Zhao Dan

Zhao Dan ( Chinese  赵丹 , Pinyin Zhào Dān actually: 赵凤 翱 , Zhào Fèng'áo ; born June 27, 1915 in Yangzhou ; † October 10, 1980 in Beijing ) was a Chinese actor.

He was born as Zhao Feng'ao, the son of a cinema owner, and first appeared in a film in 1925 ( Feng dai shaoye ). From 1931 to 1934 Zhao studied landscape painting at the Shanghai Art School . He wrote short stories and plays and appeared in a theater group. Since 1933 he also played regularly in films for the Mingxing studios. In 1937 he had leading roles in two important films; as an unemployed young academic alongside Bai Yang in Shen Xiling's Shizi jietou and in Malu tianshi by Yuan Muzhi .

After the occupation of Shanghai by the Japanese army , he joined an anti-Japanese theater company. In 1939, Zhao was arrested by the Kuomintang and spent four years in prison. It was not until 1947 that he appeared again in films. The neo-realistic Wuya yu maque (1949) by Zheng Junli , but also Wu Xun zhuan (1950) by Sun Yu , in which the title hero, played by Zhao, finances an education for poor children through street art and begging, attracted attention . Sun's film drew sharp criticism from Mao Zedong and blocked the director's previously successful career. Zhao Dan then took on particularly party-conform roles. The historical-biographical roles of Zhao Dan, such as that of the pharmacist of the Ming dynasty in Li Shizhen (1956) by Chen Fu or as Lin Zexu and Nie Er in the films of the same name by Zheng Junli from 1959, are among the most artistically demanding acting in Chinese film of its time. Zhao made his last film appearance in 1965.

During the Cultural Revolution , Zhao Dan was imprisoned again for five and a half years. After his release in 1973, he took on teaching positions at the film studio in Shanghai and at Fudan University .

Web links

• Zhao Dan in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• A Man of Many Faces
• more complete filmography of Zhao Dan in the Chinese Movie Database