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Wang Danfeng

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Wang Danfeng was a legendary actress in Chinese cinema.

Wang Danfeng
Wang Danfeng

She was a very influential star for many years. People often called her a film icon because of her talent. Her long career lasted for more than four decades. During that time, she starred in over 60 different films. She was even named one of the four great actresses in Hong Kong in 1949.

Her path to stardom began with a single discovery. When she was a sixteen-year-old student, a director named Zhu Shilin found her. She first appeared in a small role in the 1941 film The Dragon Dungeon and Tiger's Den. Later, Zhu Shilin cast her as the lead in the 1942 film New Fisherman's Song.

New Fisherman's Song
New Fisherman's Song

This movie was a huge success at the box office. It helped launch her career as a famous star. In the 1940s, she often played women who faced hard times.

Wang Danfeng's life saw many big changes in different places. She was born in Shanghai on August 23, 1924. In 1948, she moved to British Hong Kong to work with a studio. After the People's Republic of China was established, she returned to Shanghai in 1951. There, she married her long-time fiancé, Liu Heqing. Their wedding was a very big event for the media. They stayed married for more than 65 years until his death in 2016.

Some of her film roles are still remembered by many people today. In the film A Nurse's Diary, she played a young nurse. In one famous scene, she hummed a song called "The Little Swallow" to a baby. A famous singer named Roman Tam even memorized that song because he loved it. She also acted in the 1963 film The Peach Blossom Fan. However, life became very difficult during the Cultural Revolution. She was forced to do hard labor in the countryside. This meant she could not act for 15 years.

Even after hard times, her talent was eventually honored again. She tried to act again from 1978 to 1980. Her very last film was called The Jade-Colored Butterfly. Later, she received two big Lifetime Achievement Awards. She won one in 2013 from the China Film Performance Art Academy. She won another in 2017 at the Shanghai International Film Festival.

Wang Danfeng
Wang Danfeng

Wang Danfeng lived a full life and died in Shanghai in 2018 at age 93.

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