Teddy Yip Wing-cho (1945–2003), whose ancestral home was Ningbo in Zhejiang, was a Hong Kong film worker active from the late 1960s to the 2000s and known in the trade as Uncle Yip. The second son of Yip Yutfong, a screenwriter active in Shanghai and Hong Kong from the late 1930s, and former husband of the screenwriter Chiang Yun, he was born on the mainland and came to Hong Kong after secondary school to follow his father into the business. He began at Great Wall and Feng Huang, rising from a machinery hand to camera assistant and working on productions such as The Jade Bow (1966). In the late 1960s he joined Shaw Brothers as assistant director to Lo Wei on films including The Golden Sword (1969) and Brothers Five (1970). Highly regarded, he was promoted to director in 1970; his debut was The Eunuch (1971), followed by The Black Tavern (1972). When Raymond Chow founded Golden Harvest in 1971 he moved there with Lo Wei, co-directing The Eight Dragon Generals (1971) and directing The Blade Spares None (1971). He then signed with Far East (Hong Kong) Films, making Death Duel (1974) and other action pictures, as well as directing The Conman (1973) and The Golden Key (1977); the fantasy romance Mermaid Lovers (1978) was shot in the Philippines from a Chiang Yun script. In the late 1970s he was invited to Taiwan to direct Sleeping Fist (1979) and The Thundering Mantis (1980), after which he briefly left directing for business in South America. Recalled to Hong Kong by Lo Wei in 1982 as his company manager, he was later introduced by Sammo Hung to D&B Films as production manager, working on films such as The Two Dragons (1984), Waiting for Dawn (1984) and Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars (1985), and coordinating The Abduction (1986). When D&B rented the Kin Shing studio lot he became its studio manager and returned to directing for his last film, Two Dragons and a Pearl (1986). In the 1990s he remained active as planner and producer on pictures including Tantric Magic (1991) and Blade of Fury (1993), and appeared in cameo comic parts in more than seventy films. In 2003 he contracted pneumonia while filming in Shanghai and died after returning to Hong Kong.
Teddy Yip spanned the Shaw Brothers, Golden Harvest and D&B eras, moving from assistant director to director and then to production manager and studio manager, a rare all-rounder within the 1970s and 1980s Hong Kong studio system. In later years his comic turns as ordinary townsfolk made him a familiar supporting face in Hong Kong movies.
Achievements
- 1970 · Was promoted to director at Shaw Brothers.
- 1971 · Directed his debut The Eunuch and, moving to Golden Harvest with Lo Wei the same year, directed The Blade Spares None.
- 1979 · Was invited to Taiwan to direct Sleeping Fist, followed a year later by The Thundering Mantis.
- 1986 · Served as D&B Films' production manager and studio manager of the Kin Shing lot, returning to direct his last film, Two Dragons and a Pearl.