Simon Yuen - A familiar face

So I sat here for five long minutes wondering where to start with this whole kung blog idea and alongside almost every thought sat Simon Yuen. Because, for me, this guy is the face I associate with old school kung fu flicks. He's the epitomy of underdog and for me is an absolute joy to watch on screen.
Hell, if it weren't for him my Blind Fists Of Bruce DVD would currently be protecting my desk from those rings you get from tea cups.
The first film I ever saw him in was Drunken Master, which I still regard as one of the best Kung Fu films ever made.
The only reason I've never learnt a martial art myself, is that I'm still waiting for the day that I get drunk, get in a barfight and find myself humbled by a drunken old man who travels around torturing/training boisterous young individuals so that they can avenge the death of a parent.
My parents, to the best of my knowledge, are still alive and breathing, so my motivation will have to come from elsewhere.
Maybe..........

Maybe I could be trained to stop another reeves film from happening. Its the eight drunken gods against the matrix.
If you got that reference, well done.
I kind of guessed that he was dead by now and I'm pleased to admit that wikipedia just told me he died in 1979. I'm also pleased that wikipedia has caused me to realise that I've only seen a handfull of this legends films, so I guess the debit card is popping over to amazon soon.
I like to imagine that if he was alive today, that he'd still be exploiting the Sam the Seed character, demonstrating drunken boxing at charity TV events.
If only.
He clearly inspired his children though as one of them knocked out a dodgy film a few months back called True Legend which I'm pleased to report, is fun for the first forty minutes.
So to sum this post up, Simon Yuen is for me, the representation of fu flicks. Some people have a different face they attach to the genre, maybe Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, Gordon Liu or maybe even Carter Wong, but it's undeniable that he is one of the most recognisable faces from the golden age of Fu.
You probably learnt nothing from reading all of that so I'll give you a few links that might make up for this drivel:

An article about Yuen and his offspring (HK Cinemagic)

A Simon Yuen Fanpage (Shaw Brothers Reloaded)