Shek Kin
Thanks to Eric for mentioning that Shek Kin, the bad guy from Enter the Dragon, passed away recently at the age of 96. Read his obituary here. He had quite a long and effective career. “Unconventional…but effective” hahah…sorry, I think that was actually Jim Kelly’s (Williams) line. Shek Kin had the perfect bad guy face, perfect bad guy aura, and was an excellent bad guy. Watching Enter the Dragon, one really feels like he is Han, owner and master of his own world where he trains fighters.
I think too often we extol the good guys without giving enough attention to those who play the bad guys. What would Superman be without Lex Luther? Batman without Joker? Spiderman without Doctor Octopus?
One of Eric’s friends created a tribute to the man here:
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Speaking of Enter the Dragon, is John Saxon (Roper) the only one who didn’t have a real martial arts background? I think Jim Kelly (Williams) and Bob Wall (O’Hara) were the real deal.
A quick browse around seems to reveal it’s unknown what his real background was when he worked on Enter the Dragon, or if he had any. Supposedly he had a brown belt… but he was pretty bad.
I was at the Action on Film festival in 2006 when he was given the lifetime achievement award. Followed by an hour-long speech about his acting career. I remember him talking about Bruce Lee a lot. I dunno why they gave him the lifetime achievement award at a martial arts festival but… that’s how the biz goes.
They gave Saxon a lifetime achievement award? Well, I guess his fighting looked better than David Carradine’s, but still…
Wall and Kelly actually won tournaments, and Bruce was…well, Bruce. What a wild difference.