COREY YUEN (元奎) (1951 - 2022)
It has been reported that legendary action director and choreographer Corey Yuen has passed away two years ago due to a covid-19 related illness. Jackie Chan has indirectly confirmed this piece of sad news in his Weibo post.
Yuen was one of the members of “Seven Little Fortunes” which also include Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Yuen Wah among others. Starting his career in the 70s as an actor and slowly venturing into directing and action choreography. He was known for directing No Retreat No Surrender (Jean-Claude Van Damme), Yes Madam (Cynthia Rothrock and Michelle Yeoh), Righting Wrongs (Yuen Biao) and All for the Winner (Stephen Chow).
In the later stage of his career, he worked intensively with Jet Li on movies liked Fong Sai Yuk, The Bodyguard From Beijing, My Father Is A Hero and venturing into Hollywood and working on movies such as Lethal Weapon 4, Romeo Must Die, The Transporter and X-Men.
The Hong Kong action cinema has lost yet another icon but as Jackie Chan mentioned, Yuen's legacy will not be forgotten.
A selection of Yuen's past works as director/action choreographer/actor:
DOA: DEAD OR ALIVE (2006)
THE TWINS EFFECT 2 (2004)
JUST ANOTHER PANDORA'S BOX (2010)
RISE OF THE LEGEND (黄飞鸿之英雄有梦) (2014)
THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS (2012)
THE EXPENDABLES (2010)
WAR (2007)
TRANSPORTER 3 (2008)
BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE (2009)
