Cheng Pei-pei, ‘queen of martial arts’ movies, dead at 78

(CNN) — Actress Cheng Pei-pei, best known for her martial arts roles in films such as “Come Drink with Me” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” has died. She was 78.

“It is with a heavy heart that we announce that the rumors are true. Our mother, Cheng Pei Pei, passed away peacefully at home surrounded by her loved ones on July 17,” her family wrote in a statement posted on Facebook Friday.

They shared that she was living with a rare, progressive disease known as corticobasal degeneration (CBD). The condition causes an increasing number of brain cells to become damaged and die over time, causing worsening problems with movement, speech, memory and swallowing, according to the UK’s National Health Service website. Currently, no treatment has been shown to stop its progression.

“She chose not to make this news public so that she could deal with her condition in private and spend her remaining time with her children and grandchildren,” the statement reads.

“To all her friends, colleagues, and fans, thank you for all the support you showed her over the years. Our mom wanted to be remembered by how she was: the legendary Queen of Martial Arts… a versatile, award-winning actress whose film and television career spanned over six decades, not only in Asia but internationally as well,” the statement continues.

Born in Shanghai in 1946, Cheng trained in ballet while at school before moving to Hong Kong as a teenager.

She then enrolled in a performing arts training course at film production company Shaw Brothers Studio, a pioneer of the kung fu film genre, according to the website Hong Kong Movie Database (HKMDB).

This led Cheng to establish her acting career in Shaw Brothers films, such as 1964 historical drama “The Last Woman of Shang,” in which she played a dancer, and 1964 romance “Lover’s Rock” (“Qing ren shi”).

Her breakthrough role came two years later, when she starred as a skilled martial artist in action crime classic “Come Drink with Me.”

Cheng later married, moving to the United States in 1971. She and her husband had four children but eventually divorced.

She moved back to Hong Kong in the 1990s, according to HKMDB, before starring in the Oscar-winning 2000 action adventure “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” in which she played villainous fighter Jade Fox.

“I’m always up for a fight,” Cheng told Time Out magazine in 2015. “It’s exhilarating. I’ve always been an active person, so when I got a chance to act out fight scenes, I was happy to oblige.”

Her final role was the matchmaker in the 2020 live-action movie “Mulan.”

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