Lam Ching-ying (1952–1997), born Lam Kan-po to a poor family, was a Hong Kong actor, action choreographer and director. He studied at a Diamond Hill school but left after the second year of primary school and was sent by his parents to the Spring and Autumn Drama School run by the Peking-opera master Fan Kuk-fa, where he trained for five years and formally became a pupil of Fan Kuk-fa and Yu Jim-yuen in 1963 alongside fellow students such as John Lone, Wai Tin-chi and Tung Wai; he also trained in Wing Chun. In 1969, aged seventeen, he entered the film industry as a stuntman on a daily wage of sixty dollars, doubling for actresses including Cheng Pei-pei, and from the age of nineteen worked in action choreography at Golden Harvest. In 1971 he was assistant action choreographer on The Big Boss, starring Bruce Lee, and with Chan Wai-yee choreographed all of Lee's films except The Way of the Dragon, becoming one of Lee's trusted right-hand men. After Lee died in 1973 he joined Sammo Hung's stunt team and became a core member, contributing to many action designs. In 1983 he won Best Action Choreography at the 2nd Hong Kong Film Awards for The Prodigal Son, and took the same award again in 1984 for Winners and Sinners. In 1985 he played the Taoist priest Master Kau in Mr. Vampire, blending the supernatural, martial arts and comedy to set off Hong Kong's jiangshi film craze, and was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 5th Hong Kong Film Awards. He went on to star in Spiritual Love, directed and acted in Encounter of the Eerie Kind in 1989, mixing Western vampire motifs into the genre, and in 1995 ATV lured him to lead the series Vampire Expert on a high salary. He died of liver cancer in Hong Kong on 8 November 1997, aged forty-five.
By blending the Taoist priest with comedy and action, Lam's Mr. Vampire set off the mid-1980s jiangshi craze; his priestly look, peach-wood sword and paper talismans became recurring visual shorthand for the genre, and he kept folding Western vampire motifs into it.
Achievements
- 1971 · Worked as assistant action choreographer on The Big Boss; with Chan Wai-yee he was one of Bruce Lee's trusted right-hand men
- 1983 · Won Best Action Choreography at the 2nd Hong Kong Film Awards for The Prodigal Son
- 1985 · Starred as the Taoist priest Master Kau in Mr. Vampire, setting off Hong Kong's jiangshi film craze
- 1989 · Directed and starred in Encounter of the Eerie Kind, fusing Western vampire motifs into the jiangshi film