There is a kung fu superstar who was once extremely popular, and his fame once overshadowed Jackie Chan.
Many people in modern times do not know him, but in the 70s and 80s, he was a martial arts comedy superstar in the film industry, one of the most popular martial arts students in Shaw films, he was Wang Yu.
What is a hit? It is that the audience is willing to watch your performance and buy tickets to enter, and the charm on the screen can allow you to accumulate enough "fans" and popularity.
Wang Yu's subsequent films such as "Huang Feihong and Lu Acai", "Smiling Proud of the Jianghu", and "Deer DingJi" proved his status as a first-line student in Shaw's films! Just think, if it is not red, will the company send you to play Ling Hu chong and Wei Xiaobao?
However, at the time of his death, his news can only occupy a small corner of the entertainment version that is inconspicuous, whether it is insiders or fans, everyone has almost forgotten him.
Why?
Wang Yu
In the 1970s, Hong Kong kung fu films were popular, and Wang Yu often appeared as a martial arts star, and in order to promote it, Liu Jialiang took him as an apprentice.
In 1975, with Liu Jialiang's "Divine Fight", Wang Yu became one of the most popular and promising young martial arts stars in Shaw.
Wang Yu's martial arts comedy image mixed with comedic elements, which was an innovation and breakthrough at the time, and can be said to be a pioneer of kung fu comedy. So that in the later martial arts comedy of Jackie Chan, there are also elements that imitate Wang Yu.
"Lu Acai and Huang Feihong" Wang Yu plays Huang Feihong (Played by Liu Jiahui), while in reality Liu Jialiang first praises Wang Yu and then praises Liu Jiahui
Shao's version of "Smiling Proud of the Jianghu" Wang Yu played Ling Huchong
Shao's version of "Deer Ding" Wang Yu plays Wei Xiaobao
In the 1980s, in addition to filming movies and tv dramas in Hong Kong, Wang Yu also went to Taiwan to develop, but he suffered a devastating blow in his career.
Maybe fame and fortune came too early and too quickly, he was not as conformist as Dillon and David Jiang, but he was young and vigorous, and his personality determined his tragic fate.
In 1983, Four of Shaw's popular young students, Fu Sheng, Zhang Zhensheng, Zhang Zhanpeng and Wang Yu, drove two cars from the Clearwater Bay Country Club to the Clearwater Bay Road Set to shoot the location.
Wang Yu drove in front of Zhang Zhanpeng in the same car, followed by Fu Sheng and Zhang Zhensheng's car, and it was Fu Sheng who was driving at that time, because of his youthful vigor and Wang Yu's bucket car. When they passed a corner of Qingshuiwan, Fu Sheng's car suddenly crashed into the side of the mountain, and Wang Yu and Fu Sheng had a car accident together, and the body overturned and the front of the car was seriously damaged.
Fu Sheng was hit by the acoustic gas in the car and broke his ribs, causing the ribs to be inserted into the heart and killed.
Fu Sheng
A car accident killed a friend and ruined Wang Yu's life.
Because of this incident, Wang Yu was accused by thousands of people, and since then Wang Yu has been guilty and self-blamed in his heart, falling into a whirlpool of pain. After that, Wang Yu rarely appeared on the screen and in public, and he was sentenced to two people before the scenery.
After Shaw's Films discontinued production in 1985, he lost his big boss.
Although he also filmed two or three plays after that, but they were not successful, some people said that it was because of Fu Sheng's car accident that year, Wang Yu was very remorseful; some said that it was because he left Shao Shi to break into the world outside, because of his temper and poor popularity, so he was depressed, and the film was getting less and less; plus he had a love affair with his girlfriend (a costume director) at the time, so he caused great stimulation and gave up on himself!
In his quiet days, he did not strive to add value, but could not extricate himself, and even became addicted to drugs in the later stages, floating in the bitter sea of life.
This sunny and cheerful boy on the screen, elf and cute, but because of the setbacks of life, is devastated, it is very sad.
Someone once said that if Fu Sheng is still alive and Wang Yu is still acting, there will be no Jackie Chan in the Hong Kong film industry.
We do not care about the credibility of this argument for the time being, but it also shows from the side how powerful his position in the film industry was.
One of the films that Wang Yu participated in in the final performance was "First Wash Future Money" in 1994. Since then, no film company has been willing to hire him.
For 14 years, he had to rely on loans to survive.
He used to be a hawker, an insurance broker... But no job lasted, and the main reason was that he could never let go of the fact that he had really been a hit!
On May 5, 2008, Wang Yu was admitted to the hospital for acute hepatitis, and after rescue, he died on May 15 at the age of 53.
The story that happened to him is like a set of Hollywood star-sea floating and sinking records.
It is a pity that a young actor who once shone brightly and had a great future was caused by his personality or fate, and he had a great future. Hope Wang Yu is well in heaven...