Originally known as Chen Limei, Cecilia Chen was born in 1938 in Shanghai, Zhejiang Province, and later moved her family to Hong Kong.
In 1954, she was admitted to the Great Wall Film Company and played the role of Wan Er in the movie "Sounding Phoenix", starring Shi Hui, and later appeared in movies such as "Cloudy Sea, Jade and Bow" and "Twin Guns, Wong Ying Koo" etc. In 1955, she joined the Great Wall Film Company in Hong Kong, and formally began her career as an actress. She was born to be an actress, but she didn't want to go into the movie industry. However, Cecilia did not want to enter the movie industry at the beginning, she wanted to be a teacher, a doctor or an airhostess. By chance, a good friend of Cecilia's showed her an advertisement for the Great Wall Film Company and urged her to apply for it. Chen Sisi was only curious to see what a movie studio was like, and put on a white dress and went without any makeup. Who knew that her simple attire, more reflective of the natural beauty of the youth of young girls, particularly attractive, but also more attracted the attention of many examiners. This is how Chen Sisi accidentally qualified for the Great Wall Actor Training Program, and has since embarked on a career in acting.
Chen joined the Great Wall Film Company in 1955, and in 1956, when she was just 18 years old, she took part in the filming of such movies as "Songfeng" and "The Red Robbery", and starred in the movie "Red Lantern" in the same year. Since then, she has been starring in two films per year on average, and in 1963, she starred as Chou-heung in The Three Laughs (also known as Tong Pak-fu Points at Chou-heung), winning over the audience with her stunningly beautiful, elegant and graceful performance, and achieving a career high, making her one of the "Three Princesses" of Great Wall Pictures, along with Xia Meng and Shi Hui. In 1961, she married Gao Yuan, a handsome young man from the Phoenix Film Company at the time, and they co-starred in the films Golden Beauty and Flying Swallows in Spring, and in 1965, she played the roles of two sisters in the singing film Songs of Two Daughters, with a breakthrough in her acting skills as one of them was strong and the other one was soft. She has been in the movie industry for more than ten years and has starred in more than thirty movies, including "Double Shot Wong Ying Koo", "One Sword, One Soul", "I Don't Want a Divorce", and so on. However, after starring in "I Don't Want a Divorce", she officially divorced Gao Yuan in 1970, and has been out of the movie business ever since.
In the late 1970s and 1980s, "Three Laughs" toured the mainland for many years and became so popular that it became a representative work for audiences to understand Hong Kong movies. Three Laughs" is an opera comedy film in which Tang Pak Fu, a talented scholar from Jiangnan in the Ming Dynasty, encounters Chou-heung at a temple seeking an autograph, and behaves in such a way that he is surprised and envious that he makes Chou-heung laugh on three occasions. In order to get the favor of Chou-heung, Tong Pak-fu not hesitate to sell his body as a slave, after all kinds of embarrassment, and finally married the beauty. In the movie, Chen Si Si plays Chou-Xiang, creating many beautiful figures, stroking the zither, flinging her sleeves, bending down to worship, and knitting her brows and smiling as if she were a fairy coming down to earth.
With her first film "Red Lantern" in 1956, followed by "Red Bat Apartment" and "Newsman", Cecilia began to make a name for herself in film and television, and her 1963 film "Three Laughs" was one of the most iconic works of her acting career. With these works, she became one of the "Three Princesses of the Great Wall" together with Xia Meng and Shi Hui. After she became famous, she refused to join a wealthy family and married movie star Gao Yuan. However, after her marriage, Chen Si Si once rested for personal reasons for more than ten years, until 1980, when she was invited by Bao Fang to star in "Secret Order to Kill", and then appeared on the big screen again. It is said that the "Three Princesses of the Great Wall" never took part in any acting competitions in those years, and their recreation was hiking, mountain climbing, folk dancing, drama, literary songs, ballet and other elegant leisure activities.
She played the role of Chou-Xiang in "The Three Laughs," which won the audience's favor with her handsome disguise and dashing performance, and led to the peak of her movie career, making her one of the most sought-after first-tier stars at the time, and the "Three Princesses" of Great Wall Pictures, along with Xia Meng and Shi Hui. Chen Si Si played "Qiu Xiang", the beauty is simply jaw-dropping. Her ancient costume can be described as pink-faced and graceful, with the most charming flavor of smiling back. In Three Laughs, Chen Si Si's body language is used appropriately. Because the movie takes the opera route, she has a lot of opera movements in the movie, whether it is stroking the zither, flinging her sleeves or bending down to worship, each movement is accurate and in place, and her knitted brows and smile successfully convey the inner activities of the characters. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Three Laughs was released in mainland China, and the sensational effect it generated was difficult to obtain even for the blockbusters of today. Veteran moviegoers still vividly remember that the first screening of Three Laughs in Shanghai was an open-air movie in People's Square due to the sheer size of the audience. Chen Si Si Si's beauty in Three Laughs has left many mainland moviegoers with a "Si Si complex" ever since.
The Three Laughs features a collection of more than 20 kinds of Jiangnan tunes (such as Purple Bamboo Tune, Jasmine Flower, Silver Button Silk, Poetry Tune, Knowing the Heart, Taoist Love Tune, Mountain Song Tune, Wujiang Song, and other kinds of tunes) intertwined with comedic lyrics and recitations, which make the play climax constantly, with continuous laughter, and allow people to have a good enjoyment, both visually and aurally. Many of these pieces were almost extinct in mainland China at the time after the Cultural Revolution. On this level, "Three Laughs" also carries on China's traditional culture and folk art.
In 1978, at the age of forty, Cecilia returned to Great Wall Films and was invited by Phoenix director Bao Fang to make a comeback in the costume martial arts suspense feature film The Secret Order of Killing, which was to be her last film.In 1978, she was voted one of the biggest stars in Hong Kong by The Great Wall Illustrated.In 1984, at the Chinese New Year's Eve party of the China Central Television (CCTV), Cecilia made her representative appearance as a Hong Kong-based entertainer. In 1984, CCTV's Spring Festival Gala featured Cecilia Chan as the representative of Hong Kong artists. Cecilia not only sang the classic "Three Laughs" at the party, but also acted as the host of the program and became the center of attention. Sisi Chan was born with a chivalrous and upright heart. When she meets a big director or a big star who bullies people, she always stands up to them and fights for their rights.
Chen has been in the movie industry for more than 10 years and has starred in more than 30 movies.
"Three Laughs" was a hit in China
Three Laughs", "Red Bat Apartment", and "Newsman" starring Cecilia Chen were once released on the mainland between the late 1970s and the early 1980s, and Three Laughs won the Best Comedy Award at the 15th Asian Film Festival in 1969, based on the well-known story of "Tang Bo Hu Dot Qiuxiang" and the light-hearted comedy of "Tang Bo Hu Dot Qiuxiang". With the story of the well-known "Tong Pak Fu points at Qiu Xiang", the light-hearted and festive plot, the melodious singing and the handsome costumes of the main actors, the movie was warmly received by the audience. After its release in the mainland, it even achieved a box office myth, and many viewers even went to the theater several times to watch "Three Laughs," creating a rare spectacle that year.
People say "Three Laughs"
Qin Yi: We've met a few times, and I remember she was a very pretty girl with big eyes. We talked once, not for too long. What I remember most about her is those eyes, eyes are her soul.
Fan Mr. Wang: In 1979, my unit at the time to get a Deloitte root 24-inch color television. Television station broadcast "three smiles" that day, can accommodate more than 100 people in the cafeteria and even the aisles are standing full of people, "three smiles" beautiful and touching love story let us intoxicated. We have been used to watching "Tunnel Warfare", "Mine Warfare" and "Southern Campaign" for more than ten years, and we realized that there is something called "love" in the world that makes people's heart flutter when we watched the movie "Three Smiles". Ms. Du, a movie fan: When I saw Cecilia Chen in Three Laughs, I was really amazed, and I really didn't think that the actress could be so beautiful in the movie. Cecilia Chen is always that beautiful and mesmerizing. Classical, elegant, playful, lovely, foreign, slinky, especially her big charming eyes. Unfortunately, many young people nowadays don't know about this stunning beauty.
Presented at the CCTV Spring Festival Gala
In the 1980s, Cecilia was well known to the mainland audience along with "Chouxiang", and in 1984, the writers and directors of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala invited her to participate in the gala along with Hong Kong artists such as Zhang Mingmin. It is understood that because Cecilia Chan's influence in the Hong Kong show business was not as strong as it used to be at that time, and even though the mainland audience had just seen "Three Laughs" not long ago, more than 20 years had passed since Cecilia Chan appeared in "Three Laughs," the choreographers and directors of the Spring Festival Gala were also a bit apprehensive. But when the still elegant Chen Si Si stood in front of the camera and sang the theme song of "Three Laughs", everyone's doubts were allayed - Chen Si Si is still Chen Si, or the same pretty "Qiu Xiang".
Peaceful departure
Chen Si Si died at 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 7, 2007, at Shanghai's East China Hospital at the age of 69 after failing to be rescued from late complications of pancreatic head cancer. Yu Zhuowei, president of East China Hospital, confirmed the news of Chen Sisi's death in an interview with reporters. According to Yu Zhuowei, Chen Si Si was found to have cancer in July 2006 during a physical examination at the East China Hospital, when it was already in an advanced stage and could not be operated on.When Chen Si was admitted to the East China Hospital again on September 7, 2007, her condition had already deteriorated seriously. Her attending doctor said, "Her cancer cells had metastasized to her liver, forming a large mass." Despite the seriousness of her condition, Chen Si Si was very optimistic and cooperated with the doctor's treatment. on October 7, suffering from the disease, she fell into a deep coma; after a whole day's resuscitation, Chen Si Si left this world peacefully, and her husband and daughter accompanied her on the last journey of her life.
Mr. Ng Sze-yuen, a famous Hong Kong filmmaker, the president of the Federation of Hong Kong Film Workers and the permanent honorary president of the Hong Kong Film Directors' Guild, expressed his grief after hearing the news. He told reporters that Cecilia Chan is a representative of the last generation of Hong Kong filmmakers, he directed his first film in 1971, "Crazy Killer" is starring Cecilia Chan's husband, Gao Yuan, at that time Cecilia Chan had come to visit the crew, which was his first time to see Cecilia Chan, at that time she had already been out of the picture, treating people kindly and not at all a star, which left a deep impression on the people.