Mrs. Nghia Que and the memorable roles of Meritorious Artist Mai Chau

Meritorious Artist Mai Chau passed away at 3:10 a.m. on May 24, at the age of 98. According to her youngest daughter, Vu Phuong Lan, in her final days, the veteran artist had to fight illness, especially pneumonia, and had to be hospitalized many times for treatment.

The passing of Meritorious Artist Mai Chau leaves deep sorrow for her family, colleagues and audiences, who loved and admired her talent and dedication to the country's cinema.

In 1947, artist Mai Chau had a chance to work with the theater, was an actor in the Frontline Theater Troupe and was one of the first generation of actors, originating from cultural soldiers on the battlefield.

She went with the Liberation Army Propaganda Group to serve the soldiers on all battlefields in the South.

Since then, cinema came to Mai Chau as a destiny. In 1956, she was assigned to the Cinema Drama Group, participating in dubbing foreign films. From here, she participated in Chung mot dong song (1959) - the first work of Vietnamese revolutionary cinema.

After this role, Mai Chau quickly affirmed her name and continued to appear in a series of films such as: Construction Girl (1960), Chi Tu Hau (1963), Di buoc nuoc (1964)...

The 1970s and 1980s were a vibrant period of revolutionary cinema in our country with the tireless creativity of artists and the Vietnam Feature Film Studio.

Meritorious Artist Mai Chau in the movies "Chi Tu Hau" (left) and "Di buoc nuoc" (Photo: Provided by the family).

Along with the actors who graduated from the first and second classes of the Vietnam Film School, artist Mai Chau has played about 30 large and small roles in feature films and videos . Some of her works have become classic documents in the history of the Vietnam Feature Film Studio.

With her elegant, noble beauty and distinctive voice, Meritorious Artist Mai Chau has transformed her life experiences and creativity into roles that are deeply engraved in the minds of viewers.

The audience cannot forget the stingy and scheming Mrs. Nghi Que in Chi Dau , the scheming Mrs. Pho Doan in Sao Thang Tam , Ba Kien's wife in Vu Dai Village of that time , or the Queen Mother - a powerful but calculating woman - in Hoang Le Nhat Thong Chi ...

Ms. Mai Chau also left her mark in the films: The Battle Still Continues (as Le My), Indochina (as the housekeeper), Jade Leaves and Golden Branches (as the mother)...

Ms. Vu Phuong Lan once shared that, when she was still healthy, every time someone asked Meritorious Artist Mai Chau about the villainous roles she played, she often shared that people liked to play positive roles, but she was always assigned evil, scheming roles. However, playing a villain also has its own hardships.

She once told everyone: "Good acting is not about playing a good or bad role, but about making the character have a soul, so that the audience remembers it."

And indeed, mentioning Meritorious Artist Mai Chau is mentioning sharp, symbolic roles of Vietnamese revolutionary cinema.

Meritorious Artist Mai Chau in the movies "Chi Dau" (left) and "Vu Dai Village of the Past" (Photo: Provided by the family).

However, Meritorious Artist Mai Chau is not only remembered for her villainous roles. She also successfully portrayed the image of a gentle, warm grandmother and mother in works such as Cua De Danh and Bi Dung So.

In these roles, she skillfully transformed herself, bringing a completely different image: warm, hard-working and full of experience of a woman who has experienced many ups and downs in life.

Meritorious Artist Mai Chau may not be the one who has acted in the most films, but to her family, children and many fans, she is still one of the actors who leaves the deepest impression on the audience.

The life of Meritorious Artist Mai Chau is a testament to tireless work, a spirit of learning, and seriousness in all work.

She is always dedicated, not only to her art but also to mentoring her colleagues, ensuring that even the smallest tasks are of the highest quality.

A testament to her talent and dedication is her excellent role in the film The Fight Still Continues - an unforgettable mark of Vietnamese cinema.

For her role as Le My, she was awarded a certificate of merit by the Minister of Public Security .

Meritorious Artist Mai Chau devoted herself to cinema until she was over 80 years old, with her last film being Bi, Dung So. Although her health was already failing and her children were worried and advised her to stop, for the female artist, giving up acting was extremely difficult.

"When she was almost 100 years old, my mother still remembered every movie, scene and role she had played. My mother once said that if she could go back, she would still choose cinema and would still live and die for the profession. Because that was her life," Lan emotionally shared.

When asked why her family did not apply for the title of People's Artist for her, Ms. Lan confided: "To her, there is something more precious, which is the love of the audience and the respect of those in the profession."

Ms. Lan also shared that while her mother was alive, she never cared about titles, but only had one wish: "When she dies, she just needs to be beautiful."

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giai-tri/ba-nghi-que-va-nhung-vai-dien-de-doi-cua-nsut-mai-chau-20250524103034513.htm