Tang Bik-wan

Template:Infobox Chinese-language singer and actor

Tang Pik Wan (鄧碧雲 ) (September 27, 1924 - March 25, 1991, born as Tang Siew Foo, in Sanshui, Guangdong) was a talented Cantonese opera and television actress.

Early life

Tang Pik Wan was a Cantonese opera actress since she was 13, when she joined a Cantonese opera. She was a disciple of a few Cantonese opera masters and soon became the head actress for her troupe when she was 15. She was very talented and could almost play any role in the opera, hence earning her the nickname the Multi-role actress. During the civil war, she went to Guangzhou, then later to Hong Kong.

Career

Tang, after she went to Hong Kong, became a movie actress playing various roles in movies since the 1950s, winning acclaim for many of her versatile performances. She and seven great opera actresses later became sworn sisters who went by the nickname "Eight Peonies". Tang was the Blue Peony and until 1967, she has acted in more than 250 movies.

By 1968, Tang decided to go as a TV Actress, performing in Rediffusion, ATV and in TVB. As age caught up with her, she became the typical actress for the role as the mother of the drama's main characters, some of her most notable roles in Television including the 1977 family soap opera A House Is Not a Home, the 1978 classic drama Chameleon and the popular 1980 drama serial The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Tang's television career reached its peak when she played the caring and intelligent family matriarch in her late 1980s hit The Seasons (hence gaining her the nickname "Ma-Da" (Cantonese pronunciation of mother) "Ma-Da" propelled her to fame and when she continued to take movies and advertisements, she would portray the "Ma-Da" role.

Death

Tang Pik Wan, the multi-talented actress died of a liver malfunction on March 25, 1991. Her family in her name has donated to various charity organizations in Hong Kong. There is a nursery and an old folks centre named after her.

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