The most evil character - Tribute to Bolo Yeung

Yang Sze (Simplified Chinese: chino 斯; Traditional Chinese: 楊 斯; Pinyin: Yáng Sī, born in Guangzhou, People's Republic of China on July 3, 1946), better known as Bolo Yeung (英文 Chinese in Chinese), is an actor , bodybuilder and chinese martial artist. His fame must have been partly claimed by great artists such as Bruce Lee (who was his friend and mentor until his death) and Jean-Claude Van Damme (who has a friendship today, and on many occasions has stated that it is responsible for Bolo's success).

Bolo Yeung, comes from the bosom of a very humble family. In his childhood he learned Kung Fu. At the age of 16 he began his career in the world of bodybuilding, with the lifting of weights. His devotion to powerlifting made him a Chinese weightlifting champion. [Citation needed]

He moves to Hong Kong where he starts giving bodybuilding classes in several gyms. Until the producer Run Run Shaw of Shaw Brothers, visiting a gym, looks at his imposing physique, giving him a chance to play a supporting role in The Heroic Ones (1970), by Chang Cheh. This film would be the starting signal for Bolo's film career.

He is proclaimed Mr. Hong Kong of bodybuilding in 1971. He is also assigned an ephemeral role as a street fighter who tests his martial skills in betting on the successful King Boxer

In that glorious era of classic Kung Fu cinema, Bruce Lee was sweeping the Hong Kong box office with his films. Bolo met Bruce Lee on the sets of a television channel. Both had been summoned to shoot an advertisement for Winston cigarettes. In this announcement, Lee knocked Bolo out of action. The slogan said: "If it's a fighter, it has to be Bruce Lee, if it's a cigarette, it has to be Winston."

Months later, they returned to work together in Operation Dragon (Enter the Dragon, 1973) where his fame incubated. In this film he plays a fighter called "Bolo". There he changed the name to Bolo Yeung, because up to that time he was listed as Yang Sze.

That same year, and thanks to the fame acquired with Bruce Lee, Bolo starred in his first feature film, Chinese Hercules (1973). The movie went through more grief than glory in the cinemas of the colony, where he would have to return to his usual roles in films like Thunder Kick (1974), Super Kung Fu Kid (1974), Hong Kong Superman (1975) or All Men Are Brothers (1975).

In 1979 he debuted in directing with Writing Kung Fu, a classic Kung Fu film that brings together young promises from the Hong Kong film scene, such as Candice Yu On On and John Cheung Ng Long. He would direct, besides writing and producing, Bolo (1980), a vehicle of personal brilliance, where he recreated in the choreographies that Jason Pai Piao would expressly design for him.

The death of Bruce Lee unleashed a decline in the genre of martial arts and forced Bolo to reconvert his role in modern action productions at that time, comedies and dramas. Thus, he appears timidly in Drunken Master (1978) Game of Death 2 (1981) Silent Romance (1984), by Frankie Chan, Working Class (1985), by Tsui Hark, My Lucky Stars (1985), by Samo Hung, Lucky Diamond (1985), by Yuen Cheung Yan and Lucky Stars Go Places (1986), by Eric Tsang. In 1986, Dicksoon Poon, hires Brandon Lee to star in a film directed by Ronny Yu, The Legend Continues (Legacy of Rage), in which Lee needed to gain some muscle volume. Bruce Lee's first-born coach was none other than Bolo Yeung. In the film, interestingly, Brandon and Bolo have a little fight in an alley.

In 1987 you hear that a US film crew from Cannon Films is looking for fighters for a movie based on the life of a Full Contact champion, Frank Dux. Bolo quickly establishes friendship in the casting with a young Jean-Claude Van Damme. Mark Disalle and Sheldon Lettich grant him the role of villain in Bloody Contact. Later, Bolo and Van Damme would work together again on Double Impact (Double Impact, 1991). At this time in his life, Bolo Yeung achieved worldwide fame thanks to the success at that time of the Belgian actor-karateka Jean-Claude Van Damme.