Lydia Shum 1945 - 2008

Leslie Cheung almost 17 years ago

This is a sad day for Hong Kong and Chinese communities all over the world. Famous actress Lydia Shum passed away at Queen Mary Hospital this morning at 8:38, aged 62. According to her Hong Kong ID Card, she was born in June 1945, not the Year of Pig (1947) which she often told people about.

With her signature wing-tip frame coke bottle glasses and owl-like hair style, she has offered joy and happiness to Hong Kong and worldwide Chinese societies. She was born on July 12, 1945 in Shanghai. Her career spans almost five decades. Her first film is Shaw Brothers' When The Peach Blossoms Bloom (1960) as a teenage actress. She played in many Mandarin and Cantonese films, including It's A Mad, Mad, Mad World series (1987, 1988, 1989, 1992).

With Robert Chua's introduction, she joined TVB in 1967, and her stardom began with the variety show Enjoy Yourself Tonight (EYT). Teresa Cheung, Elizabeth "Liza" Wang, Wong Ai Ming and her together formed singing group Four Golden Flowers in the early 1970s, giving most of their performance on EYT. When the first Cross Harbour Tunnel opened on August 2, 1972, she was a passenger on an open-top car and Hong Kong's first passenger to use the tunnel.

She was married to actor/singer Adam Cheng Siu-chow in January 1985. Their first child, Joyce Cheng Yan-yee, was born in 1987. Their marriage did not last long, and finally they divored in 1988, eight months after their daughter was born.

Lydia had several chronic ailments including diabetes and hypertension. In September 2006, she was diagnosed with liver tumor and cancer around the gallbladder. After that, she was in and out of hospital for several times and nearly stopped all her work. On November 17, 2007, she was honoured the Lifetime Achievement Award at the TVB Anniversary Awards 2007. In January 2008, sad news happened in her family when her mother passed away in Vancouver, Canada while she was in hospital. She had spent the Chinese New Year staying in Queen Mary Hospital. At 8:38am, February 19, Lydia Shum passed away.

With her profound work in show business and charity work, news of her death sent out waves of sorrow within the Chinese communities. Chief Executive Donald Tsang says he felt sorry for her passing and "Her persistence represents the Hong Kong spirit."

TVB and ATV have both paid tribute to the legend with different TV specials.