Actor. Real name Hu Shixue. Born into a poor family, he enlisted in China's People's Liberation Army in 1949. Noted for his uncanny resemblance to Mao Zedong, he rose to fame after playing the Chinese leader in the 1981 film "Xi'an Incident", which depicted the 1936 kidnapping of Chiang Kai-shek by his own generals. He then changed his name to Gu Yue. Yue went on to portray Mao in 84 films between 1981 and 2002. For his roles he won China's Hundred Flowers Award (China's equivalent of the Oscar) for Best Actor twice, for "Founding Ceremony" (1990) and "The Story of Mao Zedong" (1993). Indeed, he became so famous among Chinese people worldwide that when he visited New York City in 1993, he was easily recognized by Chinese expatriates living there. His last appearance as Mao was in the 2002 film "Uncle Kuerban Visits Beijing". After that, he declared that playing Mao was his job as actor and vowed to continue doing so as long as he lived. He also expressed his wish to play Mao with gray hair someday. Unfortunately, he never got around to making that wish come true. While attending a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of Chinese filmmaking, he died of a heart attack.
Actor. Real name Hu Shixue. Born into a poor family, he enlisted in China's People's Liberation Army in 1949. Noted for his uncanny resemblance to Mao Zedong, he rose to fame after playing the Chinese leader in the 1981 film "Xi'an Incident", which depicted the 1936 kidnapping of Chiang Kai-shek by his own generals. He then changed his name to Gu Yue. Yue went on to portray Mao in 84 films between 1981 and 2002. For his roles he won China's Hundred Flowers Award (China's equivalent of the Oscar) for Best Actor twice, for "Founding Ceremony" (1990) and "The Story of Mao Zedong" (1993). Indeed, he became so famous among Chinese people worldwide that when he visited New York City in 1993, he was easily recognized by Chinese expatriates living there. His last appearance as Mao was in the 2002 film "Uncle Kuerban Visits Beijing". After that, he declared that playing Mao was his job as actor and vowed to continue doing so as long as he lived. He also expressed his wish to play Mao with gray hair someday. Unfortunately, he never got around to making that wish come true. While attending a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of Chinese filmmaking, he died of a heart attack.
Bio by: TML
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