In 2014, Xia Meng participated in the Beijing Film Festival.
Xia Meng starred in the film poster.
Jin Yong and Xia Meng.
Jin Yong and Xia Meng's collaborative work "Wang Tiger Robs Relatives".
Xia Meng's marriage to the newspaper's report.
"Run to the Fury Sea"
Xia Meng's two films "Running to the Fury Sea" and "Like a Year of Flowing Water" all won the three awards of Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenwriter at the Hong Kong Academy Awards that year.
She is "Jin Yong's dream person", "the 'first classical beauty' in Wong Kar-wai's eyes", and she is recognized as the "Oriental version of Audrey Hepburn"... Yesterday morning, it was confirmed that "Hong Kong's most beautiful actress" Xia Meng died at the age of 83.
Since the 1950s, Xia Meng has been in Hong Kong for 17 years, acted in 38 films, portrayed many impressive roles, whether it is elegant and dignified everyone's bridesmaid, pure and lovely family girl, or a mournful young woman who encountered hardships, etc., are highly respected and have achieved great success, she is the "big star" in the hearts of many Hong Kong stars later, and she is also the head of the Great Wall Company, the largest leftist film company in Hong Kong at that time, and later she also bid farewell to the screen and moved overseas when she became popular.
Most people know Xia Meng, mostly because the martial arts novel master Jin Yong has never secretly had a deep affection for her. Xia Meng, who has a unique beauty, is also a self-disciplined and intelligent actress, who has devoted her life to the film industry. Wu Siyuan, a famous Director of Hong Kong, mentioned in an interview with the Beijing News reporter that Xia Meng is really an extremely rare noble lady in the circle, but now, the summer night dream wakes up and the lights go out, and the laughter of the message is stored, and since then, there is another beautiful actress in heaven.
Life
1
Xia Meng, formerly known as Yang Meng, was born on February 16, 1933 in a literary and art family in Shanghai, her parents are opera lovers, Xia Meng has been influenced by the family since childhood, love cultural and artistic performances; at the age of 5, she also won the shanghai children's photography competition, and this photo is still displayed in the window of the photo studio.
2
In 1947, moved to Hong Kong, Xia Meng studied at Marino College, in school Xia Meng was keen on stage performances, is the backbone of the literary and artistic debut, wrote a good article, loved Shakespeare's works, when the director Yuan Yang'an wanted to make movies, daughter Mao Mei just happened to be classmates with Xia Meng and recommended her into the Great Wall Company, Yuan Yang'an also gave her the stage name Xia Meng according to the inspiration of "A Midsummer Night's Dream".
3
Because she was born in a Family of Peking Opera, Xia Meng has always sung Peking Opera in her spare time. According to filmmaker Yu Zhihua, Xia Meng likes to write calligraphy and once gave the South China Film Association book inscriptions; in addition, Xia Meng likes to get together with friends to chat, and the most popular drink is whiskey. For example, Qin Yi, who has also created a large number of female images on the screen, even if Xia Meng knows the bottom of the girlfriend, in 2014, Xia Meng went to Shanghai to meet her old friend Qin Yi, she said that she and Qin Yi had endless words, "We are still on the same line."
4
Xia Meng has played a lot of female roles in the pursuit of freedom and happiness, and in life Xia Meng is a very casual person, she once said in an interview, although she usually looks very docile, in fact, she will not insist that others must listen to herself, nor do she refute some people's opinions, but will insist on some principled things.
5
As an actress with good acting skills and character, Xia Meng is a rare "standard woman" in the film industry. Always clean and self-righteous, she has always given herself three chapters of the law, not to cut ribbons for people, not invited to eat, not to shoot scenes with unhealthy content, the boundaries between the outside of the play are clear, and she does not hang a still at home, but concentrates on her husband and children.
performance
6
In 1950, Xia Meng entered the show business circle and stood out through the work "Forbidden Marriage", she portrayed Yang Xiazhi in the film to the fullest, but the role of Yang Xiazhi was originally created for Li Lihua, who had just left her job, Xia Meng dared to seize the opportunity, and this film became the box office champion of Chinese Hong Kong films that year. In the first year of signing the contract, Xia Meng's salary was only 200 yuan, which was only equivalent to the salary level of a primary school teacher. Recalling the performance at that time, Xia Meng once said that she had never studied acting and would not be nervous, so everyone felt natural. At this point, Xia Meng talked about the standards of a good actor, and talent is still the first factor she values.
7
Xia Meng has many works, "Evil Sea Flower" became one of the 19 films screened at the Fifth Edinburgh International Film Festival, the 1954 film "Metropolis Symphony", "Sister Song" and other films were very successful, she became a pillar of the Hong Kong Left Chinese Film Company, along with Chen Sisi and Shi Hui, known as the "Three Princesses of the Great Wall", and four years later in the "Hong Kong Chinese Film Top Ten Stars" election, she ranked first.
8
Xia Meng appreciates Li Xiangqin the most, because Li Xiangqin has rich life experience and good acting skills, and can play any role and act like anything. Talking about the secret of good acting, she said that she doesn't like to prepare too much in advance, because it will be very rigid and rigid, "What I am most afraid of is rehearsing over and over again, I will be stiff, so I am more afraid of acting in drama." 」 According to people familiar with the matter, Xia Meng will not try too many scenes on the set, as long as it is related to her own shots, she will quietly observe how other actors perform, and what she most admires in performance is "natural disclosure".
9
In 2008, when Dalian held the "Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival", the conference held a film exhibition for Xia Meng, but Xia Meng did not attend because of physical reasons, she recorded a video speech, saying, "I participated in a different job because of chance, the film added color to my life, and also gave me many unforgettable memories worth recalling." In her view, personal career is closely related to the home country, "Hong Kong (at that time) was still under the british high-pressure colonial rule, in a difficult environment, many filmmakers around me selflessly dedicated themselves to the patriotic film industry, but also inspired me to be a good actor." ”
10
Xia Meng was 82 years old, she said in an interview that she could not clearly remember each of her films and roles, in her impression of her favorite is "New Widow", recalling the shooting scene at that time, she said that it was Director Zhu (Shi Lin) used to temporarily revise the script on the field, one shot at a time, at that time, this "shooting method" was called "baking egg tart", when acting, I felt that I had a lot of free space to play, the more I shot smoothly.
11
Jin Yong, Liang Yusheng and Ni Kuang, the three largest ip makers in Hong Kong, are always amazed by Xia Meng, and on different occasions promote the beauty of Xia Meng, the "Great Wall Princess", into legends. Xia Meng has starred in 38 movies, and she loves every role, but she treats the roles she has played equally, "I am not satisfied with every play of my own. ”
12
In 1982, when the supervising producer Xu Anhua directed "Run to the Fury Sea", Xia Meng was willing to lose a contract deposit that had been signed, and he must change the script to perfection before starting. Her vision of choosing a script is also extremely critical, in her view, the script is a prerequisite for a good film, but also the most basic requirement. "Run to the Fury Sea" and "Like a Year of Water" in 1984, the two works won the best film, best director and best screenplay awards at the two Hong Kong Film Awards respectively.
13
In 2015, at the Shanghai International Film Festival, 83-year-old performance artist Xia Meng won the Lifetime Achievement Award for Chinese Films, she did not arrive at the scene in person, but specially presented a recorded short film, she said hello to the audience in her hometown Shanghainese, and said, "Shanghai is the place where I was born, film is my lifelong dream, with these two things I feel happy." ”
Stunning
14
Xia Meng is a typical Suzhou beauty, full of poetry and painting of Jiangnan smoke and rain. Since she was a child, her eyes are bright and bright teeth, just as her stage name is as dignified and exquisite, her pair of Dan phoenix eyes contain the charm of classical Chinese beauty, speaking of xia meng's beauty, many fans have compared her to "oriental version of Audrey Hepburn." ”
15
Speaking of Xia Meng, many directors and fans have admired her beauty, "This woman should only be in heaven", in the face of so many people praising her beauty, Xia Meng will modestly say that she has never felt how beautiful she is, and also said that "I don't remember any trouble because I am too beautiful and too many people come to pursue." Regarding her beauty, Wu Siyuan smiled and said, "She herself should know how beautiful she is, if she says she is not beautiful or does not know, it must be that she is polite to you." ”
16
Xia Meng was recognized as "the most beautiful actress in Hong Kong" at that time, and was also known as "God's masterpiece", Jin Yong once sighed, "How beautiful Xi Shi is, no one knows, I think she should be like Xia Mengcai worthy of the name." Some insiders revealed that beauty is more or less stressful for Xia Meng, "There is a female makeup artist surnamed Li who is very good with Xia Meng, and if she has public activities, she will look for makeup with the surname Li." In their opinion, Xia Meng has always paid great attention to manners.
In love
17
It is said that Jin Yong fell in love with Xia Meng, and the only time in his life that he wrote a script and directed the tube was to "get close to Fangze", although he failed to join hands with Xia Meng in the end, but it was also a good story of a talented and beautiful person. Some commentators have commented that Huang Rong in "The Legend of the Eagle Shooter", the Little Dragon Girl in "The Eagle Hero", and Wang Yuyan in "Tianlong Babu", these characters all have the shadow or temperament of Xia Meng.
18
In 1957, Jin Yong was already famous, but in order to get close to Xia Meng, he became a screenwriter at the Great Wall Film Production Company in Hong Kong. Jin Yong said that what he had done was insignificant, "When Tang Bohu fell in love with a rich Yahuan Qiuxiang, in order to get close to her, he did not hesitate to sell himself as a slave to enter the rich, and I Jin Yong was far behind compared with it." But Xia Meng was not at all interested in the "Wang Tiger Robs Relatives" that the two collaborated on, "I don't like this movie at all, but the audience likes it." I don't think it's enough. ”
19
Before getting married, Xia Meng had a relationship with Cen Fan, the director of the Yue opera movie "Dream of the Red Chamber", because he and Xia Meng were in a company, and the usual contact also made the two fall in love with each other, but no one said that it was broken, and then Cen Fan wanted to return to China to devote himself to the film industry in New China, and Xia Meng did not pretend to consider saying that he wanted to go home. Because of the pass and some yin and yang mistakes, Fan Cen eventually failed to enter the marriage hall hand in hand with Xia Meng, and Fan Cen never married.
20
When Xia Meng was 22 years old, she married the businessman Lin Baocheng, and the two immigrated to Canada after Xia Meng's disappearance, and what is rare is that Xia Meng's life is still out of the mud and not stained, and she marries a wife and teaches her husband to have children. Until 2014, when Xia Meng returned to Shanghai from the 65th anniversary of the film, she mentioned her and Jin Yong, and she only said lightly, "I and Jin Yong, in fact, it is better not to say." "Maybe for her, the story has always been someone else's, and all she has is a hard work and a down-to-earth family."
【Remembrance】
Wu Siyuan: I want to help Xia Meng realize a dream of an Academy Award
The famous Hong Kong director Wu Siyuan has always been very familiar with Xia Meng, "In recent years, we have seen each other relatively rarely, and in the past, we will meet in some film activities and often chat." Wu Siyuan recalled that probably the year before, he began to work hard to give Xia Meng a lifetime achievement award of the Hong Kong Academy Awards, "I met with her at the Hong Kong Yacht Club, and she said that she also hoped that she could participate in the selection of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Hong Kong Film Awards, and I was very happy at that time, whether it was Xia Meng's acting skills or works, whether as an actor or as a producer, she should have the approval of this award." ”
Talking about the memories of Xia Meng, Wu Siyuan said that she was really a very rare noble lady, beautiful, intelligent and loyal to the acting career, in her later years Xia Meng still liked to play mahjong, even the news of her death was first revealed by card friends, in Wu Siyuan's impression, in the face of reputation or awards, Xia Meng always loved to hide far away, it was not easy to come out (ask the Academy Awards), but because it was difficult to command after Wu Siyuan "retired" at that time, and because the selection mechanism was not sound that year, in the end, Xia Meng's wish could not "fulfill the dream", At that time, the selection of the Academy Awards was one member and one vote, many people were not familiar with history, and it was difficult to reach a consensus, for Xia Meng, this is one of my biggest regrets. ”
Written by/Beijing News reporter Zhou Huixiaowan