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LIKE MANY A Hong Kong lad, Stephen Au Kam-tong walked the streets of the 1970s under the shadow of one man. 'He had this special kind of charm that everyone wanted to imitate,' explains the 40-year TVB actor. 'I was attracted by this charm. And I would try to imitate his moves and his appearance - even the way he talked.'
The man was, of course, Bruce Lee. And on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the martial-arts master's death - on July 20 - his presence still looms large over the city through which he found his fame. Lee was our first international superstar, a man who counted Hollywood's elite among his friends. His success almost singlehandedly took Hong Kong films out to the world, taking martial arts films into the mainstream along the way. He was the epitome of grace and style and his image still peeks out from posters, T-shirts and other memorabilia on street stalls from SoHo to Saigon.
When Lee died - of an acute cerebral edema at the age of just 32 - thousands of Hongkongers lined the streets to pay their respects. For Au, and countless , an obsession with the star that started in childhood has lasted a lifetime. 'Bruce Lee is the movie star who brought Hong Kong movies to people all over the world,' says Au. 'He is the culture of Hong Kong and of Chinese people.'
To mark the 30th anniversary of his hero's death, Au has developed a 10-episode series, The Legend Of Bruce Lee, with the Kowloon Motor Bus TV channel Roadshow, which began screening yesterday and will run on the almost 10,000 TVs in 2,400 buses and 200 minibuses during the fortnight before the anniversary. The series tours the Hong Kong locales that played an important part in the star's life, including his former home in Kowloon Tong (now a love motel), and features footage from his film archive, brief interviews with fellow Lee fanatics and the revelation that his first school was actually an all-girls school.
The Au-Roadshow production is one of a series of anniversary tributes on both sides of the Pacific. Au is negotiating with Broadway Cinematheque in Yau Ma Tei to hold a festival of Lee's films on July 19 and 20 while the Star Movies satellite channel plans to broadcast four of the action hero's movies and two documentaries at 11pm from July 15 to 20. And TVB Jade will screen a commemorative programme on July 19.
The largest anniversary event will be the Hong Kong Bruce Lee Fan Club's exhibition of some of the star's belongings and memorabilia at the Pao gallery of the Hong Kong Arts Centre in Wan Chai from July 18 to 27.
'I expect more than 10,000 visiting our exhibition,' says the club's president, Wong Yiu-keung. 'There will be props and special memorabilia that fans might not have been able to see in the past.''