Hong Kong film magnate Run Run Shaw, who built the Shaw Brothers Studio into the largest in Asia in the 1960s and '70s, popularized the kung fu genre around the world and later became a philanthropist, died Tuesday at 106.

Shaw's studio -- which he ran with his brother, Runme -- churned out more than 1,000 films over more than five decades, from romances and musicals to action pictures. He even co-produced American films, including Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. The legacy of Shaw Brothers films can be seen in the works of contemporary filmmakers including Quentin Tarantino, John Woo and Ang Lee.

Emulating the style of Hollywood studios in the 1930s, the Shaws set out to build an elaborate studio in a then-remote part of Hong Kong. At its opening in 1961, it was said to be the largest private film studio in the world, with more than 1,000 employees, more than a dozen stages and state-of-the-art equipment.

The Shaw Brothers logo, with the initials SB over a shield, looked much like that of Warner Bros.; viewers of Tarantino's film Kill Bill Vol. 1 may recall seeing the SB logo in the opening credit sequence, accompanied by the words "Shaw Scope" and a cheesy trumpet fanfare.

By the early 1960s, the Shaw Brothers were the kings of regional filmmaking, producing the most popular movies in Asia.

The Shaws, however, did not work with Bruce Lee. Turning down what he considered a low-paying offer from the Shaws, Lee in the early 1970s took up with the Golden Harvest studio, founded by former Shaw executives Raymond Chow and Leonard Ho.