NS To Kim Hong: The beauty of Cai Luong sells pho for a living, her husband loses her life in seclusion

To Kim Hong fell in love with the art of Cai Luong from a very early age and left his mark through many famous performances. Throughout her career, she has contributed to many famous Cai Luong troupes. In the late afternoon, she made a living selling pho.

Artist To Kim Hong was born in 1950 in Can Tho. As the daughter of musician Kim Anh, she also soon got to know and nurtured her passion for art.

She made her mark in the Capital Cai Luong troupe with the role of the queen in the play The sulking night in the cold palace. After that, she followed her father to the Kim Chung troupe.

From this famous Cai Luong troupe, she was assigned poisonous and sloppy roles. She played the princess in Madman and the Princess. She was called the Cai Luong Beauty by the press at that time because of her very charming beauty.

After 1975, she returned to the Saigon 1 troupe and had a series of attention-grabbing roles such as Luu Yen Ngoc (Manh Le Quan), Hanh (Moon on the top of the mountain), Ms. Huyen (clams and clams)...

When passing through troupe 2-84, To Kim Hong continued to have good roles such as Phuong Y (Lei Vu), Phuong Thanh (Wedding dress in front of the temple gate)...

And Dieu Tuyen in the play Phung Nghi Dinh in Saigon 1 is a role with many memories in To Kim Hong's career.

Accordingly, when singing in the Kim Chung troupe, To Kim Hong only sang tuong huong far. So when practicing the role of Dieu Tuyen, she had to act in an ancient style, she was very surprised.

She remembers that in the early years after 1975, the Saigon 1 delegation was very strong. After Ms. Luu's Life, Late Night Stage, the troupe decided to set up a new play, Phung Nghi Dinh.

To Kim Hong is a young actor who has just replaced the role of My Tien of artist Ngoc Giau in Late Night Stage for one or two scenes. When the troupe made Phung Nghi Dinh, she was lucky to be chosen to play the scene of Dieu Boat at the moon worship.

In the tuong, there are four or five famous peach girls who play Dieu Tuyen divided into scenes such as My Chau, Phuong Lien, Thanh Thanh Hoa, Ngoc Giau, To Kim Hong.

Artists Nam Hung and Thanh Duoc are divided into Lu Bo. At one time, artist Ngoc Giau even played the role of Dong Trac.

The senior artists at that time who were in charge of staging and shaping the artists in the play were artists Phung Ha, Ba Van, Kim Cuc... To Kim Hong's performance of Dieu Tuyen looked light, but artist Kim Cuc told her: "It's not gentle, son".

And she herself only took every inch so that To Kim Hong had a very unique Dieu Boat. With this role, To Kim Hong was led to Hanoi by artist Phung Ha to perform at the Party Congress. Ms. Phung Ha as Lu Bo, artist Ut Bach Lan as Tu Tu and To Kim Hong as Dieu Thuyen.

After To Kim Hong left the Saigon 1 troupe, editor Kim Ha invited a number of artists to gather to rehearse and record for Ho Chi Minh City Television. HCM.

Artist To Kim Hong said that at that time he filmed very carefully. After practicing, you have to run the notebook for the radio to review before recording. Recorded directly for three days in a row.

To Kim Hong's talent and beauty have helped her achieve many successes, including the Kim Khanh Award and the Elite Artist Award (in 1993).

Regarding married life, To Kim Hong married artist Nam Hung born in 1938. The two are attached on stage and in life.

Going through ups and downs with the Cai Luong stage, the pair of artists lived quite quietly in real life. The joy of both of them every day is waking up together to drink coffee, have breakfast, read books and newspapers, and take care of the small rooftop garden.

For To Kim Hong, what she values in her husband is filial piety, generosity, and wholeheartedness to friends and colleagues. However, he is sometimes quite hot-tempered, and when he encounters grievances, he is straightforward. And her grandmother, who was afraid of collisions, often followed and reminded him to calm down. She said that once he said: "It's true that there is you, I can't do anything." Every time like that, Su Jinhong only laughed: "Hearing that, I know how to crow, so I don't say anymore. In the past, whenever I was angry with each other, I also wanted to go out a little to relieve myself. But I didn't know how to drive, there had to be someone to carry me, so when I got to the door, I looked up, looked down for a while, and didn't know where to go, so I went back into the house."

Since her husband died, To Kim Hong has lived in seclusion, away from the stage and all the noise of Vietnamese showbiz.

After many years in hiding, artist To Kim Hong had the opportunity to reunite with her colleagues Phuong Dung, Phi Phung. Talking to the Ngu Long Journey group recently, she recalled the glorious time on stage and could not suppress her emotions when mentioning her late husband.

"It's been a long time, I haven't gone to sing. Since I left Saigon 1 (the first collective Cai Luong Troupe of Ho Chi Minh City - PV) to open a coffee shop for sale for a few months, then returned to the 284th troupe to join Tuong Luc Y, Loi Vu. When I was resting in the 284th troupe, I continued to open a pho shop.

The time of sale there is very good, the audience and artists often come to support. After that, I moved to many places, and it was good to sell anywhere. In 2020, my husband - Nam Hung died. Since then, I have left the closed stage of life," said artist To Kim Hong.

At the age of 74, the female artist lives alone. "My life is fine every day on the 3rd floor, there is something new downstairs, my health is also erratic," artist Kim Hong said.

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