Ti Lung

Wing Chun before film

Ti Lung, born Tam Fu-wing in 1946 in Guangdong province, grew up in Hong Kong. As a teenager he worked as an apprentice tailor and took up Wing Chun to protect himself from street gangs. His teacher was master Jiu Wan, a name some sources spell Chu Wan. He later added judo, taekwondo, Muay Thai and wushu, plus horse riding, which came in handy for swordplay films.

In 1968 he answered a Shaw Brothers advertisement, joined the studio's acting course and signed a five-year contract. Shaw executive Mona Fong picked his stage name: "Lung" means dragon, and the whole name echoes Alain Delon, an actor he admired.

Chang Cheh's Iron Triangle

Director Chang Cheh gave him a small part in Return of the One-Armed Swordsman (1969), then the lead in Dead End the same year. With David Chiang they became what the Hong Kong press called the "Iron Triangle": more than twenty films together, including Vengeance (1970), The Heroic Ones (1970), The Duel (1971), The Blood Brothers (1973) and The Pirate (1973). Chang Cheh's films run on brotherhood and last-stand fights, and the hero often dies weapon in hand.

The Blood Brothers earned him a special acting award at Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards. He also played Wu Song, the tiger killer from the novel Water Margin, in several adaptations, and Cai De-zhong, one of the founding monks, in Five Shaolin Masters (1974) and Shaolin Temple (1976). The studio let him direct, too: Young Lovers on Flying Wheels (1974) and The Young Rebel (1975).

Gu Long novels with Chu Yuan

From 1976, Chu Yuan adapted Gu Long's swordplay novels and made Ti Lung his lead. He was Fu Hung-hsueh in The Magic Blade (1976), gentleman thief Chu Liuxiang in Clans of Intrigue (1977) and Legend of the Bat (1978), and Li Xunhuan, the flying dagger swordsman, in The Sentimental Swordsman (1977) and its sequel. These films combine studio sets, clan intrigue and bladed duels. In The Avenging Eagle (1978) he plays Black Eagle, a repentant killer who turns on his former master; the role won him Best Actor at the Asian Film Festival. He left Shaw Brothers in 1985 after more than 70 films for the studio.

A Better Tomorrow and a second career

In 1986 John Woo cast him opposite Chow Yun-fat in A Better Tomorrow. He plays Sung Chi-ho, a gangster trying to go straight after prison. The film was a box-office hit, swapped his swordsman image for that of a guilt-ridden gangster and won him the Golden Horse for Best Actor. He returned in A Better Tomorrow 2 (1987).

In 1994 he played Wong Kei-ying, father of folk hero Wong Fei-hung (Jackie Chan), in Drunken Master II. The Kid (1999) won him Best Supporting Actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards. He later played Guan Yu in Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon (2008), alongside Andy Lau, and a kung fu master in The Kid from the Big Apple (2016), a Hong Kong and Malaysia co-production. The Golden Bauhinia Awards gave him a lifetime achievement award in 2007.

On screen, his fighting relies on stance and presence more than acrobatics: low guards, clean footwork, a sword held with authority. That upright, serious hero made him one of the faces of 1970s wuxia.