Zhao Dan (1915-1980) was a performing artist with many outstanding achievements. In the several decades of his movie career, he appeared in 35 films, portraying a series of brilliant roles. Crossroads and Street Angel, in which Zhao played the leading roles in 1936 and 1937, were two pieces that revealed his early talent. Zhao's own experiences and temperament were similar to those of the Old Zhao, the unemployed college graduate he played in Crossroads; Zhao Dan vividly portrayed Old Zhao as an innocent, honest, enthusiastic and, in a way, foolish intellectual.
In Street Angel, Zhao played the role of a poverty-stricken young trumpeter, realistically depicting the trumpeter's kindheartedness, honesty and hint of pride. Zhao's leading role in Crows and Sparrows, a film from the 1940s, marked the maturity of his performing art. Proprietor Xiao, as depicted by Zhao, is a typical, urban, petty bourgeois in a semi-feudal, semi-colonial society. He is fatuous but fancies himself clever; weak but pretends to be valiant; shortsighted but burning with ambition to make a fortune. He does very little and takes pleasure in spreading rumors. He is humiliated and oppressed to the fullest extent but becomes indifferent and finds excuses to console himself. Zhao pulls off the role of Proprietor Xiao in a very realistic way.
Zhao maintained his artistic vigor during the 1950s and 60s where his portrayals of historical figures in Li Shizhen, Lin Zexu and Nie Er reached the highest level of Chinese performing art at the time.
In these films, Zhao starred as three different individuals: Li Shizhen, a man of great depth who is pure, graceful, unsophisticated and tinged with a local flavor; Lin Zexu, a lofty, exquisite and manly personage, and Nie Er with his passionate feelings and romantic air. All the roles Zhao created had a clear-cut, individual character, rich in color, profound implications and a strong national feature. Zhao's many faces -- most of which have become everlasting archetypes of Chinese cinema -- were embraced by Chinese audiences.
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