[2023.04.11] RICHARD NG PASSED AWAY

Richard Ng performed in many comedy films and brought Hong Kong a lot of joy
courtesy of on.cc

Richard Ng years ago revealed that his health was deteriorating.  His kidney function was down to 10%
courtesy of singtao.com

Richard Ng was rumored to had passed away yesterday.  He was 83.

Richard Ng's wife Susan confirmed the news and hoped that everyone would give the family space

Eric Tsang taped the Super Trio yesterday and was saddened by Richard Ng's passing 

Myolie Wu's husband posted a photo with Richard Ng and Chan Wai Man from January last year

Andrew Lam says that the previous time he saw Richard Ng was to promote the film A LIFETIME TREASURE.  Richard Ng's son Carl was also in the cast.  

Lawrence Ng remembers Richard Ng and reveals that they were relatives
courtesy of mingpao.com

Richard Ng worked on Hong Kong's first hidden camera prank show FUN TIME for ATV. He dressed up as a gorilla and scared pedestrians on the streets

The Sammo Hung, Michael Miu, Richard Ng, Stanley Fung and Eric Tsang starred LUCKY STARS film series has become a classic
courtesy of mingpao.com

Known as the "cold faced comedian", veteran film star Richard Ng Yiu Ho yesterday was rumored to have passed away at age 83. The news of Ng Yiu Hon's passing came from his family group chat, the content of which mentioned that his family received the doctor's notice that Ng Yiu Hon might pass away on the 9th and he urged his family to rush to the hospital to see him for the last time. His family remained by his side and prayed. Ng Yiu Hon's heart stopped and once required equipment to resuscitate his heart again. Finally the doctor signed the certificate to confirm Ng Yiu Hon's death. Reportedly Ng Yiu Hon's wife Susan confirmed the death of her husband's passing, in a text message she expressed that they have been deeply saddened by the tragic news and hoped that her family would be given some privacy.

Excelled in comedy performance, Ng Yiu Hon was the son of one of Kowloon Motor Bus and Kowloon Funeral Parlor's founder Ng Hoi Lam. He was the youngest son of the second family. At age 7 his birth mother passed away and since he was raised by his mother of the main family. Out of the 16 siblings he was constantly picked on. Later he was sent to a boarding family. Even when he was able to return home on weekends, he would rather stay at school and fish. At age 15 he was again sent to English for boarding school. While in school he switched from studying dentistry to drama. After graduation he participated in BBC series but unfortunately did not worked out too well. In the 70s he returned to Hong Kong and once operated a hair salon with his wife. By chance he received his client Elaine Jin (Kam Yin Ling)'s recommendation to join TVB and create for THE HUI BROTHERS SHOW. Later he again moved to on screen performance.

On Hong Kong television, in 1989 Chow Leung Suk Yee invited Ng Yiu Hon to join ATV and worked on Hong Kong first hidden camera prank show FUN TIME. Due to its popularity it became the highest rated ATV program and received multiple renewals. The show even made HK$ 5 million for the television station.

He founded Pioneer film company in 1975 and worked as a creator and an actor. He caught Michael Hui Koon Man's eyes and was invited to take part in PRIVATE EYE BLUES (BOON GUNG BAK LEUNG), beginning his journey in film.

Ng Yiu Hon participated in over 100 films. Other than comedy, he also gave outstanding performance in dramatic and family films. His excellent performance in BEYOND THE SUNSET (FEI YUEN WONG FUN) even earned him a Hong Kong Film Awards Best Actor nomination. His funny performance in movies like THE PILFERER'S PROGRESS (FAT CHIN HON), MURDER MOST FOUL (FONG SUT SUT), CARRY ON PICKPOCKET (TAI FONG SIU SAU), POM POM (SUN YUNG SEUNG HEUNG POW) was deeply ingrained into people's hearts.

He even with 1983's WINNERS AND SINNERS (KEI MAU MIU GEI NG FOOK SING) and 1989's BEYOND THE SUNSET excellent acting was nominated for the Hong Kong Film Award Best Actor twice. Reportedly his salary in the 80s was HK$ 1 million per film. He admitted that whenever he made a movie he would buy a home at Clearway Bay and Sai Kung, at the time he was estimated to be worth over HK$ 100 million. By the mid 90's, Ng Yiu Hon emigrated to English for a semi-retired life. He participated in the English television series THE BILL. He still would return to Hong Kong and guest star out of interest, like in SAUSALITO (YUT GEIN JUNG CHING), the Hollywood film LARA CROFT: TOMB RAIDER - THE CRADLE OF OF LIFE, in 2013 he returned to make the movies like RIGOR MORTIS (GEUNG SI) and LITTLE BIG MASTER (NG GOR SIU HAI DIK HAU JEUNG). In 2019 he revealed that he had kidney failure and needed dialysis four times a day. His kidney function was down to 10% and he could not help but had to stop working. In addition his hearing also declined to around 70%, but he was stubborn. Finally his wife had to buy him a hearing aid before he was willing to use it.

Ng Yiu Hon was married twice in his life. At age 21 he married an English woman, but they were divorced half a year later until his current wife Susan appeared. His current wife was famous hair care product Vidal Sassoon's first generation student and Bruce Lee's official hairstylist. They had 3 daughters and 1 son, son Carl Ng Ka Lung was once in film. He, his wife and their two daughters resided in Sai Kung. The father and son in recent years already rarely appeared on screen, the two daughters were arrested for drugs before.

Ng Yu Hon worked on many films in his life and with many in the business. Some released statements to remember him. Michael Hui Koon Man said, when working together on THE HUI BROTHERS SHOW he discovered Ng Yiu Ho's comedy potential and gave him the opportunity to guest star. He later transitioned to acting and was known as the "cold faced comedian". Hui Koon Man felt that his style was strict while Ng Yiu Hon was light and mischievous.

Having worked with Ng Yiu Hon, Eric Tsang Chi Wai and Michael Miu Kiu Wai expressed regret over his passing. Chi Wai felt that the WINNERS AND SINNERS scene in which Ng Yiu Hon thought that he succeeded in his invincibility training and went completely naked except for an exhaust pipe was memorable; he admired Ng Yiu Hon's comedic performance that came from body language and not exaggerated expression or dialogue. He made many contributions to Hong Kong comedy films.

Tsang Chi Wai worked with Ng Yiu Hon the most on the LUCKY STARS film series. He said that in the film the five of them seemed to have lived a special lifetime. "Once we couldn't get one shot for the entire day, because no one would hold in their laughter." He said that the previous time he worked with Ng Yiu Hong was the 2017 film VAMPIRE CLEANUP DEPARTMENT (GAU GEUNG CHING DOH FU). "At the time he was still very healthy. Later due to the pandemic we haven't seen each other, I only learned from the news that he was in poor health. When I found out he passed away I was very sad. I really cherish this friend, and also thank him for his contribution to show business." Chi Wai said that Ng Yiu Hon not only influenced many of his co-stars in show business, but he was also a mentor and a friend to him. "In 1976 he was still a stuntman, he told me if I liked to come up with ideas I might as well learn to be a screenwriter. Thus he had quite an influence on my show business life. He was very humorous, really liked to joke around. He was quite a gentleman. The cold faced comedian, his comedy performance was unique. From him I have learned a lot. In many of the 1980s comedy he deserved a lot of the credit."

Miu Kiu Wai said that he lamented about the news of Ng's passing. He remembered that they worked together on LUCKY STARS 20 years ago. He felt Ng Yiu Hon was Mr. Nice Guy and humorous, so work was always full of laughter. However at work he was also professional. Ultimately he was in his 80s, perhaps it was a kind of release. He wished that he would be able to reach Sukhavati soon and sent his condolences to his family.

One of the "five lucky stars" Stanley Fung Shui Fun posted on social media. "I am shocked to hear about Ng Yiu Hon's passing and couldn't be sadder. Old brother was one of my extreme few close friends in Hong Kong, I never thought that we would no longer destined to meet again! Brother Richard: have a safe journey, may be enjoy eternal peace and joy in Heaven!"

Andrew Lam Man Chung was surprised to learn about Ng Yiu Hon's passing and said that due to the pandemic he has not seen him in a very long time. The previous time was promoting A LIFETIME TREASURE (YU JI YU BO) in 2019. Ah Chung said, "I asked Ng Yiu Hon what would he wish for? He answered, "I want to live longer!' At the time he already knew that he had health problems, but during the shoot he was very professional. His performance was very touching, and no one would have been able to detect that something was wrong with him. He would even joke around with me." Ah Chung said that for now he would not call Ng Yiu Hon's son Ng Ka Lung, as he hoped to give Ng room to settle his emotions.

Ah Chung saw Ng Yiu Hon as one of his idols. He really admired his 1980s LUCKY STARS film series performance and ATV variety program FUN TIME. "When I first got into film, I was very happy to work with him on TILL DEATH SHALL WE START (SHUI GWAI GIU CHEUNG GEUK) in 1990. He just finished FUN TIME and I followed him with the ATV variety program THE MAD MAD COMEDIANS. This elder was very playful, could really joke round, passionate about work and was a very positive artist." Ah Chung on social media posted his photo with Ng Yiu Hon to remember him.

Working with Ng Yiu Hon on A LIFETIME TREASURE, Louis Cheung Kai Chung and Bob Lam Sing Bun both were saddened over the elder's passing. Cheung Kai Chung praised Ng Yiu Hon as a great elder, on the set he would share many filmmaking and life experience. "I am very honored to have the chance to work with this very professional and outstanding master class actor. He talked about being an actor a father would miss a lot of time to be with his children, which was very memorable to me. I remembered not to miss the children's growth and the opportunity to be with them." Lam Sing Bun said, "Although I didn't have many opportunities to work with him on a scene, while waiting for our marks everyone got to chat. When we dined together we talked, he was a very friendly elder. I also told him I watched his films and program FUN TIME when I was little, they were classics among classics. He also shared the fun experience from the prank show."

Playing a couple with Ng Yiu Hon in the film RIGOR MORTIS, Nina Paw Hee Ching was currently in England. She praised Ng Yiu Hon as one of the comedic actors with the most personal style in Hong Kong film. He even exaggerated and was a strong influence. She said, "When we worked together on RIGOR, I learned a lot from him. He had to spend 4 hours in make up with eating or drinking, which was very admirable. We even used foul language together in the film. It was the first time I did so in a movie, which was very memorable and fun. I would always miss him." The film's director Juno Mak Chun Lung said, "I would always miss that unique and one of a kind sense of humor."

Lawrence Ng Kai Wa on social media remembered his uncle Ng Yiu Hon. "I remember when I was little our whole family went to your first movie THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE LOSER's premiere. At the time you were already our idol. Thank you for your help and care of my Ma all along. Uncle, have a safe journey! Kai Wa would miss you always!"