Tam Bing-man, known to fans as 'Brother Bing' and nicknamed the 'king of dubbing', was born in Hong Kong in 1934 to a family from Xinhui, Guangdong. His grandfather was a wealthy Guangzhou merchant and his father ran a goldsmith shop and a watch shop in Yuen Long; after secondary school at Fong Lam, Tam helped in the family business, and his interest in performing grew through drama and broadcasting activities run by trade associations. He joined Rediffusion Radio as an announcer in the 1950s and in 1960, inspired by football commentary, proposed live coverage of horse racing for listeners, becoming Hong Kong's first racing commentator; he went on to provide Cantonese narration for the territory's first foreign film series and pioneered Cantonese dubbing of television series. His 1964 performance in the radio serial The Modification of a Country Girl was a hit and was adapted into a film in which he took the lead, after which he became a contract actor appearing in Cantonese films alongside veterans such as Cheung Wood-yau and Nam Hung. In March 1968 he joined Television Broadcasts Limited, at first mainly as a horse-racing commentator, and later hosted variety shows and Enjoy Yourself Tonight, where he created the comic character Bumpkin Bing Moon. With Lee Hong-kum and Lydia Sum he founded Joy Film Co. and made films built around the character, and his own Tam's Film Company produced The Great Man (1977). He was also a singer, the original performer of the hit Old Loves Like a Dream, who once recorded thirty records in a single year; his duet with Lee Hong-kum, Please Come Back, was equally well loved. He became famous as the voice of Justice Bao in the Taiwanese series Justice Pao, and when TVB opened a dubbing training class in 1975 he taught in it, training many successors. In the 2000s he appeared in Johnnie To's Election (2005) and Election 2 (2006), and in 2014 he received TVB's Lifetime Achievement award. He died of lung cancer on 5 September 2020, aged 86.
Moving from radio announcing and Cantonese film acting to dubbing at TVB, Tam Bing-man was one of the few all-round entertainers to span half a century. He pioneered Cantonese dubbing of television series and live horse-racing commentary, and his long run as the voice of Justice Bao in the Taiwanese series Justice Pao drew attention to the craft of the voice actor, earning him the title 'king of dubbing'.
Achievements
- 1964 · Voiced the hit radio serial The Modification of a Country Girl, later filmed with him in the lead
- 1968 · Joined Television Broadcasts Limited as a horse-racing commentator and voice actor
- 2014 · Received the Lifetime Achievement award at the TVB Anniversary Awards