Feng Lin (27 January 1925 – 11 March 2010), born Feng Yimei in Tianjin and a native of Nanhai, Guangdong, was the sister of Feng Zhe, a leading mainland film star of the 1950s. After graduating from the Besant School for Girls in Shanghai, she joined the leftist Tongmao Theatre Troupe with her brother in 1943, moved to Hong Kong in 1948 and worked as an ophthalmic nurse while taking film roles, making her screen debut in A Forgotten Wife (1950). Joining Feng Huang Motion Picture Company in 1952, she also appeared in productions by Great Wall Movie Enterprises, Dragon-Horse Films and Sun Sun Film Enterprises, and by her retirement in 1985 had acted in more than seventy films, playing a wide range of parts, including male roles in reverse casting. Her notable credits include Between Fire and Water (1955), Apartment for Women (1956) and Bride Hunter (1960). In 1986 Leong Po-chih invited her to appear in the British Channel 4 production Ping Pong, her first English-language role, and the British film Soursweet (1988) was her last. She was also head of Feng Huang's costume department on more than twenty films, establishing costume-management systems for Great Wall and Feng Huang, dressing actors for public appearances and designing everyday clothes for the actress Hsia Moon. She taught Putonghua in the Great Wall–Feng Huang–Sun Luen training classes, where Henry Fong Ping and Nina Paw Hee-ching were among her students, and devoted her spare time to social affairs, serving as honorary vice-chairperson of the South China Film Industry Workers Union. Honoured with the Medal of Honour by the Hong Kong government in 2003, she died of heart failure in 2010.
Feng Lin spanned both sides of the camera: a versatile character actress for Great Wall and Feng Huang, she also built their costume-management systems, designed clothes for actresses such as Hsia Moon and trained younger talents including Henry Fong Ping and Nina Paw. She was a rare figure in the leftist studio system who combined performance with administrative roles.
Achievements
- 1950 · Made her screen debut in A Forgotten Wife.
- 1952 · Joined Feng Huang Motion Picture Company as a contract actress.
- 2003 · Was awarded the Medal of Honour by the Hong Kong government.