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Leslie Cheung



         


Leslie Cheung Kwok Wing (Traditional Chinese: 張國榮; Simplified Chinese: 张国荣; pinyin: Zhāng Guóróng, WG: Chang Kuo-jung) (September 12, 1956 - April 1, 2003) was a Cantopop singer and the star of several Hong Kong movies. His fans passionately called him Gor-gor (哥哥, "elder brother" in Cantonese), started by Joey Wong in A Chinese Ghost Story.

He was born the youngest of 10 children. His parents divorced when he was young. He studied at Leeds University in northern England. In 1976 he took second prize at ATV Asian Music Contest.

In a self-confessed statement made in a radio broadcast of a an autobiography of himself made in 1985 he admitted that he had a reasonably tough childhood. Even during the early days of his career, he was first booed off the stage when he first appeared in the public and his first ever film was a low-point of his career as his role in that film was one associated with yellow-culture, The Erotic Dream of the Red Chamber in 1978. As an international artiste long-associated with hard-work and charisma, he did not take long to recapture the fame that has previously evaded him.

The turning point of his career was when he signed for Cinepoly Records Hong Kong in 1986 and left the company Capital Artists. The new trend of Hong Kong in the mid 1980s has demanded for fast and energetic Cantopop songs that would be both suitable for dancing and for listening or for the singing enthusiast, the karaoke hits that the Cantopop fan could sing along to. Leslie Cheung did not disappoint his fans at that point, blending some of his own compositions as well as Japanese hits of the day to create an embodiment of his own personal style. His musical success could only be equalled by the talented Alan Tam and his close friend Anita Mui. It was even reported that his fans had a long-standing conflict with fans of Alan Tam over the issue of bragging rights in Hong Kong due to the phenomenal success of both these artistes. His successful albums include The Wind Blows On (1983) Monica (1984) Summer Romance (1987) Hot Summer (1988) Virgin Snow (1988) Leslie '89 (1989) Final Encounter (1989)Most Beloved (1995) Red (1996) Printemps (1997) and Heat (2000)

Together with Chow Yun-Fat, he starred in John Woo's action movie A Better Tomorrow (1986) and made his mark as Kit Sung, a righteous young cop tortured by his brother's crime boss background. In Stanley Kwan's Rouge (1987), he played an opium-smoking playboy against Anita Mui's courtesan Fleur. The film supposedly cemented his life-long friendship with his fellow pop star. Leslie teamed up with Woo and Chow Yun-Fat again in Once a Thief (1990) as Jim, a "brother" of Chow's Joe. In the 1991 Hong Kong Film Awards, he won a Best Actor Award for his performance as Yuddy in the Wong Kar-wai-directed "Days of Being Wild" (1990).

He left the music business in 1990 and immigrated to British Columbia, Canada at the peak of his career after he had reached superstar status in Hong Kong. He was the first one ever in Cantopop history having a retirement concert, and these concerts ran for 33 consecutive nights at the famed Hong Kong Coliseum although he had continued to play in movies. In 1992, he gained Canadian citizenship and soon returned to Hong Kong and his film career after the long hiatus. After much struggle, he recorded his first album after his retirement concert and "Most Beloved" was released in 1995.

Cheung was one of few Hong Kong actors who dared to take on openly gay roles. He was well known for his movie, Farewell, My Concubine (1993). In it, he portrayed a Dan player (one who plays female roles) in Chinese opera who falls in love with his fellow male performer. Farewell, My Concubine shared the Palme d'Or with The Piano in 1993 in the Cannes Film Festival. It was also nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. In Wong Kar-wai's "Happy Together" (1997), Leslie played another gay role, Ho Po-wing, which got him nominations for Best Actor in both the Golden Horse Awards and the Hong Kong Film Awards.

He committed suicide in Hong Kong on April 1, 2003 by jumping from the 24th floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. He was 46 years old. He left a note saying he had been suffering from depression, the causes of which are unknown.

Despite the scare of SARS, many of Cheung's fans from around the world flew to Hong Kong to attend his memorial service on April 5, 2003. Cheung's family urged the tabloids to let Cheung rest in peace. During Cheung's twenty-six year career, the tabloids had reported numerous rumors about Cheung's sexual orientation and his relationship with Mr. Tong Hok-Kak, later to be his partner for 20 years. This suggests that he indeed was gay and he finally affirmed these rumors in 1997 as well as his recent film roles as gay characters, after a tabloid caught a snapshot of him and Mr. Tong holding hands together in 1995. In 2001, he admitted of his bisexual orientation during an interview with TIMEasia magazine.

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Achievements

無需要太多 1988


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Filmography

See also: Cinema of China


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