Wong Ching-ho (1919–2013) was born in Fujian and studied at Dongfeng Middle School and then Ginling University in Nanjing. During the war against Japan he acted with the Changhong drama society, which he organised in Fujian. In 1947 he reached Hong Kong via Xiamen and began film work, making his screen debut in the short Sha Nü Xu in 1948. For fourteen years he worked in Amoy-dialect cinema as actor, screenwriter and assistant director, taking part in some two hundred Amoy-dialect films, among them Zhao Wu Niang (1952), Yu Tang Chun (1953), Bao Gong Ye Shen Guo Huai (1956), Bian Yan Zhi (1957), Xiu Xie Ji (1958) and Cui Cui Gu Niang (1959). Specialising in older roles and equally at home in comedy and drama, he was regarded as the foremost supporting actor of Amoy-dialect film, and he also starred in the popular Mr Wong series. He wrote Amoy-dialect scripts for Yizhong Film Company, including a three-part Li Jing Yuan (1953–54), Bao Gong Shen Yue Ying (1955) and Xi Xiang Ji (1956). In 1963 he joined Shaw Brothers (Hong Kong) Ltd and stayed there twenty-one years, appearing in a great many Mandarin and Cantonese pictures such as Chi Qing Lei (1965), Lan Yi (1967), Ci Ma (1973), She Sha Shou (1974), Cheng Ji Cha Lou (1974) and Qing Cheng Zhi Lian (1984). After leaving Shaw Brothers he joined Silver Phoenix Films and then moved to Asia Television as an actor, appearing in series including Man Qing Shi San Huang Chao (1987–92), Bi Xue Qing Tian Yang Jia Jiang (1994) and Wo Lai Zi Chao Zhou (1997). He died in Hong Kong on 18 March 2013.
Wong Ching-ho acted, wrote and assisted on Amoy-dialect films, taking part in about two hundred of them as that cinema's foremost supporting actor. At Shaw Brothers he became a character player in Mandarin and Cantonese pictures for more than twenty years, and in later life left a gallery of elderly figures in television dramas.
Achievements
- 1948 · Made his screen debut in the short film Sha Nü Xu
- 1963 · Joined Shaw Brothers (Hong Kong) Ltd as an actor for twenty-one years
- 1987 · Appeared in the Asia Television series Man Qing Shi San Huang Chao