The Original Gweilo

The Original Gweilo tells the life story of Bill Lake, a pioneer actor of Hong Kong action cinema.

From humble origins in England where he grew up on the largest council estate in Europe in the 1950s, Bill Lake was sent to school at the Royal Hospital Naval School near Ipswich, before joining the Royal Artillery of the British Army aged just 15 years old. Progressing into the regular army at age 17, Bill was posted to Hong Kong, the place that became home for the rest of his life.

After an eventful army career, by the early 1970s Bill had left the military and was casting around for a new career. A chance encounter in a bar enabled him to land a minor role in a movie being filmed by a local Hong Kong production company. This was the start of Bill's amazing career as an actor, in which he featured in over 200 Hong Kong cinema and TV films and dramas. Often cast as the villain or as a policeman, Bill's ability to speak Cantonese and willingness to train hard to develop his skills in Chinese-style kung fu made him a natural choice for roles in the multitude of action films made in the Hong Kong film industry's boom years of the 1970-80s. As one of the few "gweilo" (non-Chinese) actors in the genre, Bill became a well-known face of Hong Kong cinema, rubbing shoulders with many of the industry's best-known actors, directors and producers, some of whom remain friends to this day.

For many years a heavy drinker, Bill descended into alcoholism, separated from his first wife, and endured a period living in dingy hostels and mixing with the underbelly of Hong Kong society. The second-half of the book tells the story of how, after meeting his second wife Angie Lam, Bill managed to turn his life around with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous, found God, and led a happy family life with Angie and their two children, Dougie and Odette.

In his later years, Bill obtained fulfillment repaying some of the help he experienced overcoming his challenges with alcohol as an active member of Alcoholics Anonymous, and achieving success as a military historian. An authority on Hong Kong's military history during World War 2, Bill has given countless talks, produced documentaries, and acted as advisor to film makers and researchers documenting Hong Kong's wartime history.