On February 17, 2005, Wang Chunying, a veteran actor of Long Shadow, died at the age of 73.
In the glorious history of long films, there are such a group of actors, their names are strange, but the characters they portray are known to everyone, no one knows, Wang Chunying is one of them, and the scout Kara he played in "The Visitor on the Iceberg" is firmly rooted in the audience's memory.
Wang Chunying was born in a peasant family in Fujin, Heilongjiang, although the family is average, but has a high artistic talent, not only can sing and perform, but also accordion, erhu and other musical instruments are handy, and they will get started.
In 1948, at the age of 16, Wang Chunying was admitted to the third training class of the Northeast Film Studio, and performed plays such as "Brothers and Sisters Opening up the Wasteland" and "Yang Yong Ligong". After graduation, he was left as an actor, and the first film he participated in was "The Bridge", which was also the first feature film shot after the founding of New China, in which he played the electric furnace worker B, the only line was: "Team leader, you are too tired, take a break, we have all learned!" ”
After that, he played many small roles in films such as "Liu Hulan", "Singing High", "White-Haired Girl", "Victory of the People of Inner Mongolia", "People's Warrior", "Heroic Driver" and so on. After the Northeast Film Studio moved from Heilongjiang to Jilin and changed to Changchun Film Studio, he became a member of the Changying Actors Troupe and still played supporting roles, including Xiao Cannon in "Kangzhuang Avenue", Erbu in "Daji and Her Father", Xiao Li in "Sea Trial", soldier in "Heroes and Children", Captain of the Express Train, Feng Weimin in "Cliff", Xiao Yu, a scout in "Ten O'Clock on National Day", Lin Hai in "Outpost", "Daughter of the Party" The correspondent Xiao Cheng and others have left a deep impression on the audience.
Wang Chunying had two opportunities to play the main role, but fate tricked people, and these two opportunities passed him by.
In 1959, the long film studio rushed to shoot the 10th anniversary of the National Day gift film "Five Golden Flowers", and the actor Ah Peng, who was originally set, was not played by someone else, it was Wang Chunying. Wang Chunying's face is angular, high nose bridge, single eyelids, at first glance it looks like a minority, so director Wang Jiayi said to him: If you can't find other more suitable actors, the role of Ah Peng will be played by you.
However, not long after, someone recommended Mo Zijiang, who was studying at the Beijing Film Academy, to the crew, compared to Mo Zijiang, who was born in Guangdong, more like a Bai youth, and finally the director chose the latter between Wang Chunying and Mo Zijiang.
At that time, Wang Chunying did not think much about it, and gladly accepted the task of playing the second male, and portrayed the boyfriend of the iron smelting Jinhua, the young man Xiao Yang, who was particularly jealous, into a vivid and vivid.
Mo Zijiang was received by Premier Zhou
After the release of "Five Golden Flowers", Yang Likun and Mo Zijiang became popular overnight, became popular idol stars, and were also received by Premier Zhou, but few people will mention the young man played by Wang Chunying.
Coincidentally, in 1963, director Zhao Xinshui filmed the movie "The Visitor on the Iceberg", and initially the role of Amir also wanted to find Wang Chunying to play. In Zhao Xinshui's view, Wang Chunying's appearance still looks like a minority warrior, so he said to him: If you don't find Amir among the ethnic minority actors, then you will play.
Wang Chunying was of course very happy after hearing it, and secretly prepared Amir's role. However, when the makeup photo was taken, even he himself was a little discouraged, because it didn't feel right when he looked at it. At this time, Wang Chunying's heart is actually very complicated, on the one hand, he hopes that the crew will find a more suitable Amir, on the other hand, he is particularly reluctant to wait for this protagonist who has not been waiting for a long time...
In the end, the crew found Amir's actor Abdulimiti in the local volleyball team in Xinjiang. Wang Chunying was assigned the role of Carla.
The role of Carla has undergone great changes before and after, and The carla in the script is an authentic herdsman, mischievous, cheerful and humorous, but later he was changed by the director to a PEOPLE's Liberation Army scout, and also became a simple and honest person.
This role does not have many scenes, but it has distinct characteristics, on the one hand, he comes and goes without a trace, very mysterious, on the other hand, his handsome image of a beard, playing Rewap and a sunny smile are very intimate, it is no wonder that when Carla was sacrificed in the film, many viewers left sad tears.
No one would have thought that Wang Chunying, who had acted all her life, became the male protagonist of a peach-colored event during the filming of "Sunny Days".
Changying has filmed two versions of "Sunny Days", the director is Lin Nong, the first version was filmed in 1972, the male and female protagonists Xiao Changchun and Jiao Shuhong are played by Pang Xueqin and Chen Xuejie, but they were shot when they were sent for trial. There are different theories about the reasons for the shooting, one is that the double film was sent for trial and sent to the Film Bureau, and Jiang Qing watched it, saying that the negative characters of this film were too big, violated the principle of "three prominences," and the negative characters were too arrogant; the other was that Yao Tianlu, deputy director of the Jilin Provincial Revolutionary Committee in charge of literary and artistic creation and political commissar of the Provincial Military Region, reviewed the film, believing that the male protagonist was older and asking for a remake.
Pang Xueqin was already in his forties at the time, and it was obviously inappropriate to play Xiao Changchun, who was in his thirties, not to mention that Pang Xueqin's performance was also problematic, and it was difficult for him to transform his former handsome image into the simple, masculine and exciting temperament required by the Cultural Revolution films.
In 1973, Lin Nong filmed "Sunny Days" again, not only replacing Pang Xueqin with Zhang Lianwen, but also recruiting a younger Zhang Mingzi from the China Youth Art Theater to replace Chen Xuejie as Jiao Shuhong.
Zhang Mingzi graduated from the Acting Department of Shanghai Theater Academy, and Tong Zirong, Gu Yongfei, Zhao Youliang, etc. are classmates, during the school, Zhang Mingzi is recognized as a "little princess" and a goddess in the hearts of many boys because of her beautiful appearance and gentle temperament. Tong Zirong once wrote in the article "My Former Classmate": "Zhang Mingzi has the gentleness of the heroine Tesstamona in "Othello". Her petiteness and her eyes were as endearing as a princess. ”
Zhang Mingzi has played a foreign girl full of foreign spirits in many Shakespearean plays, so when the news of her starring in Jiao Shuhong spread, many classmates, including Tong Zirong, were surprised that Zhang Mingzi was able to reverse her painting style and play a rustic rural girl in "Sunny Days".
At that time, Wang Chunying was 41 years old, married and had children, and the handsome appearance of the past no longer existed. He was arranged to play a villager in the film, but because he was an old actor, he served as the leader of the cast in the crew, in addition to handling all the chores of the actors, he was also responsible for taking young actors, and it was this identity that laid the hidden dangers for him.
For this incident, Wang Tingjun, the editor of the long film studio, recorded it in his book "Forever Movie" -
Wang Chunying often contacted Zhang Mingzi in the name of helping the actors, and in the cab of the Great Liberation, the two had an accident. The crew approved Wang Chunying, Liu Tongyan (the actor of Jiao Keli in the film) said that people are green apricots, you are a person with a family and a room, what is the matter with you? Lin Nong advocated sending Wang Chunying back, wang Yansheng protected him, did not send it, sent Zhang Mingzi back and changed Chen Xuejie. At that time, filming did not consider the cost, and the issue of life style was very important. ”
In fact, it is not true that Zhang Mingzi is a "green apricot" in the book. As early as the second year after graduating from the opera, she married her classmate Liu Tongzi, both of whom were assigned to the China Youth Art Theater, and had children, unfortunately, her husband died of a terminal illness not long after, and she became a single mother.
Zhang Mingzi starred in "Jinling Night"
In the end, Zhang Mingzi's play was retained, and the cast list of the film also had her name. She later returned to her original unit, still a pillar of the theater, and also participated in film and television dramas such as "Blue Flower", "Jinling Night", "Ephemeral Dream", "Wind Tower" and so on.
But Wang Chunying was not so lucky, and "Sunny Days" became his last work. He is said to have been imprisoned for this at the end of the Cultural Revolution.
At the end of the 1990s, Changying Factory began a drastic reform plan, first of all, to carry out land replacement, selling 21 hectares of land in the old factory area to Changchun Guoxin Group for 300 million yuan, and also streamlining personnel by buying out the working years and terminating labor contracts. Many actors in the long film studio were forced to make a living for themselves, such as well-known actors Li Tiejun and Liang Tongyu who went to Shenzhen to jointly found a film and television company, and Wang Chunying, who was no longer young, was no exception, he moved to Beijing to make a living by operating handicrafts, although he once did well, but never returned to the screen he was familiar with.