Hong Kong lost another iconic actress today as TVB confirmed the passing of Lily Leung (梁舜燕) at the age of 90. She was just admitted to the hospital a few days ago and it was reported she had cancer. Her condition was said to be very critical, to a point where she couldn’t recognize anyone and couldn’t ingest food. Singer Hacken Lee (李克勤), who is her godson, visited her, but didn’t reveal anything about her condition. The two met while filming the 1991 series, “A Life of His Own” (浪族闊少爺). Many artists also expressed their respects and condolences at the news of her passing.
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Lily Leung’s grandson, Nicholas Yuen (阮浩棕), is also an actor. He confirmed she was in the hospital for more than a month due to her fever not going down. He didn’t deny his grandmother had cancer, but didn’t wish to divulge further. He also revealed Lily Leung succumbed due to organ failure. She was surrounded by her family when she passed.
Lily Leung entered showbiz in 1957 under the encouragement of her husband. It’s reported she was the first actress of a Hong Kong television station. At one point in her career, she even became an instructor for one of the artist training programs. Liza Wang was one of her pupils.
Even with such an illustrious career, people will most likely remember her most iconic role in the 1995 series, “A Kindred Spirit” (真情). She played the “Upper Class Person” (上等人) mother-in-law of Florence Kwok’s character, who looked down on everyone. During that time, people would refer to her as “Upper Class Person.” Lily Leung continued acting up until recently. She last filmed “Chinatown” (唐人街) (temporary name) back in May of this year. She still has series that have not aired such as “Wonder Women” and “Of Greed and Ants” (黃金有罪), and others.
At one point in her career she mentioned she was working because she loved acting. She once said, “I am working now not because of money. I am very happy every time I go to TVB, it’s happier than going back to my own home. I love acting more and more each day. I have the opportunity to portray different characters and experience different walks of life, it’s pretty enjoyable. Others use money to buy happiness. I am happy, enjoying it and I get to make money. Don’t you think I am especially lucky?”