Leading film executive of Shaw Brothers Mona Fong dies at 83

HONG KONG: Asia lost one of its top women film and TV executives with the death on Wednesday of Mona Fong (aka Mona Shaw). She was 83.

A former singer and actress, she became a key figure in the running of first the Shaw Brothers movie studio, then at the top of TVB, Hong Kong’s leading free-to-air TV station.

Fong died at Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital, in Happy Valley, surrounded by her family. No cause of death was given.

Born in Shanghai in 1934 as Lee Monglan, she moved to Hong Kong in the 1940s with her mother and quickly turned professional as a singer. She was noted for her singing abilities in Chinese and English, and often sang English covers of Chinese hits.

She met her husband, the legendary Sir Run Run Shaw, after a performance in Singapore in 1952, though they did not marry until 1997. Sir Run Run, co-founder of Shaw Brothers, died in January 2014 at the age of 106.

Fong joined Shaw Brothers as early as 1969 and became its managing director, after its heyday, in 1996. She was a director, chairwoman and coowner of TVB from 1988 and remained a key management figure until 2012.

In recent years control of Shaw Brothers has been passed to representatives of Li Ruigang, allowing the mainland Chinese tycoon and his CMC group in turn to take increasing control of the powerful Hong Kong broadcaster. However, she remained a non- executive director until her death.