Groundbreaking Hong Kong film producer Run Run Shaw dies aged 107

A statement from Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB), which he helped found in 1967, said Shaw died peacefully but gave no cause of death.

His Shaw Brothers Studios, once among the world’s largest, helped launch the careers of powerhouses including director John Woo and churned out nearly 1,000 films. He also produced a handful of US movies, including 1982 sci-fi classic Blade Runner.

His television empire, which remains a dominant force in Hong Kong, nurtured actors such as Chow Yun-fat. Wong Kar-wai, the director behind critically acclaimed art-house movies like In The Mood For Love, got his start through a TVB training course and worked at the station briefly as a production assistant.

Ironically, one actor who slipped through Shaw’s grasp, Bruce Lee, went on to become the world’s biggest kung fu star.

Shaw – pronounced Shao in Mandarin – led TVB until retiring as chairman in December 2011 at the age of 104. He is survived by his second wife and four children from his first marriage.

Shaw was born near Shanghai to a wealthy textile merchant. One of his six siblings, elder brother Runme Shaw, set up a silent film studio, Unique Film Production Co. Shaw and a third brother, Runje, went to Singapore in 1923 to market films to south-east Asia’s Chinese community and eventually opened 139 cinemas across the region.

In the late 1950s Shaw moved to Hong Kong and shifted to producing films; he renamed the company Shaw Brothers. In 1961 he opened Movie Town, a vast, state-of-the-art studio in Hong Kong’s rural Clearwater Bay. With 1,500 staff working on 10 soundstages, it was reputed to be the most productive studio in the world.