Comedian Chu Ke-liang is dead at 70

Taipei, May 15 (CNA) Entertainer Hsieh Hsin-Ta (謝新達), better known as Chu Ke-liang (豬哥亮), died of liver failure early Monday in National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) in Taipei, his doctor said. He was 70.

The comedian had been hospitalized for weeks because of terminal colon cancer. He was diagnosed with the disease in 2014 but did not receive surgery until last September, choosing to first continue his work in movies and other projects.

Father of Jeannie Hsieh (謝金燕), one of Taiwan's top singers, Hsieh had a lifelong struggle with gambling and debts totaling up at one time to a reported amount of NT$1 billion (US$33 million) and went into hiding for 15 years until resurfacing in April 2010.

Since that time, he had worked in movies and TV shows and to a certain degree had won back the admiration of the public who likes his coarse humor and slapstick.

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