叶盛兰

简介

Ye Shenglan was a Chinese Peking opera actor, born in Beijing in 1914 and died there in 1978. He was originally from Taihu County, Anhui Province. He graduated from the Fuliancheng opera school and studied under Cheng Jixian. His father, Ye Chunshan, was a teacher at Fuliancheng. His second brother Yinzhang was a Peking opera drummer, his third brother Shengzhang specialized in clown roles, and his younger brother Shengchang specialized in old male roles. He married Liu Shuqing in 1936 and had six children. He collaborated with renowned artists such as Ma Lianliang and Mei Lanfang. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he became a national actor in 1951. In 1955, he became head of the First Troupe of the Beijing Chinese Peking Opera Theatre and toured with the troupe to Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Yugoslavia, France, and the United Kingdom, and appeared in the Peking opera film "Broken Bridge" shot in France. In 1956, he played Zhou Yu in the film "Assembly of Heroes – Borrowing the East Wind". During the Anti-Rightist Campaign in 1957, he was labeled a rightist and his salary was suspended; from 1959 he was placed under "controlled use." He died in Beijing in 1978 and was rehabilitated that December.