Yam Kim-fai

Yam Kim-fai (born on February 4, 1913 in Nanhai, Foshan, China), also known as Ren Jianhui, is a Cantonese opera singer. Taking lessons from her aunt and performing in local opera troupes as a child, she left school to undertake formal training. With her unique lower register, Yam stepped into male roles in an all-female troupe in 1939, performing the lead in rooftop theatre shows from the start of her career. Moving to Macau, Yam formed the Sun Sing Opera Troupe, where she worked with a number of well-known Cantonese opera singers including Pak Suet-sin who became a lifetime collaborator, before embarking on a film career in 1951, where she is best remembered for her male scholar or martial roles in adapted Cantonese operas The Nymph of the River Lo (1957), A Buddhist Recluse for 14 Years (1958), The Summer Snow (1959), The Flower Princess (1959) and The Legend of Purple Hairpin (1959). After her final film, Tragedy of the Poet King, Yam retired from the film industry, and together with Pak Suet-sin, mentored young singers as part of the Chor Fung Ming Opera Troupe which became known for its meticulous standards and non-traditional influences. After a career spanning 50 years, with appearances in over 400 stage performances and 300 films, Yam died on 29 November, 1989 of a pleural effusion. In 1995 she was posthumously awarded the 100 Years Opera Movie Hall Awards at the Hong Kong Film Awards.

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