“Angela cut a very striking presence on the screen,” says David Wilentz, who arranged a rare question-and-answer session with Mao for the Old School Kung Fu Fest in New York in 2017.

The 1977 film Broken Oath marked a change in style for kung fu legend Angela Mao Ying, who glammed it up in a Qing dynasty costume and a “princess” hairstyle to play a ruthless assassin hell ...