[2012.10.04] KWAN SHAN, FATHER OF ROSAMUND KWAN, PASSES AWAY

Dining with Rosamund Kwan in February

In 2002 at a film promotion with Rosamund Kwan and Ge You

At the 2005 Avenue of the Stars hand print ceremon with Ka Ling

courtesy of singtao.com

Kwan Shan and Linda Lin Dai's LOVE WITHOUT END remains a classic

Kwan Shan in an opera look with a young Rosamund Kwan
courtesy of mingpao.com

courtesy of takungpao.com

Rosamund Kwan Chi Lam yesterday notified friends that her father Kwan San passed away on October 1 due to lung cancer at the age of 83. Viewing will take place starting at 5PM on October 10 at the Hong Kong funeral home grace hall, the funeral will take place the next day at 8AM and the burial will take place in Shenzhen.

Kwan San was originally named Kwan Pak Wai. Born in Shenyang, Liaoning to a Manchurian family, he came to Hong Kong with his parents as the Sino-Japanese War erupted. Soon after both parents passed away one after another and he took over the responsibility of taking care of his family. He has worked as a miner and pier laborer. In 1954 after watching the Doe Ching directed BEYOND THE GRAVE (YUN GWAI LUEN) he became interested in the film industry. In the same year he applied to an independent company but was not hired. In 1956 he applied to the Great Wall film actor training class. A year later he caught director Yuen Yang-An directed THE TRUE STORY OF AH Q (AH Q JING JUEN). The film was invited to participate in the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland. Kwan Shan received the Best Actor award to become the first Hong Kong actor to in an international film festival award.

In 1961, Kwan Shan joined Shaw and starred in many popular dramas like LOVE WITHOUT END (BUT LIU CHING), THE BLUE AND THE BLACK (LAN YU HAK) to become the most popular melodrama actor of the 60s. Starting in the 70s, Kwan Shan worked in both Hong Kong and Taiwan, even founded the Kwan's Film Company and directed many films. In 1979 he participated in RTV series DRAGON STRIKES (TIN LUNG KUET). In the late 80s, Kwan Shan eased out of the film industry and into business. Later he immigrated to the U.S. but has guest starred in the John Woo (Ng Yu Sum) directed A BETTER TOMORROW 2 (YING HUNG BOON SIK 2).