Chor Yuen (1934 – 21 February 2022), born Cheung Po-kin, was a Hong Kong director, screenwriter and actor, the son of the Cantonese actor Cheung Wood-yau. He entered the industry in 1956 as an assistant director under Ng Wui and began directing from 1958, at first mostly in Cantonese. In 1960 he wrote and directed The Great Devotion, starring his father Cheung Wood-yau and portraying the hardship of a poor family; it became his breakthrough and in 2005 was voted one of the 100 Best Chinese Films by the Hong Kong Film Awards Association. In 1962 he founded Rose Film Company with his future wife Nam Hung, whose first production was The Rose with Tears. In 1965 he directed Black Rose, starring Nam Hung, Connie Chan and Patrick Tse, a tale of a righteous lady bandit that became a series classic. His 1972 film The Killer had a woman avenging herself and a fierce visual style, and in 1973 House of 72 Tenants, packed with star cameos, broke box-office records and helped revive Cantonese cinema. He then joined Shaw Brothers and brought Gu Long's wuxia novels to the screen in films such as Killer Clans, The Magic Blade and Clans of Intrigue, creating a wuxia style that mixed exotic romance with lavish design; his partnership with Gu Long and Ni Kuang came to be seen as a classic trio of Hong Kong martial-arts cinema. From the 1980s he turned to acting in film and television, becoming a familiar elder figure on screen. In 2018 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Hong Kong Film Awards. He died in Hong Kong in 2022, aged 87.
Chor Yuen's House of 72 Tenants helped spark the revival of Cantonese cinema, and his many Gu Long adaptations shaped the romantic, exotic look of 1970s Hong Kong martial-arts films; his later switch to acting made him a familiar, much-loved elder presence on screen.
Achievements
- 1960 · Wrote and directed The Great Devotion, his breakthrough film
- 1973 · House of 72 Tenants broke box-office records and helped revive Cantonese cinema
- 2018 · Received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Hong Kong Film Awards