In the late 60s, Taiwanese movies were dominated by actresses like Tang Pao Yun, Gui Ya Lei, Wang Ling, Jiang Ching, Wang Mo Cho, Tang Lan Hua, Tien Ni and Li Hsiang. It was the era of character actresses, focusing less on looks but more on their acting skills. Then came the 70s, where we first saw the rise of Chen Chen, then followed by Lin Ching Hsia and Lin Feng Chiao.
The movie queens of the 60s suddenly lost their shine as Chen Chen and the 2 Lins got brighter and brighter...
Actresses like Tang Pao Yun, Gui Ya Lei, Tang Lan Hua, Tien Ni and Li Hsiang did not give up and tried re-inventing themselves.
Tang Pao Yun - she still managed to hang on to playing lead actress roles in movies like "Yen Yu Xie Yang", "Wan Qiu", "Yi Jia Ren", "Suang Feng Fei", "Chu Lian Jai Taipei". She even starred opposite Charlie Chin in "Come Rain Come Shine" and "Walk in the rain", as well as opposite Chin Han in her only movie with him, called "Dream lake", which is a beautifully made movie. She played a lady who lost her memory and was discovered by Chin Han at Dream lake. The songs were also beautifully composed by Gu Yue and performed by Qiu Yuan Chu. Tang was actually still her 30s but reality is cruel in Taiwanese silver screen and she had to give in to competition. She went quiet for some time but made a guest appearance in "The love seed" or Yi Ke Hong Do, starring Lin Ching Hsia and Chin Han. She played the mother of Zhang Lu in the movie. And plays a character one generation older than Chin Han, who she once played her lover in Dream lake. It must have been a hard hit for Tang at that time. She appeared in another epic movie called "Tian Xia Di Yi" and family drama "Bing Dian" where she played the mother of Yang Ya Hui. She then disappeared from the screen. I understand that she became mentally unstable, bankrupt and passed away due to illness a couple of years ago. A sad ending for a shining star of the 60s. She used to be the gem of Director Li Hsing's movies (Yang Yak Ren Jia, Qiu Chue, Wang Jun Piao Mei etc), until he discovered Chen Chen and ultimately Lin Feng Chiao who starred in practically all his movies.
I will talk about the other actresses the next time. Let me know if you find this interesting for the forum. Feel free to comment. Only then will the forum be exciting for the 70s movie fans.
Rgds
Bill
Posted on Aug 11, 2008, 10:56 AM from IP address 62.143.101.81