People's Artist Hoang Cuc, U70: "Even if tomorrow is the end of the world for me, I'm still happy to live today"

"I learned to accept my fate"

At the age of nearly 70, People's Artist Hoang Cuc still dyes her hair platinum blonde, travels everywhere, writes poetry, takes photos to post on Facebook... Many people joke that People's Artist Hoang Cuc is a "playboy grandmother"?

- (Laughs). It's true that my life now is quite simple and leisurely. In the morning, I go to yoga, in the evening I meditate, and when I have time, I go to beauty salons and travel abroad.

After 13 years of fighting the terrible cancer, I have learned to accept my fate. There is a saying: "Even if tomorrow is the end of the world, I will still plant lotus tonight", which means that even if tomorrow does not exist, I still have to live happily and comfortably today.

Currently, I also participate in the program "Raising children in the highlands", to support children in difficult areas who have no rice to eat and cannot go to school.

I am very grateful to a member of the band The Wall for organizing this event. Although it is not a big deal, I will try to support the children until they are 18 years old, when they will all have jobs and escape poverty.

People's Artist Hoang Cuc talks with Dan Tri reporter.

During your 10-year journey fighting cancer, have you ever felt disappointed and wanted to give up?

- Luckily, at that time, I kept thinking that I still had a lot of work to do. When people are disappointed in someone, they will use reason to erase it, but when they love, they will use both their heart and mind.

Because I love this life, I have to use my heart and mind to overcome this disease and always think that I must not give up. The doctor said that I could only live for 3 more years, but now, I have lived for 13 more years. During this period, I went to temples, shrines, and did charity work to forget the pain.

After going through all those painful paths, I realized that I wanted to survive to do more things to help myself, my family and society. At that time, I realized one thing, in this world, no one can have everything.

Everyone will have to go through hardships and it will motivate us to live stronger. Going through life and death, people have a kinder and happier perspective.

Do you think reading books and writing poetry helped you fight the terrible cancer?

- There are many other things besides writing poetry and reading books. Because life has many desires that carry people away.

She once shared: "Having gone through so much misfortune, now I am not afraid of death anymore"...

- That's right. In a novel I once read, there was a line "looking at death with a proud smile", so I don't see death as something to be afraid of.

Right now, I just "lie quietly and watch the moon fall"! As I said, even if I die tomorrow, I still live peacefully today. I have gone through everything and see that this is only temporary. Only when I feel that there is something that still bothers me do I feel a little regretful.

So what do you regret?

- If I say it out loud, it would be too much. I just think that when I am about to leave, I can say what I have been thinking about. But right now, I think I still have a long life ahead of me (laughs).

Because I love this life, I have to use my heart and mind to overcome this disease and always think that I must not give up."

People's Artist Hoang Cuc

"Poetry is borrowing other people's joy to make it your own joy"

Many people are impressed by People's Artist Hoang Cuc's literary talent. Can you share more about this passion of yours? When did you start writing prose and poetry?

- Actually, this story is quite long, because human life is a novel with all kinds of fates and emotions.

Artists are the same, they also have to taste all the bitterness of life. At my peak, I was also a very poor artist, I just wanted to perform during the day, come home to my family at night, and see my children healthy and happy.

Then one day, the market economy appeared, leaving the theater "empty" of audiences. That was a great tragedy for the theater, and the artists at that time were like the workers - when the factory had nothing to produce, they were unemployed and forced to go out to earn a living.

When I was at my poorest, the theater scene was gloomy, and I intended to change careers, wanting to go to Phu Nu or Tuoi Tre newspapers because the salary was high, so I went to Nguyen Du writing school.

I always thought that writing poetry required going to school, but luckily I can write poems according to my natural emotions.

In the end, I feel lucky that I didn't give up acting and didn't give up writing poetry.

Having access to books and literature since childhood, which book made you feel changed your thinking?

- There are many books, for example Vietnamese literature from the time of Nhat Linh, Khai Hung or Tu Luc Van Doan. I remember that back then I had to rent books from a single aunt, and when renting books I had to look at them carefully, and each book was only a few cents or a few cents.

Among them, I was especially impressed with the novel The Flower Cart by two friends Nhat Linh - Khai Hung. In addition, I also read The Donkey Skin by writer Balzac. In it, a person has three wishes and when the fourth wish comes, the donkey skin will shrink and the other wishes will disappear. The book talks about the bottomless greed of human beings.

Who is your favorite author?

- I don't idolize any author, but there are poets who move me. When I was a child, I read some romantic poems by Lamartine. When I was young, I loved Pushkin's poetic voice.

As for domestic poets, I like Che Lan Vien and Dieu tan . When I read the poem, I was still very young but I felt that this was a good poem. I like the metaphorical and comparative style of poetry, which satisfies my soul.

People's Artist Hoang Cuc mentioned the poor years of her artist life at that time. Can you tell us more?

- In our time, Northern artists called it the subsidized artist era. There were plays where you had to take on all 4 roles like in the play You're Getting More Beautiful in My Eyes . The artist was so poor that one night's performance didn't even have enough money to buy a bowl of pho. I took on all 4 roles but after the performance I couldn't breathe anymore.

Because the salary for one night's performance is not enough to buy a bowl of pho, the salary is not enough to raise children... so in times of need, invention is born.

At first, I accepted all the offers to do television work. At that time, I had to hide to make films. The director of the Hanoi Drama Troupe had to have someone guard the door. If they saw someone from the Thuy Khue (Vietnam Feature Film Studio) crew coming, they would definitely look for Hoang Cuc. Because of this, I was once disciplined.

To overcome difficulties, people in the Hanoi Drama Troupe at that time had to do many jobs such as: Mr. Hoang Dung sold children's clothes on Hang Duong street, Ms. Minh Vuong sold shoes, Ms. Kim Xuyen opened a wedding dress shop, Mr. Tien Dat sold suits...

When I went to the Ephemeral Film Festival in France, I stayed at a hotel near the center of Paris - right on the street with many bridal shops and I was fascinated by the image. I hope to have a chain of shops like that in Vietnam.

At that time, I used all the money I earned from performing to open a wedding dress shop. I don’t know if it was because people loved the artists, but they came to buy a lot. In the first year of selling wedding dresses, the profit was enough for me to buy a Thai Dream. Even so, I never thought I would quit acting. Acting is my career, my mission.

Right now, in this state of mind, even though I complain, I still feel proud, excited and fulfilled.

It seems that there is a gentle, affectionate Hoang Cuc on the outside and a thorny, inner-torn Hoang Cuc in the poems she writes. Which one is the real People's Artist Hoang Cuc?

- Poetry is borrowing other people's pain to express your own pain, borrowing other people's joy to become your own joy. Sometimes it's you, but sometimes it's not you.

Let me read you the poem Lotus on the field of motherland :

"July, the yellow sunshine makes the brown bees flutter in surprise

Where have we gone? We have spent our lives still looking for the vast lotus fields.

Listen to the lotus sing: The hair on the head is drifting

Love the blooming and fading petals, fragrant with the scent of the homeland

(...)

The village in the afternoon hums the call of kite flutes

Urban children thirst for play, draw kites from internet photos

City people bring lotus in vase

Love the new day lotus petals cling

We can not bring lotus home to save photos

Proud pink lotus

From the mother earth, fragrant mud

Lotus is born of heaven and earth

Soul

In the field".

Thanks for sharing!

People's Artist Hoang Cuc's full name is Hoang Thi Cuc, born on July 6, 1957 in Hung Yen town. After finishing high school, Hoang Cuc took the exam and was admitted to the Vocal Music Department of the Vietnam National Academy of Music.

While waiting to enroll, she was recruited by the Tuyen Quang Province Art Troupe to perform. She then worked for two years at the provincial art troupe.

Although her major was vocal music, artist Hoang Cuc, in addition to singing, also acted in plays; many older colleagues in the troupe advised her to pursue a career in theater because she had a long career and many interesting experiences. Hoang Cuc immediately listened, she quit vocal music, and enrolled in a 4-year Drama course at the Viet Bac Art School.

After finishing her studies, in 1982 she applied to join the Hanoi Drama Group, because she was fascinated by the troupe’s play Conspiracy and Love . Her first role was Sa-ghi-a - the main role in the play The Woman Behind the Green Window , which premiered in 1984, co-starring with People’s Artists Hoang Dung, Minh Vuong, Minh Trang…

She was invited by the Vietnam Feature Film Studio to act in films and became famous for her role as Tam Binh in the film Bi Vo . Her role as Thuy in the film Tuong ve huu helped her win the Best Actress award at the Vietnam Film Festival in 1990.

From 2001 to 2012, she was the Deputy Director of the Hanoi Drama Theater. She found good scripts and staged successful plays such as Cat Bui (2004), and Mat Pho (2009), which won the gold medal at the National Theater Festival in Ho Chi Minh City.

In 2010, she discovered she had near stage three cancer and had to take time off for treatment, retiring in 2012.

After 10 years of absence from the screen and stage, People's Artist Hoang Cuc has returned and made a splash with her role as a mother-in-law in the film Rose on the Left Chest, broadcast in 2019.

Photo: Huu Nghi

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