RIP Movie Mogul Run Run Shaw
The billionaire media mogul and co-founder of Shaw Studios,
which produced hundreds of influential martial arts pics along with the 1982
sci-fi classic Blade Runner, died early Tuesday, January 7, 2014, local time in Hong Kong,
Chinese media reports. Run Run Shaw was 106. He started the Shaw Organization
with brother Runme in 1926, and it evolved into one of the biggest producers of
Asian features and television shows and helped to launch career of director
John Woo. Born in Ningbo, China on Noember 23, 1907, his name is synonymous with Hong Kong Cinema and TV. During his
44-years at the helm (he retired in 2011), his Shaw Studios produced thousands
of television programs and films. He also was a philanthropist and helped start
many schools. Much of Hong Kong’s culture can be attributed to Shaw and his
Studios. Starting in the early 1950s and peaking during the 1970s and 1980s,
Shaw Brothers Studios made such popular and influential martial arts films as
"The One-Armed Swordsman" — directed by Shaw Brothers regular Chang Cheh, the
first Hong Kong movie to gross HK$1 million — and its sequels; "The 36 Chambers
of Shaolin" and "Eight Diagram Pole Fighter", both directed by Lau Kar-leung and
starring Gordon Liu; "Come Drink With Me" with Cheng Pei Pei, one of Shaw
Brothers’ most popular female stars; the cult classic "Five Deadly Venoms", "The
Flying Guillotine" and "Five Fingers Of Death". Shaw produced only one Euro-western "The Stanger and the Gunfighter" (1974) with Lee Van Cleef and Lo Lieh.
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