The Tang monks, Sun Wukong, Pig Eight Precepts, and Sand Monks in Journey to the West are known as the "Quartet of Taking the Scriptures" or the "Quartet of Master and Apprentice". Among these 4 people, the most inconspicuous one should be the sand monk, because he has the fewest lines and is the most low-key among the four masters and apprentices.
Yang Jie's 82nd version of "Journey to the West", the role of the sand monk is played by the old drama bone Yan Huaili, and like this version of "Journey to the West", the sand monk played by Yan Huaili has also become a classic of a generation, and now people think of the sand monk, and most of the people who appear in front of them are the honest and thick face of Teacher Yan Huaili.
Although the Sha monk was the last of the 3 brothers, in terms of age in reality, Yan Huaili was the oldest of the four masters and apprentices.
When "Journey to the West" began filming in 1982, Yan Huaili was already 46 years old, a full-fledged middle-aged uncle. In contrast, Chi Chongrui, who played the Tang monk, was only 30 years old at the time, and Zhang Jinlai (that is, a six-year-old child) who played the master brother Sun Wukong was only in his early 20s, only half the age of Yan Huaili.
However, Ma Dehua, who played the second master brother Pig Eight Precepts, is slightly older, but he is only 37 years old, 9 years younger than Yan Huaili, which is almost half a generation gap.
Therefore, Yan Huaili is actually very special in the four-person group of masters and apprentices, he is the oldest, but the lowest generation, a middle-aged uncle, but a few young people called "master", "master brother", to say that it is not embarrassing, I am afraid it is impossible.
But Yan Huaili not only shouted naturally in the play, even outside the play, he also called Chi Chongrui a master, and Zhang Jinlai and Ma Dehua as a master brother.
The four-person master-apprentice group formed a deep affection during the filming of "Journey to the West", and this relationship continued until the moment before Yan Huaili's death in 2009, when he was talking about seeing the master and the two brothers for the last time.
Unfortunately, Ma Dehua of the "Eight Precepts of the Pig" was 5 minutes late for some reason, leaving "Sand Monk" Yan Huaili with regrets that could never be repaired.
Director Yang Jie's 82nd edition of "Journey to the West" is the capital that many old drama bones can't eat in a lifetime, because the characters in it are classics, even if they just have a cameo appearance of a monster, it is enough to take it out and say a lifetime.
As a member of the protagonist team, Sha Monk naturally received more attention, so since playing "Journey to the West", "Sha Monk" has become Yan Huaili's business card, and he often participates in various activities as a "sutra team" with Chi Chongrui, Zhang Jinlai, and Ma Dehua, which further deepens the feelings of the "four masters and apprentices".
It should be noted that the 82nd edition of "Journey to the West" has a total of 3 Tang monk actors, but compared with Xu Shaohua and Wang Yue, Chi Chongrui has more scenes, and the interaction with 3 "apprentices" outside the play is also the most frequent, so when it comes to the Tang monk actors in the master-apprentice quartet, it refers to Chi Chongrui.
Yan Huaili not only played the role of Sha Monk in "Journey to the West", but also made cameo appearances in more than a dozen other roles in this drama, such as Taishang Laojun, West Sea Dragon King, Bull Demon King, Clairvoyant and so on.
However, when watching the drama that year, I am afraid that not many people noticed this matter, which shows that Teacher Yan Huaili's acting skills are superb and what he plays is like, so that everyone ignores that so many roles are actually played by him alone.
Yan Huaili's artistic career did not start early, he was born in 1936, until 1958 (22 years old) was admitted to the Beijing People's Art Theater, and the first official work did not appear until 1965, in the play "The Young Generation", Yan Huaili played the supporting role of Xiao Jiye.
22 years old was admitted to art school, 29 years old to produce the first work, such a resume in today's entertainment industry, absolutely counted as a late debut.
Fortunately, when Yan Huaili was young, acting was really acting, only looking at acting skills, not others. Therefore, even if he debuted late, Yan Huaili could conquer the audience's hearts step by step with his excellent acting skills, and he finally won the title of "National First-class Actor".
Yan Huaili has played many roles in his life, in addition to the sand monk in "Journey to the West" is the most well-known, and the appearance of the "Golden Retriever King" in the 1993 film with Jet Li is also impressive.
In the 2000 hit "Iron Tooth Copper Tooth Ji Xiaolan", Yan Huaili also had a cameo, he played Chen Huizu, the son of Chen Dashou, the governor of Liangguang, which was Yan Huaili's last appearance on the screen and his final work.
At the beginning of 2009, Yan Huaili, who was already 73 years old, suddenly felt chest tightness and breathless, and went to the hospital for diagnosis before learning that it was a lung infection.
This is a common disease of the elderly, Yan Huaili and his wife did not pay too much attention at first, but did not expect that since entering the hospital, Yan Huaili's condition has been repeated, sometimes it seems to get better, but every few days it suddenly worsens.
Later, I learned that Yan Huaili was not suffering from an ordinary lung infection, but "lung fibrosis", which was not cancer, but more dangerous than many cancers, and there was no cure.
Among the four masters and apprentices, Sha Monk was mainly responsible for picking up the burden, and his body should be very good, how could Yan Huaili suffer from "lung fibrosis"? It turned out that as early as the filming of "Journey to the West", Yan Huaili's illness had already laid the groundwork.
According to Ma Dehua, the "Eight Commandments of Pigs", some of the scenes were filmed in the summer, there were many mosquitoes in the wild, and it was necessary to constantly play insecticides, and every time after spraying insecticides, everyone did not dare to stay in the tent, except for Yan Huaili.
Ma Dehua was very strange, so he asked Yan Huaili that the insecticide tasted pungent, how could he not bear to go out? Yan Huaili looked at him doubtfully and said, "I don't feel pungent, I can't smell anything, I'm just a little panicked." ”
Later, it was learned that Yan Huaili was insensitive to the taste of insecticides because his sense of smell was particularly poor, which was not a good thing, because it would make people inhale too many harmful gases, which would cause damage to the lungs.
So as early as the time of filming "Journey to the West", Yan Huaili, who was only forty or fifty years old, looked at the strong body, but his lung function had been seriously damaged, and once he even fainted while swimming, and after being sent to the hospital for emergency treatment, he was diagnosed with slight "lung fibrosis".
Once this disease existed, it would only worsen step by step, so as early as that era, the hand of the God of Death had already reached out to Yan Huaili.
In 2009, because his condition had not been able to completely improve, Yan Huaili himself had a premonition that it was not good, and the news of his illness and hospitalization reached the ears of "Master" Chi Chongrui and the two "Master Brothers" early in the morning.
At that time, Zhang Jinlai was filming in Taiwan, he heard that Yan Huaili was seriously ill, so he immediately returned to Beijing, and the first time he arrived in Beijing, he made an appointment with Ma Dehua, and the two of them were ready to visit Yan Huaili in the hospital together.
But Yan Huaili's wife refused the kindness of the two, she felt that her husband's condition was already improving, and for a while he should be able to be discharged from the hospital, and then Zhang Jinlai and they could come to visit at home.
For Zhang Jinlai and Ma Dehua, this should be considered good news, but they still have Yan Huaili in their hearts, so for the next few days, the two will remain in Beijing, waiting for Yan Huaili to be discharged from the hospital, and then visit his home. At the same time, Chi Chongrui also made contact with them, and as soon as the time came, the four masters and apprentices would meet again.
Unfortunately, this day will never come. On the evening of April 11, 2009, Yan Huaili suddenly felt very uncomfortable, and in the days before that, according to the doctor, his condition had been deteriorating.
Yan Huaili, who had a bad premonition again, came to his wife and said to her, "Call both the brothers, I want to see them." ”
Hearing her husband suddenly say this, Yan Huaili's wife burst into tears, and she knew what it meant. Since her husband was hospitalized, she had been looking forward to the day when her husband would walk out of the hospital in good health, but now it seemed that this hope was probably getting slimmer and fainter.
Yan Huaili's wife took out her mobile phone and prepared to call the "brother", but suddenly stopped. She felt that it was not good to disturb others at night, and it was not very auspicious to see a doctor at night, and she thought that even if her husband was seriously ill, he would not be able to delay even one night, so she finally did not dial the phone.
In the early morning of April 12, 2009, Yan Huaili's wife found that her husband's situation was very bad, so she quickly called Chi Chongrui, Zhang Jinlai and Ma Dehua. After receiving the call, the three "masters and apprentices" immediately put down everything in their hands and rushed to the hospital without stopping.
Zhang Jinlai, who had been waiting to see Yan Huaili when he returned from Taiwan, was the first to arrive, and seeing that the "master brother" had come, Yan Huaili's mental state seemed to have improved a lot at once, and he happily greeted Zhang Jinlai and shook his hand, but there was no strength when he spoke, and Zhang Jinlai needed to get close to barely hear clearly.
After a while, Chi Zhongrui also arrived breathlessly, but Yan Huaili had no strength to speak at this time, and could only wink at "Master", and nodded his head with the last bit of strength.
Seeing Yan Huaili's weak appearance, Chi Chongrui and Zhang Jinlai almost cried out, while Yan Huaili's eyes were wide open, obviously still expecting something.
When Zhang Jinlai saw this, he stepped forward to hold Yan Huaili's hand again, and then said to him: "Hold on, old Yan, I know that you are waiting for Ma Dehua, he will arrive immediately, and he has already contacted him just now." ”
Unfortunately, as soon as Zhang Jinlai finished saying this, Yan Huaili's eyes slowly closed, and tears kept flowing from the corners of his eyes.
Yan Huaili's wife and children cried bitterly when they saw the situation, and Chi Chongrui and Zhang Jinlai also shouted loudly, but they never let him open his eyes again.
After about 5 minutes, Ma Dehua finally arrived at the scene, and as soon as he entered the door, he knew that he was late.
Ma Dehua wiped a handful of tears and cried loudly: "Old Yan, you and my brother, I know what you want to say, I understand you, you can go with peace of mind..."
Chi Chongrui and Zhang Jinlai both saw Yan Huaili for the last time, why was Ma Dehua 5 minutes late? It turned out that when he rushed over, he happened to encounter the morning rush hour and blocked the car for more than half an hour, which did not catch up with the last side of Yan Huaili.
In fact, like Master and Master Brother, as soon as he received the call, he immediately went out to the hospital, but unfortunately he was blocked on the road. At that moment, Ma Dehua's heart was probably dripping blood, Yan Huaili wanted to see him, why didn't he want to see Yan Huaili?
After Yan Huaili's death, the remaining 3 members of the master-apprentice quartet all attended his funeral and bowed at the funeral. Ma Dehua, who did not see the last side and left a huge regret, was even more tearful on the spot.
Yan Huaili is an excellent actor, and his role as a sand monk is an eternal classic. Unfortunately, The envy of talent not only made him leave the world prematurely, but also left him with regrets at the last moment of his life that could never be repaired.