Lau Kar-leung was born in Guangzhou to a Xinhui family steeped in martial arts. His father Lau Cham was a pupil of the Hung Gar master Lam Sai-wing, himself a leading disciple of the folk hero Wong Fei-hung, and Lau began training under his father at the age of nine, later studying many other schools. He moved to Hong Kong with his family in 1948 and entered the film industry two years later as a stuntman, working from 1953 on Cantonese pictures and the long-running Wong Fei-hung series. In the 1960s he and Tong Kai formed Shaw Brothers' most relied-upon choreography team, and he later founded his own troupe, the Lau Kar-leung Stunt Team. He made his directing debut with The Spiritual Boxer in 1975, mixing Taoist and folk-occult elements with kung fu and opening up a new vein of subject matter. He went on to direct Challenge of the Masters (1976), Executioners from Shaolin (1977), The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978), Shaolin Mantis (1978), Mad Monkey Kung Fu (1979), My Young Auntie (1981), Martial Club (1981) and Legendary Weapons of China (1982), works that dwell on school ethics, the discipline between master and pupil and the details of training, putting southern styles, weapons and clan rules on screen and casting genuine martial artists so that audiences could see how the different schools actually looked; his younger brother Lau Kar-wing and his disciple Lau Kar-fai rose to prominence through his films. Insisting that fight scenes show the real thing, he often demonstrated moves himself and appeared on screen as masters and clan heads. In 1994 his close-quarters work with Jackie Chan on Drunken Master II won Best Action Choreography at the 31st Golden Horse Awards and, a year later, Best Action Choreography at the 14th Hong Kong Film Awards. In 2005 he choreographed Tsui Hark's Seven Swords, taking the Golden Horse award again, and in 2010 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 29th Hong Kong Film Awards. His health declined in later years, and he died of leukaemia at Union Hospital in Sha Tin on 25 June 2013.
Lau Kar-leung brought real southern styles such as Hung Gar into mainstream cinema, turning kung fu films away from showy screen moves towards a concern with schools and genuine fighting, and influencing a generation of action actors and choreographers; his collaborations with Tong Kai and Jackie Chan became a model for Hong Kong action cinema.
Achievements
- 1975 · Made his directorial debut with The Spiritual Boxer, moving from choreographer to director
- 1994 · His work with Jackie Chan on Drunken Master II won Best Action Choreography at the 31st Golden Horse Awards
- 2010 · Received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 29th Hong Kong Film Awards