Founder of Golden Harvest Raymond Passed Away at 91

Raymond CHOW Man-wai, veteran filmmaker and founder of Golden Harvest, passed away earlier at age 91. Originally named CHOW Ting-hsing, CHOW graduated from St. John University's Journalism Department. He had work as a sports journalist for the Hong Kong Tiger Standard before joining the Shaw’ Brothers Studio. He left the Studio in 1970 and co-founded Golden Harvest with Koon-Cheung. It was reported that CHOW actually discovered . He eyed LEE seeing one of his performances and found him very special, therefore invited LEE to star in “” for which LEE first shot to fame. LEE later starred in many other kung-fu movies such as “” and “The Way of Dragon” which were later widely distributed in Europe, America and Middle-East, bringing LEE the peak of his fame. CHOW found LEE’s sudden death during the making of “” hard to believe and wished it was not true but a nightmare.

Since it was founded, Golden Harvest has been keen on promoting Hong Kong film development and nurturing local film talents. It has produced, invested and presented over 600 films over the years. Apart from Bruce LEE, also became an international kung-fu superstar having starred in “Police Story”. Other superstars nurtured by CHOW include Michael , , , , from Hong Kong, and action stars who came to Hong Kong from , such as and Vincent . Renowned directors like John WOO and also directed many classic works produced by Golden Harvest. directors and were also eyed by CHOW and directed “The Sword” and “Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain” respectively. Veteran film critic LAW Kar spoke highly of him for he had strengthened the influence of Hong Kong films in the world of cinema, and considered CHOW to have made greater contributions than in that aspect.

CHOW made great contributions to the development of the Hong Kong film during his career of more than 40 years in the industry. He received the from the Government of HKSAR in 1998. In the late 90s, Golden Harvest’s Hammer Hill studios closed down as the government refused to renew its lease. His partner, Leonard HO, passed away in 1998. “My Lucky Star” (2003) was the last film produced by Golden Harvest. In 2007, CHOW sold his remaining stake in the company to Chinese businessman WU Kebo and declared retirement in the same year; In 2008, CHOW was awarded the “Lifetime Achievement Award” by the Hong Kong Film Awards; In 2009, Golden Harvest Entertainment was officially renamed as Orange Sky Golden Harvest (OSGH).

Following the news of CHOW’s passing, Edward YAU, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, expressed deep sorrow over the passing away of CHOW and extended his heartfelt condolences to his family. Chief Executive Carrie LAM spoke highly of CHOW for he had created a variety of film styles, produced a number of popular movies and groomed many internationally renowned directors and actors, making enormous contributions to the development of the glory days of the movie industry in Hong Kong in the 1980s. YAU also spoke of CHOW founding Golden Harvest in 1970s, setting the ground of the production of a good number of movie classics by the company and helped boosting the development of the Hong Kong film industry over the years. He thanked him for his great contribution to the industry.