Lo Lieh(羅烈), born Wang Lap Tat (王立达), June 29, 1939 – November 2, 2002) is an actor, martial artist, and one of the most iconic actors from Hong Kong's prestigious Shaw Brothers studios, who had made over 200 roles during his stint with them during the 1970s and 80s.
Born in an Indonesian-Chinese farming family, Lo Lieh was sent back to Hong Kong at a young age to attend school by his parents who preferred their son to "remember his true heritage". He joined Shaw Brothers at an early age, being one of the academy's first students and considered among their best, where the studios would cast him in various roles, both as villains and heroes.
His performance in Five Fingers of Death (1973) is widely considered his breakthrough role; the movie was released months before Fist of Fury, and with the other Bruce Lee film it's considered one of the two movies that kick-started the martial arts craze in America back in the '70s. Due to the number of movies he starred in at his peak of popularity note , Lo Lieh's daily salary back then in the late '70s is reportedly as high as 18,000 HKD (2,322 USD).
Lo Lieh remains as prolific in the '90s as he was in the past, playing gangsters and mob bosses in Heroic Bloodshed films which were at its craze, before his eventual retirement at the end of the decade. He also shifted his work to television, being a regular at shows from Asia Television Limited (ATV). He later died of a heart attack in 2002, a year after he announced his intention to permanently retire from acting, leaving behind two sons (both from his second wife, an elder sister of director Stanley Tong (Tang Ji Li)).
Speaking of wives, Lo had a lurid personal life. He was married four times, and Le Yun (乐韵), a mistress of his (also known as Le Hui (乐慧)), committed suicide in 1995 at the age of 28.
Partial Filmography:
- Five Fingers of Death
- Come Drink With Me
- Golden Swallow
- Fists of the White Lotus
- The Magnificent Trio
- One-Armed Swordsman - he also appeared in The One Armed Swordsmen (note the plural, men)
- The Thundering Sword
- The Silent Swordsman
- The Chinese Boxer - first movie only
- The 36th Chamber of Shaolin
- The Invincible Fist
- The Flying Dagger
- Swordswomen Three
- The Lady Hermit
- Brothers Five
- The Rescue (1971)
- The 14 Amazons
- The Long Chase
- Dragon Swamp
- Valley of the Fangs
- The Swift Knight
- The Fugitive (1972)
- Heaven Sword And Dragon Sabre
- Temple of the Red Lotus - shows up in all 3 movies. note
- Vengeful Beauty
- Web of Death
- Five Shaolin Masters
- King Cat
- The Magic Blade - also appears in the sequel, Pursuit of Vengeance, but he plays a different character
- Heroes Of Shaolin
- The Dragon Missile
- Rendezvous With Death
- Return of the Deadly Blade
- Human Lanterns
- The Sentimental Swordsman - appears in the second and third movies
- The Spirit of the Sword
- Black Magic 1975
- Killer Clans
- Mad Monkey Kung Fu
- Twelve Deadly Coins
- Death Duel
- Jade Tiger
- Secret Service of the Imperial Court
- Flying Guillotine - second movie
- Mercenaries from Hong Kong
- Bullet For Hire
- A Killer's Blues
- Forsaken Cop
- Angel Terminators - second movie
- Dragons Forever (Death by Cameo)
- Seven Warriors
- Blood Stained Tradewinds
- Tiger Cage - appears in the sequel
- Just Heroes
- City War
- Executioners from Shaolin - in which his villainous character speaks the immortal words "My Tiger Kung Fu is better than yours."
