Chen Kuan-tai

Before joining Shaw’s, Chen Kuan-tai (1945-) was once the light heavyweight champion of the Southeast Asian contest of martial arts. Hence, he was one of Shaw’s martial arts actors who was promoted with “real kung fu” as the selling point. He was discovered by director Chang Cheh in 1972, and then appeared in The Boxer from Shantung (1972) to bring into full play his robust kung fu actions. He then performed important roles in Four Riders (1972), The Water Margin (1972), All Men are Brothers (1975), etc. Chen Kuan-tai eventually changed his scope of acting and played Boss Cheng who lived in secrecy in a public housing estate in The Teahouse (1974). This film could be deemed as the pioneer for the trend of gangster movies for Shaw’s, and was definitely one of Chen’s representative works.