"The shoes are broken, the hats are broken, the robes on the body are torn." You laugh at me, he laughs at me, a fan breaks. ”
I believe that as long as the prelude to this song sounds, many viewers will think of the 1985 TV series "Jigong" and think of Jigong's actor You Benchang.
This TV series broadcast 36 years ago not only made the then 52-year-old teacher You Benchang popular all over the country and became a recognized "living economy" in the hearts of the audience; it also greatly reduced the crime rate in China for a period of time.
Like Ji Gong, who punishes evil and promotes good in the TV series, the real life story of Teacher Benchang is also admired and respected.
One, 79 unnamed supporting characters
You Benchang was originally an actor in the Central Experimental Drama Theatre, and before starring in "Jigong", he mostly played small roles in the dragon set.
According to statistics, he has played a total of 79 small roles in the dragon set before and after, although he has acted for many years, he has not had a masterpiece of his own.
In this regard, You Benchang has always looked at it very openly, in his opinion, there are small actors, but there are no small roles. Since he can only act in a small number of roles, he will play each role as the protagonist.
Unlike some actors who do not have real materials now, the reason why You Benchang has run the dragon set for many years is not because his acting ability is not up to standard, but his luck has not been very good.
More importantly, You Benchang believes that his emotional intelligence is not enough, and he is always embarrassed to introduce himself to the TV station or the director, so that he has missed many good opportunities over the years.
But opportunity always favors those who are prepared.
In 1984, You Benchang, who was performing in a foreign country, received a call from his wife, who told him that Shanghai Television wanted to invite him to star in the TV series "Jigong".
After hearing the news, You Benchang was unable to speak with excitement.
However, after hanging up the phone, You Benchang's heart began to wander and be disappointed again.
It turned out that long before his wife called him, he had seen in the newspaper that the TV station was going to shoot "Jigong", and at that time he felt that his performance style was similar to the requirements of the crew, and playing Jigong could also have a greater improvement in his acting career.
However, just when he plucked up the courage to write a letter of recommendation to the crew, he saw the news in the newspaper that the famous comedian Yan Shunkai was going to star in "Jigong".
Yan Shunkai is not only his student, but the two have always had a good personal relationship, so You Benchang is unwilling to "compete" with the other party for the same role from the bottom of his heart.
Another objective reason is that in 1981, You Benchang and Yan Shunkai were both candidates for the movie "A Q Zheng biography", but in the end, You Benchang was not selected, and Yan Shunkai became popular because of this.
Combined with the above two reasons, You Benchang did not have much hope for starring in "Jigong".
Seeing that You Benchang has not given a clear answer, the director of the "Jigong" crew personally found You Benchang himself.
The director told You Benchang that he was invited to star in "Jigong" because he saw the pantomime he performed on the spring evening, which determined that he was the best actor of Jigong.
After that, the leader of the drama theater talked to You Benchang again, and the leader advised him, "Just accept it, it is not the role you are fighting for, it is the other party who finds the door by himself, besides, this will not affect your master-apprentice friendship with Yan Shunkai." ”
Therefore, with the director's visit and the support of the leaders of the drama theater and his wife, the 51-year-old You Benchang finally took over the script of "Jigong".
Second, the 52-year-old became popular
However, just arrived at the crew, You Benchang's heart is still a little unconfident.
Because Ji Gong is a brand new character and has not been portrayed by an actor before, You Benchang does not know whether his performance will satisfy the audience.
Sure enough, at the beginning of the shooting, You Benchang has not been able to enter the state, and he has never been able to perform the "character characteristics of the Buddha" on Ji Gong.
Later, after consulting a large number of historical materials, You Benchang had a flash of inspiration and decided to shape Jigong into a "god" close to the lives of the common people.
Therefore, he highlighted the character characteristics of Ji Gong's brokenness, dirtiness, and poverty, but he punished evil and promoted good, and his magic power was boundless.
It is precisely because of You Benchang's wonderful interpretation that this non-vulgar non-monk, extraordinary non-immortal, laughing and angry, wild and uninhibited legend has become a generation of classic screen legends.
Of course, success comes from not easy, in order to play a good Jigong, You Benchang really suffered a lot.
In the play, there is a scene where Ji Gong eats elbows in the temple, and the audience watches You Benchang eating with a compelling aroma, but in fact, those big elbows that seem to be fresh and fat are actually smelly.
Because the crew had limited funds at that time and could not find alternative items, in order not to delay the shooting progress, You Benchang could only eat the broken elbow, wait until the director shouted, and then spit it out together.
In another scene where Ji Gong is tortured in Yamen, because at the beginning the actors did not dare to really hit hard, and the director demanded that the effect be realistic, so before and after, You Benchang was beaten a total of 12 times.
By the time the scene was finished, it was said that You Benchang was so painful that he couldn't stand up.
There is also a scene where JiGong is beaten, when filming, You Benchang's daughter You Lan just came to visit the class, and saw that her father was constantly thrown up and down, and the little girl was scared and cried on the spot.
Or after the shooting, You Benchang coaxed and teased again, so that his daughter stopped crying.
According to the theory, after such a hard filming and such a popular drama after broadcasting, many people may think that You Benchang must have made a lot of money because of "Jigong".
But in fact, in the first 6 episodes of "Jigong" that You Benchang participated in filming, his total remuneration did not exceed 1,000 yuan.
Although the film salary is not much, But You Benchang did soar in fame, and at the age of 52, he was almost a household name (the advanced age here is compared to the actor group, not the ordinary people).
People are red, and all kinds of invitations are coming.
Countless comedy characters threw an olive branch to You Benchang, but no matter how high the salary, You Benchang refused one by one.
Because he always adheres to a belief, when choosing the profession of literature and art, we must keep in mind three criteria: one is to treat himself as milk, which can give the audience nutrition; the second is to treat himself as water, at least to quench the audience's thirst; third, he must not become a harmful potion and "poison" the audience.
Therefore, from the day he entered the industry, You Benchang regarded the quality of art as more important than life, and no matter how much money he gave him, he would not accept some shoddy works, if the quality of the works could not be guaranteed, then he chose to prefer to be absent or indiscriminate.
Third, filming lost all family property
Perhaps it is precisely adhering to this artistic belief that You Benchang has fallen into an embarrassing situation in which the drama celebrities are not popular for many years after that.
But more than ten years later, there are still audiences who praise the Jigong he plays, and the masses demand that he star in the sequel of "Jigong" getting louder and louder.
You Benchang himself is willing to challenge the classics again, but just as he was preparing for the pre-filming of "Jigong Travels", in 1991, his wife Yang Huihua was unfortunately diagnosed with terminal stage II cancer.
Between his career and his family, You Benchang decisively chose his family and temporarily suspended the preparation plan of "Jigong Travels".
In the following four years, You Benchang accompanied his wife to fight cancer treatment, no matter how big or small he personally did it, giving his wife great encouragement and confidence.
But a wave of uneven waves rose again, just when his wife was seriously ill, You Benchang's daughter You Lan proposed to her father the idea of giving up the college entrance examination.
The importance of academic qualifications is self-evident, and if you don't get into college, it may mean that you won't be able to find a decent job in the future.
For this absurd and wayward request of his daughter, You Benchang thought about it for a long time and agreed to his daughter's request.
He also helped his daughter convince his wife, and the couple decided to support her daughter's literary dreams together.
Fortunately, after this small storm passed, a miracle happened, and You Benchang's wife finally succeeded in fighting cancer through treatment.
After watching his wife recover, You Benchang once again put the preparation of "Jigong Travels" on the agenda, and in 1994, the 61-year-old You Benchang founded the Benchang Art and Culture Communication Center.
A year later, You Benchang's self-directed and self-acting "Jigong Travels" officially began filming, this 20-episode series, from the early to the later stage of all the preparatory work, is basically taken care of by You Benchang alone.
As the public expected, "Jigong Travels" has once again been recognized and loved by the audience, and You Benchang, as an investor and starring actor, naturally has also made a lot of money.
But just when You Benchang was more confident and ready to continue to develop his acting career, fate played a big joke with him.
Because You Benchang has always had a special fondness for dumb dramas, and he also had the opportunity to star in "Jigong" because he performed pantomime on the spring evening, it has always been the most important thing that You Benchang wants to do to carry forward mime better.
To this end, in 2000, the 67-year-old You Benchang invested in the filming of the pantomime "Mr. You Is Dumb", but because the pantomime was too niche, no TV station was willing to buy the broadcast rights, so the final work could not be released, and You Benchang also lost nearly one million.
After a few years, You Benchang was touched by the story of the Ming Dynasty thinker Yuan Yifan, and directed himself in the TV series "Zhifan".
But this time he lost money again, and the two TV series not only lost the 1.8 million yuan he earned because of "Jigong Travels", but also forced him to sell the property of the Benchang Art and Culture Communication Center to pay off the debt.
After almost losing his family property, You Benchang's ideal was finally defeated by reality, and in the face of age and reality, You Benchang drew a regretful ending for his directing career.
Fourth, 76 years old shaved ordained
After not being a director, You Benchang continued to focus on the work of an actor.
In 2009, at the age of 76, You Benchang was ordained at the Daguang Temple in Suifenhe City, Heilongjiang Province, and was given the dharma name Dingchang.
The reason why You Benchang shaved his family in his later years is that he thinks that he is related to the Buddha, especially after starring in "Jigong", he feels that Jigong has transformed himself, and he has also understood the true meaning of life, so he is willing to devote himself to the Buddha;
Second, at this time, he received an invitation from the drama "Master Hongyi: The Final Victory", in order to play the role of Master Li Shutong of Hongyi, he chose to shave his family to experience the role.
After the drama was released, Master Hongyi became another classic representative role of You Benchang after JiGong, and at this time, You Benchang was nearly 80 years old.
After getting older and older, You Benchang gradually bid farewell to the literary and art circle he loved all his life.
Although the 88-year-old You Benchang has no energy to shoot dramas, he is still active in social platforms from time to time, and he will interact with the audience who miss him with a sentence of "small dolls, big dolls".
Perhaps, this is his tireless insistence on art.
Looking back on the ordinary and mediocre life of Teacher You Benchang, we will sigh that he is the artist who was really born for the play, and he played 79 supporting roles before waiting for the masterpiece "Jigong" that made him famous all over the world.
Throughout his life, Teacher You Benchang also made himself a beloved and respected "Jigong".