Leslie Cheung: actor-singer Leslie Cheung did something harder than coming out in Hollywood--he came out in Hong Kong. (arts & entertainment).

Known affectionately as "Gorgor," Leslie Cheung, 46, committed suicide on April 1 by jumping from the 24th floor of Central Hong Kong's Mandarin Oriental hotel in the early evening. Perpetually boyish in looks but able to embrace roles ranging from smolderingly intense to breezily comedic, prudishly proper to teasingly salacious, Cheung was best known to gay U.S. audiences as a hopelessly smitten gay Peking opera singer in Chen Kai-Ge's Golden Globe-winner, Farewell, My Concubine (1993), and as half of a dysfunctional gay couple in Wong Kar-Wai's visually sumptuous Happy Together (1997). But throughout Asia he was exalted as the only Hong Kong superstar to not only play gay roles but also come out as queer himself.

"Although living in a traditional environment, Leslie never hid his gay identity from the world," muses Chen. "He was a caring and honest man."

Born Cheung Kwok-Wing in Hong Kong in 1956, this tailor's son was educated in the U.K. beginning in his teen years. Upon graduating in textile management from the University of Leeds, he returned to Hong Kong and shifted focus to music, TV, and film. He scored a first hit album, The Wind Blows On, in 1981. Acting success arrived soon thereafter--highlights included A Better Tomorrow (1986) and Once a Thief (1990), both from John Woo; the gender-bending He's a Woman, She's a Man (1994); and Wong's Days of Being Wild (1991) and Ashes of Time (1994).

Known offscreen as a flamboyant bad boy, Cheung was finally ready to publicly discuss his sexuality in a 2001 Time interview, where he claimed, "It's more appropriate to say I'm bisexual." He made waves at concerts by donning drag (designed by Jean Paul Gaultier, no less) and professing love to his partner of 18 years, Daffy Tong (whom fans dubbed "Tong Tong"). A 2001 music video, "Dreams to Inner River," was banned for its sexy depiction of Cheung and a male Japanese dancer.

Cheung left behind a suicide note. In it, he indicated "Depression! ... It has been a year of suffering" and thanked his fans, his psychiatrist, and Tong. There has been speculation as to why he was suffering, including a recent breakup with Tong, a fear of growing old on-screen (he was shifting focus to directing for this reason), and least credibly, that he was tormented by spirits, as was his character in last year's Inner Senses.

"Leslie used to jokingly call himself a legend," recalls Wong. "We too called him by this name. But no one had ever imagined a legend would be consummated this way. We will always remember him."

Ferber contributes to Time Out New York and other publications.