![]() In Bey Logan's audio commentary for the film The Magnificent Butcher, he states that though there is a grave marker to Kwan Tak-hing in Kowloon territory, his ashes were already taken to San Francisco to rest with those of his second wife. He died at the age of 91 of pancreatic cancer. His final film appearance was in the 1994 family comedy film It's a Wonderful Life!, at the age of 89, some 61 years after his acting career began. Kwan appeared in cameo roles in The Family Strikes Back and Aces Go Places 4 (both 1986). To the Chinese, Kwan embodied Confucian virtues and patriarchal authority, and he is thought to have modelled his speeches on those of Sun Yat-sen. On 5 November 1984, Kwan married his second wife Kwan Yut-chur in Reno, Nevada, whom he first met whilst travelling in the US, whilst raising money for the Chinese war effort. Kwan received an honorary MBE for his charitable work and contribution to the entertainment industry, in 1984. By this time, he was in his 70s and although he was doubled for the more athletic scenes, he still demonstrated remarkable fitness and suppleness. TVB also aired a 13-part television series featuring Kwan as Wong Fei-hung in 1976. Other films followed in which Kwan played his most familiar role – Magnificent Butcher (1979), Magnificent Kick (1980), and Dreadnaught (1981). In 1974, Golden Harvest revived the role, pairing Kwan with Sammo Hung in The Skyhawk. During this period, Kwan opened a martial arts school and a number of herbal centres, whose branded soup and an ointment for bruises were well known in Hong Kong. The Wong Fei-hung sequence of films ended in 1970 and Kwan went into semi-retirement. Later he worked with Lau Cham, father of Lau Kar-leung and Lau Kar-wing. First, Leong Wing-hang, who worked as action director on Wong Fei-hung films as well as other Kwan vehicles including The Five Heroes' Deadly Spears (1951). Kwan worked on films with two of the students of Lam Sai-wing (himself a student of the real Wong Fei-hung). In 1956, a total of 25 Wong Fei-hung films were released. This partnership was a huge success and spawned many sequels, exploring many ideas and situations used in later action films. The film included Shih Kien as the villain and Li Lan, the very first winner of the Miss Hong Kong Pageant, and the first of many winners who would become famous actresses in Hong Kong). The first film in which he starred as Wong Fei-hung was the Story of Huang Feihong part 1 (1949) directed by Wu Pang and produced by the Yong Yao Film Company. During World War II he was in a troupe of patriotic entertainers and had a price put on his head by the Japanese. Kwan's first martial arts film was Knight of the Whip (1936). His first starring roles came two years later in Song of the Yesterday (aka Yesterday's Song) and Song of Sadness (both 1935). His film debut was in The Singing Lovers (aka Romance of the Songsters), made in the US for the Grandview Studios and only the second Cantonese-language talkie ever made. In 1928 at the age of 23, he married Chan Yat-chor ( 陳日初), the daughter of the actor known only by his nickname of "Bind-Legged Champ" ( 扎腳勝), and they had a son David Kwan Hon-chuen ( 關漢泉). At the age of 13, he worked as a waiter in a restaurant in Singapore before joining a Cantonese opera troupe under Cheng Hsin-pei. When he was 12, he began work in construction. To supplement his family's income, as a boy, Kwan worked as a cowherd. His father died of a disease at a young age. Kwan was born in Guangzhou, China in 1905. He was awarded the MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in 1984. He was elected in 1955 as the chairman of the Chinese Artist Association of Hong Kong. No one else in cinema history has portrayed the same person as many times. Kwan Tak-hing, MBE (27 June 1905 – 28 June 1996) was a Hong Kong martial artist and actor best known for his portrayal of martial artist folk hero Wong Fei-hung in at least 77 films, between the 1940s and the 1980s. In this Chinese name, the family name is Kwan.
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