Mr Kwan Shan

1933-2012

Actor

Actor Kwan Shan, birth name Kwan Pak Wai, was born in Shenyang, Liaoning, and followed his family to Hong Kong when war broke out on the mainland. Impressed by the film Beyond the Grave (1954), he decided to try his luck in the film industry. In 1956, he enrolled in Great Wall studio’s acting course and was soon picked by producer and director Yuen Yang An to play the leading role in The True Story of Ah Q (1958). The film won him Best Actor at the Locarno International Film Festival, making him the first Hong Kong actor to win an award in an international film festival. Kwan went on to act in a number of Shaw Brothers films including Love Without End (1961), The Coin (1964), The Blue and the Black Parts I & II (1966) and Too Late for Love (1967), becoming one of the premier Mandarin film actors of the 1960s. From the 1970s onwards, Kwan specialised in films produced in Hong Kong and Taiwan. He founded Kwan’s Film Company in 1972 and starred in, produced and directed The Brutal Boxer (1972), among other titles. He had a cameo appearance in RTV’s action serial Dragon Strikes in 1979. Kwan retired from acting in the 1980s and settled in the United States.