On April 1st of this year, popular singer and actor Leslie Cheung jumped to his death from a window in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong. He left behind a suicide note purportedly stating emotional problems.

My wee tribute here is a bit late only because I was really fucking bummed over this whole thing. Leslie has been one of my favorite Chinese actors for quite sometime and while he was not known for martial arts films, he was well known for just about everything else.

Like most popular Chinese actors, Leslie was also a singer as well. He first gained attention when he came in second place in a singing contest in 1977 and won fame as a singer first before branching out as an actor.

The first film role that won him attention was John Woo’s 1986 A BETTER TOMORROW with Chow Yun-Fat. He starred in the sequel and then went on to make another popular film, 1987’s A CHINESE GHOST STORY.

While Leslie wasn’t a martial artist, he did partake in such wire-fu films as 1993’s cult favorite THE BRIDE WITH WHITE HAIR with Bridgette Lin and Kar-wai Wong’s 1994 moody ASHES OF TIME.

One of the most interesting things about Leslie’s career was that he could go from silly comedies like 1995’s THE CHINESE FEAST to Mainland China period epics like Kaige Chen’s 1996 TEMPTRESS MOON to serious drama such as Wong’s 1997 HAPPY TOGETHER. One of his most famous rolls is as the homosexual Chinese Opera singer in Chen’s 1993’s FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE. Leslie’s last film was Chi-leung Law’s 2002 INNER SENSES.

While I loved his movies, one of my favorite memories of Leslie is seeing his stage show in Vegas a couple of years ago at Christmas. None of my family wanted to go with me, so I bought a ticket and went by myself. The dancers were crap and Leslie did not have the greatest singing range, but damn if it wasn’t a fun show. Flamboyant as all get-out and drop-dead sexy, Leslie oozed charisma and attitude as he sauntered across the stage. He spoke in Mandarin, Cantonese and English (he was schooled in Great Britain) and had more costume changes than Cher. He sang a few songs in English, one of them being Don McLean’s “American Pie.” I was humming that song to myself for weeks.

For those who have never seen one of his movies, start off with either FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE (for some serious epic drama), THE BRIDE WITH WHITE HAIR (for way-out goth-fu-fun), A BETTER TOMORROW (for a decent if sappy crime drama) or my favorite, THE CHINESE FEAST, for just plain fun.

Farewell Leslie, you will be missed.