Yuen Siu-tien was a Hong Kong martial arts film actor in the late 1970s. Yuen is perhaps best known as Beggar So in three films: Drunken Master, Story of Drunken Master and his final film Dance of the Drunk Mantis. He starred in several films with film actors like Jackie Chan and under the direction of his real life son Yuen Woo-ping.
Film career
Yuen trained in the traditional Peking opera role of Wu-Shen. He began his acting career at age 37, in the first Wong Fei-hung film to star Kwan Tak-hing, Story of Huang Feihong, though his film appearances were rare until the late 1950s. He is best known for portraying mentors and kung fu masters, and featured in almost 150 films throughout his career. One of his internationally best-known films came late in his career, Drunken Master, in which he played Beggar So, an old hermit who had mastered the art of drunken boxing, aiding a young Wong Fei-hung, played by Jackie Chan. The role was a reprisal of the one he had played in another of Chan's films, Snake in the Eagle's Shadow. At the time, Drunken Master proved to be the most successful film to feature Chan. The film portrayed Wong Fei-hung as a young and mischievous rascal as opposed to the venerable, Confucian master of kung fu played in many films by Kwan Tak-hing. The movie was a surprise international hit, and greatly helped to boost the career of the then 66-year-old actor. Yuen reprised the role of The Beggar So for three further films, Dance of the Drunk Mantis, Story of Drunken Master, and World Of The Drunken Master.
Personal life
Yuen is the father of eleven children, six of whom have worked in the Hong Kong film industry. The five eldest sons were known collectively as the "Yuen clan" and often worked in combinations on many films:
Yuen Chun-yeung - actor, stuntman and action director
Yuen Lung-chu - actor
Yuen had two additional sons and three daughters.
Death
On January 8, 1979, Yuen died of heart attack. He was 66 years old. Yuen was considered for the role of Beggar So in the 1979 filmMagnificent Butcher alongside Sammo Hung, but died as production of the film began. Yuen was replaced by Fan Mei-sheng. Filming was continued with Fan's Drunken Master character, which necessitated reshooting some of Yuen's scenes. However, Fan's character is never referred as "Beggar So" in this film.
Legacy
Yuen's likeness was used for the character Chin Gentsai in the SNK series, The King of Fighters, as well as for the character Shun Di from the Virtua Fighter series.
