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alt title(s): Bad Ass Old Guy; The Yoda
Truth in television (and everywhere else).
"Never act incautiously when confronted by a little bald wrinkly smiling man!" — Rule One, according to Lu-Tze, from Terry Pratchett's Discworld
"Age and treachery will triumph over youth and skill." — Fencer's Adage
Don't let his age (or his size) fool you; the Old Master is a force to be reckoned with. Despite being at least sixty years old, he (or she) is a formidable fighter who can take on several younger opponents at a time and barely get winded. They may rely on years of training and deceptive strength, or cunning and Obfuscating Stupidity, but they get the job done.
Break out the ^ sign on your calculator when this trope is applied to seasoned adventurers of any type; anyone who's managed to survive to a ripe old age while performing inherently dangerous work is obviously really damned good at it.
The Old Master is often the sensei to one of the main characters, training them so they can pass on the torch to the new generation (and maybe earn themselves a break). To do so, the character typically prefers the Wax On Wax Off approach to education and the When You Snatch the Pebble approach to final exams. Crueler Old Masters, on the other hand, function as the Drill Sergeant Nasty, and those who study under him had better be prepared for Training From Hell.
May double as The Obi Wan. See also Badass Grandpa and Weak But Skilled.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryuusai from Bleach.
- Master Roshi from Dragonball.
- Ryuken in Fist of the North Star, the previous Hokuto Shin-Ken master who trained Kenshiro and his adopted brothers. Also, Ryuken's old rival for the succession, Koryu, as well as the Hokuto Ryu-Ken master Jukei, both qualify.
- Netero from Hunter X Hunter, still one of the most powerful people on the planet despite being over 110 years old. Not a sensei anymore, and he's still active (though rarely involved in fights) as the head of the Hunter Association, but he fits the trope otherwise.
- Subverted in Mahou Sensei Negima, where the Old Master- who comes complete with mysteriousness, tea drinking, and repeated comments about today's youth- looks like a ten year old girl, has a crush on the main character, insists she is utterly evil, and makes at least token attempts to turn her students to The Dark Side whenever the topic of conversation veers anywhere near a decent opening. Well, that and an occasional detour into vamp territory, which generally fails spectacularly due to the fact that her main pupil/object of her affections is ten.
- BTW it is not just magic, she has been studying akijitsu for the past century and probably learned it from the fellow who originated same.
- The first words out of anyone's mouth when they face down Andrei Rublev on IGPX's race tracks tend to be something like "The game's changed while you were away, old man!" The next words, usually said a few minutes later, tend to be something like "Man! The Rocket's no joke!" while their mechs are either flat on the track or in some other pants-down situation. However, Andrei is a mild subversion. While his tactics still leave pilots reeling, his body can't keep up nearly as well as it used to: the years between his retirement and his temporary comeback were not kind to him.
- Happosai and Cologne from Ranma 1/2 who are both 100+ years old and roughly one foot tall. While Cologne plays this trope straight, Happosai more or less inverts it. He barely has any interest in martial arts, and his efforts as a sensei means he can, charitably, be described as a Fair Weather Mentor. He's a major-league Panty Thief and Lovable Sex Maniac (only without the lovable), to the extent that he literally gets weak and sickly, losing the majority of his martial arts prowess, if prevented from stealing underwear and groping women.
- Jiji from Ichi The Killer wears baggy clothing and walks with a slump in order to disguise his true strength.
- Naruto has the Third Hokage, who despite being a decrepit-looking 70-year-old man, is extremely powerful and skilled, able to go toe-to-toe with the likes of the Big Bad Orochimaru. Many have called him one of the most powerful Shinobi to come out of the Leaf Village, perhaps equaling or even surpassing the late Fourth Hokage. A shame he dies, but even then he fights to the bitter end, sealing Orochimaru's arms and thus rendering them dead and useless.
- In that vein we also have Jiraiya, who is the strongest of all three Sannin, could kill three paths of Pain (up until then, that was practically impossible), permanently kill one path, and was the master to Naruto himself. Not only that, there's his master, Fukasaku, an 800 year old toad and one of the most powerful beings in Naruto. He also fits the trope The Yoda.
- No Master Asia? Blasphemy!
- He's actually not as old as he looks, but otherwise certainly fits. Apparently the Incurable Cough Of Death somehow makes him look older than his actual age of 50.
- The original head trainer in the Space-Time Administration Bureau from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, an old woman who the supplementary manga reveals had trained Nanoha and Fate. And just to make a point on how much more the two leads need to learn despite the events of the first two seasons, she, a lowly AA-ranked mage using standard equipment, managed to beat the two of them at the same time.
- Prince Kamehame, despite being 70 years old and having a bum heel, is able to defeat Kinnikuman via pinfall in only seven seconds. In the Dream Choujin Tag Arc, he wrestles alongside Kinnikuman in his Kinnikuman Great guise, and they defeat Black Hole and Pentagon together before he's mortally injured by Sunshine's Cursed Roller.
- Vagabond (the Takehiko Inoue manga) has four for Miyamoto Musashi: his father Shinmen Munisai, Houzouin In'ei, Yagyuu Sekishuusai are all Musashi's Old Masters (to a point), yet subvert the trope in their own ways: Munisai wasn't much of a master (his obsession with being "invincible under the sun" actually left him closing off his world, fearing his own child and pushing away others), In'ei was actually Inshun's Old Master and trained Musashi because no one else could threaten Inshun's life and thus get Inshun to develop further, and Sekishuusai is 'just' an old man who's since retired, passing down the system to his son; what he does impart onto Musashi is one of the most profound lessons, after Musashi defeats himself by internalizing the idea of "the invincible Sekishuusai" until it becomes a Self Fulfilling Prophecy: "Invincible's just a word."
- Sasaki Kojirou's adoptive father Kanemaki Jisai subverts the trope too: living by the sword has left him unmarried, without children or friends, and thus hopeless... until Kojirou comes along; at that point, he advertises himself (unsuccessfully) as an Old Master to make a living so that he could raise Kojirou away from the sword. When Kojirou shows a terrifying affinity for the sword (by disarming an evil Old Master and then attacking the corpse) however, Jisai spending the next half of the boy's life embodying the phrase "old age and trickery beat youth and speed," trying to repeatedly dissuade the boy by defeating his challenges with cunning and underhanded means... until his former disciple Itou Ittousai comes along and secretly takes Kojirou under his wing. After he finds out, Jisai reluctantly gives up Kojirou into Ittousai's custody, thinking that he gave his life to the sword only to have nothing but regrets... until he finds that although he couldn't keep Kojirou away from the sword, he did raise a decent man with great potential. "My life dedicated to the sword — it was worth it all. It was worth it because I managed to leave behind a great swordsman like you..."
- Genkai from Yu Yu Hakusho, the defining example of the "just wants a break" version, and badass grandma.
- When Genjo Sanzo meets Master Abbot Jikaku in Saiyuki's Burial arc, he seems like just a harmless old man- until he kills several youkai attacking a temple. Turns out he was once known as 'The Ogre' for his vicious training of would-be Sanzo candidates, including Sanzo's own master Koumyou.
Comedy
- And of course, one cannot forget the unnamed Master in The Frantics' legendary "Tae Kwon Leep" skit.
Comic Books
- Archie Comics: He's not that old, but the students of Riverdale High underestimated Coach Kleats in several sports. The same thing happened, with the entire male faculty challenging the varsity basketball players to a charity game.
- Ekuar in ElfQuest, tutor of Rayek, definitely qualifies. Despite having endured centuries of imprisonment, mutilation and torture at the hands of the trolls, he never lost his wisdom or his wicked sense of humor.
- Katsuichi-sensei, the hermit who taught Usagi just about everything he knows, is at least a Middle-aged Master.
- The first Nite Owl is very much not an old master, because despite his young crime fighting days, during the events of Watchmen, a gang of thugs break into his house and beat him to death.
- Splinter, to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
- In the first few issues of Ninja High School, Ichiban fights her grandfather... Well, she challenges him anyway. Fight ends before it begins.
Film
- The most famous example is, without a doubt, Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid.
- Grand Master Yoda, in the Star Wars films, especially his first appearance in The Empire Strikes Back. Thanks to CGI, fans got to see him in action in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, as well as the "micro-series" Clone Wars.
- Also Count Dooku in Episode II, who, while established as a ex-Jedi early in the film, is only revealed as a master swordsman when he neatly trounces Obi-Wan and Anakin during the final battle — until the arrival of the other Old Master, of course.
- Obi-Wan in Episode IV, Sidious in III, and the Emperor in VI, are all introduced as physically frail old men who unleash previously unseen powers or abilities by the end of the film. Obi-Wan literally "become[s] more powerful than you can possibly imagine".
- Pai Mei in Kill Bill: Volume 2. He's more of a cruel and evil master than the kindly Mr. Miyagi type and according to the film's mythology was responsible for the destruction of the Shaolin Temple because a Shaolin monk that he passed on the road didn't return the slight nod that he gave him. He hates Caucasians, despises Americans and has nothing but contempt for women. He's been known to snatch out the eyes of those who look on him with defiance and snap the backs and necks of those who give him sass like they were twigs. This eventually gets him killed when he snatches out Elle Driver's right eye for calling him a "miserable old fool," and she retaliates by poisoning his fish heads.
- Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins subverts this by making its old Korean mentor capable of assorted miraculous feats but also a blatant racist and sexist. He is from a different generation.
- Incidentally, the old Korean mentor's racism consists entirely of Korean chauvinism, which makes him a neat parody of the kinds of racists Western audiences are more likely to encounter.
- Chiun in the Destroyer novels was much much worse.
- The pretty bad Crossworlds stars Rutger Hauer as one of these.
Literature
- Eda Bell, one of the two teachers of hand-to-hand combat in Tamora Pierce's Kel books says something to the effect of 'I may look like someone's grandmother, but some grandchildren require more raising than others.'
- In the Lost Fleet series of books by Jack Campbell, Captain John Geary has spent a century in Suspended Animation while his reputation became Shrouded In Myth... and everyone else forgot effective naval tactics in favor of simply charging at the enemy. Which means once he takes command, forces that follow his orders tend to win amazingly one-sided victories unless ridiculously outnumbered — then they just win.
- Mazer Rackham in Ender's Game, hero of the second Bug War and Ender's trainer in the third one.
- Kaa in The Jungle Book (Rudyard Kipling's original, not the Disney version), is one of these. The oldest creature in the jungle, Kaa offers sage advice to those who seek it, and painful, suffocating death to those who cross him.
- Ser Barristan Selmy from A Song Of Ice And Fire. He's the last living member of King Aerys' old Kingsguard, if you leave Jaime Lannister out of the count, and can easily defeat younger adversaries.
- Also from this book, Syrio Forel, the first sword of Braavos, who takes on several Mooks to protect Arya while she escapes, and bludgeons them to death with a wooden sword. He dies a few minutes later to a knight, though.
- In Emergence, by David R. Palmer, the character referred to by the narrator as "Teacher" or "Master" (depending on context. Name is given as Soo Kim McDivott) plays this role for the narrator and several other characters.
- The previously mentioned Lu-Tze, who first appeared in Small Gods, but really got to strut his stuff in Thief Of Time.
- The Discworld also has Cohen the Barbarian, the greatest (and oldest) barbarian hero in the world. Those who underestimate him because of his age don't realize that living to be over seventy in a dangerous profession such as barbarian heroism means he's good at it. The book Interesting Times introduced the Silver Horde, a group consisting of Cohen and some of his fellow elderly barbarians, all of whom are still incredibly dangerous (despite one of them being in a wheelchair).
- Druss from David Gemmell's first published novel, Legend, is an unusually blunt variant of this trope. Sixty years old, built like a bull, and quite capable of single-handedly slaughtering a dozen men half his age. His presence, and wisdom, inspire the younger characters to heroism; after all, he is a living legend. Meanwhile, he's trying to pretend he's not half-dead from exhaustion, agonised by arthritis, and determined to avoid senility through battle.
- Gandalf from Lord of the Rings of course. Théoden also kicks some serious ass.
- And, technically, Aragorn counts, too. Despite looking like a man in his prime, and his portrayal in the movies, he is 86. Of course, his race can live 'til 300 and he dies at 250, but it STILL counts.
- Larkin and Mkoll from Warhammer 40000: Gaunt's Ghosts, respectively (almost) the best sniper and the best scout of their regiment. Admittedly not that old.
- Mkoll was canonically the father of adult children (and probably grandchildren) before the series started, but they all died in the annihilation of Tanith. Similarly, Doc Dorden had a grown son in the regiment at the start of the series. A lot of the Tanith are quite old for Guardsmen. But then, you only have to survive one battle to be quite old for a Guardsman...
- Eldrad Ulthran, the late leader of Ulthwe craftworld. More than 10,000 years old, so old that his body has begun to crystallise. Before he was lost to a talisman of vaul, he was arguably the galaxy's most powerful living psyker. In fact, he was able to defeat Abaddon, one of the greatest warriors aligned with Chaos, in hand-to-hand combat by using his prescience to stall until the single perfect moment to strike.
- Master Robert Tye, from the Honorverse novella From The Highlands.
- Colbey Calistinsson, from The Last of the Renshai trilogy. Never mind that he is 67, in an era where people seldom lived to 40. He was perfectly calm about taking out a group of 15, training a 16 year old girl in the art of the sword, fighting a group of 100 with only Santagithi to help him, and an army of 10000 quaracks, by himself
- Santagithi is also a very competent swordsman, at the age of 58, waiting until the end of the battle to die, because he tripped on a rock
- The Renshai race, which Colbey was a part of, almost never lived to the age of 25
Live Action TV
- In the 2003 version of Battlestar Galactica, the main character, Commander Bill Adama is an Old Master. His morals and ethics dictate the conduct of the rest of the crew (i.e. characters remarking on more than one occasion "Cmdr. Adama would/would not do this"), and he openly regards many of them like children to him (which is extremely worrisome when you consider his terrible relationship with Lee, his actual son). This does not change the fact that, as we see in the season one episode "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part 1", and the season three episode "Unfinished Business", Bill's capable of stepping into the boxing ring the crew has set up and beating the stuffing out of said "children" should he feel the need.
- He's pretty handy with a flashlight, too.
- Let us not forget, Grasshopper, Master Po from Kung Fu, surely one of the Trope Makers of the Old Master, and owner/operator of a Disability Superpower to boot.
- Master
Bratak Bra'tac of Stargate SG-1. In his first appearance in the series, started off by complaining about his old age, then promptly incapacitated Colonel O'Neill in an embarassingly short fight sequence. Continues to refer to himself as an old man during the entire 10 seasons despite the fact that he is obviously one of the most skilled warriors in the galaxy.
- Some other Jaffa make the mistake of confusing his age with weakness. Too late and to their sorrow do they realize that a prominent man living a century and a half in an entire society of expendable warriors should have been a clue as to his badassery.
- Due to his 50 years spent in a time warp in SG-1's final episode, Teal'c is even older than Bra'tac now. As of that episode, he's nearly 160 in subjective years. That makes him physically about 5 years Bra'tac's senior!
- Though he doesn't look it. Turns out, the time warp being 50 years was the result of a makeup error that couldn't be corrected before the deadline. The writers originally intended it to be "merely" around 20 years, so that Teal'c would still be a quarter century younger than Bra'tac.
- In Assassins Creed, the single most dangerous opponent you can face in a straight sword fight? Your own ancient, gray-bearded master, Al-Mualim, in the final battle.
- Though he isn't any better with his sword than other major opponents; instead he uses extensive trickery. Being able to magically multiply yourself has some clear advantages in battle.
- Fo Fai from Battle Arena Toshinden. According to the manual, he's 103 when the first tournament starts.
- Final Fantasy XI has Maat, the old man responsible for raising the level cap from 50 to 75 (or just to 70 on a few expansion jobs). He uses both Wax On Wax Off and Training From Hell methods to raise your limits, but you never take him too seriously, and think he's just an advisor... then you go to break the 70-75 cap, which has you fight him, and most likely see him gleefully rend you into paste, even unfairly so. Simply put, anyone who's 75 respects him. Or hates him. It kinda varies.
- Love him or hate him, you have to respect him. Even if you fought Maat as a Red Mage back in the days before he was nerfed, you have to smile when you see Maat whalloping the crap out of enemies in the past in the Wings of the Goddess expansion.
- Master Li in Jade Empire.
- Saisyu Kusanagi, Chin Gensai, Takuma Sakazaki, and a number of others from The King Of Fighters. Several of them got together to form the Old Man Team one year: Saisyu, Takuma and Colonel Badass Heidern (despite them not being that old, compared to Chin).
- Also Tung Fu-Rue and Jubei Yamada from the Fatal Fury series, along with Lee Pai-Long from Art of Fighting. Tung even made it as a bonus character in the PS 2 version of KOF XI. Makes you wonder why they didn't form a Badass Grandpa team in KOF.
- In Okami, the sensei which teaches you new moves starts out when he first talks to you as a kind old man....but when you purchase a new move his head literally spins completely around and he turns into a Bad Ass.
- The Master from Paper Mario. While he appears to be asthmatic and weak, when he goes quite literally Super Saiyan on Mario, he turns out to be quite possibly the game's hardest foe.
- Parappa The Rapper: Chop Chop Master Onion, anyone?
- Played straight in Phantasy Star Universe with Headmaster Nav - the only difference being that he's a CAST (an android) who only looks like an old man. He's still almost 200 years old, though.
- Ford Cruller, from Psychonauts, is a skilled and powerful Psychonaut, but after a fierce psychic battle long ago, he suffered brain damage that causes him to develop a Split Personality when he gets too far from a source of Psitanium (like that beneath Whispering Rocks camp). So instead, he works as Mission Control when he's not doing odd jobs around Whispering Rocks. He also ends up becoming Raz's psychic tutor.
- Sotaro Komaki from Ryu Ga Gotoku / Yakuza embodies this trope in the game.
- Haohmaru's master, Caffeine Nicotine in Samurai Shodown II.
- Gen from the Street Fighter games. He's actually a Blood Knight in at least his 70's who is deathly ill but prefers to die in a fight than of his illness.
- Also from Street Fighter, Gouken, the elder brother of Akuma and the legendary master of Ryu and Ken.
- Who could forget Oro from III, an elderly hermit who is 140-years-young and still more powerful than the average young fighter in their prime. So much that he voluntarily disables one of his arms just to even the odds for his opponent.
- In Super Punch-Out on the SNES, you fight a Chinese martial arts master called Hoy Quarlow. He is both the most unorthodox and most irritating opponent in the game, not so much for his difficulty (he is indeed a tough opponent), but for the fact he unabashedly cheats; half the time he doesn't punch you, but kicks you and hits you with his walking stick. In a boxing game. You can guess that he's That One Boss...
- Master Rishu from Super Robot Wars Original Generation deserves a mention here. While being a side character who is only mentioned to be Sanger's teacher in the first game, and using a cane to walk, he was more than capable to take on multiple bioroids armed with automatic weapons while using only a sword, hidden in his cane. Later, in OG 2.5 he becomes an actual playable character, piloting Grungust type 0.
- Wang Jinrei from the Tekken series. When he participates in The King of Iron Fist Tournament 5, he's 105 years old, has a bad back, and is somewhat senile. He can still send the young'uns tumbling across the arena with ease, however...
- Master Zen, the ancient martial arts master in Tony Hawk's American Wasteland. For some reason, his teaching translate very well to skateboarding while still conveying supernatural abilities. He's also a total goofball, in spite of his wisdom.
- Lau Chan from Virtua Fighter.
Web Comics
- Thaco from Goblins.
- Feng from Sluggy Freelance. His fight with Kusari would have been a tie if it weren't for her Healing Factor.
- Dr. Herb from Gold Coin Comics
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- Dr. Sun Jen-djieh from Girl Genius. When Baron Wulfenbach bypassed his medical order of staying in bed by building a bed into a Humongous Mecha, Dr. Sun destroyed that mecha.
- Master Fei of How I Killed Your Master certainly counts.
Ji Jiao: Everyone knows you haven't fought in ten years. You're out of practice, out of touch—
Ji Bao: — And outnumbered.
Master Fei: Not by my reckoning.
Master Fei: It's been ten years since anyone spoke of my fights because no-one has walked away from them in that time.
- Ten Winds of Keychain Of Creation. Ten's a Terrestrial Exalt, the weakest Exalted type - but he's badass enough to make other, nominally more powerful Exalted think twice about facing him.
Western Animation
- Bruce Wayne from Batman Beyond is definitely an example of this trope. Stooped over and forced to rely on a cane to help him walk, he still stares daggers through anyone who would presume to show him his place, and is more than capable of beating the holy howling tar out of an entire motorcycle gang by himself, standing almost completely still, with nothing but his cane. This plus his still-razor-sharp mind and the experience of his years makes him somehow more intimidating than when he was in his physical prime. This was proven in an episode where his younger self visited the future, forcing Batman to play good cop to Old Man Wayne.
- Another example in the DC Animated Universe, much earlier on, is Batman's own master; Yoru Sensei, who quickly immobilizes Kyodai Ken, just shortly after Kyodai beat Bruce Wayne in a sparring match. Given that Kyodai was less than half Yoru Sensei's age, and Yoru Sensei himself looks very much like the man in the example picture, he definitely qualifies.
- King Bumi, Uncle Iroh, Jeong Jeon, and Master Pakku from Avatar The Last Airbender are all prime examples of this trope, each being one of the most powerful of their respective elemental bending discipline (Iroh and Bumi make heavy use of Obfuscating Stupidity as well). Also, judging by the amount of dead Firebenders surrounding his corpse, Gyatso qualified as well. Whether or not Piandao counts is based solely on how old you think he is.
- And in the Grand Finale, they all showed up and took back Ba Sing Se themselves. For bonus points, the episode in which we see them is actually named "The Old Masters"
- Spoofed in the George Of The Jungle episode "Still Got It", in the form of Grouch-Mouth. He's an elderly tiger who gets picked on at first but," You're forgeting that Ol' Grouch-Mouth is the king of the pranks." He then gets in his scooter and goes on a pranking rampage, until the now-decrepit "Mighty Berment" (who originally defeated him) arrives. The two fight. While the fight was anticlimactic, it turns out the two are old friends and join forces to show how pranks are really done. They go on an even bigger pranking rampage, which was a Crowning Moment Of Funny. George ends up sending Berments Wife, Mighty Mary, to save the day and the two pranksters leave.
- Uncle in Jackie Chan Adventures. Not only is he an expert Martial Artist, but also one of the most powerful Chi Wizards in the world, helping his nephew save the world on a regular basis with his extensive magic.
- Played a bit in Kung Fu Panda where Shifu is the old master to the Furious Five and Po, but he himself has more to learn from both his own Dumbledore, Master Oogway, and from Po's own insight.
- Rafiki from The Lion King ends the film kicking some serious hyena butt.
- Master Panda of Skunk Fu is a textbook example of this.
- In one Stargate Infinity Series episode, the crew met a race of squirrel people. To cross a bridge a kindly old man requests that one of the team fight him. When the Action Girl tries and gets her ass handed to her, the team leader quips:
'When an old man challenges you to a fight, you've got to figure he's either crazy, or knows something you don't. This guy didn't look that crazy to me.'
- Scavanger in Transformers Armada. Not only is he the kind of fighter badass enough to catch a blow from an unstoppably powerful sword with his arm, but he makes a pretty good double agent.
- Spoofed with Master Yo in Yin Yang Yo.
Real Life
- Ueshiba Morihei
, founder of Aikido, now pictured above.
- Almost every old martial arts master who has kept in practice with his martial art of choice seems to be as strong as and even quicker than their fittest young students.
- Grandmaster Masaaki Hatsumi, head of the Bujinkan ninjutsu school, who will kick your arse even though he's almost 80.
- The late, the great, Helio Gracie, one of the founders of Brazilian Jiujitsu. He continued to train hard and utilise the martial art he helped to create until his death at the age of 95.
- A 24-year-old mugger with a knife made the mistake of breaking into 72-year-old Frank Corti's home and threatened him and his wife. Corti, a former boxer, beat the mugger's left eye and mouth purple with two punches.
- A newspaper story concerned three youths who mugged a retired gentleman in his sixties as he left a London Underground station late at night. Unfortunately for them, the job he had recently retired from was thirty years teaching unarmed combat to the SAS. His attackers were arrested in hospital.
- Sifu
Lau Kar Leung. A veteran action star of the Hong Kong Cinema (he is best known for his movies which he made during the 1970s and 1980s for the Shaw Brothers Studio) as well as director and fight choreographer, as well as the grand master and practitioner of Hung Gar style of Kung Fu system (the inspiration for earthbending ), which was founded by Chinese hero Wong Fei-Hung. Yes, that Wong Fei-Hung. Interestingly, Sifu Lau's father, Lau Cham, was a student of Lam Sai Wing, pupil of the legendary Wong Fei Hung. Today, he's in his late 70's and is still very much active in films choreographing fight scenes, and he is well respected from his colleagues and peers. His last starring role (as of yet) is in the film Drunken Monkey, and as you can see , he's not mellowing with age. (He's nearing 70 there, for crying out loud!)
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