Thursday January 18, 2007
Walter Tso dies
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Walter Tso Tat Wah (1915-2007) |
Screen legend Walter Tso Tat Wah, who made a name playing the good guy in more than 700 films, died in a British hospital last Saturday. He was 91. The cause of death was stomach haemorrhage, Hong Kong news reports said.
His goddaughter, actress Chan Po Chu, confirmed his death to the press on Monday, saying: “It was very sudden. He had been doing well before that.”
She added that he would have wished for his death and his funeral to be kept quiet.
Tso was born in Taishan, Guangdong, southern China, in 1915. At 15, he headed for Shanghai to go into acting.
Tso started a career which would span six decades – taking him from the silent era to the rise, then decline, of Cantonese cinema. He shot to superstardom in Hong Kong in the 1950s and 1960s and was famous for his heroic roles as Detective Inspector Cho, swordsman Lung Kim Fai and the folk hero Leung Foon.
In the Wong Fei Hung series, which pre-dated the 1990s films starring Jet Li, Tso played Leung, a disciple of kung fu master Wong, who was played by the late Kwan Tak Hing. Both men would fight a baddie played by Shek Kin.
Tso and Shek faced off on screen so often that they came to represent good and evil among Hong Kongers. In 2003, they were jointly honoured with Professional Achievement trophies at the Hong Kong Film Awards. He was also known for his gambling. He betted on horses, gambled in Macau and in his old age, he played mahjong.
He reportedly lost his Wah Tat Studio, which produced most of his movies, at the gambling table.
He emigrated to London with his restaurateur son in 1990, but returned to Hong Kong in 1993 because he felt like a “third-class citizen” there.
One of his last roles was in the 1994 Chinese New Year comedy, It's a Wonderful Life, opposite such stars as Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung Ka Fai.
Tso returned to Britain in 1997, when his wife of 60 years fell ill with kidney disease. He returned to Hong Kong after she died in 2000. Last year, he spent a month in hospital after falling down a flight of stairs in his apartment block.
Tso was in Britain visiting his family when he died. He is survived by a son and a daughter. - The Straits Times, Singapore/Asia News Network
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