On February 22, 2006, veteran "horse critic" Dong Biao smiled at the age of 72 after watching the last live horse race in his life. His whole life is destined to have an indissoluble relationship with horses. After Uncle Biao left, the regrets and vacancies he left for the Hong Kong racing circle were not filled.
In addition to being a horse critic, Dong Biao is also an indispensable golden supporting role in the Hong Kong film and television circle, and has dedicated many classic roles to everyone in his life.
On March 30, 1933, a young boy was born in the Jardine Hill on Hong Kong Island in the Jardine Stables. As the child's grandfather, Zhu Bingyou was the first Chinese horse trainer in Hong Kong, so after consulting with his son, he gave his grandson a very domineering name - "Dong Biao", which means "a brave and strong person".
Living in a family of horse trainers, Dong Biao grew up with horses, began to ride horses at the age of 8, trained horses with his father at the age of 12, and graduated from the first horseman training class of the Hong Kong Jockey Club with the first place.
In his 20s, Dong Biao has become the first professional jockey in Hong Kong and has been to Singapore, the United Kingdom and other places to compete. At the same time, he is also a student of the Central Plains Theatre Arts Club in Hong Kong, mainly studying drama and ballet performance.
In the late 1960s, Dong Biao began working as a horse racing host on TV stations, and after more than 30 years of hosting career, the hosting style was known for its "hot temper and spicy words". The sentence "I am Dong Biao, you are not, I talk about horses you must listen" has become his iconic symbol.
In 1971, after the TV station changed the horse racing to "pull back ball", Dong Biao had to switch to the radio station, and the horse racing program he hosted once became a guarantee for midnight listening. After the horse racing program was replayed, Dong Biao immediately returned to the peak, and the hosting ability was evident.
With years of familiarity with horses, Dong Biao has a pair of "fire-eyed golden eyes", and most of the horses he has seen can be judged as good or bad, which brings the gospel to the "horse fans".
In one of the previous horse races, Dong Biao noticed that a horse had subtle signs of rolling its eyes, and he immediately asserted that there must be something wrong with the horse. As a result, the horse did the worst.
Another time, when he noticed a white mark on a horse's butt, he immediately pointed out that someone had deliberately done it. Later, the initiator was duly punished, and the horse fan who bought the horse avoided the loss.
Because Dong Biao has a "true disposition" of righteousness, more and more people like him, and those who plan to gamble on horses behind the scenes hate him to the bone.
Dong Biao once said: "Acting is my third life!" ”
Since entering the film industry in the late 1970s, Dong Biao has participated in many film and television dramas such as "Rampage Uncle" and "Chameleon", although there are not many scenes, his acting skills are very old and spicy.
It is worth mentioning that he also wrote and acted in the movie "Racecourse Storm", which tells a lot about horses.
What really made Dong Biao walk into the attention of mainland audiences was the 1981 martial arts drama "Huo Yuanjia", co-starring Huang Yuanshen and Liang Xiaolong, in which he played the role of "Huo Endi", full of family and country feelings.
In the mid-to-late 1980s, Dong Biao gradually focused on his acting career, from the martial arts master "Rong Canghai" in "Journey to the Tiger Mountain Again", to the "Uncle Biao" who loved to play the official wei in "Plan A" and "Police Story", one after another vivid role, Dong Biao constantly conquered fans and friends with his acting skills.
In addition to the seamless cooperation with Jackie Chan, Dong Biao and "Fat Sister" Shen Dianxia played a "screen couple", which has also become a good story in the history of Hong Kong film.
At that time, when the director Gao Zhisen found the pair of "living treasures", the cooperation between the two began.
First of all, in "Rich and Powerful", Uncle Biao and Fat Sister played a couple who won the lottery, showing the image of Hong Kong's small citizens, although there were no big stars, but won the box office and word of mouth double harvest.
Following "Rich and Noble", the two have successively contributed "Rich and Noble Again", "Rich and Noble Repeatedly Forced", "Double Fat Linmen", "Rich and Auspicious", "Rich and Happy Ghost" and other series of films, which can be called classics worth playing.
In many film and television dramas, because Dong Biao and Shen Dianxia are fat, they are jokingly called "double fat combination" by fans and friends.
On the screen, Dong Biao is Shen Dianxia's "husband", back to real life, the two are as close as brothers and sisters, even Shen Dianxia's daughter Zheng Xinyi, also recognized Dong Biao as a dry father.
In the Hong Kong entertainment industry, Dong Biao has always been known as a "true gentleman", in the second year of the return of the "Pearl of the Orient" to the embrace of the motherland, the trainer Xia Zhixin scolded Chinese is a dog, and the Hong Kong horse does not respond for the sake of profit.
At this time, Dong Biao not only shelled the Jockey Club, but also bluntly said that Xia Zhixin was simply a "big traitor".
In addition, in the film and television dramas in which Dong Biao participated, he also issued "patriotic testimonials" many times, just as in "Rich and Powerful", he said passionately: "I resolutely do not immigrate, I must understand which country I am from, although I am a Hong Konger, but I have Chinese blood in my body, I should throw myself into the arms of the motherland ..."
Such a highly respected uncle, the marital situation is very complicated. He married 4 wives in his lifetime, gave birth to 4 sons and 3 daughters, one of whom died before him, and the children have already established a family, which can be described as "full of children and grandchildren".
In the eyes of others, Uncle Biao is indeed a "big turnip", but he thinks that "monogamy may not be happy". When asked how to deal with the relationship with the four wives, he laughed helplessly: "Everything is in the words!" ”
In 2005, due to long-term diabetes and heart disease, which caused his body to not keep up with the pace of work, Dong Biao chose to quit the entertainment industry, even so, he did not forget to pay attention to the development of Hong Kong horse farms and film and television industry in real time, until two days before his death, he was still watching live horse racing.
On the day of the funeral, except for Dong Biao's eldest wife, who was unable to attend due to limited mobility, the other three wives and children all participated. Many big-name stars in the circle such as Shen Dianxia, Jackie Chan, Jacky Cheung, Mai Jia, Zhou Huajian, etc. sent them off, and half of the stars of the entertainment circle went to mourn, which shows the status of Uncle Biao in the circle.
What is even more admirable is that Uncle Biao treated every child equally before he died, and when he was ill, he had already made a will, and the inheritance was properly arranged, so that even if there were many children, there was no dispute.
epilogue:
As an old drama bone who has played supporting roles for 30 years, Uncle Biao's life is low-key and brilliant: in terms of acting, he is willing to be a green leaf, but he can often play the role of finishing touches; hosting horse racing programs, he reads all the inferior horses and good horses, dares to criticize deception; in real life, he has become a patriotic hero who speaks out!
Such an old artist with both virtue and art is worth emulating and learning from future generations!