My Longkang

Lydia Shum in her younger days

The world says farewell to Lydia Sum. Personally I loved that woman. I grew up with her and enjoyed her comic roles and pushy ways as she acted out her various roles in a natural manner drawing audiences into the plot.

Her roles as a housewife, a comic, her ways with men and her neighbours, her screen presence ensured her presence in the hearts of her fans even while many of her generation had dropped out of filmdom and lived normal lives. Even when I was a kid and did not know the meaning of celebrities, I adored her. She brought much cheer to my life and those around me.

Huddled around the small black and white television set in the slum we lived in, her films gave us an escape from our own humdrum lives. Popular Hong Kong actress and comedienne Lydia Shum died today on Tuesday at the age of 60, after a protracted battle with liver cancer.

Shum was born in 1947 in Shanghai, China. She made her film debut in 1960 as a child actress. A comic and dramatic actress. My most memorable memory of her is from the role she played as Richard Ng’s wife in the all-star comedy Millionaire’s Express and in It’s a Mad Mad World.

Shum married actor and singer Adam Cheng Siu-chow in 1985 after living together for 11 years. Given her generous girth, there were no suitable wedding gowns and there was insufficient time to prepare for a wedding gown. Lydia Shum wore a Chinese cheongsam instead. Years later Lydia Shum spoke frankly about her regrets that she had not worn a wedding gown.

Pic courtesy of www.answers.com/topic/lydia-shum

They had a daughter, Joyce Cheng Yan-yee, in 1987. Eight months after Joyce was born, Cheng and Shum divorced. Joyce Cheng Yan-yee gained much media exposure due to her mother. Cheng performed a version of Britney Spears’ Oops!… I Did It Again, in a Hong Kong charity television program. Much of her childhood was spent in Vancouver, British Columbia, where she attended Crofton House School. She took a break from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, to pursue a music and acting career in Asia.

Some say Joyce Chen is currently working on her debut album, produced by Liu Jia Chang, which is planned to be released before summer 2008.

Lydia Shum had several chronic ailments : cholangitis, diabetes, and hypertension. In 2002, she was admitted to hospital and had 32 gallstones extracted. In September 2006, Shum was diagnosed with liver tumor and cancer around the gallbladder. Immediately, doctors removed one third of her liver.

Lydia Shum Din-ha died at the Queen Mary Hospital on 19 February 2008, at 08:38. The cause of death was complications from liver cancer.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 at 10:20 pm and is filed under Celebrities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.