孫國維
祝希娟是我人生中特別欽佩和羨慕的偶像。我與她同一年投考上海戲劇學院并都被錄取了。但后來我被新華社“挖”走,成了一名國際新聞戰線的記者,從此與上戲失之交臂。而祝希娟一直在文藝領域耕耘,成績斐然。我始終關注著祝希娟的前途命運,寫這篇文章也是出于對她的敬重和愛護。
尋找“火辣辣的大眼睛”

上世紀60年代的某一天,導演謝晉來到上海戲劇學院出差,其實他醉翁之意不在酒,而在于“挖人”。他受梁信編劇之托,前來尋找一雙“火辣辣的大眼睛”。當他路過學院的一間排練場時,無意間看到里面有一對青年男女正在大聲爭吵。一瞬間,他突然捕捉到一個理想的鏡頭:女的表情是那么潑辣.強勢,怒氣中略帶激動。那雙眼睛確實有點兒“火辣辣”。這不正是梁信在《紅色娘子軍》劇本中所寫的那個吳瓊花嗎?他暗暗慶幸,感到這回終于可以交差了。于是他沒有和上戲院方直接打招呼,只是輕描淡寫地向這位女生詢問了姓名和聯系方式。等到梁信本人親自驗收并征得院方同意后才正式通知本人。當梁信看到祝希娟時,他一下愣住了,簡直不敢相信自己的眼睛:面前竟站著一個活脫脫的吳瓊花,從她的身材、膚色、長相和氣質,尤其是那雙忽閃忽閃的大眼睛,會說話、火辣辣,一看就是那劇本里所描寫的那個苦大仇深的吳瓊花。導演和編劇拍板讓祝希娟進入《紅色娘子軍》劇組,小祝高興得一整夜合不攏眼。
劇組不久就來到海南島。這個當年蘇東坡流放過的天涯海角,環境十分艱苦。好在劇組中有不少好搭檔,最使她好感的莫過于陳強老師,他手把手地教她入戲。尤其是用火辣辣的憤怒眼神仇視南霸天的那場戲,反反復復練了又練。為了真正進入角色,祝希娟做足了功課。她同吳瓊花的原型馮增敏結伴深入連隊體驗生活,在萬泉河一帶軍訓,體驗1930年成立的“紅色娘子軍”的生活。兩個“連長”同吃、同住、同學習,在一起打靶、露營、急行軍,直至日落西山。晚上還要挑燈夜讀,翻閱歷史資料,琢磨吳瓊花的性格特點。她們情同姐妹,不分彼此。一個好的劇本,加上稱職的演員和優秀的導演,當然會拍出一部成功的電影。祝希娟果然一舉成名,憑《紅色娘子軍》中飾演的吳瓊花一角而獲得中國首屆電影百花獎最佳女演員獎,成為中國第一位“百花影后”,是年24歲。從此奠定了她在中國影壇的地位,成為被周恩來總理提名的22名中國電影明星之一。
深圳電視的拓荒者

祝希娟在上初中時就在趙丹導演的《為孩子們祝福》的影片中跑過“龍套”,片中她僅留下一個背影,但“觸電的感覺”卻讓她插上了翅膀,飛向了藝術人生。1957年她如愿地考上了上海戲劇學院表演系,而《紅色娘子軍》使她一舉成名,在文藝舞臺上大顯身手。1960年上戲畢業后,她先后在上戲實驗話劇團和上海青年話劇團當演員,參演過莎士比亞的《無事生非》、莫里哀的《吝嗇鬼》以及《南海長城》和《劉胡蘭》等劇目而成為實力派演員,并因此片約不斷。她不僅在《燎原》、《啊!搖籃》等影片中飾演角色,而且還自導自演了《為明天祝福》和《江南明珠》等影片。
20世紀80年代,祝希娟隨中國電影代表團出訪日本東京,曾路過深圳。那時深圳只是一個名不見經傳的漁村小鎮。而她卻萌生了想投身深圳開發和建設電視臺的初衷。1983年8月,她離開上海,舉家南遷,去打拼、開辟另一片新天地,這對于一個步入中年的演員來說,究竟要付出多大的勇氣和毅力呀!第二年,深圳特區的電視臺應運而生,這位年已46歲的電影明星,居然成了電視臺的副臺長,并親自擔任節目主持人。作為電視臺的領軍人物,她事必躬親,各部門有事都來找她,她則來者不拒,于是被稱作“公關臺長”。1989年,她又兼職電視臺的電視藝術中心主任,負責和推動電視劇的創作和制作。在她的領導下,五年內一口氣完成了20多部電視連續劇的拍攝。其中,《特區少年》、《超越生命》和《大風警報》三部連續劇一舉拿下了“飛天獎”的三個大獎。2007年從美國學成歸來的兒子侯量用高清電視拍攝了《滑向未來》的故事片,反映深圳兩代滑板青年的生活和愛情。祝希娟笑稱:起初有朋友說,你這個歲數還拍“小鮮肉”的戲,豈不讓人笑掉大牙。但我的座右銘就是“向前進,向前進,永遠向前進!”這就是“紅色娘子軍”的本色。因此,我要永遠接受新事物,接受新挑戰。
為中國影壇早期明星立傳
祝希娟作為老演員,從來不斤斤計較名位和報酬。拍攝騎馬不用替身。拍攝《大雪冬至》時,她心悅誠服地接受年輕導演的指導和擺布。她知道拍片成本很少,就表示,片酬先放到一邊不談,給多少都行,沒有特殊要求。她對自己要求很苛刻,對于公益事業十分熱心。
祝希娟對于周總理當年的囑咐不敢有忘。上世紀60年代初,周總理提出,我們要把電影院里掛的蘇聯22大明星拿下來,掛上我們自己的22大電影明星。而且還親自擬定了中國的22位大明星。本來名單中有劉瓊的名字,但周總理親自打電話對他說:“讓年輕演員上。”于是由祝希娟頂了上去。當年祝希娟剛剛24歲,而且是其中唯一的話劇演員。22位電影明星還包括:上影廠的趙丹、白楊、張瑞芳、上官云珠、孫道臨、王丹鳳;北影的謝添、崔嵬、陳強、張平、于蘭、于洋、謝芳;長影的李亞林、張園、龐學勤、金迪;八一制片廠的田華、王心剛、王曉棠等。當年在各大影院掛起這些熠熠生輝的中國明星照片之時,民間掀起了一場空前的追星浪潮!它曾經是一個時代的象征和記憶。

盡管上述明星們如今有的已經年邁,有的早已謝世,僅有10人健在。但祝希娟決心要把這些德藝雙馨的老藝術家的音容笑貌、精湛演技和代表作品以專輯的形式傳給后世。她的壯舉得到深圳市委宣傳部門的大力扶持,撥款250萬元,其余由祝希娟憑借自己的關系和影響努力籌措。經過4年辛勞拼搏,已經制作出了23集《新中國22大電影明星》電視專題片,不久就可與觀眾見面。這是祝希娟為中國影視事業作出的不可磨滅的貢獻。endprint
進軍好萊塢,致力中美文化交流
1996年8月祝希娟率領深圳藝術中心攝制組赴洛杉磯與美國上海-洛杉磯藝術公司合作拍攝電視連續集《百老匯100號》。這部反映華人新移民的故事,在大陸和美國華人中引起了不小的轟動,祝希娟被稱之為“深圳電視劇的拓荒者”真是名至實歸。
1998年,退休后的祝希娟和丈夫侯烽民一起來到美國洛杉磯定居。在一個陌生的國度里開始嶄新的生活,這是她人生的一個大轉折。在陌生人看來,這無疑是一種不著邊際的冒險,但了解她的人認為這是她的又一次華麗轉身,就像她往日的抉擇。
祝希娟的丈夫侯烽民原來是上戲的美術系主任,他在美術方面有手“絕活”:能在宣紙上畫油畫。2002年,時任美國總統布什選用的白宮圣誕卡片就是由侯烽民的學生呂震環創作的。
為了在美國開展中美文化交流,祝希娟與好友聯手創辦美國瓊花影視藝術公司。她在處理公司業務之余,每天還去語言學校學習英語,忙得不亦樂乎。如今她的英語水平日漸進步。65歲時還考取了駕駛執照。現在,為了中美兩國的文化交流,她不得不在兩國間來回奔波。盡管她身在美國電影城,但一直以“深圳人”自居,凡是由她主導拍攝的電視片,她不是以深圳為背景,就是以深圳為主題,因為她的心里裝著濃郁的深圳情結。無怪一位深圳有名的的開拓者袁庚在評價祝希娟時,非常形象地把她比作“深圳文化沙漠中的一棵帶刺的仙人掌”。

2017年6月,憑借《大雪冬至》,祝希娟獲得第20屆上海國際電影節電影頻道傳媒大獎評委會特別榮譽獎。
Zhu Xijuan is my lifetime icon. We enrolled in the Shanghai Theatre Academy in the same year, but parted ways after I joined the Xinhua News Agency as a journalist.
One day in the 1960s of China, famous film director Xie Jin walked into the campus of the Shanghai Theatre Academy. He was there to look for “two burning eyes” for Liang Xin, who was working on the screenplay for , Xies new film. A boy and a girl engaged in a fierce quarrel in a rehearsal room caught his eye. The moment he saw the girls glaring eyes and aggressive face, he knew he had found the ideal actress to play the role of Wu Qionghua.
Most of the scenes of the film were set in Hainan Island, where extreme living conditions posed as a big challenge to everyone in the cast. Set in the stormy years of 1930s, the 1961 Chinese film tells the story of two peasant women who go into warfare, thirsty for revenge after going through much suffering and humiliation.
The sensational success of the film brought Zhu Xijuan into the countrys first tier movie star legion. At the age of only 24, she won the Best Actress Award from the first China Hundred Flowers Film Award.

In her junior middle school years, Zhu Xijuan played a walk-on role in a Zhao Dan film, in which the viewers could only saw her back. The experience, however, sowed the seed of dreaming to be an actress in the girls heart. She shot to fame after playing the role of Wu Qionghua in the Xie Jin film when she was a student at the Shanghai Theatre Academy. After graduation from STA in 1960, she joined the STA Modern Drama Troupe and honed performing skills in various plays such as Shakespeares and . She not only played the leading role in a good many films but also proved her directing talent in and .endprint
In the 1980s, Zhu Xijuan joined a delegation of Chinese movie stars for a visit to Tokyo, Japan. When passing Shenzhen, she felt the urge of breaking new grounds in what was then still a little known fishing village. She and her family moved to Shenzhen from Shanghai in 1983. At the age of 46, she joined the Shenzhen TV as Vice Director. Over the years, she became the steering wheel of Shenzhen TV. In 2007, her son joined her ‘TV dream after finishing his study in the US.
Zhu Xijuan is the only drama actress of the 22 ‘Chinese film superstars selected by Premier Zhou Enlai in the 1960s to replace the 22 Soviet Union film stars posted on the walls in cinemas across the country. The others included such big names as Zhao Dan, Bai Yang, Yu Yang, Xie Fang and Tian Hua. Today, only 10 of the 22 in the ‘hall of fame are still alive. Using her own connections and resources, Zhu Xijuan raised 2.5 million for the production of a 23-episode TV documentary that serves as a special summary of a brilliant chapter in the film history of China written by the 22 performing art masters. The production took four years to complete.
In August, 1996, the filming of Broadway No. 100 started in Los Angeles. Telling the story of the new generations of Chinese immigrants in the US, the TV series created quite a stir in the Chinese mainland and among the Chinese community of the US, making Zhu Xijuan the ‘trailblazer of Shenzhen teleplay in the true sense of the word.
Zhu Xijuan and her husband Hou Fengmin, formerly Director of the Art Department of Shanghai Theatre Academy, settled down in Los Angeles in 1998 to start a new life. The couple has since been actively involved in China-US cultural exchange. Reaching 60, she went to the local language school every day to practice English. At the age of 65, she got the drivers license in the US.
In June, 2017, Zhu Xijuan won the Special Honorary Award from the 20th Shanghai International Film Festival for her performance in , a Xing Xiao film telling the loving story of Wei Daxue, an old woman in Beijing, and her dog Dongzi.endprint