Born on December 27, 1934 as Cheng Yue-ru, Linda Lin Dai was the eldest daughter
of politician Cheng Si-yuan, a native of Binyang county, Guangxi province. War
had marked Lin Dai's childhood with upheavals and relocation. In 1948 when she
was still a junior student at the Huiwen Girls' College in Nanjing, Lin Dai had
to move to Hong Kong with her family for political reasons. She continued her
studies at the New Asia College in Hong Kong.
 In 1951, Lin Dai took some photos at Zong Wei-geng's Salon Studio. One of the
pictures was enlarged and put in the window, which attracted the attention of
Yuan Yang-an, the manager of Great Wall Film Production Limited. He invited Lin
Dai to join the company and gave her the stage name Lin Dai adopted from her
English name Linda.
In Great Wall Lin Dai was never given any chance to act in front of the camera.
In 1952, as recommended by Yan Jun she joined Yung Hwa Films Company and made
her first movie Singing Under the Moon (1953), adopted from Shen Cong-wen's
novel The Border Town. This first attempt was an overwhelming blockbuster and
made Lin Dai the idol of countless fans overnight. After 1953 when Yung Hwa
plunged into financial crisis, Lin Dai became a freelance actress and played in
productions of many companies, including the powerful duo MP&GI and Shaw
Brothers. One of the MP&GI works, Scarlet Doll (1958), even became the box
office champion in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Lin Dai was first crowned the Movie Queen at the 4th Asian Film Festival for her
outstanding performance in Golden Lotus (1957), an MP&GI production. She became
the Best Actress again the next year for her role in Diau Charn, this time a
Shaw Brothers production.
Despite her tight schedule, Lin Dai spent several months attending drama and
linguistics classes at Columbia University, New York, where she met and fell in
love with Long Sheng-xun, a son of former governor of Yunnan province Long Yun.
On February 12, 1961, they got married at the Rosary Church, Tsim Sha Tsui.
 After marriage Lin Dai signed a contract with Shaw Brothers and her career
continued to prosper. She won the Best Actress for the third and fourth time at
the Asian Film Festival in 1961 and 1962 for her performance in Les Belles
(1961) and Love without End (1961). The four Best Actress coronations were not
only Lin Dai's personal glory but also unprecedented achievements in the history
of Chinese cinema. Her fame further spread across the borders and ascended to
international circles. In 1962 another work of Lin Dai, Madame White Snake,
broke all the box office records for local and foreign productions screened in
Hong Kong.
In December 1961, Lin Dai became the godmother of Petrina Fung Bo-bo, the
Talented Child Star, or Hong Kong's Shirley Temple. On April 6, 1963, Lin Dai
gave birth to a son in New York called Long Zong-han.
On July 17, 1964, due to family trivial, Lin Dai committed suicide at home with
an overdose of sleeping pills and gas emission. She died just five months before
her 30th birthday. Her tragic death left Chinese communities around the world
shocked with grief. Thousands of fans flocked to her funeral. She was buried at
the Roman Catholic Cemetery in Happy Valley.
One month after Lin Dai's death, Shaw Brothers and International Photo Supply
Company jointly organized a two-day photo exhibition at City Hall in memory of
the Movie Queen. In response to requests of her passionate fans, the exhibition
was later extended for a week in September at President Hotel, Kowloon.
In 1966, Asian Film Festival gave a special award to Blue and Black, the
unfinished work of Lin Dai, to commemorate her achievements. On November 15,
1995, Hong Kong Post Office issued the first set of Hong Kong Movie Stars
stamps, featuring Lin Dai, kung fu guru Bruce Lee, Cantonese opera superstars Ren Jian-hui and Liang Xing-bo, and Lin Dai was the only one from Mandarin
cinema. Despite her tragic death more than three decades ago, Lin Dai is
unquestionably still the unforgettable Movie Queen of Hong Kong.
|
