Hong Kong ( CNN ) -- Sir Run Run Shaw , the media tycoon who helped bring Chinese martial arts films to an international audience , died at his home in Hong Kong on Tuesday at the age of 106 , the television station he founded said on Tuesday . Television Broadcasts Limited ( TVB ) said in a statement that the centenarian would be sadly missed : . `` Although we knew this day will come , no words can adequately express our sorrow and lessen our sense of a profound loss , '' it said . With his elder brother , Runme , Shaw co-founded one of the world 's largest film studios , Shaw Brothers . The company has produced around 1,000 movies since 1958 , and helped launch the careers of star actors and directors from across Asia . At its peak , in the 1960s and 1970s , the studios were making more than 40 films a year , according to a biography by film history writers Zhan Youpeng and Lan Chao . `` The Shaw brothers -- they created the martial arts action genre and made it huge . And it 's been copied ever since , '' said Patrick Frater , Asia bureau chief at industry publication Variety . Shaw also has credits on several U.S. films , including Ridley Scott 's `` Blade Runner . '' He was born in 1907 in the city of Ningbo , near Shanghai in China , although there is some confusion about his exact date of birth , Frater said . He was the youngest of six children fathered by a successful textile merchant . In the 1920s , he joined his brother Runje in Singapore in an effort to establish a market for Chinese-language films in Southeast Asia , according to a Hong Kong Film Archive chronology . By 1939 , they had opened 139 cinemas across the region . `` Run Run Shaw was there at the beginning of the century when cinema first took off , '' Frater said . After World War II , Shaw moved to Hong Kong and began concentrating on film production , opening a world-class studio called Movie Town in 1961 . Six years later , he co-founded Hong Kong 's first free-to-air station , TVB . The network remains one of the world 's most influential Chinese-language broadcasters . Shaw was a generous philanthropist , especially in the education sector . The Shaw Prize , an international science award that he established , has become known as the `` Nobel of the East . '' The media mogul was knighted by the Queen in 1977 . Shaw received Hong Kong 's highest honor award , the Grand Bauhinia Medal , in 1998 , after the territory returned to Chinese rule . He remained involved in Hong Kong 's media industry well into his later years , retiring as chairman of the television station , TVB , only in 2011 at the age of 104 . Shaw is survived by his wife , Mona Fong , and four children . People we lost in 2014 . CNN 's Katie Hunt contributed to this report .
Hong Kong media mogul Run Run Shaw has died at age 106 . Shaw 's studios were instrumental in building Asia 's film industry . He helped establish Hong Kong 's first free-to-air television broadcaster . Shaw gave generously to philanthropic causes , especially education .