Enter the Dragon star Shek Kin (Mr. Han) dead at 96
Aint It Cool News points out that the martial arts film community lost two stars yesterday. Hong Kong actor Shek Kin, remembered largely for his portrayal of Mr. Han in Bruce Lee’s posthumous masterpiece Enter the Dragon, died at the age of 96. Thankfully his passing was a little more prosaic that Mr. Carradine’s – Kin reportedly succumbed to liver failure.
In addition to bringing a singular villainous flair to the screen, Kin was also an accomplished martial artist in his own right.
From his Wikipedia entry:
He is best known to Western audiences as the villainous Han in Bruce Lee’s 1973 martial arts classic Enter the Dragon. Shih Kien was a martial arts master[citation needed] who trained at the Chin Woo Association in Shanghai and received instructor in a number of styles, including Eagle Claw and Choy Lay Fut. Among his students was Lee Koon Hung, Grandmaster of Choy Lay Fut.
I think it’s fair to say that his fight scene with Bruce Lee is probably one of the best of Lee’s short career. Thought it’s arguable that some of Lee’s other fight scenes were more technically proficient (most of the scenes at the end of Game of Death come to mind), there’s no doubt that his bout with Kin is the most iconic.
Here’s the man himself in a demonstration of kung-fu prowess, from 1984.
And Mr. Han himself, speaking in Enter the Dragon:
It is difficult to associate these horrors with the proud civilizations that created them: Sparta, Rome, The Knights of Europe, the Samurai… They worshipped strength, because it is strength that makes all other values possible. Nothing survives without it. Who knows what delicate wonders have died out of the world, for want of the strength to survive.
Indeed.
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