"A trip to the mountains and rivers, three lives are lucky"
When it comes to actresses in the last century, they always can't avoid going to the beach.
Ten Mile Ocean Field a dream, those female stars in old Shanghai, such as Hu Die, Ruan Lingyu, Zhou Xuan, these familiar names, are the most popular beauty on the beach at that time, they are dressed in exquisite cheongsam, a smile, a hand raised, a feminine, representing the beauty of an era.
But the beautiful actresses at that time were far more than these.
Here is a small love letter from the movie, let's go back to the last century and get a glimpse of the "most beautiful actress of the 50s" - Wang Danfeng.
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"Little swallow, wear a flower coat, come here every spring, I asked swallow why you came..."
This catchy nursery rhyme is everyone's childhood memories. But few people know that the original song of this song is actually a great beauty, she is the legendary film star wang Danfeng of the Republic of China.
Wang Danfeng was born in Shanghai in 1924, when her name was still Wang Yufeng, and her father ran an inn and lived in favorable conditions. Her parents are fans of drama, so they often take her young to the theater to listen to the play, and it is precisely in this way that Wang Danfeng has planted a seed of art in her heart since she was a child.
When she grew up, Wang Yufeng, like today's young people, was an out-and-out "star chaser", and Zhou Xuan and Hu Die, who were already famous at that time, were her idols.
In her room, plastered with stills of actresses cut from pictorial newspapers, ignorant girls have more than once fantasized that they can shine on stage like idols, and at that time she did not know that her future self would also become the object of the aspirations of thousands of girls.
At the age of 16, Wang Yufeng was already out of the woods, and her neighbor Shu Lijuan, an actor who was already a little famous at the time, took her to visit the film company she had in mind, just in time for the filming of "Longtan Tiger's Den".
During the break on the set, Wang Yufeng curiously looked at everything on the shooting scene, which attracted the attention of director Zhu Shilin, out of a director's keen sense, seeing the naïve and romantic Wang Yufeng, Zhu Shilin was sure that this little girl was a good seedling for acting, and she would be able to shine in the film and television industry in the future.
After Wang Yufeng's family agreed, the two sides signed a filming contract, which was signed for three years.
At the same time, Zhu Shilin felt that the pronunciation of the name "Wang Yufeng" was very difficult and not loud, so he suggested that she change her name to "Wang Danfeng", which means: Danfeng Chaoyang. This name will also be famous in the future film industry.
Wang Danfeng's first screen appearance was in the 1941 drama film "Spirit and Flesh", playing the cousin of the male protagonist, although it was the first time to be photogenic, but Wang Danfeng was not afraid of the stage, but very comfortable, is a natural actor.
In the same year, in the musical drama "New Fisherman's Song", he starred for the first time, playing a fisherman girl who was exploited and bullied, poor, but maintained a kind disposition.
As soon as "New Fisherman's Song" was premiered in Shanghai, it set a box office record of 84 consecutive days, and also won the "Honorary Award" at the Moscow International Film Festival, which is also the first film in China to win an international award.
Wang Danfeng's performance made her a hit, but also because her appearance is somewhat similar to Zhou Xuan, she was called "Little Zhou Xuan" by the film industry, and in 1944, she co-starred in the costume romance film "Dream of the Red Chamber" with Zhou Xuan, which was a proper "fan counterattack".
From 1942 to 1945, Wang Danfeng can be described as a "labor model" in the Shanghai film industry, shooting more than 20 films in succession, and the drama road is constantly expanding.
She is also the only actress who has successively played Ba Jin's classic trilogy of "Home", "Spring" and "Autumn", and is well-deserved "high-prolific actress", so she was also named the "Four Great Actresses of Shanghai and Hong Kong" in 1949 with Zhou Xuan, Bai Guang and Li Lihua.
In 1949, Wang Danfeng began to go to Hong Kong to develop, made a number of films, and also appeared on the stage of drama for the first time;
In 1950, Wang Danfeng went to Guangzhou with the Hong Kong Film and Drama Troupe to perform condolences, and the great changes that took place in the motherland after liberation deeply shocked Wang Danfeng
In November of that year, Wang Danfeng returned to Shanghai and became an actor at the Shanghai Film Studio.
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The actresses of that era were both talented and beautiful, and Wang Danfeng's character was as admirable as her works, and every time she went out to shoot a scene, there was rough work and heavy work, and she was not arrogant at all, working with the staff of the same group.
When she became an actor training teacher, she was still humble, low-key and approachable, without the slightest sense of distance from her predecessors.
Her beauty is also commendable. Her facial features are beautiful, her eyebrows are like Qingshan Dai, her eyes are like autumn waves, and the fans have given her the reputation of "the most beautiful woman in a hundred years", "the most beautiful beauty", "the most beautiful goddess", and even the "Oriental Betty Davis", and is also the 22 "new Chinese actors" hand-picked by the Ministry of Culture, commonly known as the "twenty-two movie stars" of New China.
Regarding her beauty, Zhang Ailing once praised her without hesitation in the book,
Ningbo people are more beautiful, such as Wang Danfeng...
When the older generation of Shanghainese praise a girl for being beautiful, they will also say,
Looks a bit like Wang Danfeng.
At that time, the trend of chasing stars was also divided into two factions: one was Wang Xiaotang fans, and the other was Wang Danfeng fans.
In 1957, Wang Danfeng starred in the drama film "Nurse's Diary" was released, and the Jian Suhua she played in the film allowed the audience to see the image of a first-generation female nurse in New China who was not afraid of hardship and positivity, and at the same time she also sang the interlude "Little Swallow" in the film, which has also become an enduring song and has been sung to this day.
Wang Danfeng has contributed more than 60 classic screen images to the audience for more than 40 years, from the bottom fisher girl to the rich lady with a beautiful image, from the elegant Temperament Xue Baochao, the patriotic and progressive female teacher, the Zhu Yingtai who dares to love and hate, the heroine who avenges her father, to the dust girl with ill-fated fate...
Every role is fully performed by her, and she has mentioned her acting skills many times, that is, "going deep into life".
At that time, in order to play the role of a good barber Hua Jiafang in the comedy "Female Barber", she specially asked the barber Liu Ruiqing as a teacher, and went to the barber shop to experience life and figure out the role.
Even years later, she encourages younger actors to dive deeper into their lives.
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Such a beautiful actress with a graceful style is naturally indispensable to many suitors, and in the traditional stereotype, she must also be tied to all kinds of lace news.
However, in fact, Wang Danfeng has not been rumored in her life, she has not been blinded by the red light and green of the showbiz, in the face of all kinds of suitors, still maintain sober restraint, in the concept of love, she pursues "a lifetime and a couple", she has publicly told the media,
In my life, I have only had one boyfriend.
Because he liked to watch dramas, Wang Danfeng, under the introduction of friends, met Liu Heqing, who was the general manager of the Jincheng Grand Theater at that time, and the Liu family was a well-known family in Shanghai.
Brilliant female stars and well-off film and drama family nobles, golden children and jade girls, a match made in heaven.
After 7 years of dating, Wang Danfeng and Liu Heqing officially entered the palace of marriage, which was a celebrated wedding event in the film industry at that time, and famous directors and actors in the Shanghai film industry, as well as bosses and friends of the industrial and commercial circles, came to the wedding site to congratulate.
Wang Danfeng and Liu Heqing jointly conceived four daughters, but unfortunately, one of them died prematurely due to premature birth.
In 1980, Wang Danfeng finished filming the love story "Jade Butterfly" and decided to stop filming.
After Wang Danfeng's film, he and her husband Liu Heqing joined hands to enter the catering industry and founded the "Gongdelin Shanghai Vegetarian Restaurant" in Hong Kong, which is a very famous vegetarian restaurant in Hong Kong.
In 1985, Mr. and Mrs. Wang Danfeng were invited to Washington to attend the inauguration of U.S. President Reagan, and Wang Danfeng was the only Chinese female star to receive this honor.
At the same time, she traveled to Canada to visit the former film queen Hu Die, which was unprecedented among other actresses.
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The length of Wang Danfeng's film career and the number of film genres are unmatched by many Chinese actresses.
From the end of the "Shanghai Isolated Island Period" and the Hong Kong commercial film period, it has continued to the "17 Years Film Period" after 1949 and then to the 1980s.
In each film period, Wang Danfeng has found a suitable image for herself, from the beautiful and traditional small family jasper to the tenacious and brave independent women, she perfectly grasps the requirements of the times and presents the audience with the appearance of Chinese women at different stages.
Wang Danfeng also received many honors in his lifetime:
In 2005, at the commendation conference for the 100th anniversary of the birth of Chinese cinema, Wang Danfeng was awarded the title of one of the 50 "Outstanding Film Artists"
In the same year, in the China Film Performance Society, he was selected as one of the "100 Outstanding Actors in the Past 100 Years"
In 2013, Wang Danfeng won the Lifetime Achievement Award of the 14th Golden Phoenix Awards of the Chinese Academy of Film Performing Arts
In 2017, at the 20th Shanghai International Film Festival, he won the Lifetime Achievement Award for Chinese Film
Even as she grew older, Wang Danfeng still carried a bright and moving brilliance, and in her 90s, she always maintained refinement and elegance.
The actor who has worked with Wang Danfeng has commented on her,
Even in the difficult period of the previous shortage of materials, she would always change different brightly colored velvet false collars on winter clothes to embellish them, making people bright and adding a bit of charm and spring color to the dull midwinter. Her beauty is deep in the soul, like a variety of pictorials, stroke by stroke with heart, graceful and elegant, revealing the proud frost and bones of the female stars of that era, from her body, we seem to travel through time and space, and see the stormy Shanghai beach.
On May 2, 2018, Wang Danfeng died of a lung infection in Shanghai at the age of 94.
"Little swallow, flew away..."
A generation of legends has since ended, but the classics and achievements she left behind, like the shining stars in the night sky, have always shone on the Chinese film industry and its successors.