Wen 丨 Chief Character View, Author 丨 Xiaoman, Editor 丨 Jiang Yue
70th spring.
The life of Hong Kong film star Wu Mengda came to an abrupt end.
A lamp that many people remember is extinguished with this gust of wind.
In the handsome Hong Kong film industry, Wu Mengda did not have a tough appearance or a perfect face, but he found a way to play himself.
"Uncle Da!"
This is his most common name on the screen, and it is also the nickname that all the audiences in reality love him.
In Wu Mengda's body, the star's natural sense of distance is eliminated, and he is really like a neighbor uncle who lives upstairs.
In the movie, he is willing to be the green leaf next to the star protagonist, and making a big fuss, being ridiculed, and being teased are the most common character fates.
The laughter and anger and triviality of life can be interpreted by him very vividly.
We like Wu Mengda because of his authenticity, because of his kindness, and because of the optimism and strength that continue to grow in his body after being mocked countless times by life.
70 years of time is like a shuttle, this life is hurried, like a big dream.
Here are 70 little stories about Uncle Da, and we bid farewell to Uncle Da together.
<h2>01</h2>
On January 2, 1951, Wu Mengda was born in Xiamen, Fujian Province.
Because of his poor life, in order to make a living, at the age of 7, Wu Mengda moved to Hong Kong with his family.
<h2>02</h2>
After moving to Hong Kong, Wu Mengda's life is still tight.
The family of seven is crowded into a small board room in the fishing ground in Aberdeen, with a total area of only about ten square meters.
My father worked in the north-south line, earning only a few hundred yuan a month.
<h2>03</h2>
Wu Mengda has been mischievous since childhood and does not love to read very much.
When he was a child, he often liked to skip school to watch movies, and then return home to perform and imitate his mother.
<h2>04</h2>
In addition to watching movies, Wu Mengda also likes to listen to dramas.
Usually, I like to listen to Minnan minor tunes, flower drum singing, Cantonese opera, and when singing, the words have eyes and the plates are in tune.
<h2>05</h2>
After graduating from junior high school, Wu Mengda was admitted to the third TVB wireless artist training class.
At that time, his classmates were Zhou Runfa, Zheng Shaoqiu, Lu Haipeng, Lin Lingdong and Ren Dahua.
<h2>06</h2>
Wu Mengda and Zhou Runfa are the best friends in the class.
Zhou Runfa's family lives in West Central, every day after school need to take a boat home, sometimes can not catch the boat, Wu Mengda led Zhou Runfa back to his home to live, the two eat and live together.
<h2>07</h2>
In the TVB wireless artist training class, Wu Mengda's accumulation when watching the drama began to appear.
The teacher made him the head of the class, and often praised him for his talent and good grades.
<h2>08</h2>
Chow Yun Fat was 182 tall, and in Hong Kong at that time, he often could not find an actor to play with him, and was almost eliminated by the last place.
After graduation, Wu Mengda entered TVB full-time and had the guarantee of basic salary.
Zhou Runfa is a part-time actor at TVB, and he can only receive a money by working a job.
<h2>09</h2>
In 1973, Wu Mengda made a cameo appearance in "Yingtai Weeping Blood" directed by Li Hanxiang.
This year, he was only 22 years old, which was also the first time in his life to act.
<h2>10</h2>
Since 1975, Wu Mengda has participated in tvbrush, participating in many plays, but almost all of them are supporting roles.
<h2>11</h2>
In 1979, tvb produced martial arts drama "The Legend of Chu Liuxiang" was launched, starring Zheng Shaoqiu, Zhao Yazhi and Wang Mingquan, and Wu Mengda played the male number two Hu Tiehua.
Wu Mengda became popular because of this.
<h2>12</h2>
Wu Mengda once became a hot new star of TVB, and also a popular student sought after by countless people.
Every day, as soon as the door is opened, countless girls catch up with them to deliver gifts.
Soon, he lost himself after a night of popularity, drinking, gambling, and playing with women all night.
<h2>13</h2>
During the roadshow in Taiwan, the company urged him to return to Hong Kong.
He did not heed the advice and insisted on dying drunk here.
In the past, he acted all night, and now he gambles all night, and when Wu Mengda finds that he can't make ends meet, he starts to borrow usurious loans.
<h2>14</h2>
Later, when recalling this past, Wu Mengda said:
"When I was young, I didn't study much, and it was easy to feel that I was great, but in fact, I didn't know how to pretend to understand, and I completely lost myself."
<h2>15</h2>
In 1980, Wu Mengda owed a gambling debt of 300,000 Hong Kong dollars, and his life situation took a sharp turn for the worse.
<h2>16</h2>
He began to be hidden by TVB and declared bankrupt by the bank.
Seeing that the mountains and rivers were about to be exhausted, Wu Mengda cheekily asked his friend Zhou Runfa to borrow money, but was rejected by Zhou Runfa.
Director Du Qifeng even said of him: "The mud can't support the wall." ”
<h2>17</h2>
In the face of six loan sharks, Wu Mengda stood on the roof of the restaurant and said, Either you will hack me to death now, or wait for me to pay back slowly.
Unable to pay off debts and no drama to play, he also thought about committing suicide by diving.
For the situation at that time, many years later, Uncle Da commented on the show: "Like a dog that has lost its family."
<h2>18</h2>
In 1981, on the recommendation of Zhou Runfa, Wu Mengda received his first film "Law Enforcers".
In the movie, he played a small character, McGee, and Chow Yun-fat starred as the killer Wu Tao.
<h2>19</h2>
I thought that my career would be rejuvenated, but after four years, no one still looked for Wu Mengda to shoot a movie.
Wu Mengda, who has passed the age, only spends all day in the crew to do miscellaneous work, and occasionally runs the dragon set.
<h2>20</h2>
It was also this period of days when there was no drama to play that made Wu Mengda start to study hard.
Stanislavsky's theory of drama fascinated him, and "The Self-Cultivation of actors" was seen for four years.
<h2>21</h2>
After a period of lows, Wu Mengda's life began to improve.
In 1985, he was assigned to perform "New Brother Za", partnering with Liang Chaowei.
Director Zhao Zhenqiang liked this hard-working young man, and since then his dramas have continued, and sometimes Wu Mengda even has to sleep on the TV station.
<h2>22</h2>
In 1989, Wu Mengda met the most important person in his life: Zhou Xingchi.
At that time, Wu Mengda was still working hard to shoot the dragon set, and Zhou Xingchi was only the host of the children's program.
TVB is preparing to shoot the martial arts TV series "Gestapo Heroes", and finds Zhou Xingchi and Wu Mengda, and lets them play a pair of masters and apprentices.
<h2>23</h2>
The next year, the two collaborated on the TV series "He Comes from the Jianghu", playing a father and son.
"The Godfather of Hong Kong Cinema" Wu Siyuan saw the performance of the two and felt very liked, so he asked them if they wanted to consider making a movie, so there was a later movie "Gamble Saint".
<h2>24</h2>
In 1990, under the recommendation of his old friend Du Qifeng, Wu Mengda played a supporting role for Andy Lau in "Heavenly Love", playing the role of Ban Taibao.
When he received the script, Wu Mengda originally wanted to play the big villain horn.
But director Chen Musheng said that he can play every role in the film, but the role of Taibao can be played by no one in Hong Kong except him.
<h2>25</h2>
Wu Mengda asked: What is the role of Taibao?
Producer Du Qifeng said a word to Wu Mengda:
"Dogs".
Based on this word, he figured out the personality characteristics of the ban Taibao himself and made this character come alive.
<h2>26</h2>
"Heavenly Love" and "Gamble Saint" were released in the same year, and Wu Mengda played supporting roles in Andy Lau and Stephen Chow respectively.
In the end, "Gamble Saint" became the box office champion of Hong Kong films that year with a box office performance of 41 million Hong Kong dollars.
The "nonsense comedy era" belonging to Stephen Chow and Wu Mengda officially began.
<h2>27</h2>
In 1991, the 10th Hong Kong Film Awards.
Wu Mengda was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Award for "Gamble Saint" and "Heavenly Love".
In the end, Wu Mengda defeated Jacky Cheung and Er Dongsheng and others to win the Best Supporting Actor Award for "Heavenly Love".
<h2>28</h2>
"Heavenly Love" won the award, which was the first time and the last time Wu Mengda won the award from his film career.
But at that time, he did not know in advance, and he was still shooting the set of "Truant Weilong" with Zhou Xingchi, and it was not until the awardees called that Wu Mengda did not know that he had won the award.
In this way, Wu Mengda missed the only opportunity in his life to take the stage to receive the award.
<h2>29</h2>
After the great success of "Gamble Saint", Wu Mengda and Zhou Xingchi were inseparable.
The two often stayed together, talked about everything, and called brothers and brothers.
<h2>30</h2>
Wu Mengda pipes Zhou Xingchi as Xingzai, and Zhou Xingchi calls Wu Mengda As Dage.
can't drive, and when he goes somewhere, star boy always carries him.
Star Boy is not very sociable, and it is always up to to weigh and communicate between him and the director.
<h2>31</h2>
At this time, Wu Mengda really ushered in the brilliant period of his career.
For a long time, every year Wu Mengda had a classic work born.
<h2>32</h2>
In 1991, Wu Mengda starred in the movie "Truant Weilong", playing cao Dahua, an undercover on campus.
The film broke the box office record set by the previous "Gamble Saint" and won the annual box office champion in Hong Kong that year.
<h2>33</h2>
This year, among the top 10 hong Kong box office rankings, Wu Mengda participated in as many as 5 movies.
In addition to "Truant Weilong", there are four movies: "Lame Hao", "TrickSter Expert", "The Biography of Inspector Leiluo", and "Gambler 2: Gambling on the Beach".
<h2>34</h2>
In 1992, it was known as the "Year of Zhou Xingchi".
Among Hong Kong's top 15 high-grossing films of the year, Zhou Xingchi accounted for seven, and the top five were won by Stephen Chow.
"Happy Family" broke the record and got a record 48 million box office, and as a result, "The Inquisitor" later broke the record and got more than 50 million at the box office.
In "The Inquisitor", Wu Mengda played the corrupt official He Ruda.
<h2>35</h2>
Also, in the movie released in 1992.
Hai Gonggong in "Deer Ding", Su Can's father in "Wu Zhuangyuan Su Qi'er", Cao Dahua in "Truancy Weilong 2", etc., have become the classic screen images of Wu Mengda.
<h2>36</h2>
In 1994, Wu Mengda and Zhou Xingchi co-starred in the movie "The King of Destruction".
One of the lines in it is still constantly forwarded by people:
<h2>37</h2>
In 1995, Wu Mengda and Zhou Xingchi went to the mainland to shoot "Journey to the West".
When "Journey to the West" was released in Beijing, the total box office was less than 200,000 yuan, and the average number of moviegoers per game was pitiful.
But later it was regarded by netizens as the pinnacle of Hong Kong's nonsense.
<h2>38</h2>
Towards the turn of the century, the Hong Kong film market is becoming increasingly sluggish.
Wu Mengda participated in stephen Chow's "The King of Comedy", which won the annual box office championship in Hong Kong in 1999, but the box office was only 29.83 million Hong Kong dollars.
<h2>39</h2>
In 2001, the movie "Shaolin Soccer" was released.
Wu Mengda played football coach Ming Feng in it.
No one would have thought that this would be the last cooperation between Zhou Xingchi and Wu Mengda.
<h2>40</h2>
When Wu Mengda and Zhou Xingchi first met, the two often sneaked into Hong Kong's dating mecca late at night to eavesdrop on other couples talking and have fun.
The two also have a common hobby, which is to eat canned abalone on the set.
There are usually two in a can, star boy eats the big one, and eats the small one.
<h2>41</h2>
In the preparation of the script of Kung Fu, Star Boy left a place for.
Li Zicong's role, Fat Boy Cong, was originally played for Da ge.
The character's name is Ada.
<h2>42</h2>
Kung Fu encountered SARS before filming, delayed the start time, and just bumped into another TV series filmed by.
The two have not worked together since.
<h2>43</h2>
After the cooperation with Stephen Chow, Wu Mengda rarely had classic movies come out.
After 2008's "Yangtze River No. 7", Zhou Xingchi stopped acting and became a behind-the-scenes director, and the two completely lost the opportunity to appear together.
<h2>44</h2>
In April 2014, Wu Mengda suddenly collapsed while filming in the mainland.
He was admitted to a hospital in Hong Kong overnight, entered the intensive care unit for emergency treatment due to heart failure, and misreported the news of death twice.
After a serious illness, I lost a lot of weight.
<h2>45</h2>
After being discharged from the hospital, Wu Mengda went to the restaurant without much rest and made an appointment for a table of mahjong.
Touch from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m., play 24 laps in a row.
His favorite pastime is playing mahjong: "When you are older, friends leave one by one, and it is difficult to ask out a card friend." ”
<h2>46</h2>
He felt that "playing cards can cure all diseases", and he also felt that he would always be twenty-eight years old.
Sometimes, I can also spoil my eighty-year-old mother: "Mommy, I want to eat spring rolls a little."
To his card friends, he also joked: "Don't cut me off, I have a heart attack!" ”
<h2>47</h2>
Wu Mengda has been married 4 times, shouldering the living expenses of the first 3 families and the expenses of 5 children.
In order to make enough money, he used to make nearly 20 movies a year at most.
<h2>48</h2>
Wu Mengda's play path is very wide, in his opinion, the protagonist's supporting roles are not so important.
Even if it is a dragon running set, he is also completed with the mentality of a starring actor, he once said:
"I don't care what kind of bad drama you are, bad director, I'm not afraid to take it, because it can't affect my performance." The script sucks, the director sucks, the actor sucks, but my acting skills, the so-called performance, don't degrade. ”
<h2>49</h2>
Since his 20s, Wu Mengda has begun to play his father and uncle.
Therefore, many people used this to ridicule him: "Uncle Da has not grown old, he was like this when he was young." ”
<h2>50</h2>
In 2017, Wu Mengda starred in the movie "The Wandering Earth".
On the set, Wu Jing praised Wu Mengda as a "master", never bringing a script to the scene, but he was very clear about the opponent's script, and he could change anything at any time, which was worth learning by himself.
<h2>51</h2>
In "The Wandering Earth", Wu Mengda played Han Ziang.
At a time, he wears a mecha suit weighing more than ten kilograms, wears a mask with thin air, and hangs Weiya straight up and down.
<h2>52</h2>
During the shooting, Wu Mengda needed to climb an escalator with a mask.
This shot is very hard for everyone else, and for Wu Mengda, this extreme shooting is almost his death.
The air in the mask was thin, he couldn't breathe, he kept screaming in pain, and the staff was so frightened that they immediately stopped shooting and put him down.
Uncle Da, who was removed from his mask, shouted at the staff: "Why don't you shoot!" ”。
At that time, he was already covering his heart in pain, gasping for breath, but his heart was still thinking about shooting.
During the filming process, Wu Mengda once wanted to be a deserter.
He hadn't hung Via in decades of filmmaking, and was in poor physical condition at the time, and he was hanging in mid-air dizzy.
When he turned his head, he found that the director was still discussing with the lights, and he was so uncomfortable that he directly shouted, "I'm not shooting." ”
But after returning to the hotel, he felt that he was willful, and he gritted his teeth and returned to the crew to continue shooting.
<h2>53</h2>
After filming for a day, after returning to the hotel after work, Wu Mengda would secretly cry in his room:
"I'm 66 years old, why do I have to work so hard?"
<h2>54</h2>
When I was a child, because there was no money in the family.
Wu Mengda often took his younger brother and hid in the toilet of the theater to escape the ticket to rub the movie.
At that time, he admired the actors in the movies and felt that if he became an actor, he could raise his eyebrows.
Later, recalling his childhood dream of stardom, he said that he did not love acting, but for ease and money.
He said: "Falling in love with the movie was just coveting vanity and didn't really understand it. ”
<h2>55</h2>
From 48 years of art, Wu Mengda has starred in a total of 246 film and television works.
On average, he took on 5 plays a year, and until his old age, he still worked hard to make films.
<h2>56</h2>
Wu Mengda's last film was "The Legend of Debao of Shaolin Temple" with Wang Baoqiang.
While shooting the poster for the movie, Wu Mengda suddenly had heart discomfort.
His face was painful, and he kept rubbing his chest.
<h2>57</h2>
The staff came forward to care, he said:
"I'm sorry. It is useless to rest for 2 minutes or 10 minutes, so don't stop. ”
In order not to delay the progress, he is dedicated, and he wants to stick to it.
After finishing the shooting, he also bowed to the staff to apologize.
<h2>58</h2>
Due to sudden physical discomfort, Wu Mengda went to the hospital for examination, only to find that he had liver cancer and was immediately admitted to the hospital for treatment.
At this time, Wu Mengda was very optimistic, believing that he would soon recover and be discharged from the hospital, so he did not explain any aftermath and did not make a will in advance.
<h2>59</h2>
The variety show "Ace to Ace", recorded in November 2020, was Wu Mengda's last appearance in public view.
In the show, Wu Mengda is emaciated and looks very weak and tired when he speaks.
<h2>60</h2>
Wu Tong, the director of "Ace to Ace", recalled:
At the time of Ace, he was over sixty years old, but he was more cooperative, humble and respectful of everything than young artists.
When recording the sketch, he also added his own appearance design and has been rehearsing seriously. Very dedicated, has not said a word tired.
<h2>61</h2>
Director Wu Tong asked him if he had any happy things recently?
He laughed and said, "My son didn't get into subject two with his driver's license twice, and the whole family laughed at him!" Because my son is usually good eight hundred (he loves to play cool), he thinks he is very strong, and he did not expect to fail the exam twice. ”
After saying haha laughed, laughed tired and gasped twice, thought about it and laughed again.
<h2>62</h2>
Speaking of regrets, Wu Mengda said:
"Sometimes I feel that I am getting farther and farther away from the audience, and I can't think of many things that the audience likes; even if I want to, I can't do it." It's sad. ”
<h2>63</h2>
For the persistence of being an actor, Wu Mengda said:
"Actors, what do you do at home without acting?" I'm not in good health now, even if I can't say my lines one day, I can still play the kind of dumb old man in "Hitchhiker", I still want to keep filming and showing it to everyone. ”
<h2>64</h2>
On February 22, his friend Tian Qiwen revealed in an interview that Wu Mengda had liver cancer, but had completed surgery and was currently in the stage of chemotherapy.
<h2>65</h2>
On the afternoon of February 27, 2021, five days after the news of the illness was announced, Wu Mengda died of liver cancer at the age of 70.
<h2>66</h2>
In the final appearance of the show, when talking about the cooperation with Stephen Chow, Wu Mengda said:
"It's still the same sentence as before, I'm not dead, he's not retired, he'll definitely have a chance."
<h2>67</h2>
After Wu Mengda's death, Zhou Xingchi, who had not appeared in public for a long time, told the media:
"During this time, I have been paying attention to Wu Mengda's condition, and I am somewhat prepared, but I am still very sad and sad, and I am reluctant to do so." He was my partner and old friend for so many years, and I can't accept it at the moment. ”
<h2>68</h2>
In an interview, DENG Yingmin, a classmate of TVB training class, also recalled the past with Dage and other people.
At that time, Wu Mengda and everyone filmed dramas together, cooperated with Xingye, etc., Deng Yingmin said that in the past, he had eaten with Lin Lingdong and other classmates to ask Da Ge to eat, and every time it was Da Ge who rushed to pay the bill: "He is so polite, every time he has to please."
<h2>69</h2>
Wu Mengda's last Weibo, which stopped on August 16, 2019, contained only 5 words:
"I am Chinese".
<h2>70</h2>
Time passes, light and shadow do not die.
Thank you for giving us so much joy and affection.
Uncle Da, all the way.