Hong Kong veteran movie actor, Wu Mengda or Ng Man-tat who has performed countless comedy movies entertaining millions around the world, has passed away on Saturday (27 Feb) due to illness at the age of 69.
Tian Qiwen, Hong Kong actor and production manager, confirmed the death to reporters outside the hospital.
Wu moved to Hong Kong from Xiamen, Fujian with his parents when he was 7 years old.
In 1973, he applied for the TVB artist training class, and in 1979 he made a name for himself with the “Hu Tiehua” in the TV series “The Legend of Chu Liuxiang”.
Until the 1980s, Wu and Stephen Chow co-starred in many TV series such as “The Hero” and “He Comes From the Rivers and Lakes”. The two became one of the most successful comedy partners in Hong Kong movies.
Wu has been active in the film industry since the early 1990s. In 1991, he won the “Best Supporting Actor” at the 10th Hong Kong Film Awards with “A Love in the Sky”. After that, Dago and his cooperating star master co-starred in many classic works such as “Tricky Expert”, “Sacred Gambler”, “Gambler”, “Playing Back to School”, “Nine Grade Sesame Officials”, “Shaolin Football”, etc. Setting new record ticket sales time and again.
In 2014, Wu suffered heart failure due to a sudden virus infection and had to be urgently admitted to the Intensive Care Unit . During his stay in the hospital, news of his death was wrongly reported twice. After he was discharged from the hospital, he quit smoking and drinking for the sake of his health.
Just a month ago, Wu was shooting for promotional poster for a new film, “The Legend of Shaolin Temple”. At that time, Wu was filmed by media reporters as having chest discomfort, and could not stand steady. Wu being professional, insisted on completing the work, and apologized to the staff for delaying the shooting progress.
A few days ago, it was reported that Wu was secretly admitted to the oncology department for liver cancer and was required to undergo chemotherapy.