Kwan Hoi-san

Herman Kwan Hoi-San (born Kwan Ming-kok; October 23, 1925 – September 11, 2006) was a Hong Kong actor. His English name was Herman Kwan. Kwan started off as a Cantonese opera actor in street theatre before joining New Voice Opera Troupe (新聲劇團). He also started singing for early Hong Kong film soundtracks and moved on to act in films, mostly adaption of opera in Cantonese. He became famous and acted in many lead roles. When Hong Kong films started to move towards Mandarin, Kwan's career faltered and joined TVB and acted in various roles. Directors and filmmakers rediscovered his talent and cast him in many supporting roles in films. In 2001, Kwan suffered a stroke and was left mute and paralysed. He died in 2006. Career Kwan at an early age, followed his father Kwan Yiu-fai (關耀輝), studied Cantonese opera. At 11, he started playing in public. At the time, Cantonese opera was mainly street theatre: actors were acting on a stage built in front of a temple or a market. He left Guangzhou for Hong Kong after World War II. Later, Kwan Hoi San will join the greatest troupes of that time, such as the New Voice Opera Troupe (新聲劇團) which featured Yam Kim-fai. In the 1940s, Kwan started singing for the Hong Kong-produced Cantonese films soundtracks. Cantonese cinema was booming then and stars from the Cantonese opera moved on to act in them. Kwan followed suit and started acting in films soon after. The films were often adaptations from the Cantonese opera repertoire. His first movie is Huet Chai Huet Seung (血债血偿). His fame as a cinema actor quickly goes beyond the one he had built as a theatre actor. He often acts with famous actors such as Cho Tat-wah, Cheung Ying, Lau Hak-suen and Shih Kien. This beautiful era wherein he was the young lead last until the end of the 1960s, when the arrival of the Mandarin language productions from the Shaw Brothers will impose juvenile faces to the public, such as Jimmy Wang Yu, David Chiang Da Wei or Yueh Hua. Kwan Hoi San and his friends had then to accept this change. Some returned to theatre, others continued to do movies in Cantonese while participating in productions shot then in Mandarin in big studios such as Shaw Brothers or Cathay Asia Films. Other also will integrate television, then still on its early stage, where they will meet again some filmmakers that have also turned toward TV. Kwan Hoi-san's cinema career went downhill until the mid-1970s. In 1976, he joined TVB, which he didn't leave up until the early 2000s.