Long-time Warner Bros film executive Richard Ma has died in Canada at the age of 81.

Ma joined Warner Bros Pictures in 1945 as assistant manager in the company's Hong Kong office. He held several positions with the company in Hong Kong, New York and Burbank, working his way up through the ranks to executive vice president of international operations.

Ma, who retired in 1985 after a 40 year-old career with Warner Bros, is credited with introducing martial arts movies to the US, importing them from Hong Kong in the late 1960s. He went onto shepherd Bruce Lee's Enter The Dragon into production at Warner Bros Pictures in 1973.