Member J.J. Hayden Posted June 11, 2023 Member Share Posted June 11, 2023 Mark Houghton Born in the small town of Neneaton, Bedworth, Northern Warwickshire, Engalnd in 1962. Mark began training in martial arts at age 14, beginning with Judo, switching to Karate at age 16. It was around this time that he saw Bruce Lee and was inspired to learn Chinese martial arts but struggled to find a teacher in England at that time. Eventually a friend suggested going to Hong Kong to find a master, but it wasn't quite suitable at that time, so his friend suggested going to Malaysia as there was a large Chinese population there. So at just age 18 he moved to Malaysia, staying with his friend's family and becoming like an adopted son. The first Kung Fu school he found in Malaysia was a White Crane school, which he trained at for about a month until a friend introduced him to the films of Liu Chia-liang and the style of Hung Gar. Mark asked his friend if he knew any Hung Gar masters in Malaysia and his friend introduced him to Ho Kam-wai, who was reluctant at first to take Mark as a student, but after a gruelling seven day probation period Mark was accepted as a student and remained so for three years. Mark became an unknowing participant in a gang fight between local triads, during which he was stabbed and suffered a punctured lung. During his recovery he was intimidated by the police and decided until things died down he'd return to England and open a martial arts school. At about age 22 he started teaching martial arts in Coventry, then later in Birmingham near to Chinatown. While in Birmingham he met a Hong Kong man whose children were Mark's students and while having a conversation about why Mark liked martial arts, Mark brought up Liu Chia-liang, to which the man revealed that his friend back in Hong Kong knew Liu Chia-liang very well. Mark asked if it could be arranged for him to meet his hero as a one off, which was done and soon after, he got his wish. In June 1988, Mark met his hero at Cinema City and Liu stated that he had a good horse stance for a foreigner. Liu then took him out for dinner, during which Liu asked if Mark wanted to be in his new movie, Aces Go Places 5 which was to begin filming in November, to which Mark agreed. During this time Mark returned to his school and informed them that he'll be off for a bit to do the one movie with his hero, but when Liu offered for Mark to stay and learn from him about martial arts and cinema, Mark quickly called back home to say to shut his school as he was staying in Hong Kong, and he's remained there ever since. Before the release of Aces Go Places 5, Mark worked on some films for Godrey Ho and it was through the stuntmen on these films that he met Phillip Ko, whom he would work with several times in the future. Mark became Liu's student in both martial arts and film-making, working on many of Liu's films both on and off camera, he was often given the role of assistant action director, though due to studio politics would not be credited for this on the films. The most notable instance being on Drunken Master II, where he had to pull out of the film after a falling out between his master and Jackie Chan. He worked on the films of many other directors too, becoming one of the most recognisable gwailos in Hong Kong cinema. 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member sym8 Posted June 11, 2023 Member Share Posted June 11, 2023 I met him once in Birmingham at a Q&A thing organised by his then friend Bey Logan,I asked him about the scars he had on his arms and he said it was the joys of working on the doors in Hong Kong.He was also talking about how he couldn’t get his head around the fact that he had just finished choreographing Lau Kar Fei in a tv series and he was telling him what to do.He seemed a decent guy to talk too also. 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted June 12, 2023 Member Share Posted June 12, 2023 (edited) I had a very nice phone conversation with Mark 5 years ago to promote his documentary I am the White Tiger. What could have been a 15-20 minute interview turned into a near 90 minute chat and he gave some very interesting stories some of which I kept off the record out of respect for him. He had very great praise for Philip Ko and Sammo Hung. Here's the transcribed interview https://worldfilmgeek.com/2019/06/14/meet-the-white-tiger-an-interview-with-mark-houghton/ Edited June 12, 2023 by AlbertV 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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