Raymond Chow Man-wai, (; 8 October 1927 – 2 November 2018) was a Hong Kong film producer, and presenter. He was responsible for successfully launching

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; a ...

and the

Hong Kong cinema The cinema of Hong Kong ( zh, t=香港電影) is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese language cinema, alongside the cinema of China and the cinema of Taiwan. As a former British colony, Hong Kong had a greater degree of po ...

onto the international stage. As the founder of Golden Harvest, he produced some of the biggest stars of the

martial arts film Martial arts films are a subgenre of action films that feature numerous martial arts combat between characters. These combats are usually the films' primary appeal and entertainment value, and often are a method of storytelling and character expres ...

genre, including

Bruce Lee Bruce Lee (; born Lee Jun-fan, ; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong and American martial artist and actor. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that ...

Jackie Chan Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...

Sammo Hung Sammo Hung Kam-bo ( zh, t=洪金寶, j=Hung4 Gam1-bou2; born 7 January 1952) is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film producer and Film director, director, known for his work in martial arts films, Hong Kong action cinema, and as a fight choreog ...

Jimmy Wang Yu Jimmy Wang Yu (; born Wang Zheng Quan; 28 March 1943 – 5 April 2022) was a Hong Kong-Taiwanese martial artist, actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. Initially a contract player for Shaw Brothers, he rose to fame for his starring ...

and

Tsui Hark Tsui Hark (, vi, Từ Khắc, born 15 February 1950), born Tsui Man-kong, is a Hong Kong film director, producer and screenwriter. Tsui has directed several influential Hong Kong films such as ''Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain'' (1983), the ...

Early life

Of Hakka Han ethnicity, Chow studied martial arts under the

Hung Ga Hung Ga (), Hung Kuen (), or Hung Ga Kuen () is a southern Chinese martial art belonging to the southern Shaolin styles. The hallmarks of Hung Ga are strong stances, notably the horse stance, or "si ping ma" (), and strong hand techniques, not ...

master

Lam Sai-wing Lam Sai-wing (1861? – 1943) was a Hung Gar martial artist. He was a student of the Chinese martial artist, acupuncturer and folk hero of Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within ...

. He attended

Saint John's University, Shanghai St. John's University (SJU) was a Christian university in Shanghai. Founded in 1879 by American missionaries, it was one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in China, often regarded as the Harvard of China. After the founding of the ...

,Chu, Yingchi.

003 003, O03, 0O3, OO3 may refer to: *003, fictional British 00 Agent *003, former emergency telephone number for the Norwegian ambulance service (until 1986) *1990 OO3, the asteroid 6131 Towen * OO3 gauge model railway *''O03 (O2)'' and other related ...

(2003). Hong Kong Cinema: Coloniser, Motherland and Self. Routledge. and graduated with a

B.A Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in journalism in 1949. He started working on the ''

Hongkong Standard ''The Standard'' is an English-language free newspaper in Hong Kong with a daily circulation of 200,450 in 2012. It was formerly called the ''Hongkong Standard'' and changed to ''HKiMail'' during the Internet boom but partially reverted to ''T ...

''. In 1951, he joined the

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...

office in Hong Kong.

Career

Chow's film career began in 1958. He started as a publicity manager at

Shaw Brothers Shaw Brothers (HK) Ltd. () was the largest film production company in Hong Kong, and operated from 1925 to 2011. In 1925, three Shaw brothers— Runje, Runme, and Runde—founded Tianyi Film Company (also called "Unique") in Shangh ...

but was soon made the head of publicity and was the head of production for 10 years until 1970. He leased Cathay's studio and contracted its exhibition chain of 104 cinema theatres in Southeast Asia. At the time Cathay was a predominant force in the Malaysian film industry. When Cathay wanted to end the company's association in Hong Kong, Chow left Shaw Brothers to establish Golden Harvest along with film producer

Leonard Ho Leonard Ho (1925 – 17 February 1997) was a Hong Kong film producer. Ho formed Golden Harvest in 1970, with Raymond Chow, after leaving Shaw Brothers. The first film he produced was ''A Man Called Tiger'' from 1973. In 1989, he was nomi ...

in 1970. He capitalised on the shortcomings of Shaw Brothers, who had a system that limited creativity, and was able to lure

into Golden Harvest, making it a serious competitor to Shaw Brothers following the release of ''

The Big Boss ''The Big Boss'' (, lit. "The Big Brother from Tangshan"; originally titled ''Fists of Fury'' in America) is a 1971 Hong Kong action martial arts film produced by Raymond Chow and starring Bruce Lee in his first major film in a lead role. The ...

'' (1971). Chow's films with Lee became the first Hong Kong films to reach a large worldwide audience. Under Chow's leadership, Golden Harvest would become the cornerstone for

leading Hong Kong box office sales for two decades from the 1970s to 1980s as well as expanding into international distribution. In 1981, the

National Association of Theatre Owners The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) is an American trade organization whose members are the owners of movie theaters. Most of the worldwide major theater chains' operators are members, as are hundreds of independent theater opera ...

named Chow their International Showman of the Year for his contributions to the US film industry following the success of ''

The Cannonball Run ''The Cannonball Run'' is a 1981 action comedy film. It was directed by Hal Needham, produced by Hong Kong's Golden Harvest films, and distributed by 20th Century Fox. Filmed in Panavision, it features an all-star ensemble cast, including Burt ...

''. Whilst Chow is credited with producing many films, in the audio commentary for the UK release of ''

Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain ''Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain'' ( zh, t=新蜀山劍俠) is a 1983 Hong Kong supernatural ''wuxia'' fantasy film directed by Tsui Hark and based on the xianxia novel ''Legend of the Swordsmen of the Mountains of Shu'' by Huanzhulouzhu. ...

'',

was asked the elementary question of Chow's role as a film producer, explained that this credit is mostly meaningless. Tsui stated that any producer's role at the studio was often nothing more than to

greenlight To green-light is to give permission to proceed with a project. The term is a reference to the green traffic signal, indicating "go ahead". Film industry In the context of the film and television industries, to green-light something is to ...

and ensure funding of the project, and that producers such as Chow would rarely, if ever, set foot on the set during the making of the film. Raymond Chow officially announced his retirement in Hong Kong on 5 November 2007.

Personal life

Chow married Felicia Yuen Hei-wah (袁曦華) and they had a daughter

Roberta Chow ''Roberta'' is a musical from 1933 with music by Jerome Kern, and lyrics and book by Otto Harbach. The musical is based on the novel ''Gowns by Roberta'' by Alice Duer Miller. It features the songs " Yesterdays", "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", " Le ...

(鄒重珩) in 1963. Chow also had an affair with a media writer Ng Suk-fong (伍淑芳), with pen name of Lan Yan (藍茵). Ng gave birth to his illegitimate son Felix Chow (鄒重珏) in 1960, followed by a second son

Terence Chow Publius Terentius Afer (; – ), better known in English as Terence (), was a Roman Africans, Roman African playwright during the Roman Republic. His comedies were performed for the first time around 166–160 BC. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman Rom ...

(鄒重瑾), in 1963. However Chow was unable to give Ng and their illegitimate children any legitimacy due to his marriage to Yuen, chose to separate with them but continued with financial support. Ng died of illness in 1967 and her two sons were raised by her sister. Chow competed in international

contract bridge Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other around a table. Millions o ...

tournaments and was a regular at the

Royal Hong Kong Golf Club Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a c ...

Death

On 2 November 2018, Chow died in Hong Kong. He was survived by a daughter with his late wife and two sons with his late mistress. Raymond Chow, Avenue of Stars

References

External links

Raymond Chow at HKcinemagic

CineAsia 2007 Awards
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chow, Raymond 1927 births Hong Kong chief executives Hong Kong film producers Hong Kong film presenters Hong Kong people of Hakka descent 2018 deaths People from Dabu Officers of the Order of the British Empire Recipients of the Gold Bauhinia Star Asian film producers St. John's University, Shanghai alumni