Le Di (Lok Ti)

Biography

Le Di, born Xi Chongyi on July 24, 1937 in Shanghai, was the posthumous daughter of a father who died in a bombing a week before her birth during the war. She lived with her family at the famous Tianchan Theatre in Shanghai from age six, giving her early exposure to performing arts and imitation. After her mother died in 1948, she was raised by her maternal grandmother. The family moved to Hong Kong in 1949. In 1952, after graduating from secondary school, she joined Great Wall Movie Enterprises with a five-year contract, adopting her stage name "Le Di" from her childhood nickname. She made her debut in "The Peerless Beauty" in 1952, and her career began to rise. In 1958, she moved to Shaw Brothers and gained the recognition of director Li Hanxiang, achieving widespread fame with the "Daiyu Burying the Flowers" scene in "Wonderful Recovery," which earned her the title "Classical Beauty." In 1960, she starred in "Sons and Daughters of Heroes," which became a top-grossing film in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and her film "A Chinese Ghost Story" was selected for the Cannes Film Festival, becoming the first Chinese color film to participate in an international festival, where she was proclaimed "the most beautiful Chinese actress," cementing her status as a top star. In 1963, she won the Best Actress award at the 2nd Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan for her role in "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai," reaching the peak of her career. She married actor Chen Hou in 1962.