Zhao Dan's image in the film Angel on the Road (1937).
In 1939, Zhao Dan (1915-1980), summoned by the united front, went to Xinjiang with Xu Tao (1910-1966), Wang Weiyi (1912-2013) and Zhao Dan's ex-wife Ye Luqian (1917-1992), and carried out literacy, tutoring, performance and anti-Japanese propaganda work under the leadership of the Xinjiang Cultural Association of which Mao Dun (1896-1981) was the president.
Zhao Dan's work and performances in Xinjiang are outstanding and wonderful, making the people of Xinjiang unforgettable for decades. However, Sheng Shicai, a warlord and autocratic demon king in Xinjiang, created an incident and threw a group of revolutionaries into prison.
Zhao Dan and his ex-wife Ye Luqian and daughter Zhao Qing
On the night of his imprisonment, Zhao Dan was still giving a "last lesson" to the children of Xinjiang, saying: "This is the last lesson I will give you, and the big black car outside is waiting for me, it is the prisoner car." I ask you not to move, if they dare to touch you, I will fight with them! You can sing revolutionary songs. You can go to a wider world and sing about our great motherland and heroic people!"
Before departure, a group photo was taken in front of Fanhang Ferry Station, from left: Gu Zhi, Du Xiaojuan, Tang Na, Shen Junru, Lan Ping, Ye Luqian, Zhao Dan
This is not a line in a play, and Zhao Dan was not a Bolshevik at this time. But this clear-cut sentence fully shows his mind and temperament, isn't this Xu Yunfeng!
Zhao Dan was tortured and mentally tortured in prison, and the kind of prison scene that he had only seen in movies was unimaginable for many actors.
Stills from the stage play "Thunderstorm", Zhao Dan on the left and Lan Ping on the right
People thought he was dead in prison. By this time, his friends in Chongqing, including Ye Luqian, who had been released two years earlier, had already held a memorial service for Zhao Dan, and Jin Shan (1911-1982) mourned Zhao Dan in the newspaper.
However, Zhao Dan, who has a legendary life, has returned from death to his friends and people.
An image of Zhao Dan in the film The Book of Daughters (1934).
After Zhao Dan saw his friends, he returned from a "mysterious trip" and said, "Haha, the dead are resurrected again......!" I became a homeless single. ”
After experiencing that nightmarish prison life, Zhao Dan was more determined to devote himself to filming.
From left: Wu Yin, Zhao Dan and Wei Heling in the film The Crow and the Sparrow (1949).
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, he returned to Shanghai and filmed films such as "The Return of Glory" (1947), "Rhapsody of Happiness" (1947), "Distant Love" (1948), "Unstoppable Spring" (1948), "Beauty Walk" (1949), "The Crow and the Sparrow" (1949), "The Legend of Wu Xun" (1951), "Between Our Husband and Wife" (1951) and other films.
Zhao Dan's image in the film Distant Love (1948).
Among them, "The Return of Yijin" was directed by Zhao Dan and written by Gu Zhi (1915-1970), exposing and satirizing the ugliness of the "robbery" of the Kuomintang at that time.
"The Crow and the Sparrow" was filmed and released only after the liberation. The film reflects the tragic and hopeful life of a group of small citizens such as "Little Broadcasting" vendors, Mr. Xiao and Mr. Hua, who are oppressed by various forces in the old society, from pain and groaning to enlightenment.
Stills from the movie "Rhapsody of Happiness" (1947), Zhao Dan and Huang Zongying
Boss Xiao played by Zhao Dan vividly embodies the mentality and charm of the small citizens at the front desk, once again showing his genius of "a monster with a thousand faces". The film won the first prize of the Outstanding Film Award of the Ministry of Culture from 1949 to 1955.
"Rhapsody of Happiness" is another "human comedy" in Zhao Dan's life journey.
Stills from the movie "Rhapsody of Happiness" (1947), Zhao Dan and Huang Zongying
In November 1947, director Chen Liting (1910-2013) directed Chen Baichen's (1908-1994) "Rhapsody of Happiness", with Zhao Dan as the protagonist, but the supporting actress was accidentally found after stepping on the iron shoes, she was Huang Zongying (1925-2020). Zhao Dan is a big actor that Huang Zongying has long admired.
When the filming of "Rhapsody of Happiness" ended, Zhao Dan invited Huang Zongying to eat a "feast" made by his mother at home.
Zhao Dan and Huang Zongying
At the end of the song, when Huang Zongying said goodbye to Zhao Dan and was about to fly to Beijing, thousands of miles away, Zhao Dan said to her: "Zongying, I think you should be my wife!"
Huang Zongying was stunned. Heartbeat, flustered, confused, but the words came out: "Okay, I promise you." ”
"In this way, I became Adam's wife. Huang Zongying recalled. "Rhapsody of Happiness" became "March of Happiness", and on New Year's Day in 1948, Zhao Dan officially became Huang Zongying's husband in Zheng Junli's (1911-1969) family.
Stills from the movie "The Legend of Wu Xun" (1951), Zhao Dan
Since then, he has given Huang Zongying the best happiness in the world, and also given her the greatest pain in the world. This is in line with what the Danish philosopher Gilkegaard said: "Perfect love means that your loved one is causing you pain." ”
At the beginning of liberation, they performed "The Legend of Wu Xun" together, which was criticized. This cast a dark cloud over them for the first time in their common life.
The founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949, from left: Zhao Dan, Lan Ma and Xie Tian on the Tiananmen Square viewing platform
In order to confirm his heart, Zhao Dan asked to cross the Yalu River and go to the line of fire to receive the baptism of battle.
Huang Zongying picked up the pen and went to the workers and peasants.
On the battlefield of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea, Zhao Dan was subjected to a more solemn test of life, and strengthened the belief that "no one has died in life since ancient times, and Dan has been left behind".
Second row, from left: Ying Yunwei, Zhao Dan, Huang Zongying, Mao Zedong
He wrote in his poem Mingzhi: It is the left or the right to see the front line, and it is black or red in the flames of war. Honor and disgrace are common things of life and death, and the history of yin and yang of people and ghosts is affectionate!
In 1957, Zhao Dan became a member of the Communist Party of China, a deputy to the first, second and third national people's congresses, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and a member of the first, second and third sessions.
In 1959, the actors of Shanghai Film Studio performed for the workers, from left to right, Zheng Junli, Shangguan Yunzhu, Wang Danfeng, Zhang Ruifang, Feng Xiao, Zhao Dan, Jin Yan
From October 1, 1949 to October 10, 1980, arithmetically, Zhao Dan's life was 31 years, that is to say, his most important artistic life should be this period, but counting his films, it accounted for less than one-sixth of the nearly 60 films in his life! This is a sad and sad number.
An image of Zhao Dan in the film Li Shizhen (1956).
But a third-rate actor with less talent, virtue, and merit wants to make a first-class actor with more merit, virtue, and talent alive. The ultra-"leftist" line has wasted Zhao Dan's good spring, and this is really a great sin for the people.
"Eternal Life in the Fire" (1965) is bright enough in terms of content, ideology, art, revolution, etc., and no matter how "left" the stick is, it can't be beaten into "bad", right?
An image of Zhao Dan in the film Nie Er (1959).
In 1965, a certain female high-level went to see this film, and when she saw half of it, she laughed wildly (very strange, most people shed tears when she watched it), saying that she wanted to take medicine and was going to be angry: "This film is terrible, it's bad!" She shouted around the screening room: "This film doesn't need to be changed, take it out and let the masses criticize it!"
An image of Zhao Dan and Xiang Kun in the film Eternal Life in Fire (1965).
Premier Zhou affirmed the film. The female high-level was even more angry, saying, "Xu Yunfeng is a traitor!", "Zhao Dan is crazy!", In the "turbulent decade", the female high-level insisted on turning "Eternal Life in the Fire" into a "big poisonous weed", and one of the authors, Luo Guangbin (1924-1967), died in prison!
All the films performed by Zhao Dan are not let go of the female high-level leaders: "The Legend of Wu Xun" "scandalized" Chinese Min, "Sea Soul" (1958) was the reactionary "Spirit", and "Nie Er" (1959) was the "National Defense Literature and Art" in the 30s...... In the eyes of that very undesirable female "actor", everything about Zhao Dan is "reactionary" and "a mess"!
An image of Zhao Dan in the film Eternal Life in the Fire (1965).
As a result, Zhao Dan was thrown into prison for the second time, which lasted for more than five years. The torture he suffered this time was no worse than the one more than 20 years ago, especially the mental destruction that almost destroyed all of his belief in life.
This time, although it was in the northwest, there was the party and the people behind it, but this time in the Basket Bridge Prison in Shanghai, it was like a "lonely soul" in the wilderness, facing the banner of "revolution."
An image of Zhao Dan in the film Eternal Life in the Fire (1965).
Zhao Dan has no name for 5 years and 3 months, the code name is "139", and he lives in a dungeon, dripping water on all four walls, like the Dihua Prison he sat in Xinjiang, and like the scum cave he lived in the movie.
History is so cruel to pranks, and the lust for power is so despicable.
Wang Hongwen of Shanghai adhered to the instructions of the old enemy of "139" and the master of Beijing, and secretly ordered the "139" task force: "Zhao Dan can be killed, if it is not appropriate to shoot him publicly, he will be slowly killed in custody!"
A still from the movie "Eternal Life in the Fire" (1965), Zhao Dan
How terrible is the right to lose one's humanity.
Zhao Dan is too strong. In his capacity as a prisoner No. 139, he wrote an "application" entitled "Request to be punished," saying: "If you can really save the world by killing one person, then I ask that you be punished! For the sake of the revolution, this is too cost-effective!" This reminds people of the story of the "Phoenix Nirvana."
At the beginning of 1979, Zhao Dan, Huang Zongying and their eldest daughter Zhao Qing (front) took a group photo at the Summer Palace in Beijing
Relatives and friends once again thought that Zhao Dan was dead. Among his friends, Shangguan Yunzhu (1920-1968) jumped off a building, Xu Tao threw himself into the Qiantang River to chase Lao She (1899-1966), Gu had already hung the beam as a "ghost of a thousand autumns", and Zheng Junli rushed to Heaven to join Nie Er (1912-1935) in prison.
Zhao Dan once again suffered a catastrophe and returned to the world like a "ghost".
Zhao Dan and Chen Chong
A poem written in wild grass summarizes the legend of his life and shows his mind:
There are great ups and downs, ten years in prison, ups and downs, ups and downs, hell and heaven.
Zhao Dan, who lived for the rest of his life after the catastrophe, was bent on the art of letting him go to purgatory several times. When he met people, he said: "I am an actor, I want to act." "He's like an innocent child.
Zhao Dan plays Lu Xun's makeup photo
The great writer Li Lin (1928-2000) said that Zhao Dan wanted to play Premier Zhou in "The River Flows" (1978), Li Bai in "Li Bai and Du Fu", Lu Xun in "The Biography of Lu Xun", Jing Ke in "The Biography of Jing Ke", and Wen Yiduo in "Wen Yiduo".
He even naively put on the makeup of the prime minister and Lu Xun, and once made a short film for a few minutes, which made the audience believe it.
At the meeting of new overseas Chinese, from left: Zhou Enlai, Zhao Dan, Xia Yan
Later, Wang Tiecheng, who became famous throughout the country for playing Zhou Enlai, was deeply moved and impressed by Zhao Dan's virginity, enthusiasm, talent and realistic performance at that time.
At that time, filmmakers had a very deep affection for Zhou Enlai, Zhao Dan vowed to play Zhou Enlai alive, and Xie Tieli (1925-2015) invited Zhao Dan to play Zhou Enlai in "The River Flows", which was also the first time that the image of the prime minister appeared in a Chinese feature film.
Stills from the movie "The River Flows" (1978), from left: Zhang Jinling, Zhang Ruifang, Wang Tiecheng
Zhao Dan asked someone to edit Zhou Enlai's materials together and put them in a loop, and he watched them day and night alone. Before he asked the makeup artist to try on his makeup and style, he always had to go outside to order four dishes and take a Chinese cigarette to the makeup artist.
It takes eight hours to try on makeup every time, and he also humbly bowed to Wang Tiecheng, a junior student, and asked for advice from his junior, and asked a car to pick up Wang Tiecheng to go to Beiying to communicate face-to-face, and asked Wang Tiecheng to be his voice, Wang Tiecheng was deeply moved by the selfless and desperate spirit of this great artist.
Zhao Dan plays Premier Zhou's makeup trial photo
However, "for some reason", Beiying suddenly removed Zhao Dan and let Wang Tiecheng play the prime minister. That day, someone saw Zhao Dan drinking alone for a long time in a tavern in Dongsi.
Soon, Zhao Dan couldn't afford to fall ill. After Wang Tiecheng learned about the news, he said to Huang Zongying: "Teacher Zongying, forgive me for not being able to visit the hospital, I am afraid that Teacher Zhao Dan will be stimulated." ”
Wang Tiecheng played Zhou Enlai in the film "Xi'an Incident" (1981).
Wang Tiecheng will never forget this incident, every time he thinks about it, he has tears in his eyes, and his heart is extremely uncomfortable.
Wang Tiecheng said "I don't know why", but in fact it is not why. Although the movement is over, the ultra-left ideology still restricts Zhao Dan, and some people say: "I heard that Zhao Dan has nothing to do with Lan Ping, is it appropriate to play the prime minister?"
From left to right: Shen Fu, Huang Zuolin, Li Lihua, Zhao Dan
Because of this unclear "heard", and it was a "casual" question, no one went to investigate. How did the woman who almost killed Zhao Dan become Zhao Dan's "relation" who died all his life?
Therefore, although Zhao Dan is free, his bad luck is still by his side, not only the prime minister cannot play, but even other roles cannot be played.
Second from left: Tao Yuling, Sayuri Yoshinaga, Yoshino Yoshiko, Deng Yingchao, Kurihara Komaki, Liu Xiaoqing, Huang Zongying, Zhao Dan
After watching the Japanese film "Life and Death Love" (1971), Zhao Dan admired the Japanese director Noboru Nakamura (1913-1981), so he recommended him as the director of the Sino-Japanese co-production "A Game of Unfinished Chess" (1982), and hoped to work with Japanese actors Hideko Takamine (1924-2010) and Komaki Kurihara.
They actively planned together, but Zhao Dan never finished playing a game of chess in his life and art.
Zhao Dan and Kurihara Komaki
Japanese film peers deeply appreciated Zhao Dan's talent, saying that Zhao Dan is a well-known great artist in the world, and ten famous Japanese actors can't match it. They were deeply saddened by his death and wept bitterly.
When Zhao Dan was seriously ill and in pain, he indulged in ink and blue. When Kurihara Komaki came to China, Zhao Dan drew a pair of swallows and gave it to her, and wrote a poem to the prime minister: "The cherry blossoms are red, and the willow leaves are green by the pool." In the sound of swallows, we met for another year. "Kurihara small rolls are treasured to this day.
Zhao Dan, who loved painting in his later years
Zhao Dan was depressed, but he still insisted on writing two performing art monographs, "Screen Image Creation" and "Hell's Gate". He also exhibited more than 200 of his exquisite paintings and calligraphy works to friends at home and abroad. His artistic dreams transcend his life.
In September 1980, the literary and artistic edition of the People's Daily launched a discussion on "improving the party's leadership over literature and art and invigorating the cause of literature and art". Zhao Dan's article is one of the pieces in this discussion.
Zhao Dan's article in the People's Daily
Zhao Dan's article was published in the following context: In October 1979, Deng Xiaoping said at the Fourth National Literary Congress: "The complex spiritual labor of literature and art requires artists to give full play to their individual creative spirit. What to write and how to write can only be explored and gradually solved by literary artists in the course of artistic practice, and in this regard, no arbitrary interference should be made. "
October 31, 1979, Guangming Daily, the first page of "Comrade Deng Xiaoping's Greetings"
Since then, the phrase "do not interfere arbitrarily" has often been recited and quoted by the vast number of literary and art workers, and they have also held it as a shield to resist certain practices that continue to interfere with them.
Four years later, in January 1985, Hu Qiaomu agreed with Zhao Dan's article in a conversation in Guangzhou with Ding Qiao, vice minister of culture, and film actors Zhang Ruifang (1918-2012) and Zhao Ziyue (1909-1997), who were attending a symposium on the performing arts of Chinese cinema.
In March 1949, Hu Qiaomu was with Mao Zedong
In January 1985, the Chinese Film Performing Arts Symposium was held in Guangzhou
Hu Qiaomu said to them, and Zhao Dan said that the party is too specific and there is no hope for literature and art. This statement is true. The party is a political organization, and it should not be specifically responsible for literature and art, let alone too specific? Even an art organization, such as the Drama Association, cannot control everyone's creation. If Shakespeare's works were all censored by the Drama Guild, they might not be able to produce so many good works.
At 2:40 a.m. on October 10, 1980, a virgin and stubborn heart finally stopped beating at the age of 65.
When he left, he remembered that he was still an actor, and that he was going to go to heaven like the heroes he played in "Heroic Symphony" and "All the Music of the World" he wrote.
The cover of the 12th issue of "Shanghai Film Pictorial" in 1959, stills from the movie "Nie Er" (1959), Zhao Dan
- Ye Luqian risked death to complain, and Song Meiling saved Zhao Dan in Urumqi
- What did the 23-year-old do in his final years?
- Shangguan Yunzhu's last moments: forced her to admit that she had participated in a spy organization
- Zhao Chong talked about his brother Zhao Dan, spending money like dirt, giving his father 80 yuan a month, and getting used to being criticized and fighting when he was released from prison
- Stars gathered: Yu Lan proposed filming, Zhao Dan was "dissatisfied" with the script, and Wang Xingang became a trick