Film critic Jiao Xiongping once commented on Wang Lai (1927-2016), the actor who has won the Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actress the most times so far: Wang Lai is more like a generation of tradition to us. She is known as the "Girl with a Thousand Faces", which is an almighty licorice. The conflict of drama cannot be without her, she can be a confidant big sister, a wise mother, a virtuous wife, or a tricky professional woman.
She has the atmosphere of a northern woman, and she is also a sophisticated Ma Li who often rolls in society. The crisp voice, not dragging mud and water, is a necessary condition for the birth of drama; sharp vision, is well versed in the function of the camera; tall figure, fit cheongsam, is the image of Hong Kong women's image spokesman.
Wang Lai's image in the film Jade Girl's Private Affair (1959).
Wang Lai, whose original name was Wang Delan, was born in Penglai, Shandong, and was born in a family of eunuchs in Beijing, with 12 brothers and sisters, the youngest of whom she was.
Wang Lai studied in the primary school and middle school attached to Beijing Normal University, liked to watch drama and acting since childhood, and was an active member of the school's cultural and entertainment.
The tall and thin Wang Lai not only plays female roles, but also often plays male roles, playing male brothers and young students, etc., enjoying the reputation of "drama queen" in the school.
Wang Lai at the age of 18
In 1943, the Shanghai Filmmakers Repertory Theatre led the troupe leader He Bin (1917-1981) to perform dramas such as "Sunrise" and "Great Thunderstorm" in Beijing and Tianjin.
The troupe consisted of Han Fei (1919-1985) and Shangguan Yunzhu (1920-1968), and Wang Lai joined the troupe through Han Fei's introduction, playing Empress Xi in The History of the Qing Palace.
The play was staged in Tianjin for 18 consecutive months, setting a record for the longest time in the history of Tianjin drama.
23-year-old Hebin
He Bin, formerly known as He Zhangkai, is a native of Shaoyang. In 1940, He Bin joined the Shanghai Yihua Film Company as an actor, and his first film was "Sending a Thousand Miles to the Beijing Lady" (1941) with Li Lihua (1924-2017) in 1940, and gradually became the head of the Yihua Company, successively starring in "Chinese Robin Hood" (1941), "Invisibility" (1941), "Plum Blossom Fall" (1941) and other works.
In 1942, He Bin filmed films such as "The Grand View Garden on the Sea" and "Motherly Heart" in Zoomlion, and because of the situation, he began to organize a film troupe to tour various places.
1947 stage play "Bai Yan Robbery", from left: Gu Yelu, Wang Lai, Yan Hua, Xu Liang
In 1946, He Bin joined the Beiping Zhongdian No. 3 Factory as an actor, and filmed films such as "Tianzi No. 1" (1946) and "Night to Dawn" (1947).
Wang Lai admired Hebin's personality, acting skills, and democratic style and organizational ability of leading the troupe. As a politician, her father and brother strongly opposed Wang Lai's acting and restricted her actions.
In order to pursue artistic ideals and marriage freedom, Wang Lai resolutely ran away from home in 1944 and eloped with He Bin to Shanghai, becoming a professional actor ever since.
Wang Lai and He Bin were photographed in 1957
After marriage, Wang Lai and her husband He Bin performed stage plays in Chongqing, Qingdao, Harbin and other places, starring in dramas such as "Gilding" and "Lay Down Your Whip", and co-starred in the movie "Shrine" (1951) with Wei Heling (1907-1979) and Xu Li.
The 25-year-old Wang Lai began filming in Shanghai, the first work is "The Shrine" produced by Shanghai Datong Company, so far no video materials have been found, only that it is a film that promotes bourgeois ideas and is banned in China.
The screenwriter of the film is Wang Lingu (1919-1995), whose works include "The Crow and the Sparrow" (1949) and "Stage Sisters" (1964).
Promotional photo of the movie "With the Forest Bird" (1955), Wang Lai
At that time, Wang Lai was basically in the "idle" object of observation, and as soon as he saw this kind of situation, in August 1951, Wang Lai came to Hong Kong to develop after consulting with He Bin.
After Arriving in Hong Kong, Wang Lai first co-starred in the film "Beautiful Man" (1953) with Luo Wei (1918-1996) and Blue Warbler. From 1953 to 1956, Wang Lai shot more than 20 films, including "The Man Who Ate the Slap" (1954), "Tradition" (1955), "With the Forest Bird" (1955), "Zero Goose" (1956), "Avatar Girl" (1956), "Long Lane" (1956), "Spring Is Infinitely Good" (1957) and so on.
Wang Lai's image in the film The Queen of Clouds (1959).
Due to the large number of films and the variety of roles, she won the title of "Girl with a Thousand Faces". Her acting skills have matured day by day, and she has gradually become a state of immersion.
In May 1957, Wang Lai joined the Electric Mao Company as a basic actor and was highly regarded.
In the era when the company was active, she could act in an average of 10 to 12 movies a year, such as "Man Ting Fang" (1957), "Headless Case" (1957), "Moon Falling And Crying Frost Full Of Heaven" (1957), "Jade Girl's Private Affair" (1959), "Wild Rose Love" (1960), "Long-legged Sister (1960) and other famous films, almost every "Denmao" production has her presence.
From left: Images of Ye Feng, Wang Lai and Lin Cui in the movie "Sister with Long Legs" (1960).
Wang Lai was filmed in the film Happy Angel (1960).
When "Dianmao" suffered a "change", Wang Lai began to be active in the Hong Kong and Taiwan film industry as a free actor, known for playing the role of villain. In the past 40 years, Wang Lai has participated in more than 200 films.
In 1964, Wang Laiyin played the mother in "The Beginning of Man" and won the Best Supporting Actress Award at the 3rd Golden Horse Awards for the first time.
Stills from the movie "The Beginning of Man" (1963), Wang Lai
In 1981, she played her mother in "Little Gourd", which earned her the 2nd time for Best Supporting Actress at the 18th Golden Horse Awards.
Wang Lai can play a virtuous and gentle, conservative mother, but also can play an open-minded, intellectual mother, she has also played roles such as a bustard mother and a matchmaker, all of which are brilliant.
Stills from the movie "Little Gourd" (1981), from left: Ying Cailing and Wang Lai
In the 1970s, Wang Lai traveled to Hong Kong and Taiwan, and according to statistics, she made a total of 98 films throughout the 1970s, which can be said to be the high prolific period of her acting career.
From a contemporary woman living a bourgeoisie to a matriarchal authority in the feudal system, what remains unchanged is her sharp eyes and domineering aura, and Wang Lai is an important supporting role and the guarantee of quality.
Images of Wang Lai and Lottie in the film Long Live the Wife (1968).
In 1981, when the famous director Li Hanxiang (1926-1996) filmed "Wu Song" (1982), Wu Song, Wu Dalang, Pan Jinlian, Ximen Qing and other important roles had been selected, who would play the queen mother?
Wang Lai has played roles such as bustard mother and matchmaker in Li Hanxiang's films such as "Golden Bottle Double Yan" (1974), "Dream of the Red Chamber of Jin Yu Liangyuan" (1977), "Warlord Fun History" (1979), "Qianlong and the Three Girls" (1980) and other films.
Stills from the movie "Dream of the Red Chamber" (1977), Wang Lai
He said: "Wang Lai's playing the princess is very familiar, perhaps Shi Nai'an, who wrote "Water Margin", and Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng, who wrote "Jin Ping Mei", were originally the princess who wrote according to Wang Lai. ”
Of course, Wang Lai was born hundreds of years after the appearance of "Water Margin" and "Jin Ping Mei", Li Hanxiang said this, praising Wang Lai's superb acting skills.
Stills from the movie "Wu Song" (1982), Wang Lai and Dillon
Wang Lai's mother-in-law, who is articulate, forgetful of money, and fierce, pimps the children of rich families to hook up with women of good families, which makes people cut their teeth. Some people say that wang Lai's performance standard should win the Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actress.
This year's Golden Horse Awards, Gu Feng, who played Wu Dalang, won the Best Supporting Actor Award, and Wang Ping, who played Pan Jinlian, won the Best Actress Award, which may be that Wang Po is too bad, and the judges can't understand it emotionally, so although Wang Lai was nominated, she was ultimately unknown on the list, but she won the 1981 Silver Hand Award sponsored by "Silver World".
Wang Lai and Lin Dai (right) pose
Later, at the instigation of Zhang Aijia's mother, Wei Shujuan, Wang Lai went to Taiwan's China Television Station to co-starred with Chen Qiuyan and Lin Zaipei in "Blue Sea, Blue Sky, Night Heart", playing a mother-in-law who was not angry and threatening. She is not only experienced in acting, but also has a good working attitude, and young actors feel the warmth of maternal love around her.
In November 1980, Horbin died of illness at the age of 64. Wang Lai lost his lifelong partner and was extremely hurt. Wang Lai had two sons and two daughters, both of whom settled abroad.
Wang Lai image photo
After Hebin left, his health was also poor, and he moved to Canada under the persuasion of his children.
Although she often plays the mother-in-law who abuses her daughter-in-law on the screen, she gets along well with her daughter-in-law at home and respects each other like friends.
Wang Lai likes Vancouver, Canada, where there are many Chinese, and many Hong Kong film and television stars immigrated here at that time, and she often interacts with her friends.
Wang Lai and He Bin were photographed in 1978
Although Wang Lai is over the age of flower armor, she still maintains a well-proportioned body shape, and people often ask her to shoot scenes. She is in love with her acting career and unforgettable, and if she encounters a good script, she will come out and enjoy drama as a self-entertainment pastime in her later years.
In 1987, Taiwanese director Yu Jieping filmed "Two Sides of the Straits" (1988), and invited Wang Lai, who lived in Canada, to Taiwan to star in the film Mei Jie.
Sister Mei is 6 years older than her husband (played by Sun Yue), who calls her Sister A. This big sister and little brother style couple has a good relationship and respects each other. Her husband was dragged to Taiwan by La Zhuangding, and Sister Mei gave birth to a daughter (played by Lin Cui), separated by the strait, and the two sides had not heard from each other for many years. In Taiwan, the husband married and had children and established a family business.
Stills from the movie "Two Sides of the Straits" (1988), Wang Lai
40 years later, her husband and his wife and children from Taiwan came to Hong Kong to meet Mei Jie, her daughter and granddaughter from Kaifeng, Henan Province. After a long time apart, they found that they had changed a lot, the husband had white hair, and Mei Jie, who had lived in the countryside of Henan for many years, was both old and rustic.
Due to the difference in age and situation, they did not overflow with passion, and the heavy hearts and longings hidden in their hearts were all integrated into the silent opposite, tearful eyes.
Stills from the movie "Across the Taiwan Straits" (1988).
The husband tried his best to compensate for the feelings he owed, so that the mainland wives and daughters ate and shop in Hong Kong, and Mei Jie was relieved to see that her husband was alive and living well. Mei Jie, who has become accustomed to a lonely life, returned to her hometown, and her husband also returned to Taiwan, where she has a family business. Taiwan's wife (played by Jiang Xia) has all her doubts and is very grateful for Mei Jie's tolerance.
Sister Mei, played by Wang Lai, has gone through all the vicissitudes, is gentle and flexible, and her performance is just right in time, which makes people sigh. In 1988, the 61-year-old Wang Lai won the Best Supporting Actress Award at the 25th Golden Horse Awards for the third time with the role of Mei Jie.
In 1991, at the 28th Golden Horse Awards Celebration Banquet, from left: Wang Lai, Li An and Lang Xiong took a group photo
Ang Lee once talked about Wang Lai and his first film "Pusher" (1991) in his autobiography "Ten Years of Film Dreams":
Images of Wang Lai and Lang Xiong in the film Pusher (1991).
The reason why Wang Lai, who was 64 years old at the time, took over Ang Lee's "Push hand" was because he was touched by Ang Lee's spirit of going all out for the film, and he agreed to perform the film "Push Hand" for a week.
In "Push hand", Wang Lai plays an old widow who went to the United States from Taiwan to rely on her daughter, who is in a contradictory situation because she cannot get along with her son-in-law and is ashamed to enter the second spring. Later, he met the old coach played by Lang Xiong (1930-2002), dead wood fengchun, but he took care of his face, and only took the opportunity to hint at the hidden love to the other party.
Stills from the movie "Push hand" (1991), Wang Lai and Lang Xiong
Wang Lai's authentic old Beijing accent, just using language lines can make the audience feel the steaming spirit of traditional Chinese culture, and the humane affection in the warm greetings.
With superb acting skills, Wang Lai's astringency of the old widow's "twilight love" and the embarrassment of not accepting her daughter's matchmaking for self-esteem are played meticulously, vividly and livelyly, and indeed worthy of being a "spicy ginger-type actor who plays what is like nothing".
In 1991, at the 28th Golden Horse Awards celebration banquet, the duo wang Lai and Pan Dihua took a group photo
What made Wang Lai always grumble at that time was that she was the heroine of "Push hand", but the Golden Horse Awards were supporting actresses, although this was the fourth time she won the Best Supporting Actress Award, but the female supporting actress of the 27th Golden Horse Awards in 1991 laid a double yolk egg, and she and Pan Dihua of "Ah Fei Zheng Biography" (1990) both won.
In "The True Biography of Ah Fei", Pan Dihua plays a socialite in the old Shanghai high society who has passed away in her old age, in order to seize the existing years of the twilight, living a life of drinking and paralyzing herself; she and her adopted son Zhang Guorong have an ambiguous relationship of love and hate, both deeply loving him, but unable not to admit that the other party has grown up and has the right to love other women.
With his rich life experience, Pan Dihua played this old Shanghai social flower very vividly, and was considered to be "not much drama, but it is all the essence".
Wang Lai's discomfort is that she privately believes that Pan Dihua is the real supporting actress award winner, and it is not right for her as a heroine to grab the award for a supporting actress, and the "Cross-Straits" she starred in was also registered as a supporting actress at the time. After winning the award, she was quite helpless, and under the persuasion of her friends, she reluctantly accepted this result.
Stills from the movie "Crazy Robbery" (1979), Wang Lai
It is these two "helplessness" that makes Wang Lai the actor who has won the Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actress the most times, and also became the first actor to win the Acting Award at the Golden Horse Awards for 4 times (later Maggie Cheung won 5 acting awards and Gui Yalei 4 times) - and although she lives in Hong Kong, 3 of the 4 awards are won by Taiwanese films, which also shows that she is quite favored by Taiwanese directors.
In 1992, wang Lai officially stopped filming for health reasons after filming Liu Guochang's "The Anti-Flying Group Storm of the Blue River" (1992).
From middle-class literary and art films and comedies, to Huang Mei's costumes and martial arts films with swords and swords, and then to the new film era of Taiwanese realism, how many traditions did Wang Lai carry? Wang Lai eventually became the memory of a generation of film industry, with an unbroken record on September 28, 2016, died of illness at the age of 89.
China's first female film star to commit suicide: Mao Jianpei swallowed opium at the age of 23
Surrounded by countless small fresh meat, strange costumes of the ancestors, see how she 72 changes
Wild song and dance are imitated by the young generation in Hong Kong Glen's red heralding the advent of a new era
The first marriage was unfortunate, the children took drugs, the career was frustrated, and after 5 years of suffering, the film and television and the stage were fully opened
Hollywood went to Shanghai to record her dance, feeling frustrated and resentful, and the patriotic costume film star turned to business
The first female spy was played on a par with the "Generation Demon", and remarried after 30 years of divorce from her husband