Text/Catherine
Edit/Noisy Square
In 1982, burlesque actor Yan Shunkai Received an invitation from CCTV director _span Huang Yihe He performed a sketch at the first Spring Festival Gala.
Yan Shunkai's relatives and friends advised him not to do such a thankless thing.
The reason is that Yan Shunkai's performance style doesn't match the overall atmosphere of the Spring Festival Gala. If it doesn't work out, it will damage his image in the audience's mind, which is not worth the loss.
But Yan Shunkai didn't think so. He thinks it's a great thing for an actor in a burlesque to bring laughter to audiences across the country on New Year's Eve. Why not do it?
After a period of intense rehearsal, in 1983 Yan Shunkai met the audience with three programs "A Q's Monologue", "Walking to the Factory" and "Playing the Piano".
On the stage, Yan Shunkai, whose whole body is full of comedy cells, is performing "Ah Q's Monologue" with high eyebrows, supporting his little mung bean eyes that can't be opened no matter how hard he tries.
"Ah Q's Monologue"
When he shook his eyebrows, squinted his eyes, opened his mouth, his unfortunate and beaten-up image came to life.
The audience was amused by his wonderful performance, and the studio burst into applause for a while.
In particular, the finale - pantomime "Playing the Piano", I saw Yan Shunkai sitting in a chair solemnly, shaking his head and seeming to be very engaged in playing the piano.
In fact, he is playing empty, and the sound of the piano is played through the tape recorder hidden on him.But he played a deceitful little character vividly.
The audience laughed and laughed, and the joyous atmosphere of the party was pushed to a climax by him.
Unfortunately, the sound engineer failed to keep up with Yan Shunkai's rhythm at the beginning, resulting in the ineffectiveness of double reed . (As a result, many people couldn't understand it at the time, so that more impressions were made by Wang Jingyu's " Eat Chicken" )
Wang Jingyu's "Eat Chicken"
But this is not Influenced Yan Shunkai, he became a leader in creating a first-of-its-kind sketch for the Spring Festival Gala.
Hello everyone, this is Naofang, so tonight I would like to share with you the story of Yan Shunkai from the East " Chaplin ".
01
Yan Shunkai was born in 1937 in a poor family in Shanghai. Less than 100 days after he was born, the war began.
Since then, he has lived a life of no fixed place, and at a young age, he has tasted the bitterness and warmth of being a low-level figure.
Later, their family moved to the alley where there was a drama troupe at the entrance of the alley.
When he first arrived, Yan Shunkai felt very lonely, and going to the theatre troupe to watch the performance became his happiest moment. Sometimes, he looks like a whole day.
Slowly, Yan Shunkai fell in love with acting, thinking how wonderful it would be if he could stand on the stage one day and perform a different life!
The seeds of dreams may have begun to sprout at that time.
But at that time, his family was poor and could not afford him to go to school. In order to earn tuition fees, Yan Shunkai got up as soon as it was dawn, and then went to the alley with two buckets full of soy milk to sell.
hard days,This made Yan Shunkai cherish the opportunity to read. In school, in addition to serious study, Yan Shunkai also likes to engage in literature and art.
He likes to act in everything, such as recitation, allegro, live-action drama, etc., and enjoys it, so he can always be seen on the school stage.
When he was in high school, he served as the Minister of Literature and Art of the Student Union.
During an on-campus performance, Yan Shunkai creatively integrated and reinvented the programs he had seen in the drama troupe, and presented them on the stage.
The teachers and classmates watched with great interest and praised him, and he suddenly became a "man of the year" in the school.
Since then, Yan Shunkai's goal has become clearer, that is, to take the Shanghai Theatre Academy and become an actor.
Photos of Teacher Yan Shunkai's life when he was young
After a long period of hard study and hard rehearsal, Yan Shunkai successfully got the precious opportunity to interview at Shanghai Theater Academy.
Along the way, he danced excitedly and came to the interview scene with excitement and nervousness.
What surprised him was that when the strict interviewer saw his big nose and triangular eyebrows, he couldn't find his eyes when he smiled, and he shook his head helplessly.
The result is predictable, he was ruthlessly brushed down.
From being full of confidence to being rejected, this feeling is like a raging fire that was caught off guard by a ladle of water, and Yan Shunkai was extremely sad.
But he was not willing to give up his dream and turned to the Qinghai Provincial Repertory Troupe. However, fate joked with him again, he was rejected by the Repertory Troupe because of his image.
In 1959, Central Academy of Drama came to Shanghai to recruit students.Yan Shunkai, who has been out of the rankings many times, seems to be getting stronger. As soon as he heard the news, he immediately went to sign up.
But when he heard that Chinese Opera had a strict requirement for students in the performance department to be no less than 170 cm tall, Yan Shunkai, who was 169 cm tall, felt the world was spinning.
Are you letting the opportunity slip away before your eyes? No! In the end, Yan Shunkai came up with a "cheating" method, which is to wear a pair of shoes with a few centimeters high insoles to the interview.
Everything was ready, Yan Shunkai entered the examination room with a popular song "Really Happy to Die".
He sang diligently in front of the examiner: look up and down in the mirror, hey, it's really hilarious...
If you don't forget it, there will be echoes. Good luck will eventually fall in love with him.
Yan Shunkai's wonderful performance made the examiner Bai Ying amused. At the same time, she also saw Yan Shunkai's acting talent, and finally admitted him.
Yan Shunkai, who was favored by his fate, was successfully admitted to the performance department of Chinese Opera. He was 22 years old that year.
02
The classmates in the Chinese opera class are either handsome men or beautiful women, but Yan Shunkai once made others think he was a dancer because of his appearance.
Yan Shun knows his shortcomings and can only work harder in his studies. What makes Yan Shunkai feel helpless is that although his grades are full marks, he has always missed the protagonist.
Seeing that the people around him were either playing Hamlet, Othello, or Lu You, Yan Shunkai felt very depressed and was not convinced at all. He felt that he was obviously no worse than others.
But when Yan Shunkai saw some classmates around him who could only play one role in a semester, but he could play different roles, Yan Shunkai felt that he had made a profit instead.
So Yan Shunkai no longer complained, but focused on the shaping of every little character.
By playing little people,He can play not only costume dramas, but also modern dramas , Chinese and foreigners. Most importantly, he can also accumulate a lot of performance experience.
A dazzling pearl, even dust can't stop it from shining.
Drama master Huang Zuolin Discovered Yan Shunkai's talent for comedy and asked him to play Sentinel under the Neon Light.
Yan Shunkai's wonderful performance made Master Huang Zuolin seem to see a new star in the comedy world.
After Yan Shun graduated from Chinese opera in 1963, Master Huang Zuolin couldn't wait to recommend him to Shanghai Renyi's burlesque troupe as an actor.
At the beginning, Yan Shunkai was hard to accept.
He thinks his dream is to be a film and television actor, not a funny comedian. What's more, in the society at that time, everyone thought that comics were vulgar, low-grade, and unattractive.
After the teacher found out, he said to Yan Shunkai earnestly and earnestly: "Don't look down on burlesque dramas, many audiences like to watch this kind of dramas, all you have to do is to extend what you have learned to comedy performances, and become the champion. ."
After Yan Shunkai listened to the teacher's words, he was enlightened, and since then he has devoted himself to the field of burlesque.
Soon, Yan Shunkai starred in the first burlesque "One Thousand and One Days", which became popular in Shanghai and was deeply loved by the audience. Overnight, he became the "sweet pastry" in the palm of the burlesque troupe.
Yan Shunkai has appeared on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala many times.
Sketch "Zhang Sanqiren"
He performed a series of high-quality sketches such as "Zhang Sanqiren", "Love a Father Like a Son" and "Tell a Story" .
He vividly interprets the grief and anguish of the people at the bottom, so he can always resonate with the audience.
In particular, he played the Ah Q written by Mr. Lu Xun,It left a deep impression on the audience. But because of the issue of appearance, Yan Shunkai almost passed by the character at that time.
03
In 1980, the movie " The True Story of Ah Q " was going to go out on location in 1980, but director Cen Fan and several leaders were still arguing about who would play Ah Q Gotta be hot.
The leader said that 44-year-old Yan Shunkai is a burlesque actor with prominent wrinkles on his face. If Lu Xun's works are shown to him, it will turn out to be a burlesque, and the price will be unsightly.
In a word, the leaders just think he is "ugly", so they prefer to let the popular young student Guo Kaimin play Ah Q.
The actor who ran for Ah Q at the time
Yan Shunkai, who was hiding in the next room at the time, heard them say this, he was so angry that he almost hit the wall with his head and was about to cry.
Yan Shunkai felt that there was no drama.
How can I compete with the handsome and handsome public lover Guo Kaimin?
However, Director Cen Fan felt that Yan Shunkai wearing a ripped waistcoat and a ripped black felt hat is simply a living Ah Q.
So Director Cen Fan decided that Yan Shunkai was the best person to play Ah Q. In order to win Yan Shunkai, Cen Fan did not hesitate to "ripped his face" with the leaders, saying that if Yan Shun was not allowed to act in the factory, he would not direct the film. The movie is over, call it a day and leave.
Eventually the leaders gave in and Yan Shunkai got the role.
Yan Shunkai paid a lot of hard work and a great price in order to play the role that Director Cen Fan fought for him. He was literally fighting for his life.
was filming "The True Story of Ah Q" at Shaoxing , which was in midsummer.
The hot weather made Yan Shunkai sweat profusely,Clothes can be wringed out of water. However, even though his body is covered with prickly heat, he does not cry out, and is always immersed in the role.
Yan Shunkai is always very involved in the drama, the director called to stop, and he couldn't calm down for a long time.
After the cast, he endured the pain and continued to work.
I saw him holding a pole in one hand and touching a child's head in the other, humming "I'll hit you with a steel whip in hand", and kicked away the few who were pecking on the road. rooster.
At that moment, Yan Shunkai was Ah Q, and Ah Q was Yan Shunkai. It's that little guy who came out of Lu Xun's book and who bullied the weak, but made people "mourned for his misfortune, but not angry with him".
The Ah Q portrayed by Yan Shunkai is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, so much so that he is remembered as soon as the movie airs.
"Ah Q!" "Ah Q!" No matter where Yan Shunkai went, someone called him that.
Once on the street, a child rushed towards Yan Shun, took his hand and asked, "Uncle Ah Q, I can only watch TV on Saturdays, tell the TV station to play you again on Saturdays. Is the show good?"
Later, when Yan Shunkai went to Fengyang to film, the peasants from several townships knew about it, and they all came to see him as if they had made an appointment to go to the market. The scene was very solemn and enthusiastic.
One of the farmers squeezed over, held Yan Shunkai's hand, and said excitedly, "Ah Q, I voted for you..."
Yan Shunkai felt so moved that his nose was sore.
The role of Ah Q won Yan Shunkai the Best Actor Award at the 6th Popular Film Hundred Flowers Awards Best Actor Award and the Second Swiss Comedy Film Festival Best Actor Award.
This film also became the first film to officially participate in the Cannes Film Festival after the founding of New China.Even more let him sit on the throne of "King of Comedy", and got the honorary title of "Chinese version of Chaplin".
At the Swiss Film Festival the following year, Yan Shunkai was invited to be a jury member, and was warmly entertained by the Chaplin family.
Someone once joked that Yan Shunkai, Yao Ming and Liu Xiang are three cultural cards in Shanghai. But Yao Ming's "high" is unattainable, and Liu Xiang is "hard-to-follow", but Mr. Yan is more friendly and down-to-earth.
Yan Shunkai was not arrogant at all, but said humbly: "The audience recognizes my role as Ah Q, and they still call me Ah Q, I am very proud and happy.
As long as my works can make the audience laugh, The audience likes it, even if I have no money and live in poverty, I think my life is worth it."
04
To this day, Yan Shunkai is still the forever Ah Q in everyone's heart, and no one can replace him.
Yan Shunkai has been busy with his acting career all his life and has never stopped. Even at the age of 70, he still sticks to his role as an actor.
In Yan Shunkai's last play " My Ugly Daddy ", he devoted himself to the play regardless of his physical condition.
In the play, he plays an old man who goes into the sea to pick up garbage. Because of being forced into despair by life, I finally stumbled towards the cold sea and ended my life...
This bleak scene made the audience burst into tears.
It is a pity that Yan Shunkai was paralyzed due to cerebral infarction and apoplexy shortly after returning to Shanghai after filming the play, and finally lost his ability to take care of himself, so he had to stay in bed for recuperation.
Maybe heaven lacks a master who can make God happy. In 2017, God just took Yan Shunkai to heaven regardless of the retention of his family and friends.
Since then, the world has lost a master who brings countless joy to everyone.
Looking back at the life of comedy master Yan Shunkai, he was rejected and denied because he was not handsome enough.
But he is unrelenting, and he has been shining in his beloved acting career for decades, leaving many classic works that cannot be surpassed.
Relying on a series of high-quality works, he has won himself the honorary titles of "Comedy King" and "Chinese version of Chaplin".
He will always live in the hearts of the audience.
References:
- Dictionary of Chinese and Foreign Film and Television[M] 2001 Edition
- "Yi Lin" Editorial Department, Yi Lin Hot Words Time and Text Focus Characters Volume 4[M] 2018 Edition_ li376li
- Hou Lei, Sensuality [M] 2018 edition
- Chen Yiyi; star images under Chen Yiyi's lens[M] 2005 edition
- 5. The eternal Ah Q of "Family Matters"
