Roy Horan, Martial Arts Film Star and Exec, Dies at 71
Horan made his film debut in 1976 with “Bruce Lee’s Secret,” a psuedo biopic of the late Lee that was panned by critics but served as one of the first films featuring Hwang Jang Lee, who became known for playing the villain in many of Jackie Chan’s martial arts films in the late ’70s and early ’80s. It was Lee who taught Horan the martial arts skills he would use throughout his career.Horan and Lee would perform together in several martial arts films, including in one of Chan’s most famous movies, 1978’s “Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow.” In it, Horan played a Russian assassin disguised as a Christian missionary who is tasked with hunting down one of the last known masters of the Snake style of kung fu.