RIP Willie Chan

[GeneChing]

OBITUARIES OCTOBER 24, 2017 9:43PM PT
Willie Chan, Jackie Chan’s Former Manager, Dies at 76
By Patrick Frater
Patrick Frater
Asia Bureau Chief


Willie Chan, Jackie Chan
Hong Kong manager Willie Chan celebrates with the trophy as Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan claps after winning the Best Professional Achievement Award at the Hong Kong Film Awards in Hong KongHong Kong Film Awards
CREDIT: VINCENT YU/AP/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK

Willie Chan, film producer and long-time manager of Jackie Chan, has died. He was 76.

Sources tell Variety that he died in his sleep, between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, local time.

Born in Malaysia as Chan Chi-keung, and educated partly in Hawaii, Chan moved to Hong Kong in 1970. That was just as Bruce Lee mania was at its peak, and was propelling the Hong Kong film industry, which is made up of many exiles from Greater China, into a production boom.

Chan quickly met Jackie Chan through actor Charlie Chin. Jackie Chan was working as a stunt man. With Hong Kong looking for a new male action hero following Lee’s untimely death, Willie Chan found Jackie Chan his first starring role in Lo Wei’s 1976 film “New Fist of Fury.”

Their 38-year relationship weathered the ups and downs of Jackie Chan’s early career, including self-imposed exile in Australia, and an unsuccessful first attempt to break into Hollywood. Hong Kong’s golden era brought both opportunities and Triad gangster interference, which Willie Chan as a talent manager felt directly.

Although unrelated, Willie Chan and Jackie Chan often described themselves as brothers. It was reported that the pair never signed a talent management contract.

A kind and bustling man, who often shielded his bulging eyes behind dark glasses, Chan in 1985 co-founded JCE Group. That was the vehicle for the pair to develop and produce many of Jackie Chan’s movies for the next several decades. They included several of his U.S. titles, such as “Shanghai Noon” and “The Tuxedo,” after Jackie Chan made a more successful second attempt to work in the Hollywood.

Their professional relationship ended largely without rancor in 2009 after Jackie Chan’s fame and wealth made him too difficult to manage. “[Jackie] didn’t need my help anymore and I couldn’t help him with much. There would be many high-ranking officials at the same table, or rich men, and yes men. My words fell on deaf ears,” Willie Chan was quoted as saying.

Chan has producing credits on Stanley Kwan’s award-winning drama 1991 “Center Stage,” presenter on Sylvia Chang’s “Tempting Hearts,” and executive producer credits on Hong Kong titles including “New Police Story” and “Gen-X Cops.”

I met Willie once, perhaps a quarter century ago. Actually we didn't really meet - we crossed paths in a hallway where he was staging Jackie and I just happened to be because I was coming from the bathroom. He was flamboyant (and HK fashion was particularly flamboyant then) and he struck me like this fay svengali - not really a fair appraisal because I was really trying to make eye contact with Jackie, not him.

Such a loss.

[GeneChing]

This article is a little more complete. Most U.S. coverage won't get past Jackie.

RIP Willie Chan: the man who made Jackie Chan a global star
Willie Chan helped many Asian stars, including Jackie Chan, Maggie Cheung, Jacky Cheung, Daniel Wu and Edison Chen, rise to fame

BY LEE WING-SZE
26 OCT 2017

Hong Kong film producer and talent manager Willie Chan Chi-keung passed away peacefully at home on October 24. He was 76 years old.


talent manager Willie Chan Chi-keung. Photo: Ricky Chung

Born in Malaysia, Chan joined the Hong Kong entertainment industry by producing the movie Love Is A Four Letter Word in 1973. He single-handedly helped an array of superstars, including Jackie Chan, Maggie Cheung, Jacky Cheung, Daniel Wu and Edison Chen, build their careers.

Jackie Chan took to Facebook to pay his respects:

成龍 Jackie Chan
on Wednesday
Another important person in my life has passed away..... Willie Chan. A lot of people know that without you back then, I would not be where I am today. But what people don't know were the things that we went through together. Only you and I know, and understand each other. You're my teacher, my brother, my "Dai Lo".... l'll miss you always. Rest In Peace 🙏🏻
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Chan, who graduated with a master’s degree in marketing from the East-West Centre in Hawaii in 1966, moved to Hong Kong in 1970 and entered the film industry as a producer. At his peak in the early 1990s, he managed a total of 43 actors and actresses. In 2011, he received the Hong Kong Film Awards for Professional Achievement for his contribution to the industry.

Let’s look at how the talented manager influenced some of the superstars’ paths.

Jackie Chan

Willie Chan had been the manager and business partner of the kung fu star for 30 years since 1974, and he introduced him to the Hollywood scene. The duo first met when Jackie Chan was a stuntman in New Fist of Fury.


Jackie Chan (left) and Willie Chan after Jackie Chan received his honorary Doctor of Social Sciences degree at Baptist University.

He was later signed to Willie Chan, who got him his first leading roles in movies such as Snake In the The Eagle’s Shadow and Drunken Master. In the late ’70s, the manager also insisted on sending Chan to a language school in the US to prepare him for his international career.

Maggie Cheung

Cheung signed with Chan when she took part in Jackie Chan’s action movie, Police Story, in 1985. She became the second artist and the first actress managed by Chan.


Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung Chiu-wai in a scene from In The Mood For Love (2000).

Before signing with Chan, the award-winning actress – who joined the industry via entering the Miss Hong Kong Pageant – was just a TV presenter and starred in comedies. Since Chan took over as her manager, she started getting better opportunities, playing major roles in big movies such as Wong Kar-wai’s As Tears Go By, and embarked on a serious acting career.

Jacky Cheung

Cheung, who is dubbed God of Songs, refers to Chan as his “brother, father and friend”. Chan signed the singer after watching his performance at the Hong Kong Coliseum in 1985.


Jacky Cheung Hok-yau

While expanding Cheung’s successful singing career, Chan played a key role introducing Cheung to the movie world. In 1989, Cheung won the Best Supporting Actor with his role in As Tears Go By.

Daniel Wu

Chan signed Wu after Wu met film director Yonfan and Jackie Chan when he travelled to Hong Kong in 1997. Wu made his acting debut in Yonfan’s Bishonen, and was offered a number of movie opportunities such as City of Glass and Gen-X Cops. As one of the most popular actors in Hong Kong, Wu also stars in the American TV drama series, Into the Badlands.


Daniel Wu stars in Into the Badlands, Season 2.

Wu also took to social media to express his grief:

Daniel Wu
22 hours ago



I am at that age where the people who were around to shape my life when I was young are starting to go. Willie Chan was my manager for 11 years and helped make me a star in Asia. But more importantly he was the one who took a young stuntman and turned him into the global phenomenon known as Jackie Chan. Your energy and zest for life and your contributions to the Hong Kong film industry will be missed. Rest In Peace Boss! Love you always!
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Edison Chen

The Canadian-born Hong Kong rapper-actor signed to Chan and made his movie debut in Gen-Y Cops in 2000. Later, he starred in the Infernal Affairs trilogy, Initial D and Dog Bite Dog.


Edison Chen

The rebellious star refused to be a bubblegum Canto-pop idol and co-produced his first hip-hop album, Please Steal This Album, in 2004. Chen has since established his own fashion label Clot and became a pop culture icon and a successful entrepreneur.

[GeneChing]

Jackie Chan and Jacky Cheung were pallbearers at HK producer and manager Willie Chan's funeral
Friday, Nov 24, 2017

Jackie Chan and Jacky Cheung were pallbearers at the funeral of prominent Hong Kong producer and manager, Willie Chan, on Thursday (Nov 23).

Chan, aged 77, died in his sleep on Oct 25. He was Jackie's longtime manager and also managed the careers of stars like Maggie Cheung, Cherie Chung, Jacky Cheung, Carol Cheng, Joey Wong, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Carina Lau, Simon Yam, Sylvia Chang and Joan Chen in the 80s and 90s, Ming Pao reported.

Hong Kong's showbiz veterans Ti Lung and Patrick Tse also performed pallbearing duties at the funeral, attended by Hong Kong TV stars past and present.

Jackie Chan posted a tribute to his "senior, brother" on Weibo last month, saying: "Willie Chan is gone. Another of the most important people in my life has left. Many people know I wouldn't be what I am now without you, but no one knows what we really experienced together. So long as we both know and understand."

There's a 19 pic gallery behind the link