The sum of joy

By Foong Woei Wan
Publisher:The Straits Times - Publication Date: 20-02-2008


In a business famous for its sweet young things and divas with ever-changing images, Hong Kong comedienne Lydia Sum seemed to stay the same in more than 100 movies and 5,000 episodes of variety shows.

Her look of high, flipped hair and wing-tipped black-rimmed glasses seldom changed - whether she was starring in the It's A Mad, Mad, Mad World film series or the Singaporean English-language sitcom, Living With Lydia.

Nor did her loud laugh.

That laugh will be much missed.

Sum, who was well-loved as a jolly, roly-poly presence in movies, TV series and variety shows over a career of almost five decades, died in hospital on Feb 19. She was 60.

She died in Queen Mary Hospital in Hong Kong at 8:38am and her family was at her side, reported Ming Pao Daily News.

The cause of death was not released, but she was believed to have been battling liver cancer.

Sum, who also had diabetes and hypertension, had been in and out of hospital since late 2006, when she had a tumour removed from her liver.

She never confirmed reports that she had cancer, but friends and family said she underwent chemotherapy.

Affectionately known as Fei Fei (Fatty) - or Fei Cheh (Fat Sister) in later years - the actress and show host was an icon in Hong Kong showbiz.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang mourned her death yesterday. "Hong Kong grew up with her laughter. She brought us a lot of joy," he said.

Her colleagues remembered her as not just a great star but also a great person.

Hong Kong actress Nancy Sit, who had worked with her since the 1960s, said Sum was an outstanding actress and compere.

Speaking to Life! from Los Angeles, where she was on her way back to Hong Kong, Sit said: "It's very hard to find a second Fei Fei today. It's a very big loss to the entertainment circle."

She added: "She was someone who loved her friends and would stand up for them if they got bullied. She would definitely help you."

Singaporean actress Koh Chieng Mun, who worked with Sum on Living With Lydia for four years, said: "She was a very generous and giving person. She treated everybody very well, from the cleaner to the president of the company. She treated everyone with respect."

Born in Shanghai in 1947, Sum was the sixth of nine children in a family that made its fortune from tobacco.

She moved to Hong Kong at age 11 and made her movie debut at age 13 as a teen Shaw starlet in When The Peach Blossoms Bloom (1960).

She became a household name in the 1970s as a host of broadcaster TVB's variety show, Enjoy Yourself Tonight - where she first apppeared as a singer from girl group Four Golden Flowers. She also established herself as an actress in more than 100 Mandarin and Cantonese movies, including The Lotus Lamp (1965) and The Country Bumpkin In Style (1974).

In one of her most memorable roles, she starred as a lottery-addicted mother opposite the late comedian Bill Tung in It's A Mad, Mad, Mad World (1987), the first hit film of what would be a four-part family comedy series.

She made her English-language debut in 2002, starring as a dim sum chef in the MediaCorp production Living With Lydia, and won a Best Comedy Performance By An Actress prize for her performance at the 2003 Asian Television Awards.

She also hosted Hong Kong talk shows such as Behind The Fame (2003), on which her first guest was her former husband, Hong Kong actor Adam Cheng of Swordsman Chu fame.

They had married in 1985, after living together for about a decade and were known then as a perfect match - although in a reverse of the Chinese saying, "talented man, beautiful woman", she was the one with the talent and he the looks.

At the risk of complications from diabetes and hypertension, she chose to have his child.

But he fell for Taiwanese actress Kuan Ching-hua when Sum was still pregnant. The couple divorced just months after their daughter Joyce was born.

Sum is survived by Joyce, now 20, and Cheng, 60.

The comedienne appeared on TV for the last time in November last year when she received a lifetime achievement award at the TVB Anniversary Awards.

Her hair and glasses looked the same but she was thinner than before and was in a wheelchair. She had reportedly lost 20kg.

And there were tears - not laughter - when she said then: "I hope my health will progress day by day. I will not give up so easily the TV career that I love most. Thank you."

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