Born in Jiangdu, Jiangsu, on 2 September 1930, the youngest of seven children of a small department-store owner, Sung Tsun-shou saw his first film, Maiden in Armour (1939, starring Chen Yunshang), at the age of nine and fell in love with cinema. He moved to Hong Kong in 1949 and studied at the Hong Kong College of Culture, where he became friendly with King Hu and Li Han-hsiang. He joined Si Wei in 1955 as a screenwriter and moved to Shaw Brothers in 1956 as a writer and assistant director. In 1963 he went with Li Han-hsiang to Taiwan to join the Grand Motion Picture company they formed, made his directing debut with Chiao Nu (1966), and drew attention with At Dawn the Next Day (1968), adapted from a novel by Chu Hsi-ning; the trade called him a literati director, placing him alongside Li Hsing, Li Han-hsiang and King Hu. He specialised in romantic melodrama and directed Qiong Yao adaptations including The Deep Garden and Outside the Window, the latter blocked from release in Taiwan over copyright questions but nevertheless Lin Ching-hsia's film debut. Mother at Thirty (1973) adapted Yu Lihua's novel Mother and Son, starring Li Hsiang and Chin Han. In 1978 Autumn Glory brought him an Honourable Mention at the 15th Golden Horse Awards. He directed some twenty-six features, many drawn from literary fiction, and helped launch actors such as Chin Han and Lin Ching-hsia. In 2001 he received the Golden Lotus award at the Deauville Asian Film Festival and, that December, the Golden Horse Lifetime Achievement Special Award. He lived in Taipei in his later years, suffered from Parkinson's disease from the mid-2000s, and died of pneumonia there on 27 May 2008, aged 77.
Known as a literati director, Sung turned novels by writers such as Qiong Yao and Yu Lihua into finely observed romantic melodramas and helped launch stars including Lin Ching-hsia and Chin Han. Directing some twenty-six features, he stands among the representative figures of Taiwanese romantic cinema's golden age and was honoured late in life with the Golden Horse Lifetime Achievement Special Award.
Achievements
- 1968 · Directed At Dawn the Next Day, establishing his reputation as a literati director
- 1973 · Directed Mother at Thirty, adapting Yu Lihua's novel Mother and Son
- 2001 · Received the Golden Horse Lifetime Achievement Special Award