Don Wong

by Erin F.
(Hollywood)

I am a huge Don Wong fan, aka Wong Tao. He won me over in his amazing performance in "Along Comes a Tiger". I hope that I can convince you why he belongs on your list by giving you a little of his history.

I spent a while investigating him on the internet and there isn't a whole lot about him out there, which really surprises me since he is such a strong actor and Kung Fu fighter!

What I did find out was that he started Tae Kwon Do training in his teens when he moved to Italy with his father. He choose to go to University in Texas, at A&M University in 1970! Which I thought was wild.

He was then scouted by Golden Harvest, who was looking for new Kung Fu talent and actually had to go to New York to screen test.

He got some work but because he was a 'real' martial artist and not a film acting/fighting artist he earned the nickname 'Big Tank'. He was surprised that he got no help from the production team in terms of teaching him what he needed to learn for film fighting and acting.

You can see his unrefined and raw performance in the movie "Slaughter in San Francisco". After which Golden Harvest let him go.

But that turned out to be a huge blessing because he met Director Ng See Yuen for the movie "The Secret Rivals" 1975 which also started his working collaborations with legendary super kickers Hwang Jan Lee, John Liu and the Yuen clan stunt team.

After the huge success of "The Secret Rivals" and how it made it's own impact in the Kung Fu world, Wong Tao started getting a lot more work offers.

In 1976 Don took on "The Hot, The Cool, and The Vicious" Directed by Lee Tso Nam. I think we can all agree this is a fierce movie.

He followed this with "Along comes a Tiger" in 1977, "Eagle's Claws" in 1977, "Challenge of Death" in 1978, and "Death Duel of Kung Fu" in 1978 and many, many more.

Unfortunately, Wong had a terrible accident when shooting a film (that apparently he won't name) and tore the tendon in his left leg. As soon as he was released from the Hospital the studio demanded that he get right back to work and complete the film.

This was a contemplative moment in Wong's life, learning that the industry did not care about his welfare at all he chose to look after himself and continued his career in the safer realm of Taiwan TV dramas.

Now I have mainly only seen his 1970's movies. And I think his fighting and acting is amazing. Knowing that he wasn't a trained performer like Jackie Chan or Sammo Hung, makes me love him even more.

To give an intense performance like in "Along comes a Tiger" where he doesn't speak a word until the end of the film and knowing that he had to teach himself how to act. Wow! that's all I can say.

And that is why I believe Don Wong should be in the top Kung Fu Legends list. And if you haven't taken the time to watch his movies, it's time you did. He is truly an unspoken legend.


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