Lo Wei

Biography

Lo Wei (羅維), born Zhang Zhonglin in December 1918 in Jiangsu Province, China. During the Sino-Japanese War, he participated in anti-Japanese theatrical activities. In 1948 he emigrated to Hong Kong and joined Yong Hua Film Company as an actor, appearing in dozens of films during the 1950s. In 1957 he founded Si Wei Company, then joined the International Films Company (Dian Mao) in 1961 as director and screenwriter. He moved to Shaw Brothers in 1965, and in 1970 joined Golden Harvest as a director. Lo Wei is considered one of the most important directors who discovered major stars, notably casting Bruce Lee in five martial arts films that sparked a worldwide kung fu craze, including "The Big Boss" and "Fist of Fury" which earned over a million Hong Kong dollars at the box office, with the latter winning the Best Film award at the 10th Golden Horse Awards. After Bruce Lee's sudden death in 1973, Lo Wei appeared in a television interview visibly moved with tears in his eyes. In 1975 he established his own film company "Lo Wei Films" and recalled Jackie Chan from Australia to star in several films including "New Fist of Fury" and "Shaolin Wooden Men". In 1978 he loaned Jackie Chan to director Ng See-yuen, resulting in the highly successful "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow" and "Drunken Master". In 1979 he gave novice director Eric Tsang his chance, producing the successful kung fu comedies "The Deadly Breaking Sword" and "The Odd Couple". In the 1980s Lo Wei worked mainly as producer and executive producer, and in 1993 spent 18 million dollars filming "The Sword of Many Loves" about Wang Wu and Sitong Tan, but it was a box office failure that led to the collapse of his career and depletion of his fortune. Lo Wei passed away in January 1996 at the age of 77 from a heart attack, after a prolific career that left a mark on Hong Kong cinema history.