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| Producer Raymond Chow with legendary martial artist and actor Bruce Lee. |
THE MAN who introduced Bruce Lee to the world is dead at the age of 91.
Film producer Raymond Chow founded Hong Kong film studio Golden Harvest in 1970 and released The Big Boss (also known as Fist of Fury), the following year. The movie set box office records and is credited with launching Lee’s career as a kung fu film star.
Chow died Nov. 2. The cause of death has not been released.
Golden Harvest also produced Lee’s iconic film,Enter the Dragon, the first Hong Kong film to be co-produced with a Hollywood studio (Warner Bros). Deadline reports the film earned $90 million dollars in the global box office after being produced on a budget of $850,000.
The BBC reports Chow produced more than 600 films until his retirement in 2007. His career is also closely aligned with that of another martial arts film star, Jackie Chan.
According to Deadline, Chow began his career as a journalist, but made the jump to show business in 1958. He joined Hong Kong-based Shaw Bros Studios as a publicist and became head of production after complaining about the poor quality of some films. In 1970, he launched Golden Harvest and eventually supplanted Shaw Bros Studios as the premiere movie studio in Hong Kong.
Checkley Sin Kwok-lam, who has produced a number of major kung fu films including the Ip Man series, said Chow was his idol in the genre.
“He discovered Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, who until then were unheard of,” Sin said. “Chow is an indelible hero in the history of action movies.”
Chow also was also responsible for The Teenage Ninja Turtle franchise.
“It was funny, it was unique,” Chow once said. “What a contradiction in terms, mutants and healthy teen-agers, slow-moving turtles and swift, deadly ninjas. “I gave it the go-ahead but set a limit of $5 million…It was a bit of a gamble, but only a bit of one,” he said. “In fact it exceeded expectations by many, many times.”
The film took in $200 million.
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