On February 15, 1999, the thirtieth day of the Chinese New Year's Eve, night fell, firecrackers sounded, and the whole country celebrated the Spring Festival. At eight o'clock that night, the CCTV Spring Festival Gala started on time, and people who had been busy for a year reunited and enjoyed a warm time.
As the Spring Festival Gala progressed, after the finale sketch "Veteran Comes Out" began, the huge CCTV Spring Festival Gala broke out into thunderous applause, because the audience's favorite Spring Festival Gala 'Laughing Mother' - Zhao Lirong appeared on the stage.
But at this time, unlike people who enjoy joy, Zhao Lirong's home is filled with a sad mood. Her children endured their grief, staring nervously at their mother on TV, hugging their heads and crying.
So, what is it that makes a few big men so out of shape at this time when they should be happy?
"Palace jade liquor, one hundred and eighty glasses", "Gathering of heroes, I think it's a radish meeting", "Nodding yes shaking head no, coming is come and going is go",
Listening to these funny and sarcastic lines, people are always amused to laugh, thinking that Zhao Lirong is such an amiable and optimistic person.
But what few people know is that Zhao Lirong in real life is ill-fated and pitiful.
Zhao Lirong was born in 1928, a native of Baodi County, Tianjin, and studied Xi drama since childhood, mainly studying Tsing Yi and Hua Dan. Before liberation, he followed the opera troupe to Shanghai to work hard, and had a short period of glory. After liberation, in 1952, Zhao Lirong began to cooperate with Xin Fengxia, first playing the boudoir Dan, and then playing some mother, grandmother and other Cai Dan roles, although she has never played the protagonist of Hua Dan again, but she has been active on the drama stage.
Commenting on the drama 'flowers as the matchmaker'
In 1959, Zhao Lirong's husband Sheng Qiang died. At that time, a young woman who had lost her husband, with two children, knew that life was very difficult.
Later, under the mediation of Zhao Lirong and Sheng Qiang's two families, Zhao Lirong and Sheng Qiang's younger brother Sheng Hong, who had been considered several times, got married and gave birth to a pair of children, but unfortunately the daughter was born with a brain disease and passed away at the age of seven.
The departure of her daughter is another huge blow, but even so, Zhao Lirong still conveys to the children an optimistic and strong spirit.
In 1988, Zhao Lirong retired from the China Ping Theater and left the stage where she had performed for decades.
After decades of hard work, Zhao Lirong can finally be herself after retirement. She turned her head to a small farm yard on the outskirts of Beijing and lived the rural life she had always longed for. But what she didn't expect was that her life after retirement would become more exciting.
Although no one knows her in the suburbs, her reputation is out, and many directors have come to her door and asked her to appear in TV series and movies.
In the 1986 version of Journey to the West, she played the role of Empress Che Chiguo. played Grandma Liu in the movie "Dream of Red Mansions" and won the Best Supporting Actress Award at the Hundred Flowers Awards. With the role of the mother in the movie "Chinese New Year", Zhao Lirong won the Best Actress Award at the 1991 Tokyo Film Festival.
The reason why Zhao Lirong was able to successfully change careers and still achieve good results is inseparable from her hard work and her awe of art.
Zhao Lirong, who played her mother in the movie "Chinese New Year", had a crying scene that made the audience remember deeply. In order to successfully perform this scene, Zhao Lirong analyzed the script at home and practiced hard for many days.
Once, when her eldest son came home and was still on the stairs, he heard crying from his house, and he thought that something had happened at home, so he couldn't help but be worried, and hurriedly hurried to the house. As soon as I opened the door, I found that there were two people in the family crying face to face, one was my mother Zhao Lirong, and the other was an actor in the theater and a good friend of my mother.
After inquiry, the eldest son learned that it was his mother who was exploring the expression of the crying scene in "Chinese New Year".
In the end, Zhao Lirong's hard work was not in vain, and the movie "Chinese New Year" won awards continuously. Best Actress Award at the Tokyo Film Festival and Best Actress at the Hundred Flowers Award for Popular Films. These achievements are undoubtedly the greatest recognition of Zhao Lirong.
Not only is she willing to work hard to study, but Zhao Lirong is also very strict in taking the script. At that time, the three Xie names in the mainland film industry were very loud - Xie Jin, Xie Tian, and Xie Tieli. At that time, those who were engaged in the acting industry, if they were on the play of these three directors, they could take it out and brag about it.
Among them, Xie Jin found Zhao Lirong three times and asked her to star in her own film and television works, but Zhao Lirong refused. The reason is that the script is not suitable. For Zhao Lirong, she would rather not act than fill the numbers.
Later, Xie Li filmed "Dream of Red Mansions", and Zhao Lirong was very satisfied with the script when she saw it, so she played a well-known role in Dream of Red Mansions - Grandma Liu.
In "Dream of Red Mansions", Zhao Lirong perfectly interprets the image of the rural elderly man who comes from the countryside and enters the Grand View Garden for the first time in the novel, and is shocked by everything.
Perhaps it is this kind of excellence and strict demands on herself that Zhao Lirong can gain one after another people who love her wholeheartedly.
In addition to being active on the big screen, Zhao Lirong also acted in sketches across borders. And this time, Zhao Lirong impressed everyone with her extremely serious professionalism.
In 1988, the Spring Festival Gala had gone through five years, and the energy of star-making began to appear. At that time, Feng Gong, Guo Da and others became hot stars overnight with the stage of the Spring Festival Gala. Countless people are proud of the Spring Festival Gala. And in this year, Zhao Lirong received an invitation call from the director team of the Spring Festival Gala.
But what the director never expected was that Zhao Lirong actually put forward all kinds of requirements for the sketches to be played: no scripts without deep meaning, and no vivid characters without acting.
Where have they ever seen this kind of battle? People have always begged for themselves, when has the director team begged others? Now this old lady is so good that she even talked to the director team about the conditions.
Zhao Lirong's requirements are reasonable, and it is precisely because she always maintains high standards and high requirements that she can go far on the road of drama reviews and movies and TV series. Now, when it is replaced by a sketch, its true colors have not changed.
This year, she appeared on the Spring Festival Gala for the first time, partnering with 'Jigong' You Benchang to cooperate in the sketch "Emergency", in which she played a middle-aged and elderly woman. Zhao Lirong, who crossed over from drama to sketch, played this role with ease and ease. On the stage of the Spring Festival Gala that year, people remembered a lovely old lady who was humorous and spoke Tangshan dialect.
The following year, in 1989, a great opportunity befell Zhao Lirong. She got the opportunity to perform in the sketch "A Day in the Life of a Heroic Mother". And for the director team to make up their minds to use Zhao Lirong as the protagonist, there is one person who cannot be ignored.
He is Shi Lin, the screenwriter of "A Day in the Life of a Heroic Mother". And what impressed Shi Lin was precisely because of Zhao Lirong's wonderful performance in the drama. So he wrote in the last line of the script: I hope to invite drama actor Zhao Lirong to play.
And it turns out that screenwriter Shi Lin's vision is not wrong.
Zhao Lirong successfully created a simple, kind, and funny image of an aunt in "A Day of a Heroic Mother", and her 'clumsiness' brought great laughter to the audience.
With this sketch, Zhao Lirong became famous overnight, and since then she has been out of control on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala.
The popular Zhao Lirong did not take advantage of her fame to make a lot of money, she hid and returned to a farmhouse on the outskirts of Beijing. She wanted to calm down and think about it.
In this way, on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala, Zhao Lirong was silent for two years. Two years later, Zhao Lirong ushered in her 'golden partner' on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala - Gong Hanlin. And the cooperation with Zhao Lirong also brought Gong Hanlin to the peak of his career.
Among the sketch actors at that time, Gong Hanlin was the only one who could speak Tangshan dialect, so he got the opportunity to partner with Zhao Lirong in the sketch "Mother's Heart".
Soon, Gong Hanlin came to Beijing. At this time, his heart is very nervous, he is just a little-known little actor, and the great artist Zhao Lirong is partnered, if it goes well, it's okay to say, if he messes up, what should I do?
But soon Gong Hanlin completely relaxed. The moment he saw Teacher Zhao Lirong, the worry in Gong Hanlin's heart disappeared. Where does the person in front of him have the shelf of a big star? He is completely like an aunt next door, very amiable.
Zhao Lirong took the initiative to talk to Gong Hanlin, "This is the person who plays my son, right?" Gong Hanlin replied respectfully: "Well, yes, Mr. Zhao, I will play your son"
Zhao Lirong said with a big grin: "Oh, that's okay, then we're the two of us."
During the meal, Zhao Lirong took the initiative to pull Gong Hanlin to her side and said, "Son, you sit here, although this is Beijing, but when you arrive here, it is like coming home."
Zhao Lirong's words made Gong Hanlin's heart flow a warm current, and in the cold Beijing at that time, Gong Hanlin, who was pursuing his dreams, felt unprecedented warmth.
Since then, the two have joined hands to bring the audience a classic sketch full of funny and irony.
However, what everyone doesn't know is how much Zhao Lirong, who is already sick, has paid behind these classic sketches! And we can see that Zhao Lirong is worthy of being an old artist with both virtue and art.
In the last few sketches on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala, Zhao Lirong went into battle with injuries. Every time, I endured great pain and completed the sketch.
In the 1995 sketch "So Packaged", Zhao Lirong's action of not kneeling firmly once made people think that it was a burden that had been designed a long time ago. But in fact, Zhao Lirong has suffered from arthritis for many years. As early as ten days before the official performance, the doctor told Zhao Lirong to stay in bed for a month and then operate.
But Zhao Lirong refused, on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala, the people of the whole country knew that they would perform and bring laughter to everyone, and now let herself quit, she said: She is sorry for these audiences.
Now whenever I rewatch "So Packaged", my heart will also sting with Zhao Lirong slapping the ground with one hand, it is hard to imagine how much pain she endured at that time! Later, when she stepped down, it was Gong Hanlin who walked off the stage with Zhao Lirong in her arms.
In fact, an artist of Zhao Lirong's level can live for a long time, plant flowers and farms, hum songs, bask in the sun, and spend the rest of her life in peace, but she doesn't, she loves the stage, loves art, she can't let go of this place where she has fought all her life, and the most important thing is that she doesn't want to disappoint the people who have always supported her!
In 1996, another classic sketch was born - "Part-time Job Adventure". In addition to the extremely funny lines in the sketch, there is also the classic scene of Zhao Lirong writing satirizing bad merchants and leaving in a chic manner.
At that time, Zhao Lirong's four words of 'genuine' were quite calligraphy-like, and people thought she could do it herself, but in fact, Zhao Lirong could only barely be illiterate.
Zhao Lirong's family conditions are not good, she never studied before liberation, and she made a living by singing. After liberation, although he participated in literacy classes, his education level was limited.
This time, the sketch asked her to perform and write on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala, which was not only extremely difficult, but also doubly stressful. This is the most popular TV show in the country, and if something goes wrong, her reputation for decades will be ruined.
However, Zhao Lirong did not back down. She is such a person, she never gives up in the face of difficulties, and there is only one thought in her head - overcome, overcome, or overcome.
After Zhao Lirong went home, she bought the four treasures of the study and swayed them, and practiced Xi for more than ten hours every day. A week later, at the rehearsal, people were surprised to find that her handwriting had improved by leaps and bounds. In the end, when the live performance of the Spring Festival Gala was carried out, it was easy to do it in one go, and the audience applauded.
After that, Zhao Lirong was silent for two years and did not appear on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala. It's not that she doesn't want to, if she can, she would rather stay on stage for the rest of her life, but her health doesn't allow it.
After her health finally improved a little, she appeared on time on the Spring Festival Gala for two consecutive years to meet the audience who has always loved and supported her. Nothing else, I just don't want to disappoint everyone. But this is also the last time of Zhao Lirong's Spring Festival Gala, and it is also the countdown of her life.
In 1999, Zhao Lirong performed at the Spring Festival Gala for the last time. This time, she brought the sketch "Veteran Out of the Horse". This time, Zhao Lirong once again brought a surprise to everyone - she sang the English song "My Heart is Eternal" in the sketch performance.
In 1998, the foreign film "Titanic" was released in China, which caused a huge response. The theme song "My Heart is Eternal" is a big hit and is very popular.
But at that time, it was not ordinarily difficult to let a 70-year-old man sing English songs, and Zhao Lirong knew that the only thing she could teach at this moment was her youngest son Sheng Qian, who was far away in Italy.
So accompanied by her sons, she hurriedly flew to Italy, and Zhao Lirong did not take this opportunity to reunite with her youngest son. The old man asked his son to translate English into Chinese and memorize Celine Dion's tape sentence by sentence. As soon as she learned the song, she flew back to China.
As expected, when Zhao Lirong's voice sounded in "The Veteran Comes Out", the audience's applause was given to Zhao Lirong again. Everyone didn't expect that a 70-year-old man could sing English songs so well.
In fact, although Zhao Lirong's last sketch "The Veteran Comes Out" has a very high degree of completion, it is obviously inferior to the previous works, which has also attracted a lot of opposition.
But what people don't know is that this will be the last time Zhao Lirong will appear on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala.
As early as the beginning of the rehearsal of "The Veteran", Zhao Lirong, who coughed extremely badly and even bleed, was taken to the hospital for examination by her sons. The result is lung cancer. They didn't tell Zhao Lirong, but chose to break up the packaging of the anti-cancer drug, repackage it, and pretend to be an ordinary treatment drug for her mother.
In 1999, the thirtieth year of the Chinese New Year's Eve, Zhao Lirong's sons watched the dragon and tiger on the stage, bringing happy mothers to everyone, sad and crying.
In April 1999, Zhao Lirong entered the cancer hospital for treatment, and the terrible tumor tortured the 70-year-old man in agony. In order to let her mother recuperate with peace of mind, the sons took Zhao Lirong home from the hospital and returned to the small farm yard she had always longed for.
Time entered the year 2000, and in the last period of her life, Zhao Lirong could only occasionally go down to the ground and take a look at the flowers and trees she planted in the yard. The youngest son who learned the news rushed back from Italy, and since then, in this small courtyard, Zhao Lirong's children and grandchildren have gathered together.
In July, Zhao Lirong gradually couldn't eat anything, and in the early morning of July 17, Zhao Lirong, who was dying, said to her sons: I am dead, and the future will be arranged by the leader. In 2000, at 7.30 a.m. on July 17, Zhao Lirong died of illness at home.
Gong Hanlin was the first to rush to Zhao Lirong's home. On the same day, Gong Hanlin and his wife Jin Zhu performed in another place. After the performance, it was more than five hours of driving, and the two drove all the way.
Ten days later, in Babaoshan, thousands of people spontaneously came to mourn at the scene. Everyone was grieving, Zhao Lirong was a civilian superstar for them.
The reason why Zhao Lirong is liked by so many people is because of her extremely high artistic achievements on the one hand, and because of her noble personality on the other hand.
When it comes to art, she strives for excellence. Because the ending of the sketch is not satisfactory, she can think about it day and night, and even mobilize her friends to think about it together. In 1993, the Spring Festival Gala crew sent her an invitation, but there was no suitable script, Zhao Lirong resigned, in her opinion, art should rather be lacking than indiscriminate, and would rather not be than practice art.
In addition to art, Zhao Lirong's character is even more admirable, and in the face of younger generations, she is always generous and reckless.
Gong Hanlin and Zhao Lirong co-starred in the sketch "Mother's Heart". At that time, the director team was dissatisfied with Gong Hanlin and planned to replace him, but Zhao Lirong resolutely left Gong Hanlin behind, saying that if it was replaced, it would be better to replace her with her, so Gong Hanlin had the opportunity to shine on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala later.
Later, many actors who have worked with Zhao Lirong said that Zhao Lirong is like their mother, always caring about herself. Perhaps this is the reason why Zhao Lirong can get widespread support in the circle - her heart is full of great love.
As a real big actor, Zhao Lirong will always show her radiant side on the stage, and keep all the pain and sorrow to herself. She often said: Only those who have eaten Coptis chinensis know what sweetness is, and only those who have lived in tragedy can create laughter.
In the 12 years after her glorious retirement, Zhao Lirong has completed a gorgeous turn and written her own glory. What is surprising is that people who like Zhao Lirong's sketches have no gender, occupation, age, regardless of gender, young and old, from all walks of life, they all love this 'laughing mother'.
Looking at the past, her artistic achievements are a mountain that is worth learning from all actors Xi.
To sum up with a sentence that Zhao Lirong once warned Gong Hanlin: Act seriously and be a real person. When it comes to art, we must pay attention to it, and we must not compromise!