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  • You can't win. You can't break even. And you can't not play--Bob Cowell (IEEE Computer, Dec. 2005)
Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing
張國榮
[[Image:caption= in Cannes Film Festival, 1993.|225px]]
Born September 12, 1956
Kowloon, Hong Kong
Died April 1, 2003
Kowloon, Hong Kong

Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing (September 12, 1956 - April 1, 2003) (traditional Chinese: 張國榮; simplified Chinese: 张国荣; Cantonese IPA: [tsœŋ55 kwɔk33 wɪŋ11], Jyutping: zoeng1 kwok3 wing4; Mandarin Pinyin: Zhāng Guóróng, Wades-Giles: Chang Kuo-jung). Nick name "Gor-gor" (哥哥, "Elder Brother" in Cantonese). Cheung was among one of the few Hong Kong artists who achieved great success in both music and film.

Contents

[edit] Childhood and Beginning of Career

Leslie Cheung was born in Kowloon, Hong Kong. Cheung was the youngest of 10 children of a middle class family. His father was a fairly well-known tailor, whose customers included American actors, William Holden and Cary Grant. His parents divorced when he was quite young. At the age of 13, he was sent to England as a boarder at Norwich School. He worked as a bartender and then sang at a restaurant during the weekends. He was later admitted to Leeds University in northern England, where he majored in textile management. He dropped out of Leeds University at the end of his freshman year and returned to Hong Kong due to a family mishap. During a radio interview in 1985, Cheung admitted that he had a fairly tough childhood.

In 1976, Cheung won the second prize at Asian Music Contest held by Rediffusion Television Co. (RTV). He signed a contract with RTV (RTV subsequently became Asia Television Company (ATV)) and started his career in entertainment industry. He also signed a contract with Polydor Records for music and released Day Dreaming (1977) and Lover's Arrow (1979).

The early days of his career were not easy. He was once booed off the stage during a public performance. His first two albums were not welcomed by the public. He left Polydor Records upon the end of his contract. Cheung's first ever film, The Erotic Dream of the Red Chamber (紅樓春上春) in 1978 was a soft porn film. It marked a low point in his career. Cheung later disclosed that he was unaware of the sexual nature of the film when he signed the contract.

During the 70s and 80s, he appeared in a number of TV dramas such as The Young Concubine (我家的女人), Agency 24 (甜甜廿四味), Pairing (對對糊), and The Spirit Of The Sword (浣花洗劍錄). These TV dramas helped turn him into a household name in South East Asia.

[edit] Ascension to Fame

In 1982, Cheung joined Capital Artists upon the end of his contract with RTV. It was at Capital Artist that Florence Chan became his music agent and remained as such through his demise. While at Capital Artist, he also met Anita Mui, another Hong Kong Cantopop idol, and built up their long lasting friendship. In 1983, Cheung released his first hit song, The Wind Blows On. In 1984, he released his first top ten hit song Monica, which became the first so-called "fast" song that won the RTHK Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Award. Monica became a representation of a new genre of Hong Kong music in the mid 1980s. Fans began to demand fast and energetic Cantopop songs that would be suitable for both dancing and listening. Other Top Ten Gold Songs released by Cheung through Capital Artists included Wild Wind (不羈的風) (album, For Your Love Only, 1985); Who Can Be With Me (有誰共鳴) (album, Leslie Cheung: Allure Me, 1986) and Mode of Those Years (當年情) (theme song for A Better Tomorrow, album Leslie Cheung: Allure Me, 1986). Mode of Those Years (當年情) became the Gold of the Gold Songs (Best Song) of the Year for 1986.

Cheung's movie career was a little slower to take off. He appeared in supporting roles in his second and third movies Encore (1980) and On Trial (1981). However, his acting talent was soon recognized with his nomination for the Hong Kong Film Awards's Best Supporting Actor for his role in On Trial. Subsequently after this nomination, he began to star as the leading man in Teenage Dreamers (1982) and has held the lead role in almost every movie he had starred in since. However from the early 1980s through 1986, most of the movies he had starred were teenage movies. Among them, Nomad (1982, directed by Patrick Tam Kar-ming) are widely considered by film critic as the representation of the Hong Kong "New Wave" films. Cheung's role as Louis in Nomad won him his first Best Actor nomination of the Hong Kong Film Awards. Later, Cheung confessed that he considered Nomad as his very first "real" movie. During this period, Cheung continued to act in a number of Television Broadcasts (TVB) dramas, such as Once Upon an Ordinary Girl (儂本多情) and The Fallen Family (武林世家).

[edit] Cantopop Superstar and Retirement

In 1986, he joined Cinepoly Records Hong Kong and released the album Summer Romance in 1987. Summer Romance became the Best Selling CD of the Year and IFPI Best Selling Album in Hong Kong. The success of Summer Romance made him one of the top two Cantopop idols (the other one was Alan Tam) at the time. In 1988, he composed one of his most famous songs Silence is Golden (沉默是金). Other popular albums published by Cheung through Cinepoly Records included Hot Summer (1988), Virgin Snow(1988), Leslie '89 (Side face, IFPI Best Album of the Year, 1989), Final Encounter (1989), and Salute (1990). Salute was the first non-profit album released by a superstar in Hong Kong music history that would only collect songs originally performed by other singers. According to Cheung, Salute is an album to "Salute" to the music. He donated all the income from Salute to Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts(香港演藝學院), which was named as Leslie Cheung Memorial Fund after his death.

With the popularity of Cheung and Tam, the fans of the stars became hostile to each other and started a long-standing conflict. The situation became worse soon and brought huge pressure to both singers. In 1988, Alan Tam claimed to quit from all pop music award ceremonies. In 1989, Cheung claimed to retire from his music career as a singer. Cheung then set a record by being the first singer ever in Cantopop history to hold a retirement concert series (Final Encounter of the Legend), which ran for 33 consecutive nights (he was 33 at the time) at Hong Kong Coliseum. In 1990, he left Hong Kong at the peak of his music career and immigrated to British Columbia, Canada. Later in 1992, he gained Canadian citizenship and left Canada to reside in Hong Kong again.

From 1986 to 1989, Cheung acted in a number of movies that are considered as Hong Kong classics by film critics and Asian movie fans. In 1986, Cheung co-starred with Chow Yun Fat in A Better Tomorrow (directed by John Woo), which was widely considered as a trend starter for Hong Kong triad movies in the 1980s. Cheung played Kit, a righteous and idealistic young cop. Cheung's role in the movie was widely considered as his debut as a serious actor. He also starred in the sequel, A Better Tomorrow II (1987). In 1987, Cheung starred in Stanley Kwan's Rouge. He played Chen-Pang Chan, an infatuated, opium-smoking playboy, and the doomed lover of a beautiful prostitute, Fleur (played by Anita Mui). That same year (1987), he appeared in Tsui Hark's A Chinese Ghost Story(directed by Ching Siu-tung). Cheung played Ling Choi Sin, a nice but cowardly debt collector who had fallen in love with a beautiful ghost (played by Joey Wong). His performance in these movies won him two Best Actor nomination from Hong Kong Film Awards. The success of A Better Tomorrow and A Chinese Ghost Story made his name known in Japanese and South Korea film market.

[edit] Golden Age in Film

Mid 1980s to mid 1990s was the golden age in Hong Kong film industry. Mid 1980s to 1990s was the golden time of Cheung's film career. Most of his important films were released in this period. In 1990, Cheung acted as Yuddy, a handsome, rootless bad boy, philanderer and narcissist in Wong Kar-wai's breakthough movie Days of Being Wild. His performance in Days of Being Wild won him the Best Actor Award of Hong Kong Film Awards in 1991 and his first nomination of Best Actor of Golden Horse Film Festival(Taiwan). He also acted in two other Wong Kai-wai's films. In 1994's martial arts film Ashes of Time, he acted as Ouyang Feng, a swordsman and a killer agent spending his days in a desert. The role of Ouyang won him Best Actor Award of Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards. In 1997's gay movie Happy Together (although Wong insists that it isn't essentially a "gay" film), he acted bitchy boy Ho Po-wing, who came to Argentina with his boyfriend Lai Yiu-fai (acted by Tony Leung Chiu-wai).

In 1992's historical masterpiece Farewell My Concubine (directed by Kaige Chen), Cheung acted as the peking opera star Dieyi Chen, turning drag farce to grand opera. Farewell My Concubine is the first Chinese film ever won the Golden Palm Award from Cannes Film Festival(It also won other more than twenty film awards including Golden Globe Best Foreign Film Award and Oscar nomination). Cheung's performance in the film won him international fame as a film star and set his steps in the mainland China film industry. In 1996, he worked again with Kaige Chen, acting the misty gigolo, Zhongliang Yu, in the Temptress Moon. In 1998's A Time to Remember (directed by Yip Ying), he acted as Jin, an underground Chinese Communist leader. His Hong Kong background stimulated a lasted dispute during the time, but the film still achieved Box Office success in mainland China and in 2004 won a "Most Popular Foreign Film" Award in North Korea film festival.

Other important movies Cheung starred in during this period include The Bride with White Hair(with Brigitte Lin, 1993), He's a Woman, She's a Man(with Anita Yuen, 1994), Phantom Lover(1995), and Viva Erotica(with Shu Ki, 1996). His performance in these movies got him three Best Actor Award nominations from Hong Kong Film Awards and three Best Actor Award nominations from Golden Horse Film Festival from 1990 to 1998.

As a versatile acter, Cheung also acted in many comedies. In 1991, teamed again with Chow Yun-Fat and Cherrie Cheung, Cheung acted a skillful and charming thief in John Woo's Once A Thief. In 1992's All's Well, Ends Well, he acted an effeminate brother. Other known comedies acted by him included The Eagle Shooting Heros: Dong Cheng Xi Jiu, It's a Wonderful Life, and A Chinese Feast. Cheung was also a box office attraction in Hong Kong: from 1990 to 1998, 13 out of 39 movies starred by him were listed as yearly top ten box office movies.

Although Cheung quit his career as a pop singer from 1989 to 1995, he continued his music career as a composer. He composed more than ten songs during the time. In 1993, he won Best Original Movie Song Award from Golden Horse Film Festival for the theme song Red Cheek, White Hair of the movie A Bride of White Hair (as a composer). In 1995, he composed all three theme songs for the Movie Phantom Lover. As a composer, Cheung got four nominations of Best Original Movie Song Award from Golden Horse Film Festival and two nominations of Best Original Film Song from Hong Kong Film Festival.

[edit] Coming-back to Music

In 1995, Cheung signed a contract with Rock Records and claimed his return to the music as a singer. At the same year, he released his first post-"retirement" album, Beloved. Beloved achieved large market success with the award of IFPI Best Selling Album. However, Beloved did not receive much acclaim from music critics as it is a collection of Cheung's movie theme songs from 1993 to 1995. In 1996, Cheung released possibly his most highly acclaimed album, Red. Red merged the music such as smooth jazz, R&B, trip hop, etc., into cantopop and formed a consistent unique style, which marked Cheung's return as the "point of no return". Cheung worked since then on the cutting edge music as well as cantopop and made a music style totally different from that before his 1989's retirement. In this album, Cheung also composed another important song in his music career, Red. In 1998, Cheung released his first and also the only original mandarin album Printemps.

In 1997, Cheung held his first post-retirement concert series: World Tour 97, which lasted from Dec. 12, 1996 to June 17, 1997. Like his music, Cheung introduced a new image to his audience. The most daring part possibly was the closing dance "Red" where Cheung did a tango duet in a pair of red high-heels with a macho dancer . World Tour 97 included 55 concerts: 24 concerts were held in Hong Kong Coliseum and 31 concerts were held in the cities around the world. Among them, six concerts were held in Japan and mainland China respectively. World Tour 97 was the first concert series that Cheung held in these two areas.

In 1999, Cheung constructed his own music company, Apex Music, and signed a distribution contract with Universal Music Group(UMG). Important albums released via UMG includes Count Down With You(1999), Big Heat(2000), and Untitled(2000). The hit songs released by him during this peoriod include Passing-by Dragonfly, the top one hit song, Big Heat, and Left Right Hands , Top Ten Gold Song of the Year (1999). He also composed the song I (first released in album Big Heat), which was considered by him as a song of self-statement. In 2000, Cheung was awarded the Golden Needle award (lifetime achievement award in Cantopop music). In the same year, Cheung had been assigned as the "Music Ambassador" of Composors And Authors Society of Hong Kong (CASH) until his demise. Cheung also composed the theme song Noah's Ark, for the CASH Golden Sail Award.

[edit] Passion Tour and Late Years

In 2000, Cheung held his last concert series, Passion Tour. Passion Tour included 43 concerts, lasting from July 31, 2000 to April 16, 2001. It was his most disputable, and possibly best concert. Cheung worked at the first time as the art director as well as the singer for the concert. He invited Jean-Paul Gaultier to design all eight costumes for the concert. However, the costumes, together with his long wig and beard, were criticized bitterly by Hong Kong media at the early stage of the concerts. Cheung later disclosed that Gaultier was very angry about the criticism and claimed in an email (sent to Cheung) that he would never design costumes again for any asian performer. Dispite the early criticisms from the media, Passion Tour achieved huge success. Passion Tour was highly welcomed in Japan and made Cheung held 10 concerts there. Together with World Tour 97 concerts, Cheung set a record of foreign artists of holding 16 concerts in Japan. In China, Cheung set a record yet to be broken by holding two consecutive night concerts in Shanghai Stadium (capacity of 80,000). He was also won the "Grand Salute Award" (2000) by Mingpao Weekly (Hong Kong) and "Music Salute Award" (2000) from Chinese Pop Music Media Association (mainland China) for his work in Passion Tour.

Since the end of 90s, Cheung started to focus on acting in non-romance roles. In The Kid(1999, directed by Jacob Cheung Chi-Leung), he acted as a bankrupted single father who adopted an abandoned baby boy. In action thriller Double Tap(2000, directed by Lo Chi Leung), he acted as the psycho killer, Rick. In psycho thriller Inner Senses(2002, directed by Lo Chi Leung), he acted as the psychologist Dr. Law, who found his own mental problem when he tried to treat a patient Yan (acted by Kar Yan Lam). His performance in these films got him one more Best Actor nomination from Hong Kong Film Awards and two more Best Actor Award nominations from Taiwan Film Festival. At the same time, Cheung was also involved more in the work as a director. In 2000, he produced his first movie as a director, the 45 minutes From Ashes to Ashes. In 2002, he started to prepare his first regular length movie Stealing Heart, which were not finished due to his health situation.

[edit] Sexual orientation

Cheung was bisexual.

In Celebrity Talk Show 30 of

In an interview of the Time magazine in 2001 [1], Cheung said:"It's more appropriate to say I'm bisexual. I've had girlfriends. When I was 22 or so, I asked my girlfriend Teresa Mo (his colleague in ATV of the time) to marry me."

Despite numerous tabloid rumors, he denied his sexual orientation for the first half of his career. After his immigration to Canada (in Vancouver, British Columbia), his stance relaxed considerably. In the early 1990s he became one of the few Hong Kong actors who dared play gay characters onscreen.

Cheung's first gay role was Cheng Dieyi in Farewell, My Concubine (1993). Cheng Dieyi was a Beijing opera singer or Dan (male actor who plays female roles) who had fallen in love with his male singing partner. In Wong Kar-wai's Happy Together (1997), Cheung played another gay role, Ho Po-wing. Happy Together contained graphic sex scenes. He was nominated for the Best Actor Award at the Golden Horse Awards and the Hong Kong Film Awards for his role in Happy Together.

In 1995 a Hong Kong tabloid published a photo of Cheung with another man, Daffy Tong Hok-Tak (唐鶴德). In a 1997 concert, Cheung openly revealed that Tong was his "most beloved" after his mother. The Hong Kong media eventually accepted the two men's relationship and gave Tong the nickname Tong Tong (in the style of Gor Gor). After Cheung's death, Tong published a full-page obituary in a Hong Kong newspaper, in which he was listed as a surviving spouse (未亡人), and was named the executor of Cheung's estate.

[edit] Death

Cheung committed suicide on April 1, 2003. He had leaped from the 24th floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, located at the Central district of Hong Kong Island. He left a suicide note* saying he had been suffering from depression. He was 46 years old.

As one of the most popular performers in Asia, Cheung's death shocked the Asian entertainment industry and Chinese community. Rumors about the cause of his death had spread so fast that his family urged tabloids to let Cheung rest in peace, and to not sensationalize about his sexual orientation and reasons for his suicide. The day after Leslie's death, his long time partner, Tong, confirmed that Cheung suffered from (clinical) depression and had been seeing psychiatrists for treatment for almost a year. He also revealed that Cheung had attempted suicide in 2002. Later at his funeral, Cheung's niece disclosed that Cheung was in severe illness and suffered much over the past year (2003).

Despite the threat of infection from SARS and WHO's warning on travels to Hong Kong; tens of thousands, including celebrities and his fans, many from other parts of the world such as mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, South East Asia, United States, Canada, etc. attended Cheung's memorial service, which was held for the public, on April 7, 2003. Cheung's funeral was on April 8, 2003. For almost one month, Cheung's death dominated newspaper headlines in Hong Kong and his songs were constantly on the air.

Cheung's last album Everything Follows the Wind (一切隨風) was released three months after his death.

(*)Cheung's suicide note (translation): Depression! Many thanks to all the friends. Many thanks to Professor Felice Lieh Mak (Cheung's last psychiatrist). This year had been so tough. I can't stand it anymore. Many thanks to Mr. Tong. Many thanks to my family. Many thanks to Fat Sister (Lydia Shum Din-ha). I have not done one single piece of bad thing in the whole life. Why does it have to be like this?

[edit] Legacy

Since 2003, fans of Leslie Cheung held memorial activities twice a year, one around April 1st (the day he passed away) and one around September 12th (his birthday), to memorize him.

In November 18, 2005, Hong Kong Post Office published "Hong Kong Pop Singers" stamp series to memorize five Hong Kong pop singers including Leslie Cheung.

http://www.glbtq.com/arts/cheung_l,2.html

[edit] Trival

'The Erotic Dream of Red Chamber' is a soft porn version of the famous Chinese fiction Dream of the Red Chamber. Cheung casted as Jia Baoyu in the film.

[edit] Selected Awards

  • RTV Asian Song Contest Runners-up with the song "American Pie" 1977
  • RTHK 7th edition Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Award winner with the song Monica 1984
  • TVB Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Award winner with song Monica 1984
  • Commercial Radio 5th Chinese Pop Songs Award winner 1984
  • RTHK 8th edition Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Award winner with song 不羈的風 1985
  • TVB Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Award winner with song 不羈的風 1985
  • Commercial Radio 6th Chinese Pop Songs Award winner 1985
  • RTHK 9th edition Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Award winner with song 當年情 1986
  • TVB Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Award winner with songs 有誰共鳴 and 當年情 1986
  • Commercial Radio 7th Chinese Pop Songs Award winner 1986
  • RTHK 10th ed. Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Award 無心睡眠 ，Summer Romance is also the Best Selling CD of the year and IFPI Best Selling Album in 1987
  • TVB Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Award winner 無心睡眠 and Summer Romance CD
  • RTHK 11th ed. Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Award winner with songs 沉默是金 and 無需要太多 1988
  • TVB Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Award winner and Most Popular Male Singer 1988
  • Commercial Radio Ultimate Song Chart Male Gold Award winner 1988
  • TVB Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Award winner with 由零開始，and also winner of theMost Popular Male Singer 1989
  • Commercial Radio Ultimate Song Chart Male Gold Award 1989 winner LESLIE 側面 album is also theIFPI Best Album of the Year
  • RTHK Millennium Gold Song Award for Monica 1999
  • RTHK Golden Needle Award (lifetime achievement award in Cantopop) 2000
  • RTHK 23rd edition Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Award winner with song 左右手 2000
  • Commercial Radio Ultimate Song Chart Gold Song of the Year winner with song 左右手 2000
  • Metro Radio Song Chart of the Year and Gold Song of the Year winner with 左右手 2000
  • Mingpao Weekly Outstanding Male Singer Award winner 2000
  • Joint Award by RTHK, CR, TVB & Metro Radio for the Best Album of the Year winner with album Untitled 2001
  • China's Original Music Award 發燒 winner 2001
  • HK Film Awards winner Best Actor for Days of Being Wild 1991
  • Taiwan Golden Horse Film Festival winner Best Original Movie Song for the Theme Song of the Bride of White Hair (紅顏白髮) 1993
  • Japanese Critic Society Best Actor Award (Foreign Movie) for Farewell to My Concubine 1994
  • Winner of HK Film Critics Society Best Actor Award for Ashes of Time 1994

[edit] Discography

[edit] Filmography


See also: Cinema of Hong Kong

[edit] External links


Cheung, Leslie Cheung, Leslie Cheung, Leslie Cheung, Leslie Cheung, Leslie Cheng, Leslie Cheung, Leslie Cheung, Leslie Cheung Leslie Cheung, Leslie

[edit] Leslie Cheung(draft)

In 1986, Cheung joined Cinepoly Records Hong Kong and then published the album Summer Romance in 1987, which won the Best Selling CD of the year and IFPI Best Selling Album(Hong Kong). The success of Summer Romance made him one of the two top Cantopop idols in Hong Kong (the other one was Alan Tam). In 1988, he composed one of his most famous songs, which is also the top ten hit song of 1988, Silence is Golden* (沉默是金) (Cantonese lyric by Samuel Hui). In 1989, Leslie '89 ("Side face") also won him IFPI Best Album of the Year(Hong Kong). At the same year (1988), he set a record of holding 23 consecutive concerts in Hong Kong Coliseum(12,500 capacity). In 1990, he set another record by releasing the famous album Salute. Salute is the first non-profit album released by a superstar in Hong Kong music history that would only collect songs originally performed by other singers. According to Cheung, Salute is an album to "Salute" to the music. Cheung donated all the income from Salute to Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts(香港演藝學院), which was named as Leslie Cheung Memorial Fund after his death. Other popular albums released by Cheung during the period include Virgin Snow (1988), Hot Summer(1988), and Final Encounter (1989). Other hit songs released by him during this period include 無心睡眠 (No Mode to Sleep, No.1 hit, in album Summer Romance)， 無需要太多(Don't Need Too Much, in album Hot Summer)，貼身(Too Close, in album Hot Summer) and 由零開始(Start From The Beginning, in album Leslie '89 ("Side face")).

With the popularity of Cheung and Tam, the fans of the stars became hostile to each other and started a long-standing conflict. The situation became worse soon and brought huge pressure to both singers. In 1988, Alan Tam claimed to quit from all the pop music award ceremony. In 1989, Cheung claimed to retired from his music career as a singer. Cheung then set a record by being the first singer ever in Cantopop history to have a retirement concert series, which ran for 33 consecutive nights (as he was 33 at the time) at Hong Kong Coliseum. In 1990, he left Hong Kong at the peak of his music career and immigrated to British Columbia, Canada. Later in 1992, he gained Canadian citizenship and left Canada to resid in Hong Kong again.

From 1986 to 1989, Cheung acted in several classic Hong Kong movies. In 1986, Cheung acted as the role Kit, a righteous and idealistic young cop in milestone A Better Tomorrow (John Woo),which led the trend of gang movie. Cheung's performance was widely considered the mark of him as a serious actor. He cooperated with Chow Yun-Fat and John woo at the first time in this movie. Later, they also cooperated in movies A Better Tomorrow II and Once a Thief. In 1987, Cheung acted in two other important movies in Hong Kong movie history. In Stanley Kwan's Rouge, he acted Chan, an infatuated, opium-smoking playboy, and the doomed lover of a brothel worker FleurAnita Mui. In A Chinese Ghost Story (Ching Siu-Tung), which set the new trend of ghost movie of a hybrid of martial arts and high-tech, Cheung acted Ling Choi Sin, a nice but cowardly debt collector falling love with the beautiful ghost (Joey Wong). He also acted in A Better Tomorrow II in 1987. These performances solidifed his appeal, making him the leading actor in the romance role.

(*)Silence is Golden was first performed as a duet by Cheung and Hui. It also has a Madrin and Taiwanese version and performed by many other singers.


[edit] Golden Age of Film

Late 1980s to 1990s are the golden age in Hong Kong film industry. This period is also the golden time of Cheung's film career. Most of his important films were released in 1990s. In the 1990, Cheung acted as Yuddy, a handsome, rootless bad boy, philanderer and narcissist in Wong Kar-wai's breakthough movie Days of Being Wild. His performance in Days of Being Wild won him the Best Actor Award of Hong Kong Film Festival in 1991 and his first nomination of Best Actor Award of Taiwan Film Festival. He also acted in two other Wong Kar-wai's films. In 1994's martial arts film Ashes of Time, he acted as Ouyang Feng, a swordsman and a killer agent spending his days in a desert. The role of Ouyang won him Best Actor Award of 1st Hong Kong Film Society Conference. In 1997's gay movie Happy Together(although Wong insists that it isn't essentially a "gay" film), he acted bitchy boy Ho Po-wing, who came to Argentina with his boyfriend Lai Yiu-fai (acted by Tony Leung Chiu-wai).

In 1992's historical masterpiece Farewell My Concubine (directed by Kaige Chen), Cheung acted as the peking opera star Dieyi Chen, turning drag farce to grand opera. Farewell My Concubine is the first Chinese film ever won the Cannes Golden Palm Award (It also won other more than twenty film awards including Golden Globe Best Foreign Film Award and Oscar nomination). Cheung's performance in the film won him international fame as a film star and set his steps in the mainland China film industry. In 1996, he worked again with Kaige Chen, acting the misty gigolo, Zhongliang Yu, in the Temptress Moon. In 1998's A Time to Remember (directed by Yip Ying), he acted as Jin, an underground Chinese Communist leader. His Hong Kong background stimulated a lasted dispute during the time, but the film still achieved Box Office success in mainland China and in 2004 won a "Most Welcomed Film" Award in North Korea film festival.

Other important movies Cheung starred in during this period include The Bride with White Hair(with Brigitte Lin, 1993), He Is A woman, She Is A Man(with Anita Yuen, 1994), Phantom Lover(1995), and Viva Erotica(with Shu Ki, 1996). His performance in these movies got him three Hong Kong Film Festival Best Actor Award nominations and three Taiwan Film Festival Best Actr Award nominations from 1990 to 1998.

As a versatile acter, Cheung also acted in many comedies. In 1991, teamed again with Chow Yun-Fat and Cherrie Cheung, Cheung acted a skillful and charming thief in John Woo's Once A Thief. In 1992's All's Well, Ends Well, he acted an effeminate brother. Other known comedies acted by him include The Eagle Shooting Heros: Dong Cheng Xi Jiu, It's a Wonderful Life, and A Chinese Feast. Cheung was also a box office attraction in Hong Kong : from 1990 to 1998, 13 out of 39 movies starred by him were listed as yearly top ten box office movies.

Although Cheung quit his career as a pop singer from 1989 to 1995, he continue his music career as a composer. He composed more than ten songs during the time. In 1993, he won Best Movie Music Award for the theme song Red Cheek, White Hair for the movie A Bride of White Hair (as a composer). In 1995, he composed all three theme songs for the Movie Phantom Lover. As a composer, Cheung got four Best Movie Music Award nominations from Taiwai Film Festival and two Best Movie Music Award nominations from Hong Kong Film Festival.

[edit] Coming-back To Music

In 1995, Cheung signed a contract with Rock Records and claimed his return to the music as a singer. At the same year, he released his first post-"retirement" album, Beloved. Beloved achieved large market success with the award of IFPI Best Selling Album. However, Beloved did not receive much acclaim from music critics as it is a collection of Cheung's movie theme songs from 1993 to 1995. In 1996, Cheung released possibly his most highly acclaimed album, Red. Red merged the music such as smooth jazz, R&B, trip hop, etc., into cantopop and form a consistent unique style, which marked Cheung's return as the "point of no return". Cheung worked since then on the cutting edge music as well as cantopop and made a music style totally different from that before his 1989's retirement. In this album, Cheung also composed another important song in his music career, Red. In 1998, Cheung released his first and also the only original mandarin album Printemps.

In 1997, Cheung held his first post-retirement concert series: World Tour 97, which lasted from Dec. 12, 1996 to June 17 1997. Like his music, Cheung introduced a new image to his audience. The most daring part possibly was the closing dance "Red" where Cheung did a tango duet with a macho dancer in a pair of red high-heels. World Tour 97 included 55 concerts: 24 concerts were held in Hong Kong Coliseum and 31 concerts were held in the cities around the world. Among them, six concerts were held in Japan and mainland China respectively. World Tour 97 was the first concert that Cheung held in these two areas.

In 1999, Cheung constructed his own music company, Apex Music, and signed a distribution contract with Universal Music Group. Important albums released via Universal includes Count Down With You(1999), Big Heat(2002), and EP Untitled. The hit songs released by him during this peorid include Passing-by Dragonfly, the top one hit song, I, Big Heat, and Left Right Hands , Top Ten Gold Song of the Year (1999). I was composed by Cheung and widerly considered as a song of his self-statement. In 1999, Cheung was awarded the Golden Needle award (lifetime achievement award in Cantopop music). In 2000, Cheung was assigned as the "Music Ambassador" of Composors And Authors Society of Hong Kong (CASH) until his dismise. In the same year, Cheung also composed theme song Noah's Ark, for the CASH Golden Sail Award.

[edit] Passion Tour and Late Years

In 2000, Cheung held his last world tour concerts, Passion Tour. Passion Tour included 46 concerts, lasting from July 31, 2000 to April 16, 2001 and was his most disputable, and possibly best concert. Cheung was at the first time worked as the art director as well as the singer for the concert. He invited Jean-Paul Gaultier to design all eight costumes for the concert. However, the costumes, together with his long wig and beard, were criticized bitterly by Hong Kong media at the early stage of the concerts. Cheung later disclosed that Gaultier was very angry about the criticism and claimed in an email (sent to Cheung) that he would neven design costumes again for any asian performers. Dispite the early criticisms from the media, Passion Tour achieved huge success. Passion Tour was highly welcomed in Japan and made Cheung held 10 Passion Tour concerts there. Together with World Tour 97 concerts, Cheung set a record of foreign artists held 16 concerts in Japan. In China, Cheung set a record yet to be broken by holding two consecutive night concerts in Shanghai Stadium (capacity of 80,000). He was also won the "Grand Salute Award" (2000) by Mingpao Weekly (Hong Kong) and "Music Salute Award" (2000) from Chinese Pop Music Media Association (mainland China) for his work in Passion Tour.

Since the end of 90s, Cheung started to focus on acting in non-romance roles. In The Kid (1999, directed by Jacob Cheung Chi-Leung), he acted as a bankrupted single father who adopted an abandoned baby boy. In action thriller Double Tap(2000, directed by Lo Chi Leung), he acted as the psycho killer, Rick. In psycho thriller Inner Senses(2002, directed by Lo Chi Leung), he acted as the psychologist Dr. Law, who found his own mental problem when he tried to treated a patient Yan (acted by Kar Yan Lam). His performance in these films won him one best actor nomination from Hong Kong Film Festival and two best actor nominations from Taiwan Film Festival. At the same time, Cheung also started to more involve in the work of a director. In 2000, he produce his first movie as a director, the 45 minutes From Ashes to Ashes. In 2002, he started to prepare his first regular length movie Stealing Heart, which were not finished due to his health situation.


Since mid 90s', Hong Kong film industry started a decline and situation became worse at the end of 90s. "a tale of alienated middle class youth flirting with gang involvement that predates not only such serious "neo-realist" efforts as Lawrence Ah-mon's Gangs / Tong Dang (1986) and Wong Kar-wei's As Tears Go By /Wangjiao Kamen (1988), but the string of buzz-cut teen-gang sagas, beginning with Andrew Lau's flashy comic book adaptation Young and Dangerous / Guhuozai (1996) and its three sequels, which have been among the most popular HKof the past two years."--about Nomad, New Maps of Hong Kong by David Chute, Originally published in Film Comment, May-June, 1998.

   *  the epitome of teenage angst in Nomad
   * bumbling wimp in Chinese Ghost Story
   * idealistic cop in A Better Tomorrow
   * the infatuated rich kid of Rouge
   * damaged cocksmith in Days of Being Wild, rootless bad boy and philanderer
   * sword-wielding assassins tragically reformed and cynically resigned in Bride with White Hair and Ashes of Time
   * turning drag farce to grand opera in Farewell My Concubine
   * the misty gigolo of Temptress Moon
   * and Argentina's most dysfunctional boyfriend in Happy Together


http://www.lisamorton.com/leslietrib.html

James Dean staff: http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/movies/film/documents/04454826.asp, GERALD PEARY, Boston Phoenix, Febrary, 2005 http://www.kino.com/daysofbeingwild/essay.html by Peter Brunette

[edit] Artist

Some of his later films didn't appeal to the general Chinese entertainment world as they are unconventional, as well as uncharacteristically daring, in terms of flamboyance. Films like Temptress Moon are also severely criticised by film enthusiasts and it was even disapproved of at the Cannes Film Festival, despite his powerful performance.

[edit] Death

(*)As some examples, Faye Wong from mainland China, John Woo and Chow Yun-Fat from U.S. flied to Hong Kong for Cheung's Funeral during the time. Cheung committed suicide on April 1, 2003. He had leaped from the 24th floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, located at the Central district of Hong Kong Island. An alleged suicide note* was found, stating that he had been suffering from depression. He was 46 years old.

Cheung's death shocked the Asian entertainment industry and Chinese community. The news of his death was reported widely by the main media around the world such as BBC, CNN, Washington Post, Xinhua, AsiaWeek, TaipeiTimes and etc. Rumors about the cause of his death had spread so fast that his family urged tabloids to let Cheung rest in peace. The day after Cheung's death, his long time partner, Tong, confirmed that Cheung suffered from (clinical) depression and had been seeing psychiatrists for treatment for almost a year. He also revealed that Cheung had attempted suicide in 2002. Later at his funeral, Cheung's niece disclosed that Cheung was in severe illness and suffered much over the past year (2003).

Despite the threat of infection from SARS and WHO's warning on travels to Hong Kong; tens of thousands, including celebrities and his fans, many from other parts of the world such as mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, South East Asia, United States, Canada, etc. attended Cheung's memorial service, which was held for the public, on April 7, 2003. Cheung's funeral was on April 8, 2003. For almost one month, Cheung's death dominated newspaper headlines in Hong Kong and his songs were constantly on the air.

Cheung's last album Everything Follows the Wind (一切隨風) was released three months after his death.

(*)Cheung's alleged suicide note (written in Chinese): Depression! Many thanks to all the friends. Many thanks to Professor Felice Lieh Mak (Cheung's last psychiatrist). This year had been so tough. I can't stand it anymore. Many thanks to Mr. Tong. Many thanks to my family. Many thanks to Fat Sister (Lydia Shum Din-ha). I have not done one single piece of bad thing in the whole life. Why does it have to be like this?


+ - + - (*)BusinessWeek: April 14, 2003

[edit] References

Interview of Leslie Cheung in Berlin on 21th February 1998 by Michel Ciment and Hubert Niogret for Positif (Magzine) no. 455/1999

Leslie Cheung Memorial Scholarship: http://www.hkapa.edu/asp/general/general_friends_sponsors.asp

"One of the founding fathers of Cantopop, Leslie Cheung has lasted the course, combining a hugely successful film and music career"

World Music Volumn 2 Latin and North America Caribean India Asia and: Latin and North America, Carribian, India, Asia and Pacific, P54., Simon Broughton, Mark Ellingham, BBC Radio, ISBN: 1858286360

Chitose Shima, "Leslie Cheung Interview", All About Leslie, P25-40, Sangyo Henshu Center Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, 1999, ISBN4-916199-10-3

Erotic Dream of Red Chamber, "Leslie Cheung Interview" given in Commercial Radio Hong Kong, 1985, (also collected in Album Collection History-His Story by Capital Artist, 2004)

Stephen Kelly, ""WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE LIKE THIS?" Leslie Cheung, 1956-2003", http://www.popmatters.com/film/features/030508-cheung.shtml, 8 May 2003

[edit] Category

Just put here, not like to be classified though