2007.10.22 Updates…
October 22, 2007 at 16:25
catch me now, mingpaoweekly, tvb
[The Sun E+] Silent body language wins over sound dialogues. Idy Chan is definitely not an old person, but the way Fala Chen as if helping a senior and could imply as “I respect you, support you, it’s not because you can walk straight.”
“Thieves With Principles (lit.)” will be one of the first serials aired on TVBhd, a new TVB channel, which starts in 2008. Read the news here.
Kit also just finished translating the Mingpao Weekly #2022 back in August. Browse back and read the complete translation. Or click HERE
[Many special thanks to Kit for taking time & helping on translation, your help is much appreciated. Please apologize for any grammatical mistakes as English isn’t the first language for both Kit and I. And forgive any awkward English grammars and translation due to my limited & self-taught Chinese. Thanks all of your continued support.]
2007.09.11 Three screen beauties back in the news – Return of Little Dragon Girl: Idy Chan
September 18, 2007 at 9:11
andy lau, atv, chow yun fat, gba, hk10scenes, mingpaoweekly, roch1983, tvb
[Extract from The Electronic New Paper] These classic Asian beauties, who hogged TV screens in the ’70s and ’80s, retired at the peak of their careers to get married. But they’ve all been in the spotlight recently, reports AVIS WONG
She was once known as Hong Kong’s Marilyn Monroe.
But the pictures we have seen of Cherie Chung recently were not those of a glowing beauty. They were those of a grieving widow.
Cherie, 47, lost her husband of 16 years to cancer on 24 Aug.
Though friends worry about her health, she has retained her elegant composure, at least in public.
The classic beauty was third runner-up in TVB’s Miss Hong Kong pageant in 1979 and made her film debut in Johnnie To‘s first film, The Enigmatic Case, the following year.
She went on to star in more than 50 movies, working with many top leading men, most notably Chow Yun Fat and Leslie Cheung in her last film, Once A Thief, in 1991.
She retired to marry advertising guru Mike Chu, who is best known for his creative work in the Titus watch commercials and for creating Titus’ famous Chinese tagline: ‘I don’t care for eternity, I only care for the moments we once shared.’
After marriage, she was active in charity work, especially in promoting environmental protection.
Aside from a few select endorsements, she turned down all acting offers as she wanted to lead a peaceful, normal life.
But in February this year, tabloid pictures of the couple revealed a thin and gaunt-looking Mike.
In May, Cherie was spotted taking her 53-year-old husband – who looked to have lost 20kg and donned thick clothing despite the hot summer weather – to a traditional Chinese clinic and to see a qigong master.
Despite rumours that he had colon cancer, Cherie kept giving the excuse that he was on a diet.
The two have no children but shared a loving relationship and were considered a model couple in showbiz.
A Taiwanese friend reportedly said: ‘Cherie once told her husband that she would still want to marry him in her next life.
Mike humorously replied to her, ‘Why won’t you let me take a break?’. They were indeed a great couple.’
Mike reportedly left HK$50 million ($9.8m) to Cherie.
RETURN OF LITTLE DRAGON GIRL – IDY CHAN
WITH those crow’s feet, freckles and slightly pudgy figure, Idy Chan is a far cry from her most famous screen persona, Little Dragon Girl.
After all, it has been a good 24 years since she was catapulted to fame playing the surreal beauty opposite Andy Lau‘s Yang Guo in the 1983 TVB adaptation of Louis Cha’s The Return Of The Condor Heroes.
Idy Chan and Andy Lau in a recent game show on Hong Kong TV
Now 47, Idy has been under the spotlight lately, granting interviews to the Hong Kong media and making public appearances.
Most recently, she promoted an Asia Television Hong Kong travel programme with Athena Chu.
She even walked the red carpet with actor Simon Yam at the 12th annual Golden Bauhinia Awards on 1 Sep and presented the Best Actress award.
Her recent appearances begged the question: Is she returning to showbiz?
It has been 14 years since she retired from the scene.
Idy told the Hong Kong media: ‘I never thought about quitting acting before. Now, I don’t know whether I will act or not either. I’ll just let things run their natural course.’
She told Ming Pao Weekly that she’s interested in acting again, but kissing and intimate scenes are out.
Idy married casino executive Peter Chan Siu-Moo in 1984 at the height of her career and settled in New York.
Even though the couple divorced in 1992, she remained inactive in showbiz, only making the occasional appearance on TV shows in China and Hong Kong.
She was also an active charity volunteer.
Then in 1999, she was rumoured to have secretly married 1980s singer Louis Castro after she told the media that she has been seeing a mysterious ‘tall, gentle and caring’ man for five years.
But soon, the paparazzi found that she was living with famous advertising director Maisy Choi. According to the tabloids, the female relationship lasted 11 years, ending in 2005.
Once known for her icy and sullen image, Idy is now chatty and more adept at dealing with the media.
‘Many reporter friends tell me they had wanted to slap me in the past because I didn’t know how to answer their questions and had always put on a black face then.
‘But they just loved asking me about Chow Yun Fat, so what could I have said?’ she told Ming Pao Weekly.
She and Yun Fat had dated for five years – from 1978 to 1983 – during the early days of their TV careers.
Idy has not worked in recent years and it was reported that she struck the lottery twice, winning about HK$17 million ($3million) in Canada, and another HK$30 million in a Hong Kong lotto 11 years ago.
But she told reporters that ‘the rumours will stop with the wise’.
DEPRESSED OVER MARRIAGE? – LIN CHING-HSIA [Brigitte]
LIN CHING-HSIA may have retired and been married for 13 years, but the former queen of Taiwanese romance films is still a popular paparazzi target.
And the rumour mill has been churning overtime when it comes to her marriage.
The 53-year-old was recently spotted by the tabloids at the International Financial Centre in Hong Kong with her friends, former Taiwanese actress Hsieh Ling Ling and retired Hong Kong actress Amy Tao.
They had gone to watch Jay Chou’s latest movie, Secret, and Ching-hsia had reportedly seen the movie twice.
She looked radiant and happy. But it wasn’t always so.
The tabloids had said last year that Ching-hsia had moved out of her marital home in Hong Kong and was staying in an apartment in Kowloon Tong alone.
The reports also said that despite being married to billionaire businessman Michael Ying, she did not have a property or car to her name.
They have two daughters, aged 10 and 6, but the reports alleged that Michael was dating a divorcee from Shanghai and that the woman bore him a son.
When Ching-hsia’s father died in May last year, the media noted that the couple had little interaction despite attending the funeral together.
Then, she was purportedly hooked on ballroom dancing and was spotted hanging out at clubs, dancing and having supper with younger men in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
But in March this year, she reportedly moved back home.
Last month, a Taiwanese report said she visited the Hong Kong Mood Disorders Center at the Prince Of Wales Hospital in Shatin, Hong Kong, but friends have denied she is depressed.
[Citation needed for several items in this article, use your own judgment on these stories. Quite coincident that both husbands of Cherie & Brigitte have the same English name & million-/billionaire businessmen]
Mingpao Weekly #2022 A Cover Story: Idy Chan
August 24, 2007 at 8:58
andy lau, chow yun fat, mingpaoweekly, roch1983, stephen chan's be my guest, tvb
Idy Chan graced the cover of Book A of Mingpao Weekly #2022 (August 11, 2007) and the online version’s out today [Aug 24 ’07].
Please revisit news on Aug 12 ’07 @ CYLO.
[Translated by Kit] No more meeting Chow Yun Fat again
Idy Chan admitted being wooed from the same gender
SLL & YG had been separated from each other for 16 years long but in reality, Idy Chan quit acting for 14 years after filming her last TVB drama “Can’t Stop Loving You 愛到盡頭” in 1993 and only showed up in some charity activities occasionally. Rumors said that she had won a total HK$47 million lottery in 1995 & 1998 respectively, led her to a rich & carefree life. But there was also a saying that she was living in seclusion because of her enthusiasm in religion all these years.
At 17-year old, Idy Chan enrolled in the 6th TVB actors training class in 1977. Her love life had never been a pleasant one. First, she ended the 5 years bitter love relationship with Chow Yun Fat. Then married LA casino executive Peter Chan Siu Moo but their marriage only lasted 8 years. Later the media suspected her in a homosexual love for 11 years. Just in time Idy resumed starts filming again, she was interviewed in “Be My Guest 志雲飯局”. She talked openly about her past romance and also claimed she’s willing to be friend with Fat Chai but it’s just that they didn’t have chance to run into each other after the breakup.
Stephen Chan described Idy had isolated herself from the world all these years. But Idy said she was just ‘playing’ & ‘fooling around’. Apart from doing some volunteering works, she didn’t see her family members for 2 years. She said it was all because of the religious learning. Idy didn’t speak any further about the religion since she thought it was too much to tell in a one hour programme and she’s afraid the audience would wrongly take her meaning so she’d rather to talk about it in private.
S: Stephen Chan I: Idy Chan
S: what did you learn from your master?
I: Kungfu, qigong and mainly is Taoism theory…it’s about physical and mental training. (S: sounds very complicated) No, it’s not. I’d been secluded for 2 years, didn’t see my family and friends. I only stayed together with my master and senior sisters. (S: was it hard to adapt? Did you miss your family?) I got it well prepared since I’d discussed it with my family years ago. They understood me, though they were not accustomed to my sudden absence.
S: Now are you getting out of seclusion?
I: Haha, even now I’m just ‘work for nothing’. (S: Can you see your family members?) I’ll if my master tells me so. Actually except my father, no other family members are living in HK.
S: How do you live without working?
I: I have my family to support me and my master treats us well; she even took care of my livelihood.
S: I heard you’d won lottery twice. One was in Canada for HK$17 million and another time in HK 11 years ago for HK$30 million. Is it true?
I: haha…..I’ll answer you in private. (S: hey, at least you don’t deny). Just tell you in private.
Andy Lau is like a kid
Grew up in Tiu Keng Leng, Idy said her father had been a soldier who graduated from Whampao army school and followed Zang Jie Shi. He ran a meal-catering business in TKL which offer food for more than a hundred children. But he was in big debt since he had been borrowing money from the neighbors for a very long time. At that time Idy’s elder sister was working for an entertainment magazine ‘Sisters’, she recommended the 17-year old Idy, who still had not finished her high school, joined the showbiz in order to pay her parent’s debt.
S: Did you get the leading roles once you completed the training class?
I: Not really. I’d worked as extras for many years like corpses and palace maids but I thought it was funny. It earned me much money than my basic wages because it counted on each show time, the longer I made the more I earned so I could save up the money to pay the debt. I was willing to play as a corpse.
S: You landed the leading role in ROCH83’?
I: Yes. Back then people were longing to film lengthy drama. But I ‘d never gotten one before shooting ROCH; I’d only worked for one-episode drama. That’s why ROCH is unforgettable to me.
S: What do you think you are similar to SLL the most?
I: the silliness. Haha, I really think I’m silly. SLL always said nothing so I think she is silly too. I’m just like her.
S: Andy Lau said he was happy filming ROCH everyday coz he could see gugu. When you film, will you fall for your partner?
I: I’ll love my partner in my role. But I’ve a drawback when I act, I only put a small portion of me into the role and will detach from it very quick. It’s a paradox becoz if you detach too quick, you can’t love your partner in the drama even you really want to love him. (S: that’s why you fit the role of SLL) Right, my SLL was good but my other roles were really bad acting. Actually my acting skill is not good. (S: Had you ever fallen for your male partner when you were too absorbed in the role?) No, I thought I should not when I was dating someone.
S: If you were not taken, would you accept Andy Lau back then?
I: I don’t think I would since he was younger than me. In our times, girls only like those men who are older than us. In my mind Andy was just like a kid. He’s liked a ball of fire on the set. (S: he wasn’t mature enough?) No, it’s just I wanted someone mature to protect me and not the other way around.
Hot hunk Chow Yun Fat
S: How do you get to know Mr. Chow?
I: In TVB when I was acting as extras. I played a role as his secretary and usually secretaries will become friend with their bosses. (S: how’s it start?)
I really can’t remember. I forgot it completely. (S: was he romantic?) I didn’t know. Maybe I was very young at that time, only 17. But he is very nice to his family and friends.
S: Some old reports said apart from CYF, there were many rich guys wooing you. Why didn’t you choose any of them?
I: It’s not I didn’t choose but becoz I’d already had a boyfriend. I was just dull. (S: single minded) It’s the same thing. I think I’d be more flexible. I didn’t marry to him, even I did. I still can make a choice.
S: What’s in CYF that attracted you?
I: haha, I think I was dumb…he’s several years ahead of me. But perhaps he was tall so when he stood besides me, I thought he could protect me. I’ve always had a soft spot to this. I want to find someone who can protect me.
S: You broke up because he couldn’t protect you anymore?
I: No. In fact, there were so many other issues. (S: A third wheel?) I didn’t know about him but it was not the reason. (S: then what’s the main factor?) We were not perfect match to each other. (S: but you two had been dating for several years?) Right. What I meant is….we could not see each other so often since I only acted as corpses, so I’d always be free but he might be busy. Then I thought he couldn’t protect me.
S: Had you ever thought him as a good candidate of marriage?
I: Definitely yes and I even thought he must be the one. (S: then why separated?) Actually when I first met him, he didn’t get famous. It’s real. He was famed when we started dating. I remembered he was filming
S: Did he feel sad?
I: You should ask him. But it’s strange that we didn’t meet each other after the break-up, not in the streets nor any places. (S: Can you be friend with him now?) Ok, sure ok since I’d already decided long ago we could be friend when we meet. It’s just that I didn’t know how to deal with it back then; I was not mature enough. Thinking back…it’s really weird that we’d never run into each other in any places, though I didn’t try to avoid anything. (S: is it something to do with fate?) Fate? Haha. I do believe one could make it happen and it’s just that you want it or not. Maybe neither of us has the heart.
S: some old reports said that he once tried to suicide, at your home. Is it true?
I: Hmm….I know…I was there….but I will answer you in private.
S: It happened while your break-up. Did you feel uncomfortable?
I: It’s not because of him. I think each person is an individual so if someone wants to hurt themselves or end their life. It’s their problem.
Cover up the relationship with black face
In end of 1982, 4 months after the suicide, Chow Yun Fat married Candice Yu on-on in light-speed while Idy also agreed to marry Peter Chan, whom they met in Sept 1982 and they married in 1984. The matchmaker was Lydia Shum.
I: Lydia took care of me so much. When she knew I’d broken up with Mr. Chow, she introduced me to some other guys as she thought I was a good girl and seldom had rumors.
S: So was it love at first sight?
I: Yes, that’s me. I’d settle down once I think he is the one. Actually, I was working in TVB for quite some time but I really didn’t think I fit in. I didn’t know how to manage human relationship. Back then I didn’t talk much as now. I came from country area so I feared a lot as being working in showbiz. I didn’t know what to say in proper so I’d always zipped my mouth. (S: black face?) Yes, I really kept a black face. Many reporters told me today that they really wanted to slap me in the old time. The truth was they always asked me about Chow Yun Fat but how could I reply? I didn’t know what to say but just made a black face.
S: Why can’t you answer?
I: No, I couldn’t. He’s promoting so how can I let out our relationship publicly? (S: he demanded it?) It’s the company. They told us to keep it low key and I had to agree in order to protect him.
S: Let’s talk about Mr. Peter Chan. You settled down in USA right after your wedding but then you quickly returned to HK. Was it hard to tie your marriage?
I: It was one of the problems. I really wanted to quit from the showbiz back then. But I knew I couldn’t when I reached there as I’d have to come back filming. My husband was working in a casino so he was related to the showbiz in some sort that’s why I came back working. (S: you two had agreement?) Actually we didn’t talk about this. It’s just natural thing that whenever there has job, I’d return. I’d been stayed in Taiwan filming for a very long time. (S: spending less time together?) Yes, it was.
S: It led to the divorce?
I: I really don’t know. Something really needed my reflection and so I could learn a lesson. But something doesn’t need nor worth for reflection.
S: Won’t you marry again?
I: Right. I’ve never thought I would remarry….actually it is so wrong with this answer. I didn’t do any reflection is not because I won’t marry again. Instead I think it is no big deal so no reflection needed.
S: Your ex-hubby once commented before your divorce that if one day your marriage ended, the third wheel must be a woman. (I: Oh?) Why he said that?
I: I don’t know what made him think that. (S: Actually is there any woman wooing you?)…..Of course yes! Both men and women; it’s never stopped. But I’m a loyal person and I only date one person at one time. (S: will you accept women then?) hmm…I will tell you secretly, haha.
Filming brings out inspiration
In Feb. 1999, Idy was reported to have secretly married Louis Castro. But when she interviewed by Louis C. in a radio programme, she disclosed she was in a 5-year relationship and this led those paparazzi to dog her in order to find out who was the guy. But finally they spotted out the “he” was famous female director – Maisy Choi. It’s said that their relationship lasted for 11 years and they broke up 2 years ago.
S: If you didn’t reveal it in the radio interview in the first place then no paparazzi would chase after you. Did you regret it?
I: I wanted to help Louis out at that time because rumors said that we were together. He’s my good friend and we talk about everything. Until now we are still very good friend. (S: But it brought you trouble instead.) Hmm, let me tell you in private, haha.
S: After ending up in a few relationships, have you lost confidence in men?
I: It has nothing to do with men. In fact it’s the nature of human being. It is the problem of human relationship. General speaking, don’t try to make anything if these things (relationship) don’t happen and then nothing will come to bother you.
S: Will you act again?
I: I will but I have some rule. I don’t mind if my role is a good person or a villain but it can’t be evil. I hope it could inspire the audience and not just a good laugh. (S: will you resist love scenes?) No, I don’t. But no kiss & no body-touch. (S: haha, no intimacy.) I’m okay with holding hands but I really can’t accept kisses. I think the farther to go in TV is just kiss scenes.
