HK Cinema - 1972
After having been in a few films for Golden Harvest
in 1970 and 1971, Angela Mao became a gigantic star in 1972 with the release
of Lady Whirlwind and Hapkido. Angela – born in 1950 – had gone through
the same rigorous Peking Opera training that The Seven Fortunes had in
a school in Taiwan. Since the age of five, she was trained in acrobatics,
singing, dancing and of course martial arts.
In Lady Whirlwind and Hapkido Angela was allowed
to display her amazing speed, grace and martial arts skills to wonderful
effect. Watching this woman take on various enemies and beat them into
submission took a real hold on audiences and she began to acquire the legendary
status that she still holds today.
After these two films, she went on to star in
other classic films such as Hu’s Fate of Lee Khan, When Taekwando Strikes,
Enter the Dragon (with Bruce), The Tournament, Broken Oath and others.
She retired from kung-fu films in 1980.
