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Richard Ng

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Richard Woo)
For the Malaysian prelate of the Catholic Church, see Richard Ng (bishop).
Not to be confused with Richard Ng Man-tat (吳孟達), another prominent Hong Kong comedian with the same name in English.
"Richard Woo" redirects here. For the manga author, see Takashi Nagasaki.

In this Hong Kong name, the surname is Ng. In accordance with Hong Kong custom, the Western-style name is Richard Ng and the Chinese-style name is Ng Yiu-hon.
Richard Ng
吳耀漢
Ng in 2018
Born(1939-12-27)27 December 1939
Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Died9 April 2023(2023-04-09) (aged 83)
Hong Kong
CitizenshipHong Kong
United Kingdom
OccupationActor
Years active1976–2022
SpouseSusan Ng
Children4, including Carl Ng
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese吳耀漢
Simplified Chinese吴耀汉
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinWú Yàohàn
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingNg4 Yiu6-hon3
Musical career
Also known asRichard Woo

Richard Ng Yiu-hon (27 December 1939 – 9 April 2023), also known as Richard Woo, was a Hong Kong actor known for playing comedic roles, particularly in Hong Kong films of the 1980s and 1990s.[1]

Film and television career

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Ng appeared in 80 films to date. He was twice nominated for the Best Actor Award at the Hong Kong Film Awards, for his roles in Winners and Sinners and Beyond the Sunset. He worked alongside some of the biggest names in Hong Kong action cinema including Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh, Andy Lau, and Jet Li.

1970s, 80s, and 90s

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Ng's first role was in the 1976 Michael Hui comedy film The Private Eyes. It was the first of many films Ng would appear in with Sammo Hung throughout the next 30 years.

In 1979, Ng made his only film as director, Murder Most Foul. He also starred in the film and co-wrote it with Wong Jing.

In 1983, he appeared as "Exhaust Pipe" in Hung's film Winners and Sinners, a template to the Lucky Stars series. He would go on to appear in all of the subsequent Lucky Stars films throughout the 1980s, in fundamentally the same role, though his character name in the later films was "Sandy".

Ng came to the fore in all 4 of the Pom Pom series, alongside fellow Lucky Star, John Shum. The Pom Pom films were something of a spinoff from the Lucky Stars series, though more comedy than action-orientated. Sammo Hung worked as producer on the first three, and as action director on the first two, and all four films were released by Hung's production companies, Bo Ho Films and D&B Films. The first film, Pom Pom!, featured cameos from Sammo Hung, Charlie Chin and Stanley Fung as their characters from Winners and Sinners. Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao, who had also appeared in the Lucky Stars films also made cameo appearances. In the series, Ng plays "Ng Ah Chow" (or Ng Ah Chau), whilst Shum plays "Beethoven", a pair of inept and lovelorn cops. The first three Pom Pom films fared well at the domestic box office, taking between HK $17 and HK $20 million each, a sum comparable to contemporaries such as the original Lucky Stars trilogy, Chan's Project A and Hung and Biao's Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain.

Ng became an established actor, and was given supporting roles in a number of popular Hong Kong action comedies including Wheels on Meals (1984), Millionaire's Express (1986) and Jackie Chan's Miracles (1989).

Throughout the 1990s he appeared in at least 8 further films with Sammo Hung, including Once Upon a Time in China and America.

2000s: British TV and Father & Son films

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As of 1997, Ng moved from Hong Kong to London, England[2] and was said to be semi-retired. However, he was clearly still very active, having made several appearances on British television since that time, and he also continued to work on Hong Kong films.

Since it started in 2002, Ng appeared in several episodes of the ongoing BBC Scotland soap, River City (under the name Richard Woo). His character was "Johnny Wu", the owner of the "Wok My World" takeaway.

In 2003 he appeared in the second Tomb Raider film, The Cradle of Life.

In 2004, he appeared in a deleted scene in an episode of Black Books. He also appeared in the commercial for the video game Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks.

Ng also appeared in an episode of The Bill in 2005, and an episode of the Nickelodeon UK series, Genie in the House in 2006.

In 2009, he played in Red Dwarf: Back to Earth as Swallow the Nose Maker, a maker of prosthetics.

Ng could be seen on British television, playing a shopkeeper in an advertisement for RAC, alongside Lennox Lewis, and in another advertisement for satellite television, dressed as an eskimo. He also played the emperor of China in a Channel 4 docu-drama, The Great Wall of China. It was first shown on 1 October 2007 at 9pm. In 2008, he appeared as Sifu Chien, the Shaolin master of Hong Kong policeman, Terry Phoo (Eddie Shin) in the pilot episode of the BBC Three program, Phoo Action.

In 2000, Richard Ng appeared alongside his son, Carl Ng, in the film Love at First Sight a.k.a. Sausalito. The two have since appeared together several more times, including in Dante Lam's Jiang hu: The Triad Zone (2000), Lemon Crush (2002), Sammo Hung's Legend of the Dragon (2004) and the Jingle Ma film Happy Birthday (2007).

Ng and son would also appear together in three forthcoming films. The first of these is Magazine Gap Road, which is completed and due for release in 2007. This would be followed by Bodyguard: A New Beginning, and in 2008, Jessica Caught on Tape.

Ng had a cameo appearance in the 2016 film Skiptrace.

Personal life and death

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Ng was educated in London, England[3] whilst moving from Hong Kong to London in 1997.

Ng was married to his wife, Susan, a British woman who was a stylist for Vidal Sassoon in London and New York. She ran HAIR BY SUSAN, where she worked as Bruce Lee's hair stylist in the 1970s.[2] Together, they had four children, live event producer Alex Ng who runs a concert production company INTERNATIONAL FIXER, Zoe Ng, a professional dancer who studies nature and travels the world, Louise Ng who is a professional photographer, and mother, and actor Carl Ng.[4]

In March 2021, one of his daughters was arrested for trafficking marijuana in a village house.[5][6][7] Later on 26 March 2021, Ng's second daughter was arrested.[8][9][10][11]

Ng died at the age of 83. He had been suffering health problems for years. In 2019 he disclosed he had to undergo dialysis treatments daily due to kidney problems. In 2021 he told media that he had undergone surgery for a cardiac embolism.[12][13] According to Hong Kong media outlet HK01, which was first to report his death, doctors advised Ng's family members to visit him in hospital on 9 April to say their last goodbyes. Ng was hooked up to several tubes and his family prayed for him. A family member was told that the doctors tried to resuscitate Ng after his heart stopped, but to no avail. Later papers were signed by the doctors to confirm his death.[13] [14]

Filmography

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[16][17] [18] [19]

References

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  1. ^ Bey Logan (1996). Hong Kong Action Cinema. Overlook Press. Richard Ng actor.
  2. ^ a b "Hong Kong Cinema UK". Richard Ng Yiu-Hon. Retrieved 11 February 2008.
  3. ^ "HKMDb". Richard Ng Yiu-Hon. Retrieved 11 February 2008.
  4. ^ Tyrell, Clare (16 August 2002). "Alex Ng". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  5. ^ Kong, Dimsumdaily Hong (23 March 2021). "HK veteran actor's daughter arrested after HK Customs raided a cannabis plantation farm in Sai Kung, 13 cannabis plants seized (Updated: 9.25pm)". Dimsum Daily. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
  6. ^ "Hongkong Comedian Richard Ng's Daughter Arrested In Drug Bust". TODAY. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
  7. ^ "Hong Kong comedian Richard Ng's daughter arrested during $173k drugs bust". AsiaOne. 24 March 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
  8. ^ Kong, Dimsumdaily Hong (27 March 2021). "Veteran actor Richard Ng's second daughter arrested after eldest daughter was detained earlier for planting cannabis". Dimsum Daily. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  9. ^ "Second daughter of actor Richard Ng arrested over marijuana, days after sister". South China Morning Post. 27 March 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
  10. ^ Auto, Hermes (28 March 2021). "Second daughter of actor Richard Ng arrested after eldest daughter caught in weed bust | The Straits Times". www.straitstimes.com. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
  11. ^ "Richard Ng said his rich dad had four wives and smoked opium with Bruce Lee's father - Singapore News". The Independent Singapore News. 4 April 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
  12. ^ "Veteran actor Richard Ng, who rose to fame in 1970s Hong Kong comedies, dies at age 83 | South China Morning Post". Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  13. ^ a b "著名影星吳耀漢逝世終年83歲 兩年前已透露自己停工兩年". Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  14. ^ cue (10 April 2023). "Hong Kong actor Richard Ng, who acted in S'pore sitcom Under One Roof, dies at 83 | The Straits Times". www.straitstimes.com. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  15. ^ "吳耀漢逝世｜一代笑匠曾兩度提名影帝傳身家過億 《風再起時》成遺作". am730 daily news. 10 April 2023.
  16. ^ "Richard Ng at HKMDb". Hong Kong Movie Database. Retrieved 20 February 2008.
  17. ^ "Richard Ng at Hong Kong Cinemagic". Hong Kong Cinemagic. Retrieved 20 February 2008.
  18. ^ Richard Ng at lovehkfilm.com
  19. ^ Richard Ng at chinesemov.com
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