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Run Run Shaw

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Sir Run Run Shaw
File:Run Run Shaw.jpg
Born
Shao Ren Leng

(1907-11-23)23 November 1907[1][2]
Ningbo, Zhejiang, Qing China
Died7 January 2014(2014-01-07) (aged 106)
Hong Kong, People's Republic of China
Other namesSixth Uncle (Luk Suk)
Occupation(s)Entrepreneur, investor, filmmaker, philanthropist
Years active1926–2011
Board member ofShaw Brothers Studio,
Television Broadcasts Ltd.
Spouse(s)
Wong Mee-chun
​
(m. 1937⁠–⁠1987)​
(deceased)
​
(m. 1997⁠–⁠2014)​
ChildrenShaw Vee Meng
Shaw So Man
Shaw So Wan
Shaw Vee Chung
ParentShaw Yuh Hsuen
RelativesRunje Shaw
Runme Shaw
Runde Shaw

Template:Chinese name

Run Run Shaw
Shaw's star on the Avenue of Stars
Chinese邵逸夫
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Wade–GilesShao I-fu
Yale RomanizationShàu Yìfū
IPA[ʂâʊ îfú]
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationSiuh Yaht Fū
Jyutpingsiu6 jat6 fu1
IPA[ɕìːu jɐ̀t fúː]

Sir Run Run Shaw GBM CBE (23 November 1907 – 7 January 2014) was a Hong Kong entertainment mogul and philanthropist. He was one of the most influential figures in Asia entertainment industry.[3] He founded the well-known Shaw Brothers Studio, which was one of the largest film production companies in the world and Television Broadcasts Limited, which remains the dominant television company in Hong Kong.

Early life

Run Run Shaw was born Shao Ren Leng in Ningbo, Zhejiang of the Qing Empire in November 1907 (the 14th day of the 10th month of the Chinese calendar).[1] He was the youngest of the six sons of a Shanghai textile merchant, Shaw Yuh Hsuen (1867–1920),[4] He received education in American-run schools in Shanghai.[5]

Career

Early ventures

At age 19, during his summer holiday in 1927, Run Run Shaw went to Singapore to assist his third elder brother Runme Shaw in their business venture there, initially to market films to south-east Asia's Chinese community.[6][7] They established the company that would later become the Shaw Organisation, and were involved in distributing and producing films in South East Asia. The involvement of the Shaw brothers in film-making began earlier in Shanghai in 1924 when the three elder brothers of Run Run Shaw founded the Tianyi Film Productions (also called the Unique Film Productions) in Shanghai to produce Chinese silent films. They also produced what is considered the first sound-on-film Chinese talkie in 1931.[8] They made a Cantonese film in 1932 which proved highly successful, and a branch of the Unique Film Productions was then established in Hong Kong in 1934.[6] Two years later they moved their entire operation from Shanghai to Hong Kong and reorganized it as South Seas Productions, which later became Shaw Studios. Run Run Shaw was credited with scripting and directing one movie in 1937, a comedy called Country Bumpkin Visits his In-laws.

In Singapore, Run Run Shaw stayed to supervise their business, while Runme travelled north to Malaya to establish ties with local theatre owners.[9] In 1927, after noting that there were few cinemas in Malaya, Runme decided to open four cinemas there so that they can operate their own cinema chain to show their films.[10][11] By 1939, the brothers owned 139 cinemas across the region,[12] and the chain of cinema theatres would later include Singapore's first air-conditioned cinema at Beach Road. They also established a number of amusement parks throughout the entire region, including Borneo, Thailand and Java, such as the Great World Amusement Park at Kim Seng Road.[13][14] The brothers began to make Malay films in Singapore in 1937.[15] Inspired by the success of films intended for Malay audiences, for example Laila Majnum in 1934,[15] and other films from the Dutch East Indies such as Terang Boelan and Alang-Alang in 1937, the brothers established the Malay Film Productions. It became one of the more successful production houses.[16] They company produced over 160 Malay films,[17] until the studio at Jalan Ampas ceased film-production in 1967.[18]

In 1941, the Japanese invaded Singapore and Malaya and stripped their theaters and confiscated their film equipment. According to Run Run Shaw, he and his brother buried more than $4 million in gold, jewelry and currency in their backyard and dug it up after the war to resume their careers.[19]

Shaw Brothers Studios

File:Shaw Brothers Logo.jpg
The Shaw Brothers logo, which opened nearly every Shaw film, was modelled after that of the Warner Bros. studios.

In 1957, Run Run Shaw moved to Hong Kong, which was the centre of the Chinese film industry at the time and established the Shaw Brothers in 1958.[20] Run Run Shaw copied Hollywood by setting up a permanent production site where his actors worked and lived on 46 acres purchased from the government in Clearwater Bay. At the opening of the Shaw Movietown in December 1961, Shaw Studios had the world’s largest privately owned film-production outfit with about 1,200 workers shooting and editing films daily.[20] Shaw productions ran up to two hours and cost as much as $50,000, a lavish sum by Asian standards in the 1960s.[19]

By the 1960s, Shaw Brothers (Hong Kong) Ltd. was Asia's biggest producer of movies, including The Magnificent Concubine, which took the Grand Prix at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival and the 1967 The One-Armed Swordsman, which broke the box office records.[21] Shaw's companies in Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong made more than 1,000 movies, with annual production peaking at 50 pictures in 1974 when Shaw was entitled the "Czar of Asian Movies".[22] The Shaw Studios popularised the kung fu genre that had great influence on many Hollywood directors such as Quentin Tarantino.[3][23]

The studio's decline in the 1970s due to the challenge from the Golden Harvest, formed by his ex-employee Raymond Chow with the rising kung fu star Bruce Lee, whom Shaw Brothers initially turned down. Shaw then focused his efforts on television.[1] Shaw also looked for opportunities in the United States and produced a handful of U.S. films, including the 1982 sci-fi classic Blade Runner.[3]

In 2000, through his company, Shaw Brothers (Hong Kong) Limited, he sold his unique library of 760 classic titles to Celestial Pictures Limited. Continuing to show perseverance, Shaw Studios entered a new era with Shaw's majority investment (through his various holding companies) in the US$180,000,000 Hong Kong Movie City project, a 1,100,000 square feet (100,000 m2) studio and production facility in Tseung Kwan O.[24]

Television Broadcasts Limited

In 1967, he co-founded Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB), the first free-to-air television station in Hong Kong, growing it into a multi-billion dollar TV empire with channels broadcast in 30 markets including the U.S., Canada and Taiwan, making it the world's largest producer of Chinese-language programs. Shaw took a greater interest in TVB after he succeeded deceased Harold Lee as TVB chairman in 1980. Shaw leased most of Shaw Brothers' filmmaking facilities to TVB in 1983, Under Shaw's chairmanship, TVB successfully launched the careers of international stars such as Chow Yun-fat and Maggie Cheung and singers like Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui. In 2006, TVB had 80 percent of Hong Kong's viewers and 78 percent of the city's TV advertising market.[1]

In December 2011, Run Run Shaw retired as chairman of Television Broadcasts Ltd. at that age of 104 after more than 40 years at Hong Kong’s biggest television company,[25] after selling all his controlling stake to a group of investors including HTC Corporation chairman Cher Wang and ITC Corporation chairman Charles Chan for HK$6.26 billion in March.[20][26] He was then renamed chairman emeritus.[23]

Shaw was also one of the largest shareholders in Macy's after he bought 10 percent of its preferred shared for U.S. $50 million when it was nearly bankrupt in 1991.[19]

Community life

Run Run Shaw Science Building at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
File:Run Run Shaw Library.jpg
Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre at the City University of Hong Kong.

Sir Run Run Shaw was advocate and financial supporter of the Hong Kong Arts Festival in which he became the first chairman of the Festival. He was also the chairman of the Hong Kong Arts Centre's Board of Governors.

Sir Run Run Shaw was the member of the Board of Trustees of United College, one of the colleges of the Chinese University of Hong Kong when the university began in 1967. He became the vice-chairman of the Board of Trustees in 1972 and appointed to the University Council of the Chinese University in 1977.[14][27]

Other public posts he held including vice-president of the Hong Kong Girl Guides Association and the Hong Kong Society for Rehabilitation, as well as president of the Hong Kong Red Cross, in which he was the first Chinese to hold that post. He had also been a leading figure in the fund raising of the Community Chest of Hong Kong since its inception.[14]

Charity

Over the years, Sir Run Run had donated billions of Hong Kong Dollars to charity, schools and hospitals. His name is on many buildings in Hong Kong and China mainland due to his generous donations. The fourth constituent college of the collegiate Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shaw College is also named after Sir Run Run, whose patronage made the establishment of the college possible.[28]

In 1990 Run Run Shaw donated 10 million pounds to help establish the Run Run Shaw Institute of Chinese Affairs at Oxford University.[19]

After the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, he donated U.S. $13 million for disaster relief.[6]

Personal life

He was the sixth of the seven children in the Shaw family, and was nick-named Uncle Six (Luk Suk). He had also two sisters. His three elder brothers, Runje Shaw, Runde Shaw and Runme Shaw were all heads of the Shaw Studio. Runme Shaw, the third elder brother who co-founded the Shaw Studio with him, died in 1985.

His first wife, Lily Wong Mee-chun, died at age 85 in 1987. He remarried to Mona Fong (formerly Fong Yat-wa), in Las Vegas in 1997. A former singer, Mona Fong joined TVB as a procurement manager in 1969 and became the deputy chairman of TVB since 2000.[20][4] Shaw had four children with Lady Lily Shaw, sons Vee Meng and Harold, and daughters Violet and Dorothy.[20] All of his children studied at Oxford University.[19]

Shaw was a lover of Rolls-Royce limousines.[23] According to a 1966 Life magazine, he would rise at 6 a.m., eat a breakfast of noodles and tea, practice Chinese calisthenics and read a script or two before heading to the studio in one of his Rolls-Royce cars. After lunch and a nap, he would return to the office to work until midnight.[20]

Shaw was known to be a keen practitioner of qigong. According to former TVB general manager Ho Ting-kwan, Shaw began practising qigong in his 60s and he did it first thing in the morning. Ho said he ate very little each meal and went to bed early, which was his secrets to longevity.[26] He was known to regularly consumed expensive ginseng, costing him close to HK$300,000 a year.[5] The then TVB general manager Stephen Chan Chi-wan also revealed that Mr. Bean was Shaw's favourite show.[5]

He died at his residence on 7 January 2014 at the age of 106 (or 107) with his family by his side.[29][30]

Honours

In 1974, Sir Run Run was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). He received a knighthood in 1977 from Queen Elizabeth II and the Grand Bauhinia Medal (GBM) from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government in 1998.

He was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Social Science by the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1981 for his contribution to the university and community.[27] In 1984, he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws by the University of Hong Kong to honour an outstanding contribution to applied visual arts, as well as to the community and cultural developments.[14]

2899 Runrun Shaw, a small main belt asteroid, which was discovered by Chinese astronomers in 1964 is named after Sir Run Run Shaw.

In 2007, coinciding with his 100th birthday, he was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Hong Kong Film Awards.[6]

In 2013, Sir Run Run received the BAFTA Special Award for his outstanding contribution to cinema.[31]

The Shaw Prize

He established an international award, the Shaw Prize, for scientists in three areas of research, namely astronomy, mathematics, and life and medical science. The award is up to US$1 million. The press called it the "Nobel Prize of the East".[32] The first prize was awarded in 2004.

Further reading

  • 詹幼鵬、藍潮 (1997). 《邵逸夫傳》. 藍潮傳記作品 (in Chinese) (First ed. ed.). HK: 名流出版社. ISBN 962-928-017-5. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Lee, Mark (23 November 2007). "Film Mogul Run Run Shaw Turns 100, Considers Retiring". Bloomberg.
  2. ^ Ng, Jeffrey. "Media Mogul Run Run Shaw Dies at 106". Wall Street Journal.
  3. ^ a b c "HK Movie Mogul Run Run Shaw Has Died at Age 107". abc news. 7 January 2014.
  4. ^ a b Who's Who 2007: an Annual Biographical Dictionary (159th Annual ed.). A&C Black. 2007. ISBN 978-0-7136-7527-6.
  5. ^ a b c Wong, Karen (6 October 2007). "The Great Shawman Turns 100". The Standard.
  6. ^ a b c d "Legendary Producer Run Run Shaw Dies at 106". The Hollywood Reporter. 6 January 2014.
  7. ^ "Pioneering movie producer Run Run Shaw dies at age 107". CBS. 6 January 2014.
  8. ^ Gary G. Xu (2012). "Chapter 24 – Chinese Cinema and Technology". A Companion to Chinese Cinema. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1444330298.
  9. ^ "About Shaw - Shaw Films, Malaya, Pre War". Shaw Online.
  10. ^ "Autocrat". AsiaWeek. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
  11. ^ "About Shaw - The Beginning 1924-1933". Shaw online.
  12. ^ "Run Run Shaw dies". The Standard. 7 January 2014.
  13. ^ "Hong Kong movie mogul Run Run Shaw dies, aged 107". The Straits Times. 7 January 2014.
  14. ^ a b c d "108th Congregation (1980) – Sir Run Run SHAW". The University of Hong Kong.
  15. ^ a b "About Shaw - Shaw Studio, Pre War - The Great Depression 1930". Shaw Online.
  16. ^ Khoo, Gaik Cheng (2006). Reclaiming Adat: Contemporary Malaysian Film and Literature. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-7748-1172-9.
  17. ^ "About Shaw - Malay Film Productions". Shaw Online.
  18. ^ "The Last Days Of Malay Film Productions". Shaw Online.
  19. ^ a b c d e Kandell, Jonathan (7 January 2014). "Run Run Shaw, Movie Mogul Seen as Creator of Kung Fu Genre, Dies at 106". New York Times.
  20. ^ a b c d e f "Run Run Shaw, Father of Hong Kong's Movie Industry, Dies at 107". Bloomberg. 6 January 2014.
  21. ^ "Run Run Shaw, Hong Kong film pioneer, dies aged 107". BBC. 7 January 2014.
  22. ^ Deutsch, Linda (1 May 1974). "Run Run Shaw, Czar of Asian Movies". Lewiston Evening Journal.
  23. ^ a b c Ng, Jeffrey; Ho, Prudence (6 January 2014). "Hong Kong Media Mogul Dies at 107". Wall Street Journal.
  24. ^ "Who We are – Shaw Studios". Shaw Studios. Retrieved 16 October 2007.
  25. ^ Tong, Stephanie (8 December 2011). "Run Run Shaw to Retire as Hong Kong TVB Chairman at Age 104". Bloomberg News.
  26. ^ a b Chow, Vivienne (7 January 2014). "Media mogul Run Run Shaw dies at 107". South China Morning Post.
  27. ^ a b "23rd Congregation (1981) – Sir Run-run SHAW". The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
  28. ^ "International Grant Making Foundations: Philanthropy and the Third Sector". International Grant Making Foundations. Archived from the original on 31 August 2007. Retrieved 16 October 2007.
  29. ^ "邵逸夫爵士家中安詳離世 享年107歲". TVB News. 7 January 2014.
  30. ^ "Run Run Shaw, godfather of kung fu film-making, dies aged 106". Associated Press in Hong Kong. The Guardian. 7 January 2014.
  31. ^ "BAFTA in Hong Kong: New Scholarships Announced Sir Run Run Shaw to Receive Special Award". BAFTA. 3 December 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
  32. ^ "Berkeley Lab's Saul Perlmutter Wins Shaw Prize in Astronomy". US Department of Energy. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Run Run Shaw.
Business positions
Preceded by
Harold Lee
 Executive Chairman of Television Broadcasts Limited
1980–2010 		Succeeded by

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