Cageman ''Cageman'' () is a 1992 Hong Kong satirical comedy-drama film directed by Jacob Cheung. It won four awards at the 12th Hong Kong Film Awards held in 1993, including Best Film. Plot The movie explores the lives of tenants of the Wah Ha cage-h ...

,'' and the other for the action thriller ''

Beast Stalker ''Beast Stalker'' () is a 2008 Hong Kong action thriller film directed by Dante Lam (who also wrote the screenplay with Ng Wai-lun, and produced with Candy Leung and Cheung Hong-tat). The film stars Nicholas Tse, Nick Cheung, Zhang Jingchu and ...

'' in 2009.

Career

Liu had been interested in acting at an early age, and decided to enter the film industry after graduating high school. He took on various

film crew A film crew is a group of people, hired by a production company, for the purpose of producing a film or motion picture. The crew is distinguished from the cast, as the cast are understood to be the actors who appear in front of the camera o ...

positions to accumulate industry experience, and was initially rejected from acting school because of his height and "ordinary" appearance. He was eventually accepted into the

TVB Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong SAR. The Company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main Cantonese language service, and TVB ...

artist training programme in 1979. Liu was first known for his appearance in the hit 1980 TV series ''

The Bund The Bund or Waitan (, Shanghainese romanization: ''Nga3thae1'', , ) is a waterfront area and a protected historical district in central Shanghai. The area centers on a section of Zhongshan Road (East Zhongshan Road No.1) within the former Shang ...

''. Liu won his first Hong Kong Film Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1993 for his role as Prince Sam in the comedy ''

.'' He was subsequently nominated for the award in 2004 and 2006 for his performance in ''

Infernal Affairs II ''Infernal Affairs II'' is a 2003 Hong Kong crime-action film directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak. It is a prequel to the 2002 film ''Infernal Affairs''. Anthony Wong, Eric Tsang, Edison Chen, Shawn Yue and Chapman To reprise their roles from ...

'' and '' SPL: Sha Po Lang'' respectively, before winning the award a second time in 2009 for the

Dante Lam Dante Lam Chiu-Yin () is a Hong Kong film director, writer and actor who is a major figure in Chinese action cinema. Background He was trained in the tradition of John Woo as an assistant director and worked as an actor and producer. He often wr ...

film ''

,'' in which Liu plays the role of a policeman. Liu continued to work with Lam on a number of films including '' The Sniper'' and '' The Stool Pigeon,'' the latter of which earned him another nomination for Best Supporting Actor in 2011. In 2014, Liu was cast in a leading role for two

Hong Kong Television Network Hong Kong Technology Venture Company Limited (HKTV, ) is a Hong Kong-based technology company primarily known for its e-commerce platform and once had plans to become a television station. HKTV currently provides an over-the-top shopping and e ...

drama productions, ''

The Election ''The Election'' () is a political drama series produced by Hong Kong Television Network (HKTV). With a budget of HK$15 million, filming started in July 2014 and wrapped up on 28 October 2014. Popularly voted to be the inaugural drama of ...

'' and ''

The Borderline ''The Borderline'' () is a police procedural television series produced by Hong Kong Television Network. Each episode costs HK$1 million to produce. The first episode premiered on November 19, 2014. Cast * Liu Kai-chi as To Yat-fei * Dominic Lam ...

''. The two dramas were selected in a public poll for their online launch on 19 November 2014.

Personal life and death

On 11 November 1987, Liu married actress Barbara Chan Man-yee, also known as Money Chan, after meeting her in the TVB artist training programme. Together, they had 3 sons. On 5 April 2006, Liu lost his youngest son, six-year-old Liu Man-lok to

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

, after a three-year struggle with the terminal illness. Both Liu and Chan were known for being committed Christians, which Chan credits for helping her overcome the death of her son. In March 2021, it was reported that Liu was suffering from

gastric cancer Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a cancer that develops from the lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a number of subtypes, including gastric adenocarcinomas. Lymph ...

; Chan replied to a media interview to confirm the diagnosis. Liu had discovered the condition in December 2020, and had to suspend work for treatment. Liu died of gastric cancer on 28 March 2021 at 8:32 pm in

Prince of Wales Hospital Prince of Wales Hospital is a large of Tertiary referral hospital and large of teaching hospital from Faculty of Medicine in Chinese University of Hong Kong in Sha Tin, New Territories in Hong Kong.. Named after Charles, Prince of Wales (now ...

, surrounded by his family. In honour of Liu, a special tribute featuring his final TVB performance on ''

Law dis-Order ''Law dis-Order'' (; literally "Legal Strongman") is a 2016 Hong Kong television legal drama produced by Marco Law for TVB, starring Alex Fong, Liu Kai-chi, Ali Lee and Mandy Wong as the main leads. It premiered on Hong Kong's TVB Jade and Malay ...

'' was broadcast on

TVB Jade TVB Jade (), or simply Jade, is a Hong Kong Cantonese-language free-to-air television channel owned and operated by Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) as its flagship service, alongside its sister network, the English-language TVB Pearl. Bro ...

Filmography

Liu was involved in 74 films, and over 90 television shows throughout his acting career. Five of his films are scheduled to be released posthumously. thestandnews.com 2021-07-16

References

External links

*
loveHKfilm entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Kai-Chi 1953 births 2021 deaths TVB veteran actors 20th-century Hong Kong male actors Hong Kong male film actors Hong Kong male television actors 21st-century Hong Kong male actors Deaths from cancer in Hong Kong Deaths from stomach cancer Hong Kong Christians