繁體中文
李翰祥（Li Han-hsiang，1926—1996）是香港電影導演、編劇及監製，生於奉天省錦西縣（今遼寧省葫蘆島市）。他少年時隨父遷居承德，1932年因日軍進犯熱河而舉家遷往北平；其後考入國立北平藝術專科學校西洋畫系，曾隨徐悲鴻習畫，又就讀上海市立實驗戲劇學校，繪畫與佈景根基深厚。1947年他來港，先後在大中華、長城、大觀、永華等電影公司任特約演員、美術、配音及副導演等崗位，由布景與美工做起，故日後對佈景與服裝尤其講究。1950年代中期他開始獨立執導，1956年執導《雪裡紅》。1958年的黃梅調影片《貂蟬》由林黛主演，為他奪得第五屆亞洲影展最佳導演獎；1959年的《江山美人》獲第六屆亞洲影展最佳影片獎，1960年的《後門》再獲第七屆亞洲影展最佳故事片獎，奠定他在古裝片與黃梅調片的地位。1962年他執導的《楊貴妃》獲第十五屆法國坎城影展室內彩色攝影技術大獎，讓邵氏古裝片在國際影展受到注視。1963年，他為邵氏執導的黃梅調電影《梁山伯與祝英台》由凌波反串梁山伯，在港台及東南亞掀起熱潮，不少觀眾反覆入場數十次，電影打破多項票房紀錄，並奪得第二屆金馬獎最佳劇情片及最佳導演。同年他在國泰機構支持下到台灣創辦國聯影業公司，開拍《七仙女》(1964)、《西施》等大型古裝片，1965年拍成上下兩集的《西施》，1966年獲第四屆金馬獎最佳劇情片；國聯亦培育出甄珍、江青、鈕方雨等演員，至1969年結業時出品二十多部影片。其後他轉走文藝路線，拍出代表作《冬暖》(1969)。1970年代他回港執導《大軍閥》與《風月奇譚》，並開拍《乾隆皇》系列，把歷史考據與娛樂結合；1975年的《傾國傾城》獲第十二屆金馬獎最佳劇情片及最佳女主角等獎項，1976年拍《瀛台泣血》，1978年以《乾隆下揚州》獲第十六屆金馬獎最佳改編劇本獎。1983年他率先回內地，與北京電影製片廠合作拍攝《火燒圓明園》與《垂簾聽政》，在真實宮殿場景取景，獲中國文化部優秀影片特別獎；1986年再拍清宮片《火龍》。他對清宮與歷史題材情有獨鍾，拍片前常查考史料，對服飾、佈景與宮廷禮儀力求準確。《火燒圓明園》與《垂簾聽政》由劉曉慶飾慈禧、梁家輝飾咸豐帝，後者更為梁家輝贏得香港電影金像獎最佳男主角。他一生執導約八十部影片，1996年12月17日在北京拍攝電視劇《火燒阿房宮》期間因病逝世，享年70歲；1997年獲第三十四屆金馬獎終身成就紀念獎。
English
Li Han-hsiang (1926–1996) was a Hong Kong film director, screenwriter and producer. Born in Jinxi county in Fengtian province (now Huludao, Liaoning), he moved with his family to Chengde as a boy and then to Beiping in 1932 to escape the Japanese invasion of Rehe. He studied Western painting at the National Beiping Art College under Xu Beihong and also attended the Shanghai Experimental Theatre School, and this grounding in art and set design shaped his films. He came to Hong Kong in 1947 and worked at the Great China, Great Wall, Daguan and Yonghua studios as a contract actor, art designer, dubber and assistant director, starting out in set design and art, which later made his films especially attentive to sets and costumes. In the mid-1950s he began directing independently, making Red Bloom in the Snow in 1956. His 1958 Huangmei opera film Diao Chan, starring Lin Dai, won him the Best Director award at the 5th Asian Film Festival; The Kingdom and the Beauty (1959) took Best Picture at the 6th Asian Film Festival and The Rear Door (1960) Best Picture at the 7th, establishing his standing in period and Huangmei cinema. In 1962 his The Magnificent Concubine won the technical grand prize for colour interior cinematography at the 15th Cannes Film Festival. In 1963 his Huangmei opera film The Love Eterne, made for Shaw Brothers with Ivy Ling Po cross-dressing as Liang Shanbo, caused a sensation in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia, with some viewers watching it dozens of times; it broke box-office records and won Best Feature Film and Best Director at the 2nd Golden Horse Awards. That year, backed by the Cathay organisation, he founded Grand Motion Picture in Taiwan, making large-scale period films such as The Seven Fairies (1964) and the two-part The Beauty of Xi Shi, the latter winning Best Feature Film at the 4th Golden Horse Awards in 1966; Grand trained actors including Chen Chen, Jiang Qing and Niu Fang-yu and released more than twenty films before closing in 1969. He then turned to quieter drama, producing his late masterwork The Winter (1969). In the 1970s he returned to Hong Kong to direct The Warlord and The Wiles of Men, and launched the Emperor Chien Lung series, blending historical research with entertainment; The Last Tempest won Best Feature Film and Best Actress at the 12th Golden Horse Awards in 1975, and Emperor Chien Lung in Yangzhou took the 16th Golden Horse Award for best adapted screenplay in 1978. In 1983 he was among the first to return to the mainland, co-producing Burning of the Imperial Palace and Reign Behind a Curtain with the Beijing Film Studio and shooting in real palace locations; the films received a special award from China's Ministry of Culture, and in 1986 he shot the Qing court film The Last Emperor of China. He directed some eighty films and died in Beijing on 17 December 1996 while filming the television drama The Burning of the Epang Palace, aged 70; in 1997 he was given a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award at the 34th Golden Horse Awards.
