Bow Fong (13 November 1922 – 22 September 2006), born Bao Jihuan, was a Hong Kong actor and director with ancestral roots in Shexian, Anhui, born in Nanchang, Jiangxi. He entered the law faculty of Guangxi University in 1941, joined the Guangxi Provincial Arts Centre as an actor in 1942 under the drama master Ouyang Yuqian, and during the war performed anti-Japanese plays such as The Thunderstorm, meeting his wife, the actress Liu Su. After graduating in 1947, he moved to Hong Kong the following year and appeared in Mandarin films for the Yonghua, Taishan and Yiwen companies; his first leading role was in Yonghua's debut production The Soul of the Nation (1948). In 1954 he joined the Feng Huang Film Company, becoming a leading actor for Feng Huang and Great Wall and appearing in more than a hundred films, among them Dreams of the Ancient Garden (1964) and A Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix, working across literary and period roles; The Plan for a Year (1955) won an honorary award from the Ministry of Culture. From 1959 he concentrated on directing and writing, studying under the director Zhu Shilin, and directed more than thirty films and wrote over ten screenplays. In 1973 he wrote, directed and starred in Qu Yuan, portraying the loyal poet; delayed for political reasons, the film was released only in 1977 and caused a sensation across the mainland, becoming his signature work. He was also active in the theatre, helping found the Zongyi drama troupe in 1957, which staged classics such as Thunderstorm, Sunrise and Family. In 1980 he was invited to appear in the TVB drama Yesterday's Glitter and formally joined TVB in 1982, usually playing fathers, elders and martial-arts masters. While filming the rural drama Plain Love on location in Guangxi in 1999 he suffered a stroke, and he retired after three months in a coma; that year he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Golden Bauhinia Awards. In 2005 he was named one of the 100 Outstanding Actors of Chinese Cinema. He died in Hong Kong on 22 September 2006, aged 83. His daughter Paw Hee-ching is an actress, his son Peter Pau won an Academy Award for cinematography with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and his son-in-law Henry Fong is a director.
Long active with left-leaning studios such as Great Wall and Feng Huang, Bow Fong left his signature work in Qu Yuan, which he wrote, directed and starred in and which caused a sensation across the mainland on release; his family, including his daughter Paw Hee-ching and son Peter Pau, went on to extend Hong Kong cinema's lineage in acting and cinematography.
Achievements
- 1942 · Began performing in theatre and film
- 1977 · Wrote, directed and starred in Qu Yuan, portraying the poet
- 2000 · Received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Golden Bauhinia Awards