Yuen Wo-Ping, Martial Master

This week, when the motion Picture Academy announces its Oscar nominations, no official will speak the name Yuen. That's a shame, because the pleasure of Hollywood picture-going in the year 2000 was, in large part, the doings of the Yuens.

Cheung-yan Yuen, the action choreographer for Charlie's Angels, made kung-fu fighters out of Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu. Corey Yuen (no relation) put Jet Li through a black-and-blue workout in the box-office hit Romeo Must Die. And who supervised the buoyant action scenes in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon?the pursuit by Michelle Yeoh of Zhang Ziyi across a courtyard and...