Li Lili (黎莉莉, 1915-2005) - Chinese actress.
Lee Lily | |
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黎莉莉 | |
Birth name | Qian Zhenzhen |
Date of Birth | June 2, 1915 |
Place of Birth | Beijing |
Date of death | August 7, 2005 (aged 90) |
Place of death | Beijing |
Citizenship | Republic of China → China |
Profession | actress |
Career | 1931-1939 |
IMDb | |
Biography
Born in Beijing in 1915 in the family of an underground revolutionary (at the beginning of the Kuomintang party member, since 1927 - a member of the Chinese Communist Party). In 1926, Lee Lily starred in a cameo role in the first film, “The Secret Hero of Yang Fortress” (she was in a group of children honoring the winners).
Li Lili's father is Jian Zhuangfei (1895-1935). Prominent party and political leader of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China. In 1935, a few months before his death, he served as deputy head of the Main Political Administration of the Red Army of China. After the events of April 12, 1927, when Chiang Kai-shek began a real hunt for communists and left Kuomintang to protect children from possible reprisals, the parents decided to “attach” the children for some time: everyone was sent to relatives, and the 12-year-old Li Lili entered the dance group of the theater under the guidance of the famous musician and theater director Li Jinghui in those years. Moreover, as the actress recalls, she was attached, because she, the only one of all the candidates, Li Jinghui did not listen and did not ask to dance, but simply said to the selection committee: "I know, she is talented."
Li Lili stayed in this troupe for several years, having toured China and Southeast Asia on tour (and Wang Renmei and Hu Jia, another future star of Chinese cinema of the 30s, also danced with her). In the same troupe, but already as a vocalist, the future movie star and singer Zhou Xuan sang.
In 1931, Lee Lily starred in an episode in the film A Spray of Plum Blossoms, where she was in the frame for almost 30 seconds. But that was enough: a beautiful dashing dancer was noticed in the film company Lianhua. Lee Lily was contracted. Her next film, Loving Blood of the Volcano, brought her fame. In this film, she had to dance a lot, ride a horse, demonstrating excellent physical fitness.
The real fame came to the actress with the film "Little Toys", where she starred with Ruan Lingyu . Then came “The Big Road” (where Li Lili and Chen Yanyan , playing two friends, created a brilliant duet, winning the hearts of the audience for a long time), “Queen of Sports”.
She also starred in many other films, in 1936 the director Fei Mu invited her (in 1948, this director will shoot the film "Spring in a Small Town", which is now recognized as the best Chinese film) and offered to play a major role in the film "Blood on Wolf Mountain." Another actress claimed for this role - Jiang Jing . It was rumored that she did not forgive Lee Lily that she did not get this role.
With the beginning of the Japanese invasion, he and his fiancé, and later her husband, left for Hong Kong, where they founded their own film studio. In 1939, Li Lily played a major role in the film made by her film studio Gudao Tiantang (Paradise of the Orphaned Island). Thus ended her career as a film actress, in the prime of her life (she was 24 years old), one of the highest paid Chinese film actresses of Lianhua Company left the film Olympus.
At the height of the war, Lily and her husband left for the United States, in Hollywood, Li Lily did not have a career, she was only once offered to play in the film, but after reading the script, she refused, because she considered the film to be offensive to the Chinese (it was a musical comedy 1943 "Around the World").
In 1946, she and her husband returned to China, where a new civil war began. In 1947, she was arrested by the Kuomintang authorities on charges of sympathy for the Communists. Her father's friend, Zhou Enlai, then deputy chairman of the military council of the Chinese People’s Army, personally oversaw the work to free her.
After being released from the dungeons of the Kuomintang, once in the territory occupied by the Communists, Li Lili was immediately arrested on charges of having links with the Kuomintang. It was impossible to think about acting in films, but she was accepted to the Institute of Cinematography of China, where she and her husband worked as teachers. They led a quiet life: family, children, work.
In 1966, with the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution, the hunweibins arrested Li Lily and her husband, shaved their heads, after a campaign of criticism, accompanied by beatings and insults, sent them to “re-educate” - to work in the commune.
In 1970, unable to bear the torture and humiliation, Lee Lily's husband committed suicide.
In 1976, Li Lily was released, returned to work at the institute.
In 1978, she married artist Ai Zhongxin.
In 2005 she died.
Literature
- Lí Lìlì. Xíngyún liúshuǐ piān: [Floating clouds and flowing water: memories of acting life]: [ whale ] / [Lee Lily]. - Beijing, 2001 .-- 666 p. - Orig .: 黎莉莉. 行云流水 篇 : 回忆 、 追念 、 影 存. 北京, 2001.666 页.