If you've been following my blog, you know that I have a special fondness for underappreciated and forgotten actresses. Chang Li Chu certainly falls into the latter category. Her film career is a scattering of credits over nearly twenty years that, when connected together, form only an obscure picture.
According to Oldflames, Chang Li Chu was discovered by Shaw Brothers after being crowned Hong Kong's "Miss Cleopatra" in a contest held to publicize the eagerly awaited release of Cleopatra (1963), with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
Once at Shaws, however, "Miss Cleopatra" had to hang up her tiara and unceremoniously take her place in the studio's stable of aspiring starlets. Her first work was a bit part in the famous huangmei musical The Love Eterne (1963), followed by a more substantive role as one of the Seven Heavenly Maidens in A Maid from Heaven (1963). Chang Li Chu's next film was The Story of Sue San (1964), but it seems that she subsequently left Shaws, since her only other work that year were two Cantonese films starring Patricia Lam Fung and Wu Fung, Viva the Better Half (1964) and The Tenants (1964). After that, there's a gap of two years until her next film, Prosperity Lies Ahead (1966), a Mandarin production starring Cathay star Annette Chang Hui-Hsien and veteran actor/director Wong Ho.
Chang Li Chu in A Maid from Heaven and The Treasure of the River Kwai
(images from HKMDB)
Most intriguing to me is Chang Li Chu's final film as an actress, The Treasure of the River Kwai, a Hong Kong–Thai production that appears to have been released in 1967 or 1968. Judging by her prominent appearance on the movie's handbill, it might have been the biggest role of her career. (The movie's soundtrack EP seems to confirm this, as it not only includes a song by leading lady Angela Yu Chien but also a song by Li Chu herself.) I'm especially taken with her picture on the handbill: shirttails tied up in a knot, wide white belt, head cocked, thumb in pocket — a cool and sexy mod look!
Sadly, just when it seems like she got her chance to shine, Chang Li Chu dropped out of sight until the mid-70s, when she showed up back at Shaw Brothers — this time behind the scenes — as the producer of Sex for Sale (1974), Kidnap (1974), Black Magic (1975), and King Gambler (1976). Whoa... how did that come about? And what happened in the intervening years?
Once again she disappeared, only to turn up five years later as one of the producers of The Battle for the Republic of China (1981). And that's it, as far as her life in showbiz goes. Chang Li Chu quietly passed away in 2004.
And so it goes: some stars shine forever brightly in the celestial sky; some fade away, forgotten in the passage of time; and some never quite make it off the firmament.
All we can do is fondly pay tribute to the mysterious "Miss Cleopatra", Chang Li Chu.
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