The annual Star Awards Show 1 yesterday (April 21) was a solemn one, as celebrities at the MediaCorp TV Theatre remembered the death of veteran actor Huang Wenyong who passed away on Saturday evening.
The actor died of lymphatic cancer at age 60.
Audience members in the theatre stood up and observed half a minute of silence; a two-minute video montage of his many TV appearances also played.
When actress Rui En accepted her award for favourite on-screen couple with Elvin Ng, she said: “Wenyong da ge (big brother), you will be missed.”
Veterans like Xiang Yun, 51, who starred opposite him in 1984’s The Awakening, and Lin Meijiao, 45, both dressed in black, were spotted with teary eyes.
Yvonne Lim, 37, and Ann Kok, 40, also broke down while talking about the actor.
Lim said: “I told him that if I ever get married, I want him to host my wedding and he said ‘yes’. But we’ll never get to fulfil this promise now.”
Born in Malaysia, Huang joined the-then Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) in the 1980s and was among the first few batches of locally-trained actors to enter the industry.
Huang shot to fame through his portrayal of the earnest Chinese migrant Ah Shui in the seminal drama series The Awakening in 1984.