Reports of actor's death greatly multiplied

As runs of misfortune go, it really is hard to beat. While veteran TVB actor Law Lok-lam is very much in the land of the living, he now holds what could be a television record for dying. Soap opera fans saw him die five times, as five different characters in five shows, in a 24-hour period last week.

Such was the level of superstition at such a feat, production crews sought blessings from the gods before shooting the episodes and Law, 63, was given lai see packets.

'When I get a job, I don't care if my character in the drama will die. If he is supposed to die, he should go on and die,' the actor said in a video uploaded by TVB to YouTube amid heated discussion on the internet.

Law's roles were diverse and all had tragic endings. Two were bloody: in martial arts drama Grace Under Fire, Law's character, Mok Ping, died in a fierce fight. In Fate to Fate, he vomited blood before dying. In Relic of an Emissary, he played the first Ming dynasty emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang, who died after an illness.

In retro thriller Police Station No 7 and comedy Virtues of Harmony, he played the partner of actress Nancy Sit Ka-yin. Law didn't die on screen but his death was discussed. 'I've been in this business for years. I've tried lying in a coffin, even with a lid on. It doesn't bother me,' Law said.

Actors whose characters die get a red packet as a sign of good fortune: 'We get red packets, but not much. There is a dollar or fifty cents in it,' Law said. Although the father of three is not superstitious, numerous posts about his 'death' on the internet saddened his daughter.