Wang Danfeng

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Wang Danfeng (1950s)

Wang Danfeng ( Chinese  王丹凤 ; actually Wang Yufeng ; born August 23, 1924 in Shanghai ; † May 2, 2018 there ) was a Chinese actress who had her greatest successes between the 1940s and 1960s. In her career spanning more than four decades, she appeared in more than sixty films. Wang Danfeng was one of the most popular Chinese actresses of her time.

Life

Wang Danfeng in the 1940s

Wang Danfeng was born as Wang Yufeng in Shanghai in 1924. While she was still at school, the then sixteen-year-old was discovered by the film director Zhu Shilin and made her film debut in 1941. Wang Danfeng played her first leading roles in 1942. In the following years she appeared in two dozen films and thus became one of the most popular stars in her country. Danfeng's best-known roles included that of Xue Baochai in the 1945 literary film adaptation Hong lou meng , which is based on Cao Xueqin's The Dream of the Red Chamber . In the film produced by Bu Wancang , Zhou Xuan, another Chinese film icon, starred alongside Wang Danfeng .

After the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, Wang Danfeng made ten films for the newly founded Shanghai Film Studio from 1952 until the Cultural Revolution . Among other things, she was seen as Minfeng in The Mandarin's House in 1957 . In 1963 Danfeng played the musician Li Xiangjun (1624-1654) in the film adaptation of the 1699 historical drama The Peach Blossom Fan (桃花 桃花).

After the Cultural Revolution began, Wang Danfeng was sentenced to forced labor in the countryside along with other filmmakers and was unable to make films for fifteen years. In contrast to many of her colleagues, Danfeng survived this time and tried to start a comeback as an actress from 1978. However, this was unsuccessful. In 1980 she finally ended her film career.

In 1985, Wang Danfeng attended Ronald Reagan's second term celebrations upon invitation . In the late 1980s she moved to Hong Kong , where she and her husband ran a restaurant until she was 80. The couple then moved back to Shanghai.

For her acting performance, Wang Danfeng received several awards in her later years. In 2013 she received the Golden Phoenix Award for her life's work from the China Film Performance Art Academy. She received another award for her life's work in 2017 at the Shanghai International Film Festival .

Wang Danfeng had been married to Liu Heqing since 1951. The marriage lasted until his death in 2016. The couple had four children together. Wang Danfeng died in May 2018 at the age of 93 (94 years in the East Asian age calculation) in Huadong Hospital in Shanghai.

Filmography (selection)

  • 1944: Noroshi wa Shanghai ni agaru
  • 1945: Hong lou meng
  • 1947: Zhong shen da shi
  • 1949: Jin xiu tian tang
  • 1951: Cai feng shuang fei
  • 1952: Fang mao zi
  • 1956: Hushi riji
  • 1957: The Mandarin's House (Jia)
  • 1960: Xiang yang hua kai
  • 1962: Nü li Fa Shi
  • 1963: The Peach Blossom Fan
  • 1974: Wei jun chou
  • 1978: Er zi, sun zi he zhong zi

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wang Danfeng passes away at 94. In: Shenzhen Daily. Shenzhen Media Group, May 4, 2018, accessed May 16, 2018 .
Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Wang is the family name here, Danfeng is the first name.
personal data
SURNAME Wang, Danfeng
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wang, Yufeng (real name); 王丹凤 (Chinese spelling)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION chinese actress
DATE OF BIRTH August 23, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Shanghai , Republic of China
DATE OF DEATH 2nd May 2018
Place of death Shanghai , People's Republic of China