Sir Run Run Shaw may be the most legendary cinematic figure the average laowai has never heard of. The movie mogul who seemed he would live for ever died in Hong Kong Tuesday at age 106 or 107, depending on whom you believe. He has an asteroid named after him, and Queen Elizabeth II knighted him in 1977 for his philanthropic work. He did so much for so long that separating fact from fantasy is already difficult, with the fantasy side of things building now that he has passed. But let's look at why now would be a good time to see a Shaw Bros. film, even if you never have before.

1. He invented the kung-fu movie as we know it

We may call them wushu movies now, but back in the 1970s, martial arts films in North America were shown as kung-fu movies, and it was Shaw who was responsible for taking that genre to overseas screens. The Shaw Brothers started their first film production company in Shanghai in the 1920s, with Run Run heading to Singapore with another brother to open an office there, followed by a Hong Kong base in 1934. That company eventually became Shaw Bros., with Run Run starting TV production company Television Broadcasts Ltd. (TVB), in 1967.

Shaw Bros. produced Five Fingers of Death, the most popular kung-fun movie with U.S. and European audiences at the time, in 1973. Although Bruce Lee's movies were not Shaw productions, without the stream of Shaw movies that preceded Bruce's arrival in overseas cinemas, he wouldn't have had a chance. And there certainly would not have been a Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – which, by the way, featured Shaw star Cheng Pei-pei as the evil Jade Fox.

2. He launched the careers of Chow Yun-fat & Maggie Cheung, and inspired Tarantino & The Wachowskis

Kill Bill? Yeah, that's director Quentin Tarantino's homage to all the Shaw Bros. films he loved when he was growing up. He even uses a modified Shaw Bros. production trailer at the beginning of Grindhouse. The Wachowskis, the siblings that made The Matrix? Uh, yeah, they watched Shaw Bros. films too, and used the martial arts style of those films as the basis for The Matrix's fight scenes.

3. Until recently, Shaw's TVB was the world's largest producer of Chinese television content

TVB built its sprawling studio (known as TVB) in Hong Kong's eastern Tseung Kwan O district to accommodate its massive production facilities. Until only a few years ago, when it was eclipsed by China Central Television (CCTV), TVB was the largest producer of Chinese-language television content, both in Cantonese and Mandarin, in the world. TVB is still one of only two licensed free-to-air television stations in Hong Kong, broadcasting in both Cantonese and English.

4. He was one of the most generous philanthropists in China

Sir Run Run was knighted not for making movies, but for donating a significant portion of his wealth. As of 2012, he and his Shaw Foundation had given at least RMB 3.7 billion to educational charities, including about RMB 300 million to Zhejiang University in his home province. His donations covered gifts in multiple provinces and autonomous regions, including the Xizang Autonomous Region (Tibet), the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and Hunan and Shandong provinces. According to a memoriam on The World of Chinese's blog, "top universities in over 20 provinces all have buildings named after Shaw, including Tsinghua University, Peking University, and Beijing Foreign Studies University."

5. He backed Blade Runner

Ridley Scott's 1982 adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep was co-produced by Sir Run Run and Shaw Brothers, although it was far from the chop-socky fare for which he was best known. A box office bomb at the time, it's now considered an all-time science fiction classic.

His death marks an "end of an era, the end of a dynasty in Asian film," according to Stefan Hammond, author of Hong Kong film books Sex & Zen and A Bullet in the Head and Hollywood East, the latter another name for TVB's production facility.

R.I.P., Sir Run Run.

Photos: The Hollywood Reporter, GoreGirl.WordPress.com, Surface Asia, Dr. North.WordPress.com, Deviantart