Mr Tso Tat Wah

1915-2007

Actor

At age 15, Tso Tat Wah moved to Shanghai, where he made his screen debut in the 13-episode silent film series A Warrior of the Northeast (1928-1931). In 1935, he resumed his acting career in Hong Kong with Bandits from Shandong (1936). A Woman of Virtue (1939) offered him his first chance to play the male lead. After the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Tso founded Yau Luen Film Company and began producing martial arts films such as the two-part Thirteen Heroes with Seven Swords (1949). He was also the owner of Yau KiuStudio. In his long and prolific career, Tso was involved in around 300 films, most in the martial arts genre, but also cloak-and-dagger movies. He gained a reputation as the “Man of Iron of the Silver Screen”. Tso appeared in more than 70 titles of the “Wong Fei Hung” series, mostly as the eponymous master’s head disciple “Leung Foon”, which made him a household name. Audiences also remember him as the hero who partners with Yu So Chow in martial arts films, the most popular being “Lung Kim Fei” in the “Buddha’s Palm” series. Thanks to the widespread popularity of his character in contemporary whodunit flicks such as The Kidnappers (1960) and Intense Moment (1961), he was nicknamed “Inspector Wah”. Tso was still active in the 1980s and 1990s, playing parts in Aces Go Places (1982) and Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars (1985). He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hong Kong Film Critics Association in 2001, and the Professional Achievement Award at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2003.