Huang Wenyong kept his condition such a closely guarded secret that his death last Saturday evening from cancer shocked many colleagues, they said at the Star Awards Show 1, held on Sunday night at Caldecott Broadcast Centre.
Yvonne Lim, 37, said she did not believe the news when she first heard it.
"My family asked me if it was true. I didn't think it was true since there was a false rumour previously which said he passed away and it turned out to be a hoax," she said.
"I was quite angry that someone was spreading such rumours again and I told my family that it was not true."
The actress, who acted as Huang's daughter in the 180-episode family drama Your Hand In Mine (2009), choked up as she recalled the moment she realised the news was not a hoax.
"I was still worried so I checked online for news of him and Channel NewsAsia ran an article of his death. I was thinking it wouldn't run a false rumour and when I asked my manager if it was true, she replied with a simple 'yes'."
Huang, 60, was Singapore's first male TV star, playing the leading roles in two of the earliest hit Mandarin drama series produced here, Army Series (1983) and The Awakening (1984).
He died at Singapore General Hospital of stage four lymphoma cancer, a cancer of the lymph nodes, leaving behind his wife, a son, 26, and a daughter, 22.
Actress Rui En, 32, was on her way to a filming venue when she received the news. With a sigh, she said: "When I reached the filming location, the mood was really heavy and some people were already crying."
Actor Chen Hanwei, 43, said he was completely blindsided by the news. In fact, he had told actress Zoe Tay he was convinced that Huang was going to be okay, right before receiving word of his death.
He said: "It's weird but I was looking at his messages to me and in his last message to me, he reassured me that he was fine and thanked me for my concern. I even told Zoe that he should be okay. Then, soon after, I received the news and I just kept crying."
ST PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN and DESMOND FOO
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