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Text: Peng Yibin
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introduction
On July 17, 2000, Zhao Lirong, a popular artist who was loved by the people, died of lung cancer, and her funeral was held in Babaoshan.
In the last period of Zhao Lirong's life, she experienced the pain of cancer and chemotherapy. The nanny once recalled that Grandma Zhao was stronger than Sister Jiang in the last time.
(Zhao Lirong)
1. Artist Zhao Lirong
"Come is come and go is go, nod yes and shake your head no", "palace jade liquor, one hundred and eighty glasses", "tango is lying down and lying down", these Spring Festival Gala quotations have penetrated into our lives, and even created a lot of popular words. The Spring Festival Gala of that year was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and it also promoted Zhao Lirong to the public.
In 1989, CCTV was rehearsing the sketch "A Day of a Heroic Mother", but the heroine "Mother" did not find a suitable candidate for a long time. At this time, someone recommended Zhao Lirong to the director, Zhao Lirong was dressed plainly, which made the director wonder, can this little old lady act well?
(Zhao Lirong)
In fact, Zhao Lirong showed her face as early as 1986 in "Journey to the West", although the Empress Che Chiguo she played was not an important role, but the director Yang Jie admired her very much and was dormant by her acting skills. In 1988, Zhao Lirong was encouraged by Yang Jie after retirement and began to get in touch with sketch performances, and she performed "Emergency" with You Benchang, which brought her into the public eye.
Zhao Lirong's characteristics are Tangshan dialect, in "The Day of the Heroic Mother", Zhao Lirong's line "Sima Jar Smashing the Light" made the audience laugh, and she was also completely famous, with that magical Tangshan accent, Zhao Lirong officially set foot in the comedy industry. And then Zhao Lirong appeared on the Spring Festival Gala many times, bringing many unique performances to the audience.
(Zhao Lirong on the Spring Festival Gala)
From "Mom's Today" to "So Packaged", "Part-time Job Adventure" and so on, because the sketches continue to innovate, Zhao Lirong must also learn many new things at the age of 60. She studied tango, and later sang rap in "So Packaged", and even learned calligraphy in "Part-time Job Adventure", in fact, Zhao Lirong does not know calligraphy.
In order to write the words "genuine", Zhao Lirong went to the calligraphy teacher to write it, and practiced drawing the scoop according to the gourd every day, which finally showed excellent results. asked her to sing "My Heart is Eternal", and she didn't know English, so she slowly marked it in pinyin. Zhao Lirong took art very seriously, and her physical condition began to decline.
(Zhao Lirong's sketch)
Before the performance of "So Packed", she had severe osteoporosis and needed bed rest before surgery. But the rehearsal for the Spring Festival Gala has reached the final stage, and the director asked Zhao Lirong not to be on this time, but Zhao Lirong categorically refused, and even closed to the show. But in this performance, Zhao Lirong knelt down on one knee and suddenly pressed her leg.
When it was time to step down, Zhao Lirong could only be lame, and Gong Hanlin immediately went to check her and directly wished her hospitalization. After 1998, Zhao Lirong's health became worse and worse, with arthritis, emphysema, and rat bones stuck in her knees.
(Zhao Lirong and Gong Hanlin)
Second, after getting cancer, Zhao Lirong endured the pain of chemotherapy
In 1999, during the rehearsal, Zhao Lirong suddenly coughed up blood, and Gong Hanlin immediately took someone for examination, and this investigation found that it was actually lung cancer! Gong Hanlin and the Zhao family felt that they should not tell the old lady first, so all the medicines were torn off before they were sent to the old lady, saying that it was to treat emphysema.
But Zhao Lirong herself is also very aware of her body, and after the performance of "Kung Fu Ling", she soon knew that she had lung cancer. After going to many hospitals and learning that she was unlikely to be cured, Zhao Lirong seemed to have accepted the pain.
(Zhao Lirong)
After Zhao Lirong received chemotherapy, her hair fell out rapidly, her weight kept falling, and her whole spirit obviously lost a lot. Zhao Lirong refused all visits, she moved back to her small yard, which was a small yard on the outskirts of Beijing, and she was taken care of by the nanny Zhang Yajing, who accompanied her a lot in Zhao Lirong's last time.
Chemotherapy is very painful, but Zhao Lirong is still thinking about the audience, she told her son, saying that if I leave, you'd better hide it for me, there is no Zhao Lirong in this world. My image is a good image in everyone's hearts, it is a healthy and lively Zhao Lirong, she doesn't want the audience to know that the real Zhao Lirong turned out to be seriously ill.
(Zhao Lirong)
Probably like the last time she performed, she sang "My heart is eternal", indeed, no matter how far away, my heart is eternal. Zhao Lirong underwent chemotherapy for several months, and chemotherapy has serious side effects, vomiting, hair loss, these are the most basic. It's hard to imagine that Zhao Lirong received up to 4 courses of chemotherapy, because even the doctors said that she set a hospital record.
In order to be able to complete the chemotherapy treatment, Zhao Lirong gritted her teeth and ate the food, and once she vomited it out, she forced herself to eat it, and everyone was very distressed in their eyes.
(Zhao Lirong)
Nanny Zhang Yajing recalled that Zhao Lirong was in so much pain after chemotherapy, even if she was in so much pain, she still had the heart to joke with the doctor, saying that she had seen the enemy torture Sister Jiang in the past, how cruel it was to wear bamboo sticks, and if you wanted me to say, it might be better to use chemotherapy to force the effect. It can be seen how much pain she endured at that time, but she was still able to comfort others.
In the last period of Zhao Lirong's life, she was not discouraged and chose to face her death calmly. Once Zhao Lirong took out all the photo albums from the cabinet, and there were hundreds of photos in the five albums, recording Zhao Lirong's process from youth to old age. Zhao Lirong beckoned Zhang Yajing over, took out a photo, and asked her what she thought of this one, was there a blessing on her face?
(Zhao Lirong)
Immediately afterwards, Zhao Lirong said, "I want to go to our nearby photo studio for a while to enlarge a photo, keep it, and once I have that day, I will take it out and use it." She made a clear arrangement for herself, but Zhang Yajing was very distressed, the old lady treated her very well on weekdays, taught her the principles of life, and even encouraged Zhang Yajing to continue her studies in college.
With Zhao Lirong's encouragement, Zhang Yajing studied hard, wrote words, and even joined the Tianjin Writers Association. I think Zhao Lirong is in the spirit of heaven, and she will be relieved to see it.
(Zhao Lirong)
3. Regrets left behind
In 1995, director Huang Shuqin planned a movie script "Hi, Frank", which tells the story of an old Chinese lady in the United States, who met the old American man next door because of the language barrier, and the first English sentence she learned was "Hi, Frank", and then the two had a relationship that did not work together.
Huang Shuqin found Zhao Lirong, Zhao Lirong agreed after reading the script, and the actor chose American actor Gregory Peck, who has played classic films such as "Roman Holiday" and is also Zhao Lirong's idol. In 2000, Huang Shuqin went to visit Zhao Lirong, and Zhao Lirong has always been thinking about this movie, and said that she would not shoot to death.
(Huang Shuqin)
The film was expected to start filming in August and September of that year, but the shocking news came on July 17 that Zhao Lirong had passed away. This made Huang Shuqin very regretful and blamed herself, and felt that it would be good to start filming earlier. After Zhao Lirong's death, a memorial service was held in Beijing on July 27, and at five o'clock in the morning, the streets were full of people, all of whom volunteered to see Zhao Lirong off.
It is said that on the day of the memorial service, 100,000 people in Shenyang saw off Zhao Lirong, hoping that her body would not be cremated. As a people's artist, Zhao Lirong has left us too many classic works, and also left us laughter and brought to heaven, she deserves our eternal respect.
(Zhao Lirong's memorial service)
Resources
Celebrity丨Heaven has laughter, Zhao Lirong has passed away for 20 years.Southern People Weekly,2020-07-22
Revealing the last ten years of Zhao Lirong's ordinary, personally picking the portrait at the last moment.Sohu Entertainment,2011-05-28