Actress Cheng Pei-pei (鄭佩佩), popularly known as “queen of martial arts films,” passed away on Wednesday at home in the United States, her family announced Friday. She was 78.
With a career that spanned six decades, Cheng was a multi-talented actress who made her name after appearing in several successful period martial arts films in the genre known as “wuxia,” Cheng’s agency, Hong Kong-based Supreme Art Entertainment, said in a Facebook post on Friday.
Cheng had been in poor health in recent years, but decided not to make her health issues public to spend more time with her family, according to the agency.
Photo: AP
Meanwhile, the Hollywood Reporter cited another Facebook post in its report on Cheng’s death, with her children stating that “ In 2019, our mom was diagnosed with a neurodegenerative, atypical parkinsonism syndrome -- unofficially, corticobasal degeneration (CBD). “ They said current medical treatment could not slow the progression of the disease, and that she had donated her brain for medical research.
Born in Shanghai in 1946, Cheng was named “queen of martial arts films” by the media in the 1960s for her successful wuxia films made by Hong Kong’s Shaw Brothers Studios at the time, including “Come Drink with Me” (大醉俠) directed by King Hu (胡金銓) in 1966 which established the director’s unique storytelling and a new wuxia film style.
She left the movies after marrying a Taiwanese businessman and moving to the U.S. in 1970, but returned to acting after divorcing in 1987.
Photo: Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International
Cheng remained a prolific actress following her return, and her performance as “Jade Fox” in director Ang Lee’s (李安) “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (臥虎藏龍) won her Best Supporting Actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2001.
Her most recent film role was “the matchmaker” in Disney’s 2020 live-action remake “Mulan” (花木蘭), and her other notable film appearances include 2014 British drama “Lilting” with Ben Whishaw and “Meditation Park” with Sandra Oh, the later opening the 2017 Vancouver International Film Festival.
Cheng also took to the stage and played a street vendor who believes her husband was abducted by aliens in Taiwan-based Performance Workshop’s “Sand and a Distant Star” (在那遙遠的星球,一粒沙) in 2015 at director Stan Lai’s (賴聲川) Theatre Above in Shanghai.
“Performing wuxia scenes is physically demanding. I’m no longer young. It is perhaps better to do a stage play,” she told a press conference the day after the premiere in the Chinese city.
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