Jeff Falcon - where is he now?

[Brian Thibodeau]

Can't provide any information, but your question is one I've asked about nearly ALL the non-Asian "actors" that appeared in Hong Kong cinema during the heady 80's and early 90's. I suppose many of them are still active in martial arts of even movies somewhere, but it would be really cool to see a one-stop resource that provided post-Hong Kong cinema career information for the likes of Saskia van Riswjk (sp???), Kim Maree Penn, Fairlee Ruth Kordick, Dan Vincent, Mark Houghton (didn't this dude try to kill himself or something?), John Salvitti, Stephen Berwick, Eddie Maher, Mark King, Bruce Fontaine, the list goes on and on.

[Brian Thibodeau]

I've seen that Les Gweilos site. Post-Hong Kong info's still a bit light for a lot of these people.

One thing that's been bugging me for a while now is the entry there for Indra Leech. The picture with it is Declan Wong, likely from GOD OF GAMBLERS III: BACK TO SHANGHAI, and quite frankly I couldn't find him in any of the other movies they list there (all Stephen Chow movies) when I watched them. His entry in the HKMDB seems to have been corrected recently (I think?), listing only GOGIII and ONCE A THIEF, which is correct, while INDRA LEECH still gets credit for the Chow movies, although I'm not sure his name actually appears in the credits for all those films. Not even sure what Indra Leech really looks like, actually.

[Loulou]

Arnaud Lanuque (the writer of the "GWEILOS" article on hkcinemagic2) is not logged with this forum. I told him about this topic and he sent to my this response (his english is by luck better than mine...) :

I'm the writer of the "Les Gweilos" article. By the way, this
article has not been updated as our website as shifted shape
and now the western actors are directly into the database.
On Jeff Falcon : As you mookieghana, I've looked everywhere
for informations about him as he's amongst my favorites
western martial artists. I managed to find a few biographical
stuff but, on his life after Six Strings Samurai, I only got this
hint from Bey Logan as he would have been a worker in LA
Airport (thus the use of conditional in my texte). But it's very
difficult to get accurate informations on those people, so
seems it was wrong in this instance.
By the way, mookieghana, do you allow me to use some of
the informations on your website to update my biography of
him ?

On Indra Leech : I guess we are all the same on this guy
wich means : No information at all. You're right Brian, the
picture is taken from GOG 3 and is, indeed, a mistake. As we
have no elements on him except his name on a few credits,
it's quite difficult to be sure... I thought I had spotted him in
Forbidden City Cop (there seems to be a gweilo in the
background in scenes like the autopsy of the Roswell
ET/Emperor) but have never been able to be sure. We'll have
to do some corrections. Sorry it troubled you so muche

As a general note, and as I said earlier, it's extremly difficult
to gather info on many of those westerners so there is still
mistakes floating around. Any help would be appreciated for
sure. Just an example, I'm still looking for the name of the
guy playing the police commissioner in ITLOD 3 and 4. I think
it may be a D&B guy but never got anything on him...
I also have to precise that, our site talking about HK cinema, I've not tried to develop the after HK part of their careers. But if english speaking people want to participate and do something, we'll be more than happy

Oh, and Mark Houghton indeed commiteed suicide according
to Bey Logan (wich is certainly exact as they were good
friends before), you can see it on the interview I made with
him for the website.
There will be soon another "gweilo" interview on the site soon

Hope it helped.

Arnaud Lanuque

Now, our team is working on hkcinemagic.com and the gweilos page is on this. We nearly propose you a new interview of one this gweilos (in english). The page is ready, but we're looking for inedit pictures...

See you later

[Loulou]

Wow. Thanks for emailing the website's author with my query. I really appreciate it. Please tell Arnaud Lanuque that he's welcome to use the information from my LJ on his site in any fashion he'd like. It sounds like Jeff went back to China with his wife and was training in wu-shu with some monks, at least five years ago. Beyond that, I haven't found much else!

Rock on, everyone.

Thanks, I sent your response to Arnaud.

I give you the link (in exclu) of the next interview by Arnaud. The gweilo is Thomas Hudak, seen in 2000AD, Knock Off, Hot War, Wesley's Mysterious File...



Direct Link : http://www.hkcinemagic.com/en/page.asp?aid=106

PS : the page is not completed yet

[lonneke]

I've been wondering what ever happened to Jeff Falcon too after SSS, which was a great movie.

[Brian Thibodeau]

Thanks from me, too, for the responses!

The Indra Leech thing didn't really upset me so much as irk me just a little because that mistake has been repeated elsewhere. Good to know it will be fixed.

I thought I had spotted him in
Forbidden City Cop (there seems to be a gweilo in the
background in scenes like the autopsy of the Roswell
ET/Emperor) but have never been able to be sure.

I suspect I know exactly the guy you are talking about, because in scanning FBC to find a guy who looked like Declan Wong, I too spotted this one rather creepy looking gweilo lurking in the crowd of doctors. I'm fairly certain I've seen him in at least one other Stephen Chow movie, which led me to think that he was, in fact, Indra Leech. Time will tell, I guess...

[jaredhk]

Jef was working as a dishwasher at LAX a few years ago. Sadly he thought he was a SUPERSTAR when he was no more than an "Extra" in many of his HK films.

I doub't we will see him again at least in HK movies.

[phanhophuoc]

Can't provide any information, but your question is one I've asked about nearly ALL the non-Asian "actors" that appeared in Hong Kong cinema during the heady 80's and early 90's. I suppose many of them are still active in martial arts of even movies somewhere, but it would be really cool to see a one-stop resource that provided post-Hong Kong cinema career information for the likes of Saskia van Riswjk (sp???), Kim Maree Penn, Fairlee Ruth Kordick, Dan Vincent, Mark Houghton (didn't this dude try to kill himself or something?), John Salvitti, Stephen Berwick, Eddie Maher, Mark King, Bruce Fontaine, the list goes on and on.

[dlopez]

Mark Houghton commited suicide? So, who's the guy with his face and his name working everywhere now?

Check his filmo at IMDB:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0396461/

This guy appears even in more recent TV Series not listed.

[MrBooth]

I saw a credit for Mark Houghton in Stargate SG-1 just a few days ago (didn't spot him in the program, but I wasn't watching very closely!)

[Mike Thomason]

Can't provide any information, but your question is one I've asked about nearly ALL the non-Asian "actors" that appeared in Hong Kong cinema during the heady 80's and early 90's. I suppose many of them are still active in martial arts of even movies somewhere, but it would be really cool to see a one-stop resource that provided post-Hong Kong cinema career information for the likes of Saskia van Riswjk (sp???), Kim Maree Penn, Fairlee Ruth Kordick, Dan Vincent, Mark Houghton (didn't this dude try to kill himself or something?), John Salvitti, Stephen Berwick, Eddie Maher, Mark King, Bruce Fontaine, the list goes on and on.

From what I know, Australian Kim Maree Penn now either operates her own security company, or has interests in a security firm.

Bey Logan, bless his little cotton socks, once commented that Mark Houghton had a very "addictive personality"...which, when you read deeper into said interview, hinted that Mark may have developed a chemical dependancy problem at that stage. Though Mark used to be able to pull some moves in his day, the man had the screen presence of a wet sock, and I wouldn't be surprised if he had gone the way of Falcon. If he did develop some personal habitual issues, then he'd be in fine company with Donnie Yen (whose cocaine problems, and teenage criminal background [running with low level petty crims and engaging extortion rackets], are well documented). Whatever...I liked the man as a HK screen icon about as much as I did Yen: ie - not one iota.

I had similarly read that Falcon had fallen upon hard times...but as a poster above noted, he never really was anything more than an extra in any of the films he appeared in.

Sophia Crawford is about the only one who went on to anything noteworthy (since we hardly see Cindy Rothrock's name attached to anything these days). She managed to springboard her career from HK supporting "action gweilo" to a stint on the MIGHTY MORPHIN' POWER RANGERS TV series and then outward into extensive stuntwork in Hollywood. Last I read, she was stunt double on the BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER series, and recently worked on COLLATERAL and MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3. Not too shabby for a former London waitress...

Aussie Richard Norton kept on keeping on after his HK gig was up, and maintained a presence in numerous American B movies (which he does to this day).

As for the others...I'm sure there're people out there who know more about the numerous "token gweilos" than I do! I have a hard enough time keeping up with all the new Chinese talent...without extending my range to sundry bit players and extras as well...

[Loulou]

For gweilos fans :

- A new Interview with the "gweilo" Steve Tartalia (OUATIC) by the "gweilos specialist" Arnaud Lanuque

http://www.hkcinemagic.com/en/page.asp?aid=134

[Brian Thibodeau]

Mark Houghton commited suicide? So, who's the guy with his face and his name working everywhere now?

I had a feeling he that Houghton's death was greatly overexaggerated. I recall reading an online interview with Logan where he mentioned Houghton TRYING to kill himself due to his lack of employment or some such, but nowhere did I see it mentioned that he succeeded in the task. The rumour must have developed a life of its own. Guess it would have been easier to look him up at the IMDB!

Odd that Falcon couldn't have at least spun off more work for himself based on the moderate cult popularity of SIX STRING SAMURAI (not that I particularly enjoyed it, but I know others did). Then again, it didn't do much for it's director, either, so...

[eton rifles]

to add to this thread, last I heard Micheal Woods (of in the line of duty 4 fame) was living back in providence, rhode island.

[Mike Thomason]

Well, after all the conjecture about Mark Houghton being dead, here's a link that proves rumours of his passing were just that...

http://www.kungfucinema.com/articles/111601.htm

..and...

http://www.laufamilyhunggar.com/instructor_profiles.htm

(and for the astute database editors -- you'll find Lau Kar Yung's English name! )