In 1987, 54-year-old You Benchang was invited to perform in Singapore.
At that time, the hotel he stayed at belonged to a local rich man, who had a lot of money, and the entire building was his family property.
Some media asked You Benchang whether he envied such wealth.
You Benchang shook his head and said that he was not envious.
"Many children call me grandfather, and Jigong has made me happy, and these wealth in his life cannot be exchanged."
Among the children who like him, there are junior actors like Hu Ge.
In the spring of 2023, he will be 90 years old and have experienced popularity, becoming rich, losing money, selling houses, rising and being reborn.
False names and vain profits have become a cloud of the past; Floating like a dream, it is already a mixture of sorrow and happiness.
A sentence that You Benchang said can be used as the most suitable footnote in his life:
"Do what should be done, do it without giving money, and do it with money; What should not be done, do not give much money. ”
Whether there is such insistence directly affects the status quo in many fields, including the film and television industry.
This is not only the self-cultivation of an "actor", but also the self-cultivation of a "person".
The award ceremony has come to this day, and it seems that it is difficult to make waves again.
Unless you stage an "unforgettable", accompany you for many years and finally get your wish, or hold a big hit drama, the popular actor is deserved.
But at the end of March, the ninety-year-old attended the award ceremony, and just by speaking, he set off a wave -
You Benchang.
You Benchang
On March 30, the "2023 TV Drama Quality Ceremony" opened, in which the "Quality Dramatist" award was awarded to You Benchang.
This year, You Benchang is 90 years old and personally attended the award to receive the award.
He strode out from the side of the stage, in high spirits, and the actors in the audience gave him a standing ovation to pay tribute to him.
He opened his mouth and introduced himself as actor You Benchang: "Thank you for still remembering me, remembering me, and liking me." ”
Suddenly, he handed the trophy in his hand to the host on the side, asked him to help him take it, and hinted with a smile: "This is a burden." ”
Award presenter Hu Ge met You Benchang in the TV series "Blossoms".
This TV series directed by Wong Kar-wai was filmed for 3 years, from You Benchang's 87 to 89 years old.
Before that, You Benchang was Hu Ge's childhood idol, to be precise, the "Jigong" played by You Benchang.
Hu Ge recalled his past with You Benchang, when you Benchang insisted on playing for him even without You Benchang's footage, working nearly 10 hours a day.
Sometimes, they work late into the night, and the phrase on You's lips is still the same: "I can do better, do it again." ”
30 years ago, the Living Buddha Jigong played games in the world, teaching countless Chinese children the life motto of punishing evil, promoting good, and benefiting the world for justice.
30 years later, You Benchang insists on artistic creation, invisibly guiding the young actors to pursue their original intention and perseverance in art.
At the end of the acceptance speech, the host asked You Benchang to say a few words to the young actors in the audience.
You Benchang thought for a while, and his tone was full of emotion: "You are so happy, I envy you for entering such a great and good era." ”
He described that every day when he looked up, he would see a plaque with seven words written on it: "Guide people's hearts with literature and art." ”
He said that this is a sentence that he has practiced for half his life, heartfelt words.
Many people know You Benchang from Jigong.
According to legend, Jigong was dressed in a torn hat and a torn fan, and his shoes were dirty, and his drunken eyes were slanted and closed.
He seems absurd, but in fact he is sober and specializes in human injustice.
Shanghai TV wanted to put Jigong's story on the screen, and came and went and found You Benchang.
You Benchang readily agreed.
1985 version of Jigong You Benchang as you
It was 1985.
China's TV drama production industry has just started, how to shoot, what to shoot, everyone is feeling the stones to cross the river, difficulties are also lining up.
The first is the image of Jigong.
In the "Biography of Jigong", it is said that Jigong and his people: "Breaking the monk's clothes, not taking advantage of the body, big and small bumps continue one after another; Broken monk shoes, only soles remain..."
But the costumer brought a clean and complete monk's robe, where is it?
You Benchang hung up his clothes, tearing them here, reaming there, and then shoes and hats, concocting them like the law, all of them were tattered.
The image of Jigong in "Jigong"
The second is the pattern.
"Half face crying, half face laughing, only I know whether it is crying or laughing."
If you want to practice this demeanor, you really have to work hard.
You Benchang had no other way but to practice in front of the mirror every day, practicing until he couldn't help it, and he would inadvertently show it at the dinner table, and after three months, his expression was the same.
Around the Spring Festival in 1986, the TV series "Jigong" was broadcast simultaneously on Shanghai TV and Hangzhou TV, and Jigong was born.
In Taizhou, Zhejiang, Li Shanren's only son, Li Xiuyuan, became a monk, and when he returned home many years later, he found that his parents had died and that the family property had been seized by the evil housekeeper, so he twisted a fire and burned his home.
The girl asked him why he burned his home, and Jigong half-cried and half-laughed: "There is no home as a monk, and it burns white." ”
It was Li Xiuyuan who cried, and Jigong who laughed.
Over the years, Jigong's expression has still been repeatedly chewed by the audience and regarded as a classic.
But for You Benchang, the expression has a basis, and the hard work is, but the physical form makes him suffer a lot.
Until the first two episodes were filmed, You Benchang was not sure how to present this madness.
In the third episode, the film crew turned to Hangzhou West Lake to shoot the sunrise. At four or five o'clock in the morning, You Benchang leaned on the railing of the pavilion on the side to rest, and in the distance, the director shouted that the shooting started, and You Benchang quickly kicked and ran back with his broken shoes.
The shoes did not follow the feet, he ran shakily, dragged, and suddenly moved in his heart: Isn't this the form of Jigong?
The emotion is in the middle, and the form is outside, and then, there is this version of "Jigong" on the screen.
Many people watched the TV series and said that You Benchang was really happy to perform this play, wine and meat passed through the intestines, and the Buddha remained in his heart.
You Benchang shook his head, it all stinked.
In one episode, the monks in the temple squeezed out Jigong, and Jigong instead ate elbows in the temple, eating happily and fragrantly.
But this elbow was bought by the prop group the day before, it was the height of summer in Hangzhou, and the temperature was 39 degrees.
The next day, the crew began to work before dawn, first filming the sunrise, then filming the mountain, and by the time the scene of Jigong eating roasted elbows was filmed, it was already dusk.
The staff lit a fire, the fragrance wafted up, You Benchang bit and chewed again: broken, the meat stinked.
The director shouted: Eat and eat.
You Benchang didn't hesitate and opened his mouth to eat fiercely, until the director shouted to stop, he turned his head and vomited.
After knowing that it was the smell of meat, the crew laughed at him stupidly: "If you know the smell of meat, don't act again." ”
You Benchang was noncommittal.
You Benchang often hangs a sentence on his lips: "You must love the art in your heart, but you must never love yourself in art." ”
For the sake of art, actors need to do their best and question boldly. If you only care about your own image, how can you make progress.
For example, in one of the scenes, Jigong wandered to the bun stall, touched his hand, and left five mud handprints on the bun, and the stall owner was helpless, let him quickly take the matter.
This is the original plot of "The Legend of Jigong", and it is also the plot that has long been written in the script, but You Benchang thought about it, small evil is also evil, so he added a plot -
Jigong nibbled on the bun and left, turned his head and threw down two copper plates, and the stall owner shook his head and smiled: "This monk." ”
"The Legend of Jigong" is not everyone's work, but a representative of nomadic literature, and to put it bluntly, it has been passed down to this day, relying on the oral transmission of jianghu artists.
"Eating white food and other negative things are some jokes added by folk artists according to their own understanding, etc., this is some dust on traditional literature and art, we can dust it off." You Benchang said.
After the TV series "Jigong" was broadcast, the phrase "shoes are broken, hats are broken" has been sung to this day, and the story of Living Buddha Jigong has also become a household name.
Because of Jigong, the audience believes that there is perfection in the rags, and there is truth hidden in madness. It is also because of Jigong that people believe that there is hope in punishing evil and promoting good, and that it is the truth to help the world for justice.
Looking back, You Benchang said that this role exhausted what he had learned in his life.
You Benchang was 52 years old when he got the role of Jigong.
This is the 80th role he has played in his life, and of the first 79 roles, he has mostly played supporting roles or B roles (second-tier lineup), and there are few protagonists.
He lamented more than once that it was Jigong who was transforming me.
Jigong originated from the folklore of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
You Benchang, who was born in Taizhou, Jiangsu, grew up listening to the story of Jigong.
When he was 10 years old, he listened to "Jiangnan Living Jigong" and Suzhou commentator Shen Xiaomei's "Legend of Jigong" in Kunshan, and after listening to it, he was still unfulfilled.
When he returned home, he imitated the bridge of Jigong begging for tangyuan at the stall, and acted vividly, and his family did not hesitate to praise.
The praise brought unparalleled satisfaction, and in the end, You Benchang planted the seeds of performance.
In 1949, when the People's Republic of China was founded, You Benchang Mindfulness High School.
When he heard about the liberation of the country, he wanted to contribute a little bit and began to organize a theater troupe charity performance, and the ticket price was donated to the flood-stricken area.
The following year, he arranged another play "Victory Song", reported the performance in the district and won the first prize, and later reported to the city and won the first prize.
The beginning of You Benchang's dramatic life is so logical, but it is rapid.
Youth You Benchang
In 1952, at the age of 19, You Benchang entered the acting department of the Shanghai Theater Academy to study Stanislavsky's acting system.
When he graduated from the drama, he was favored by director Sun Weishi and brought to the Central Experimental Theater (now the National Theatre of China), becoming the first batch of young actors trained in New China.
Sixty years have passed, and You Benchang still remembers when he first entered the theater.
It was 1956, and he was only 23 years old.
At that time, the National Theatre of China was rehearsing the big drama "Sharing Happiness and Suffering", and You Benchang hesitated at the door of the rehearsal hall for a while, not knowing if he could enter.
Finally, he walked around the small steps behind the curtain of the rehearsal hall, pricked his ears, and listened greedily to any sound made by his colleagues inside.
"Oh, it's sacred." He thought to himself.
You Benchang's student status card at the Shanghai Theater Academy (then known as the East China Branch of the Central Academy of Drama).
At that time, there was a saying that male actors wanted to come out, either handsome or weird.
But You Benchang is not tall, and his appearance is not outstanding, thinking about it, he feels that he can at least be a "hard lizi" actor and a qualified supporting role.
"It's like serving, I'm not that elbow, I'm not that yellow fish, I'm that seasoning."
Who knows that this is 20 years.
The old landowner, the little soldier, he has played a comedy clown, he has also played a revolutionary great, even, it is not a dragon set, at best, it is a background board.
You Benchang (front row, third from left) takes a group photo with Premier Zhou after the performance
He mentioned a famous play, the Russian classic "The Great Thunderstorm", in which he played one of the two servants beside the hostess, followed behind the hostess, from appearance to end, only 19 seconds, not a single line.
"What's the name of this character?" Someone asked him.
"It's called 'two servants,' it's a serf."
In order to play the role well, You Benchang read the 19 Chinese translations of the original book and studied the characters' dressing, clothing and food habits and psychological activities.
In the script, the role of this character only mentions one sentence: the servant follows the hostess to the scene.
Outside the script, You Benchang designed the character to be lame on one leg - fell off the roof, blinded in one eye, and coughed and wheezed.
"This character has no lines, but no lines doesn't mean there is no voice."
Before going on stage, he let out a trembling cough, and as soon as the curtain was opened, he followed the hostess, step by step, faltering.
In the end, the hostess committed suicide, and the old serf, before the curtain was closed, recalled the past kindness and cruel reality, and shed tears.
After the role was performed, You Benchang wrote a sentiment and proudly named "I Can Shed Tears on the Stage".
You Benchang (first from left) on the drama stage
You Benchang said: "I don't think I'm a talented actor, I just love theater. ”
When there was no rehearsal, You Benchang sat on the side, watching the old actors rehearse, and over time, there was a saying in the courtyard: From You Benchang's face, you can see how the people on the stage are playing.
You Benchang starred as Kong Yiji in his early years
Later, he "increased his skills", and sometimes, he could run five tricks in five acts.
Signal soldiers, small platoon commanders, North Korean bosses, ordinary soldiers, American prisoners ... He took it step by step and walked solidly.
He was hit by reality countless times, but he also got up and stood on the stage countless times.
When others asked him why he insisted on playing a supporting role for so long, worked hard in vain, and did not come out, You Benchang said with a smile:
"I'm a supporting role today, but not necessarily tomorrow."
You Benchang played Lenin on the drama stage
The sun rises and sets, and countless tomorrows pass.
The new eighties arrived, and You Benchang was still spinning in the pile of supporting roles.
At that time, a novel interpretation method in the West happened to be introduced into China, and You Benchang's eyes brightened.
No need for dialogue lines, only actions and expressions, you can make the audience laugh and even burst into tears - this is pantomime, the art of silence.
Yigui was original, and You Benchang immediately decided to work this new category.
At this time, You Benchang was almost 50 years old.
Many colleagues are not optimistic about his plan, feel that he is old, recognize the reality, and wait for retirement steadily, why bother to engage in "innovation".
You Benchang ignored them and took root in this new soil. "(I want) to show what people have not shown, acting what people have not performed, writing what people have not written".
Over the past three years, he has amassed a number of pantomime shows.
In 1983, with the help of friends, he gave a pantomime performance in a welfare home in Shanghai.
Shortly after the performance began, he heard bursts of laughter from the audience, which were not crisp and somewhat special.
Later, he learned that one-third of the audience were students from the school for the deaf and mute, and the reaction was very strong, "they think that pantomime is their own drama, and finally, they can understand the story happening on stage."
He said he had an unparalleled sense of pride at the time: "Anyone who is needed by society is a sense of happiness." ”
In 1983, You Benchang pantomime performance materials
With motivation, the work follows.
This year, You Benchang's pantomime sprang up and became a new force that cannot be ignored on the drama stage.
One day in August, You Benchang performed 11 shows in one performance.
There was a director named Huang Yihe in the audience, and after watching the show, he was deeply shocked, and he set him for the Spring Festival Gala next year.
So, in 1984, You Benchang appeared on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala and performed a pantomime "Shower", which became a hit.
"I've been doing drama for decades, and people don't know that this night, they think I'm a mime."
It is worth mentioning that this Spring Festival Gala, Chen Peisi and Zhu Shimao cooperated in "Eating Noodles", and since then, there has been a "sketch" on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala.
It was precisely because of his pantomime performance on the Spring Festival evening that Shanghai TV found You Benchang and asked him to play Jigong, go around in circles, and return his fate to the track he should have.
You Benchang once had a conversation with Guo Degang.
At that time, Guo Degang wanted to play Jigong, but he was not confident, afraid of ruining the classics, so he asked You Benchang for advice: "I'm not like ah, how can Jigong be fat like this." ”
You Benchang told him, "Bodhisattvas have no phase.
"You provide another image, which is beneficial to the audience."
You Benchang and Guo Degang
After "Jigong", You Benchang was in the limelight and honored.
In 1986, 53-year-old You Benchang won the 4th "China TV Golden Eagle Award" for Best Actor, which represented the audience's expectations at the time.
Everyone thought that he kept making appointments and became popular, but You Benchang pushed off almost all the scripts.
Say he is indifferent to fame and fortune? It's not. "I wish I could be able to play one role after another, which is great, but it is not suitable to find my script."
The investor took a fancy to his "Jigong" fame and wanted to keep the drama in his hand a big hit, but You Benchang looked at the simple characters one after another, and secretly shook his head in his heart.
To be an actor, you always have to do something, and you must also do something.
"Do what should be done, do it without giving money, and do it with money; What should not be done, do not give much money. ”
You Benchang (right) condolences performance
In 1998, his planned "Jigong Travels" was launched, and some people said that this work was more preachy than "Jigong", and the humor was not as humorous as the former.
You Benchang disagreed.
At the stage of writing the script, You Benchang repeatedly proposed that he must be cautious, "The first audience of that year has grown up, and it is difficult to impress them with some of the children's fun of that year."
What's more, he feels that as a literary and artistic worker, he more or less bears some social responsibilities.
He once read a news item that a 14-year-old child in Tianjin killed an elderly man and falsified the fake scene just to test the police's ability to solve the case.
The child said that his modus operandi was all learned on TV, and after You Benchang watched it, he was heartbroken.
Therefore, after the filming of "Jigong's Travels", he chose the juvenile detention center as the premiere place, which is really unique.
The human heart needs guidance, and he carefully thinks that if he can persuade a little, it is merit.
At this point, the story of Jigong comes to an end, but You Benchang's life continues.
In 2000, You Benchang took out all his family savings, that is, the 2 million brought to him by the "Jigong" series of works, and filmed a pantomime TV series "Mr. You Smiled Dumbly".
He has come to this day by relying on pantomime, and naturally hopes that pantomime can have a better future.
But after filming, no TV station was willing to buy it, and You Benchang lost money.
The reporter asked him if he regretted doing this, and he replied: "It is to stay and let the descendants as a reference value, and I have done this thing is also worth it." ”
Later, the Shanghai Theater Academy wanted to leave this film, as a student study material, he readily agreed, no regrets.
But he may not have expected that the business of losing money is still ahead.
You Benchang (center) performs a pantomime
There is a saying: "After the invention of the movie, human life has been three times longer than before." ”
The same is true for Yau Benchang.
The stage is not only the place where he realizes his ideals in life, but also the continuation of his life.
In 2009, You Benchang was 76 years old.
One day, he attended the Chinese Dramatic Literature Society, and a playwright from Zhejiang said to him: "You can play Master Hongyi." ”
The speaker may not mean it, but the listener has lost his mind.
For a long time, because of the deep popularity of Jigong's image, many audiences thought that You Benchang's drama path was a comedian, but You Benchang privately felt that he should be a character actor and could be qualified for various types of roles.
Russian comedian Irinsky, who has been acting in comedy all his life, suddenly acted in "The Death of Tolstoy" at the age of 80, which won the Lenin Literary Prize.
So why can't you do it yourself?
You Benchang imitates Chaplin
After returning home, he studied the information of Master Koichi, and the more he looked at it, the more he felt that he should do this.
"There have been many plays about Gen-la Koichi, but the focus is on the first half of his life because of the drama. After I read his biography, I felt that according to the previous way, the most exciting part of his life should be the last five years of his life, and his achievements are precisely at this stage. ”
He told his daughter as a screenwriter about his plans, and the daughter was very emotional, and the family agreed on it, so he prepared.
At the beginning, You Benchang raised funds from many film and television companies, but the other party's response was all true: the behavior was praiseworthy, but there was no profit, so forget it.
So, in the year when housing prices in Beijing climbed, You Benchang resolutely sold his house in Beijing.
"I sold the house, because the house was also given by Jigong." He is very open-minded.
You Benchang plays Master Hongyi on the drama stage
In 2010, "Master Hongyi - The Final Victory" began to take shape, and You Benchang chose the rehearsal location in Hangzhou Hupao Temple.
800 years ago, this was the place where Jigong died, and 700 years later, Li Shutong became a monk here.
In 1985, he played Jigong here; 25 years later, he played Master Hongyi.
One word, one word, wonderful.
The picture above shows Jigong
The picture below shows Master Hongyi
You Benchang praised Master Hongyi many times, praising his high mountains and his scenery.
He focuses the story on the second half of Master Hongyi's life, and when the Anti-Japanese War broke out, he personally wrote the five words "final victory" to express the expectation of victory in the confrontation war.
"Chanting the Buddha does not forget to save the country, and to save the country we must chant the Buddha."
A square inch of land, wind and rain, a person, a lamp, play like life, life like a play.
The curtain of the drama stage opened, and the old age of Master Hongyi slowly unfolded.
Until 2018, You Benchang walked the country with this drama, and even went overseas, holding more than 100 performances.
That year, he was 85 years old.
During this period, he was injured and sick, but a drama lasted more than two hours, and he always insisted on being on the stage and refused to leave the stage.
Someone was puzzled and asked if he was crazy.
He persuaded back: "Oh, think about it, the acting career is my profession, in order to rehearse the play, how good it is to be able to set up a troupe and be able to operate." ”
You Benchang on the drama stage
There are also people who feel sorry for him and advise him why he should suffer, it is better to enjoy his old age in peace.
"Some people say that at my age, I am acting one less game, and I think I am acting one more game."
He answered this question with a quote from the French comedy writer Molière: "Dying on stage is the happiness of an actor." ”
You Benchang and students on the drama stage
In recent years, You Benchang has appeared more and more on the TV screen, with mostly cameo appearances, but his acting skills are always "noisy".
In 2011, he starred in "The Adventures of Li Xianji", appeared only a few minutes, and was jokingly called by netizens "a movie with one look".
In 2022, he starred in the online drama "Shōnen Song Xing", and was called "like a person who came out of an anime", full of compassion.
This year, You Benchang is 90 years old, and he is still standing on the stage, standing in the bright and shaky lens, standing under the lights of the set.
He said: To truly do a good job in literary and artistic work, a lifetime is not enough.
In this world, there are 20-year-old decaying trees, and naturally, there will be hundred-year-old evergreen trees.
Back in 1991, You Benchang went to Tibet to participate in commemorative activities.
Tibet Naqu, 4,500 meters above sea level, he performed the "Jigong Song", singing and dancing, and performing.
The oxygen on the plateau was thin, and he had to use all his strength for every sentence, and after singing a song, he returned backstage, panting and exhausted.
The staff suddenly approached him and said that two Tibetan children had come and wanted to sign autographs and tell him to go back later.
You Benchang did not dare to rest, and immediately went to see him with his shoes.
When they met, You Benchang saw two children holding a small hada, the size of a bandage, white and flawless.
The child said that they had just finished watching the Tibetan version of "Jigong" and had not seen enough, and asked You Benchang if he could continue to make a sequel.
You Benchang accepted this little hada and solemnly promised the two children: "Okay, I will definitely shoot it when I go back." ”
In 1994, the policy was opened and individuals could prepare for TV series, and You Benchang hurriedly established a company and began to prepare for the sequel to "Jigong".
Four years later, the 20-episode TV series "Jigong's Travels" began broadcasting, and the distant promise was fulfilled.
You Benchang poses with Tibetan children
In 2021, You Benchang was awarded the title of "Lifelong Honorary Artist" by the National Theatre of China, and the award was awarded to a total of 6 people, and the older generation of literary and artistic workers such as Li Xuejian and Tang Guoqiang were the same name as him.
You Benchang rarely mentions this honor, but on several occasions he constantly mentions the two Tibetan children, recalling the white hada on the 4,500-meter plateau.
"That's the highest award I've ever received," he said. ”
At the end of the article, let's once again experience the sentence that You Benchang once said——
"Do what should be done, do it without giving money, and do it with money; What should not be done, do not give much money. ”
Whether or not to adhere to such a concept directly affects the status quo in many fields, including the film and television industry; This will shape not only the individual destiny of a person, but also the destiny of a group.
This is not only the self-cultivation of an "actor", but also the self-cultivation of a "person".
Go? And yes, and precious.