Throughout today's film and television industry, beauty is the passport of actresses. In the 60s of the last century, there was an actress who had no drama to shoot because she was too beautiful, and she was Xiang Mei.
Old photo to Mei
<h1>From "Wu Xiangmei" to "Xiangmei"</h1>
Xiang Mei was born on August 10, 1937, to a family of high-ranking intellectuals in Beijing, whose original name was Wu Xiangmei. His father, Wu Zhaofa, was a biologist who returned from studying in the United States, and his mother, Huang Yuehua, graduated from Shanghai Zhongxi Girls' School.
Wu Xiangmei has 7 women, 1 man and 8 children, the daughters are named: Yumei, Pingmei, Xiangmei, Yanmei, Jimei, Youmei, Sumei, the only son is named Zongzheng, they are called "seven plum blossoms and one pine" by their parents' relatives and friends.
In 1949, Wu Xiangmei, who loved literature and art since childhood, entered the Affiliated Middle School of Beijing Normal University and soon became a small actor in the school's amateur drama troupe.
In 1951, the eldest sister Wu Yumei was admitted to the Institute of Performing Arts (now the Beijing Film Academy), which further aroused Xiao Wu Xiangmei's pursuit and yearning for actors.
In 1955, Wu Xiangmei graduated from high school, and her first choice for college was the acting department of the Central Academy of Drama. At that time, the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea had just ended, and the motherland was in urgent need of construction, so in order to respond to the call of the state, Wu Xiangmei, under the persuasion of his parents, teachers, and regimental organizations, "endured the pain and cut love" and applied for the Department of Architecture of Tianjin University.
One day in January 1957, Wu Xiangmei, who was reviewing her homework and preparing for the exam, suddenly received a letter from the Shanghai Film Studio, which basically read: Xie Jin, director of the Shanghai Film Studio, would shoot the new film "Women's Basketball No. 5" and was still looking for an actress, and the production director of the film, Ding Li, would meet her at school three days later.
Wu Xiangmei was astonished, he didn't know the people in the studio at all, how could they find her to make a movie?
It wasn't until later that she didn't know what had happened: "When director Xie Jin wanted to shoot "Women's Basketball No. 5", he published newspapers across the country to find actors, according to the current words, called 'audition', and one of my distant relatives sent my photos, which I didn't know at all. ”
Because the regulations at that time did not allow any unit to borrow college students, the Shanghai Film Studio issued an invitation letter to Xiang Mei with the approval of the State Council.
"Women's Basketball No. 5" Wang Aizhu
Three days later, Ding Li did appear at the door of Xiang Mei's dormitory. "Completely ignorant, (I) was taken to the principal's office to go through the formalities of a one-year suspension, stamped with the big seal of the State Council." Xiang Mei recalled.
In this way, a photo changed the path of Wu Xiangmei's life. She packed her bags and took a train to the Shanghai Film Studio, where she played the number nine athlete Wang Aizhu in the movie "Women's Basketball No. 5".
When China's first color sports feature film "Women's Basketball No. 5" was released, the name of the actor of "Wang Aizhu" was written with the word "XiangMei", and since then, "Xiangmei" has become Wu Xiangmei's stage name, and even she herself does not know who changed this name.
Many years later, Xiang Mei learned that her name was changed by Director Bai Shen of the Shanghai Film Studio, retaining the last two words of "Wu Xiangmei" and replacing "Xiang" with the word "Xiang". Xiang Mei said that this name is very good, and now the name column of her household registration book clearly writes the word "Xiang Mei".
Group photo of the crew of "Women's Basketball No. 5" (xiang mei in the third row, second from the right)
After filming "Women's Basketball No. 5", Xiang Mei became an actress at Shanghai Tianma Film Studio and stepped into the show business circle when she was 20 years old.
Later, someone asked her if she had any regrets about giving up the architect profession to become a film actor, and she said: "If I had continued to choose to study architecture, wouldn't you not see me now?" ”
<h1>The Red Detachment of Women</h1>
Since 1957, Xiang Mei, who entered shanghai Tianma Film Studio, has successively participated in the filming of 10 films such as "Night Flight in the Sea of Fog", "Two Salesmen", "Cuckoos Are Calling Again", "A Thousand Girls In the Sea", "North Jiangnan" and so on, playing different types of roles.
"The Cuckoo Is Calling Again" Qu Xiaodi
In 1961, Xie Jin again invited Xiang Mei to play the child daughter-in-law Honglian in the movie "Red Detachment of Women", playing the story of Red Lotus, who under the persuasion and education of the Red Army, gradually transformed into a story that dared to resist, constantly awakened, and finally joined the Red Army team and became a brave Red Army soldier.
This role is far from Xiang Mei, she does not have this life experience, and it is very difficult to interpret. Under the careful guidance of Xie Jin, xiang mei and Zhu Xijuan and other actors went deep into Hainan to experience life.
"A Thousand Girls In the Sea" Liu Haiju
At that time, life in Hainan was very hard, and the accommodation conditions were very simple, and even bathing became a luxury. Xiang Mei recalled the bathing situation of the "Girl Scout Army": everyone formed a circle next to the well, opened their clothes as curtains with their hands, and a girl stood in the middle of the circle, poured water from the well, poured a bunch of it on the body, and then changed to another girl after washing. By the time everyone had finished washing, the arms of the "girl army" that served as a "human wall" were already sore.
Red Lotus
During the filming of a scene in Nanba Tianyou Street in "The Red Detachment of Women", Zhu Xijuan, Xiang Mei and several other young actors laughed and laughed before filming began. Director Xie Jin criticized them very angrily: "You say this and laugh, fight for a while, can the emotions be right?" How else to get into the play? Several people were suddenly too frightened to say a word, and began to grope for emotions into the role.
Xie Jin's serious attitude towards art had a profound impact on Xiang Mei, and since then, she has set a rule for herself: "Once you enter the scene, you will never tell a word of nonsense." ”
"Two Salesmen" Ah Ling
<h1>Miss the Golden Age</h1>
After the release of the movie "Red Detachment of Women", Wang Xingang and Zhu Xijuan became the idols sought after by young people at that time, while Xiang Mei was criticized by "the drama is too warm".
At that time, most of the movies were based on the theme of workers, peasants and soldiers, and Xiang Mei, who looked foreign and was full of literati temperament, was far from the image of workers, peasants and soldiers. Despite her hard work, there is still a gap with other actors with the temperament of workers, peasants and soldiers, and she can hardly take on any roles.
"Night Voyage of the Sea of Fog" He Meijuan
In 1964, Xiang Mei played Dashi Chang's girlfriend, a model worker, in the comedy film "The Counter". Xiang Mei wants to play the character tall and perfect without losing the comedic color, coupled with the old actors of the crew enthusiastically to give Xiang Mei guidance, everyone's opinions are different, making Xiang Mei confused, do not know how to act, and finally replaced by the director.
Qi Heng, an old actor, told her: "As an actor, the conditions are not good. If you don't redouble your efforts, there will be no big difference in the future. Xiang Mei once lost her self-confidence and doubted that she was not the material for being an actor.
Later, with the advent of a special period, Xiang Mei's father was beaten as a rightist and chose to commit suicide because he was humiliated. This struck Xiang Mei deeply, and as a result, she was ostracized in the film studio.
It was Xiang Mei's golden age as an actor, but it could only be wasted. Sometimes she also thinks that if she hadn't been an actor, maybe she would have been a good architect. Unfortunately, there is no turning back in life.
<h1>Middle-aged popularity</h1>
It was not until 1979 that Xiang Mei, who was middle-aged, returned to the film world and walked into the studio after more than a decade of absence.
In 1979, the long film studio was preparing to make a spy film "The Gunshots of the Secret Bureau" and was looking around for actors. At a movie party, director Chang Yan saw Xiang Mei from a distance and thought she was the ideal candidate for the heroine, but did not know who she was. After several inquiries, Chang Yan finally found her and invited her to play Shi Xiuying as the heroine of the movie.
"Blue Files" Shen Yaqi
This movie not only opened the precedent of spy war films in the new era, but also became the highest-grossing movie of the year. In the film, Shi Xiuying, played by Xiang Mei, has an extraordinary temperament and left a deep impression on the audience, and she also won the Outstanding Supporting Actress Award at the 2nd Xiaobaihua Awards for this film.
Xiang Mei, 42 years old, only really became popular after 22 years of debut. Since then, she has continued to make films, especially in the movie "Blue Files", she successfully created a flesh-and-blood two-faced female underground party image, which was widely praised by the audience.
Since then, she has successively participated in film and television dramas such as "Flying to the Pacific", "Innocent Killer", "Generation Gun King", "Long Night", "The Red Flower That Never Withers", "The Price", "Blue House", "The Passing Years", "The Beginning of Man", "Lilac Villa", "Gulangyu Island", "The Battle of Majiang" and so on. Xiang Mei became a popular star and became the spokesperson for the image of Chinese female intellectuals in the movie.
"Flying to the Pacific" By Chu Lan
After that, she also tried to break through her "intellectual" positioning and try to play different roles in different types of film and television dramas. In the TV series "Journey to the West", the queen of the Black Chicken Country in "Eliminating the Demon Black Chicken Country" played by Xiang Mei is a successful example, although the role is not much, but it has left a deep impression on everyone.
In 1985, Xiang Mei served as the head of the Actors Troupe of shanghai film studios in addition to filming.
"Journey to the West" The Queen of the Black Chicken Kingdom
In the 1990s, Xiang Mei successively participated in film and television dramas such as "The Moon Returns with People", "A Thousand Miles to Find Dreams", "Golden Rose", "Fengyun Family", "Nine Nine Roses", "Shanghai Secret War", "October Meteor Shower", "Black Ice", "Night Battle", "Black Gun Phantom", "Not at the Crime Scene", "If There Is an Afterlife", "Let's Remarry", "The Old Man's Story", "Long Hate Song" and so on.
A recent photo of Mei
Today's XiangMei has long faded out of the screen and occasionally comes out to participate in activities. She is still elegant and charming, in such good condition that one cannot imagine that she is already in her 80s. The so-called years are like flowing water, and her charm does not decay with the passage of time. I wish Teacher Xiang Mei happiness and health in his old age!