Lee became a director in 1936 with the crime thriller House Number 66 and made a name for himself the following year with Song of Life when the star of the film, Ng Chor Fan, was coined “King of Film” as a result of his role. Lee quickly earned a reputation as a dedicated and versatile director who excelled in different genres. One of the founders of the influential Union Motion Picture Enterprise, he was also a key director of the company.
Lee is also a key figure in Cantonese opera films. He was good friends with noted opera playwright Tong Dick-sang and served as the technical advisor on Tong’s directorial efforts Tung Hsiao Wan (1950) and Mysterious Murder (1951) as well as adapting seven of Tong’s operas to the big screen. A couple of those adaptations, The Legend of Purple Hairpin (1959) and Butterfly and Red Pear Blossom (1959), are considered the best opera films ever made. Both were produced by the company Lee formed in 1959, which also released Love at First Sight (1967).
In addition to directing, Lee also penned the screenplays to many of his films, including Belle in Penang (1954), The Love Thief (1958), Murderer in Town (1958) and Snow in June (1959).
Over a long career of more than four decades, Lee directed over 100 Cantonese films, ten Mandarin films, several films in the Chaozhou or Amoy dialects. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hong Kong Film Directors’ Guild in 1994. Lee passed away in 1996.

(Source : hkfilmdirectors.com) Edit Biography