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SCMP

This article was first published on February 27, 2021.
By Phila Siu
Legendary Hong Kong actor Ng Man-tat, best known for co-starring alongside “king of comedy” Stephen Chow Sing-chi in many popular films, died on Saturday afternoon of liver cancer. He was 70.
Ng’s friend, Tenky Tin Kai-man, chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers, said the famous actor died peacefully at Tai Wai’s Union Hospital at 5.16pm, accompanied by his children and wife.
“He left peacefully,” Tin said at the hospital. “He died in his sleep.”

Tin said earlier in the day Ng did not know his condition was so serious and had expected to recover.
Ng was born in Xiamen, in southeastern China, in 1951, and came to Hong Kong at the age of five. In the 1970s he attended acting classes organised by Television Broadcasts, and was a classmate of Chow Yun-fat, another renowned actor.

He started drawing public attention for his roles in the television programme called Chor Lau-heung, which was first broadcast in 1979.
His first film in 1981, Heroic Cops, was about illegal immigrants in Hong Kong.
Just when Ng started rising to fame in the 1980s, he fell into a haze of drinking, gambling and womanising that left him with a debt of HK$300,000 (US$38,680). He sought help from his friend Chow Yun-fat, but was rejected.
“I’d feel ashamed if I had to declare bankruptcy. I realised that I needed to figure a way out. I didn’t dare telling my family at the beginning and so I went to find [Chow Yun-fat],” Ng said in an interview in mainland China some years ago.
“He did quite well in Hong Kong. He was popular and had made a lot of money. I asked him to lend me HK$300,000 in the 1980s, but he would not do so. I was upset. He wouldn’t lend me the money and wouldn’t say why.”
He realised that Chow would not give him money because that would not ultimately help him. He declared bankruptcy, worked hard, and worked his way up again. He was later thankful that Chow did not lend him the money.
He starred with Stephen Chow in the television dramas The Final Combat and The Justice of Life in the late 1980s and viewers fell in love with the pair’s chemistry.

Thereafter, he took part in many comedies with Stephen Chow, including All for the Winner in 1990 and Shaolin Soccer in 2001, which was the pair’s last film together.
Earlier this month, Ng was asked in a mainland Chinese television programme if he would work with Stephen Chow again on a film.
He replied: “I’m not dead yet and he hasn’t retired. There’ll definitely be a chance.”

Ng was also a household name on the mainland. He starred in the mainland Chinese sci-fi blockbuster, The Wandering Earth, in 2017.
The news of his death has attracted more than 2.1 billion views on Weibo, China’s microblogging site.


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Hong Kong society

Legendary Hong Kong actor Ng Man-tat dies at 70 in 2021 – from the SCMP archive

Hong Kong actor Ng Man-tat. Photo: Weibo

Funeral service for Hong Kong film actor Ng Man-tat at the Universal Funeral Parlour, Hung Hom. Photo: Felix Wong

Funeral service for Ng Man-tat at the Universal Funeral Parlour, Hung Hom. Photo: Felix Wong

Ng Man-tat and Chow Yun-fat (left) in Johnnie To-directed All About Ah-Long. Photo: Cinema City & Film Co. 

Stephen Chow and Ng Man-tat in a still of Fight Back to School. Photo: Win’s Movie Production & I/E Co. Limited

Andy Lau Tak-wah (left) and Stephen Chow (right) arrive for Ng’s funeral service on March 7, 2021. Photo: Winson Wong

5 Hong Kong comedy film stars who’ve kept us laughing for years: from Stephen Chow’s sidekick Ng Man-tat to ‘Queen of Comedy’ Sandra Ng and ever-hilarious Ronald Cheng

Sandra Ng, who played housewife Ching in All’s Well, Ends Well, is among Hong Kong’s most important comic actors, along with Lydia Sum, Ronald Cheng and Stephen Chow’s habitual sidekick, Ng Man-tat. Photo: handout

Lydia Shum, left, in the movie It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad World. Photo: Handout

The Hui brothers, from left, Sam Hui Koon-kit, Ricky Hui Koon-ying and Michael Hui Koon-man, pictured at a press conference for their movie Front Page in 1990. Photo: SCMP

Ng Man-tat (left) and Stephen Chow were frequent on-screen partners from 1990. Photo: Handout

Sandra Ng in movie Golden Chicken. Photo: Handout

Sandra Ng as Ching in All’s Well, Ends Well, a character whose lines have become internet memes today. Photo: Handout

Cheng as Crab Duen in the movie My Lucky Star (2003). Photo: Handout

The role of Brother Tyrannosaurus won Ronald Cheng (left) a best supporting actor award at the Hong Kong Film Awards. Photo: Handout

Ng Man-tat’s 8 best films and TV shows: from Shaolin Soccer to The Wandering Earth, remembering ‘Uncle Tat’, the Hong Kong acting legend who was far more than Stephen Chow’s comedic foil

Ng Man-tat’s legacy will live on in some of his most iconic roles. Photo: handout

On This DayLegendary Hong Kong actor Ng Man-tat dies at 70 in 2021 – from the SCMP archive

On this day 5 years ago, the iconic comedy star died of liver cancer aged 70

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}On this day 5 years ago, the iconic comedy star died of liver cancer aged 70

On this day 5 years ago, the iconic comedy star died of liver cancer aged 70