Wukang Road in Shanghai has now become an Internet celebrity. However, there is a troupe of shang film actors on Wukang Road that is still not well known to the public.
It is the "home" of many old artists.
We met Teacher Xiang Mei in this three-story white building.
Xiang Mei was interviewed by reporters in the Shanghai Film Actor Troupe, and Zhang Yi photographed
Xiang Mei is 84 years old this year. Wear a casual outfit, hair is slightly curly, fair skin, although no fat powder, still elegant temperament. Only when we offered to take a photo did she make up a lipstick because it was more atmospheric.
Seeing her, I thought of the child daughter-in-law Honglian in "The Red Detachment of Women", remembered Shi Xiuying in the spy war film "The Gunshots of the Secret Bureau", and also remembered the bright and moving Empress of the Wuji Country in "Journey to the West".
From filming for most of his life, Xiang Mei has made 26 movies, 54 TV series, and performed 5 large-scale dramas, creating a total of 87 different character images, each with a distinct image.
Serve the old man to Mei. Aging is a natural law, and she is not afraid. After retiring, she maintained a certain absolute low profile, which is actually the low profile she won. When he was young, he filmed, went out on location for 8 months a year, and rarely had the opportunity to live a normal family life. Retired, she chose to disappear from the public eye and live an ordinary and warm family life in front of her eyes.
Xiang Mei was interviewed by reporters in the Shanghai Film Actor Troupe, and Zhang Yi photographed it
"I have always been reluctant to participate in public social activities, and I can no longer perform plays, disappear from the public's eyes, and live the life in front of me, which suits my personality." Xiang Mei said.
Unexpectedly, this "low-key" was distorted. Not long ago, there were unscrupulous mini programs that spread rumors that her retirement life was sad and her children were not filial piety, which angered Xiang Mei. After the matter was reported by Jiefang Daily and Shangguan News, it caused heated discussions, and the small program that spread rumors was also banned. "My later life was very happy, and my son and daughter-in-law were very filial. To my juniors, I am very proud. The only guilt is that in my son's childhood, when I needed maternal love and care the most, I was not able to do my best. ”
Sitting in front of us, Xiang Mei took out a long handwritten letter and told us why she chose to quit the film industry and return to family life. When she was young, she said, she was interviewed, very seriously, talking about art and creation. This time, she wanted to talk about how to choose old age.
[1] Fate took a turn
Xiang Mei's acting career began with Xie Jin's "Women's Basketball No. 5". Starring in this movie, there is also the big star Qin Yi.
"I was supposed to be an architect, but a chance in early 1957 changed the course of my life."
Xiang Mei is a stage name, her original name is Wu Xiangmei, there are eight brothers and sisters in the family, and she is the third oldest. Xiang Mei was born in August 1937 to a Kochi family in Beijing, a premature baby. At that time, it was the "July 7 Incident", and the parents were planning to retreat south, but because their mother was pregnant, they could not make the trip.
Xiang Mei's family is at home in Beijing
Xiang Mei's father, Wu Zhaofa, stayed in the United States at the age of 17 and received his doctorate in biology in the United States at the age of 24. Her mother, Huang Yuehua, is also an intellectual woman, graduated from Chinese and Western Girls' High School, and has a particularly good Foundation in English.
This intellectual family atmosphere is relaxed, and the schools to attend to the Mei sisters are their own choice. Xiang Mei loved novels, paintings and dances since she was a child, and when she went to the North Normal University High School, she also participated in the drama troupe.
If it weren't for a sudden twist in fate, perhaps there would be one more architect today.
In 1957, when 20-year-old Xiang Mei was concentrating on drawing designs in the architecture department of Tianjin University, a director of a Shanghai film studio, Ding, visited and said that director Xie Jin intended to let her play the role of "Wang Aizhu" in "Women's Basketball No. 5". Xiang Mei agreed.
"I was born prematurely, and my body is very weak, because I made the athletes in "Women's Basketball No. 5", and everyone misunderstood." Smile at Mei.
After the filming of this scene, director Shi Hui, known as the "Emperor of the Stage", invited her to play a college student in the movie "Night Flight to the Sea of Fog". In this way, Xiang Mei dropped out of school and stayed in Shanghai, becoming an actor in the Shanghai Film Studio and entering the life of a professional actor.
[2] Shoot "Red Detachment of Women" and train yourself as a soldier
Xiang Mei has a kind of bookish atmosphere. It's about the family, and it's also about the upper shadow. After entering the film at the age of 20, the older generation of artists had strict requirements for newcomers, and in one lecture, they listed more than 140 classic works and told everyone about different film genres. At that time, there were few recreational activities, and Xiang Mei read books as soon as she had time.
At the end of the 1950s, Xiang Mei was once again invited to participate in Xie Jin's "Red Women's Army", playing the red lotus, a female soldier of the Red Army. She was a victim of a malformed marriage in the region, sold as a child bride at the age of ten, forced to marry her wooden husband, and later awakened to become a brave Red Army soldier.
Xiang Mei said, "At that time, I didn't pick a play, I didn't have a role, I didn't have a role, I would act." "As a child bridesmaid, "Red Lotus" and Xiang Mei, who was born in Shuxiang Mendi, have a big difference in image, and the difficulty can be imagined.
The story of "The Red Detachment of Women" takes place in Hainan. Xie Jin took the crew to Hainan to experience life. "Director Xie Jin is a person who is extremely strict about art. He said, your temperament is like this, and the difference between you and the bitter and vengeful Women's Army is 108,000 miles, and you must be trained to shed three layers of skin. ”
In Hainan, Xiang Mei and other actresses spent three months training like a real girl scout. In the sun, he practiced carrying a gun and creeping forward; in the middle of the night, as soon as the whistle blew, he would urgently assemble and beat leggings.
The first time I hit the leggings, I hit Mei too loosely, and the straps dragged to the ground when assembling; the beating was too tight, and it hurt when I ran. She had a strong sense of self-esteem, simply did not sleep in the middle of the night, and first laid the leggings.
"For the first three months, the gun did not leave his hand, and he was trained to look like a soldier. Fine skin tender flesh, sunburned off the skin, off and then dried. What makeup is there? Even I, I have to smear the ash on the bottom of the pot. Xiang Mei smiled, "Where is my good-looking?" ”
The sun on Hainan Island comes out early, and the sun does not set at eight or nine o'clock in the evening, and the actors can't eat dinner until eight or nine o'clock.
At that time, many shots were waited for by time. In order to shoot a silhouette shot of a sunrise in the middle of the night, the actor repeatedly got up at two o'clock in the middle of the night to shoot. Once, in order to wait for a cloud, I waited for 7 days.
"This drama took the longest time, and after filming, it took three years, from 1959, 1960, until 1961, when it was released in a hurry, preparing, filming and revising." Xiang Mei still remembers a scene where she jumps off a big truck. She was pregnant at the time.
"Director Xie Jin said I was going to die. I said that my son was fighting with me in his stomach. ”
[3] 42-year-old starred in "The Gunshot of the Secret Bureau"
After the release of the movie "Red Detachment of Women", the praise continued, and Xiang Mei first tasted the joy of success. At this time, the senior Qi Heng said bluntly: "An actor wants to create a variety of different roles, and the conditions you have now are not good enough, you need to redouble your efforts, otherwise it will be difficult to make a big difference." ”
This was quickly verified. "I was too shallow, I was criticized a lot when I was shooting a comedy film, and I tasted failure." The experience of being changed roles this time also made her understand that the opportunity was rare. Once the opportunity comes, it is necessary to have the quality to shape various roles.
After that, a special period came, in the golden period of being an actor, Xiang Mei bid farewell to the film industry for more than ten years.
It was not until 1979 that the Changchun Film Studio prepared to shoot "The Gunshots of the Secrecy Bureau" that Xiang Mei returned to the film world. When she played "Shi Xiuying", she was already over 40 years old.
That year, director Chang Yan found Xiang Mei to star, and there is a story. At that time, Chang Yan found a lot of Northeastern actors, and they were not satisfied. Once I came to Shanghai to watch a film, and after the show, I saw Xiang Mei in the crowd and looked at her. The assistant director ran to the film and said that this person was about 1 meter 67, tall and thin, and more than 20 years old. The deputy commander of the Iron Bull introduced him to many people, but they were not right. Coincidentally, this director was Xiang Mei's eldest sister Wu Yumei and his brother-in-law Liu Zhenzhong's classmates when they were studying in the acting department in Beijing. Talking about this matter by chance, my sister opened the photo album at home and finally found Xiang Mei.
"'Gunshots of the Secret Service,' I love it so much. My uncle was a resident of Germany, and Zhu De was his introducer to the party and had been doing underground work for a long time. After he returned to Beijing, he told us about these things, and I especially admired these lonely heroes. "Xiang Mei made up her mind to play this film." Originally I was a 'conservative', this time is different, after the lunch break did not reach one o'clock, I went to the door of the studio to stand, bang on the door, I said I was going to play this play. ”
This film made Xiang Mei shine and became the highest-grossing film of the year. At the entrance of cinemas across the country, fans circled and lined up to buy tickets.
Xiang Mei was also "on fire". Once she had a meeting next to the cinema, right next to the first department store, and planned to go shopping. As soon as she turned her head, the fanatical fans surrounded her on the third floor and the outer three layers. "I'm a very timid and shy person, I don't like this kind of lively occasion, and I won't be on the street from now on."
[4] Three shots fired at Xiang Mei's later red
After the age of 40, Xiang Mei ushered in her second artistic life.
At that time, there was an article in the Liberation Daily about Xiang Mei's rise from failure, talking about "The Gunshots of the Secret Bureau". In fact, it wasn't until she filmed the play that her salary rose to 59 yuan a month. Previously, he had been paid 48 yuan as a trainee actor.
"Originally, I turned positive after a year, but I was born as an intellectual, and I never mentioned money, thinking that raising money was a copper stink." Later, in the event of a natural disaster, everyone's wages were frozen for 10 years.
Since then, Xiang Mei has successively participated in many film and television drama works such as "Blue Files", "Flying to the Pacific", "Will Miracles Happen", "The Red Flower That Never Withers", etc.
In the TV series "Golden Rose", she played a triangle by herself, playing an old lady, playing a daughter, and playing a female agent. This is a play written specifically for her by her sons Chi Jing and Zhaohong.
Some film critics commented that "The Blue File", "The Red Flower That Never Withers" and "The Gunshot of the Secret Bureau", together with the three works, "three guns fired Xiang Mei's later red".
In 1985, Xiang Mei served as the head of the Shanghai Film Actors Troupe. During this period, after playing the King of The Black Rooster in the 86th edition of "Journey to the West", he was graceful and luxurious, gorgeous and vulgar, leaving a deep impression on the audience.
"Director Yang Jie sent me a letter, and I said that I had never acted in a costume drama, which may not be appropriate, so I pushed it." After a year, Xiang Mei accompanied an actor delegation to visit Australia and New Zealand, and when he returned to Shanghai, he was intercepted by the film crew.
"I didn't live at home all night, so I was pulled to suzhou." Try on the costumes, the afternoon began to shoot, I was fascinated, two days to shoot the scene. Fortunately, I grasped it tightly, and after returning to Suzhou, it rained for a month, and I couldn't shoot the scene. "The stage steps of the costume drama are exquisite, and I said to Mei, fortunately, when Sun Daolin was the head of the troupe, he asked the teacher of the upper drama to teach the stage steps." Learning more is better. ”
In so many film and television works, Xiang Mei is most satisfied with "The Red Flower That Never Withers", in which she plays the revolutionary martyr Zhang Zhixin. "This is what I have the most in the heart of the people in terms of performance. Although the script is all driven out and not very elaborate, I moved my heart to this role and completely entered the role. ”
After the film was broadcast, by chance, in the TV station conference room, Xiang Mei met Zhao Dan, a performance artist who had not been met for many years. "He said I watched your 'Zhang Zhixin', the drama is profound, and the people are also profound. To get his evaluation, I was stunned, and I didn't even know how to say thank you. ”
[5] Fade out of the film world and return to family life
He retired to May in 1992. At the beginning, he filmed two works every year, one in the spring and one in the autumn, and participated in "The New Biography of Ashima" and "The Story of the Old Man".
In 2008, Xiang Mei originally planned to participate in a play that reflected the theme of medical troubles. After memorizing the lines for three days, I had a headache and couldn't do it. Went to the hospital to check, cerebral infarction, so I was hospitalized for almost a month.
"In particular, the nouns can't be remembered, and there are no conditions to do the job of an actor." Birth, old age, illness and death are the norm for a person. A person always has a most exuberant creative period. ”
Xiang Mei began to live her old age life with peace of mind. In life, she does not like to wear heavy makeup, as long as it is pure and simple, has its own taste and characteristics, in her eyes is beautiful.
Xiang Mei talked about her family. It was a topic she had rarely talked about before.
In 1959, Xiang Mei married Chi Xidao, former deputy director of Shanghai Film Studio and executive deputy general manager of Shanghai Film Group. In 1960, his only son, Chi Jing, was born.
When she was young, Xiang Mei was obsessed with work, and when her son was 4 months old, she went out to act, and for 8 months a year, she was on location, and she almost did not eat a normal dinner at home. There is no remuneration for filming on location, and you need to bring your own luggage, and all the utensils such as the bedding on the floor, the hot water bottle, and the washbasin are all packed with the help of the husband.
"He encouraged me to achieve success in my career. When he gets old, he gets sick, and I want to reciprocate. I owe my son even more, growing to such a height every time he comes back. I'm very busy at work, and I can't figure out how my son grew up. Xiang Mei said that this is the reason why she chose to quit the film industry and return to family life when she got old.
Chi Xidao was a progressive student in his early years when he was in middle school in Tianjin. At the age of 18, he was introduced by an uncle and went to the Liberated Areas alone to join the revolution. After the founding of New China, he graduated from Shandong University and was sent to the Shanghai Film Studio. "He worked particularly seriously, worked as a deputy director of the business for a long time, and under his leadership, compiled a 'small blueprint', the post responsibility system." The work of all departments of Shangying is particularly conscientious and responsible. ”
On October 23 last year, my wife suddenly fell ill in the middle of the night and fell into shock. Xiang Mei connected two critical illness notices, but fortunately the crisis was finally turned into safety. "My lover is 8 years older than me, and I have to take care of him and make up for the debts I owed when I was younger."
Xiang Mei likes to raise flowers, and in her home in Shanghai, she specially made a flower stand on the balcony and made the inner balcony window very wide.
She raises bougainvillea, fuso, sunflowers, succulents, junzi orchids, and rabbit flowers that have been potted for many years.
The daughter-in-law sent a pot of Ruixiang, which was well taken care of, and the fragrance was unbearable every Spring Festival. "I don't care if the flower is noble or not, as long as it blooms colorfully and watches it grow up little by little, I'm happy."
In the morning, Xiang Mei will do exercises, exercise, and then go online to chat with friends, or learn something new.
The family also raised a Yorkshire, named "Babe", which is the treasure of the whole family.
The interview lasted all morning, and after 12 o'clock, my wife called. Xiang Mei patiently reassured: "You are waiting for me." Don't worry, it's still a while. ”
My wife always had to wait for her to eat together.
"We are a very, very ordinary, ordinary family." Xiang Mei said.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Shi Chenlu Text Editor: Zhang Yi
Source: Author: Zhang Yi