Anita Mui – Martial Arts Actor
Hong Kong pop star and actress Anita Mui, well known in Chinese communities the world over, died early on Tuesday less than four months after revealing that she had cervical cancer. She was 40.
She died at Hong Kong’s Sanitorium Hospital at 2.50am (1850 GMT), according to her friends, including action film legend Jackie Chan and fellow singer Alan Tam, who were keeping vigil at the hospital.
Earlier reports said that she had been admitted to hospital after slipping into a coma.
Other reports said Mui died of lung failure due to the side effects of the drugs she was taking to fight the cancer.
The way she lived
Anita Mui was also well-known as an actress across the Asia region. Her films have mainly been of the action thriller and kung fu variety, but she has also taken comedic and dramatic roles. In 1993, she starred in The Heroic Trio with Michelle Yeoh and Maggie Cheung, and it proved to be one of her most popular action films. In 1995, she found some international recognition by starring opposite Jackie Chan in Rumble in the Bronx, the film that was largely responsible for Jackie Chan himself breaking into the American market. Of her performance in Chan’s Drunken Master II (released in America as The Legend of Drunken Master), Variety film critic Joe Leydon said she “appears to be channeling the spirit of Lucille Ball.”
Anita Mui – The Heroic Trio
About Anita
Anita was originally cast for Zhang Yimou’s 2004 movie House of Flying Daggers. She resigned from her position in the movie only two weeks before her death. Zhang had held her parts of filming to the last due to her poor health condition. The filming was already 80% done when she died. Zhang didn’t replace Anita’s role with another actress. The screenplay was changed to take the storyline off the original character. The new leader of the “House of Flying Daggers” never appears in the movie because it was Anita’s role. The film is dedicated in her memory.
Anita Mui – Savior of the soul
Filmography
- Let’s Make Laugh (1983)
- Mad, Mad 83 (1983)
- The Sensational Pair (1983)
- Behind the Yellow Line (1984)
- Dancing Warrior (1985)
- Lucky Diamond (1985)
- Musical Singer (1985)
- Young Cops (1985)
- 100 Ways to Murder Your Wife (1986)
- Inspector Chocolate (1986)
- Last Song in Paris (1986)
- Why Why Tell Me Why (1986)
- Happy Bigamist (1987)
- Scared Stiff (1987)
- Trouble Couples (1987)
- The Greatest Lover (1988)
- One Husband too Many (1988)[cameo]
- Rouge (1988)
- Three Wishes (1988)
- A Better Tomorrow III (1989)
- Miracles (1989)
- The Fortune Code (1990)
- Kawashima Yoshiko (1990)
- Shanghai Shanghai (1990)
- The Banquet (1991)[cameo]
- Saviour of the Soul (1991)
- Till We Meet Again (1991)
- The Top Bet (1991)
- Justice, My Foot! (1992)
- Mad Mad 1997 (1992)
- The Moon Warriors (1992)
- Fight Back To School 3 (1993)
- The Heroic Trio (1993)
- Executioners (1993)
- The Magic Crane (1993)
- The Mad Monk (1993)[cameo]
- Drunken Master II (1994)
- My Father is a Hero (1995)
- Rumble in the Bronx (1995)
- Who’s the Woman, Who’s the Man (1996)
- Eighteen Springs (1997) Wu Yen (2001)
- Midnight Fly (2001)
- Dance of a Dream (2001)
- Let’s Sing Along (2001)
- July Rhapsody (2001)
Gone to soon
Hong Kong pop star and actress Anita Mui, well known in Chinese communities the world over, died early on Tuesday less than four months after revealing that she had cervical cancer. She was 40.
She died at Hong Kong’s Sanitorium Hospital at 2.50am (1850 GMT), according to her friends, including action film legend Jackie Chan and fellow singer Alan Tam, who were keeping vigil at the hospital.
Earlier reports said that she had been admitted to hospital after slipping into a coma.
Other reports said Mui died of lung failure due to the side effects of the drugs she was taking to fight the cancer.
Action movie Jackie Chan grieves over the death of pop diva and actress Anita Mui, at a hospital in Hong Kong, December 30, 2003. [Reuters]
Jackie Chan said Mui died when family members and many celebrity friends were at the hospital Tuesday morning.
“She passed away peacefully and beautifully. Her own last wish was that her fans and reporters could let her go quietly, not to cry and call out her name,” Jackie Chan, a good friend of Mui, told reporters after her death.
This has been a very unlucky year for entertainment, even in the last moment of the year, added Chan.
Sources said hospital was crowded with reporters eager to get the latest update on her condition.
Often compared to Madonna, Mui drew admiration from fans all over the region with her flamboyant on-stage persona.
