Jimmy Wang Yu
Jimmy Wang Yu | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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王羽 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wang in 1960s | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Wang Zhengquan 28 March 1943 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 5 April 2022 (aged 79) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Taiwanese | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1960–2013 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouses | Jeanette Lin Chui
(m. 1969; div. 1975)Wang Kaizhen
(m. 1978; div. 1997) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 3, including Linda Wong | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese | 王羽 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Wang Zhengquan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 王正權 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 王正权 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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James Wang Yu (28 March 1943 – 5 April 2022) was a Hong Kong-Taiwanese martial artist, actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. Initially a contract player for Shaw Brothers, he rose to fame for his starring role in The One-Armed Swordsman (1967) and its sequels, and was one of the first major stars of martial arts and wuxia cinema. At the height of his fame in the 1970s, he was the highest-paid martial arts actor in the world. According to The New York Times, Wang was "the biggest star of Asian martial arts cinema until the emergence of Bruce Lee."
Wang Yu was well known for his volatile personality and ties to organized crime off-screen. He was a suspected member of the Bamboo Union triad, and was charged in the 1981 murder of several Four Seas Gang members, though he was acquitted due to a lack of evidence.