HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese actor Trần Hạnh, who played poor farmers in many Vietnamese films, passed away on Thursday aged 92.
Born in Hà Nội in 1929, Hạnh was a theatre artist and actor in the Vietnamese cinema industry. He was one of the first artists to receive the title of State Artist of Excellence in 1994.
After more than 20 years, he was awarded the title of People’s Artist, Việt Nam’s top artistic award for a living artist – second only to the often posthumous Hồ Chí Minh Prize, on August 29, 2019
He is famous for his roles as a poor farmer or an old man in unfortunate plight, such as the Party secretary in the movie Làng Nổi (Floating Village), father An in the movie Truyện Cổ Tích Tuổi 17 (Fairy Tale of the 17), father Lài in Tướng Về Hưu (Retired General) and father Mai in the movie Hãy Tha Thứ Cho Em (Please Forgive Me).
On the stage of Hà Nội’s Drama Theatre, he played many outstanding roles that won many gold and silver awards at national theatre festivals. His golden age was in the late 1970s and early 1980s during which playing the role of Vietnamese poet Nguyễn Trãi in the play of Lam Sơn Tụ Nghĩa brought him the gold medal at the National Drama Festival in 1980.
People’s Artist Nguyễn Trung Hiếu, Director of Hanoi Drama Theatre, said the departure of famous artists like Trần Hạnh was a great loss to Vietnamese theatre.
Artist Quốc Quân, who co-starred in the film Đời Người Và Những Chuyến Đi (Human Life and Journey) with Hạnh, expressed his admiration for the true, humble and compassionate actor.
“He lived by roles on stage and screen. He just needed to be able to act and it didn’t matter if it was the supporting role or leading role, which was really precious,” he said. VNS
