Bill Lake R.I.P

I was saddened this week to learn of the passing of Bill Lake on 12 June 2026. As most of you will know, Bill was one of the earliest foreign actors in the HK movie industry and had quite an extensive list of roles to his name over the years (HKMDB) including a few TV roles in the early 80s as well.

I first met Bill at a Gwulo dinner circa 2015 and we had fairly regular meet ups in the intervening time, often with David Bellis (Gwulo head honcho) and myself heading over to Sai Kung to sit in Bill's favourite venue (the Duke of York) for a large pint of lemonade. He was definitely a bit of a raconteur and shared lots of stories with us about his time in Hong Kong and the various roles he was involved in during the 1970s and 80s. His later life was dedicated to researching the history of Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation and is why Gwulo became a shared point of (historical) interest.

Bill posing at the Duke of York

Back in 2022, smack in the middle of Covid, I persuaded him to partake in an interview about his film career with my good buddy Arnaud (see here) and it was not long after this that he found out he had cancer. Despite this he was fairly stoic about it all and never complained about his predicament. In fact he was very matter-of-fact with me about it in our various updates over the past few years. This also seemed to give him the impetus to get a book written about his life and he was able to send me a copy a few weeks back.

Anyway, rest in peace Bill.

Chaplin Chang R.I.P

I just found out today from a friend that Chaplin Chang has passed away.

I first met Chaplin after volunteering to help him edit his memoirs through a mutual friend and several meet ups were to follow over the next few years. He had a lot of energy for a man in his late 80s and early 90s and always insisted on travelling out from his home in Tin Shui Wai to meet up for some food and a chat.

He had quite a fascinating life, the early part of which he turned into a memoir - Beyond the Blockades - largely about his days as a seaman doing supply runs up and down the coast of China during the late 40's and early 50's. Later in the 50s he became involved in the film industry. As a native Hokkien speaker (he was originally from Xiamen/Amoy) he started off acting in Hokkien-language movies made for the Chinese diaspora in Asia and later, due his excellent English skills, started to liaise with overseas production companies that came to HK to shoot movies and often filled the role of local Assistant Director. As you can see from my various Chasing Chaplin posts, he often had small cameo roles in these movies as well as working behind the camera.

Anyway, I shall miss Chaplin, he was a warm and friendly person and was chock full of stories (and photographs) of his time in various films. R.I.P.

Here is a photo from the first time I met him in May 2013.

Jon Benn R.I.P

I was very sad to learn today of the passing of Jon Benn. He was a larger than life character and was immensely fun to be around. I was lucky enough to meet him a few years back after he left a comment on my old blog. Someone had inquired as to what had become of him (I think it was on an old post about The Way of the Dragon) and he replied that he was still around and based in Shanghai.

Actually, I don't think Jon read my blog at all but was told about it by his friend Bill Yim (Bill deserves his own biography). Anyway, one thing led to another and a photographer friend (a big Bruce Lee fan) saw the comment from Jon and asked if I could put them both in contact because my friend was very keen to photograph him. Jon was doing a monthly visa runs (in and out of China) at the time and so on his next trip to Hong Kong we all met up for a beer.

Suffice to say Jon was still very much the raconteur and had some great stories to tell (most of which, but not all, can be found in his autobiography). I did catch up with him a few more times after that but he eventually left Shanghai a few years ago and returned to the US.

Jon, Feb 2011