繁體中文
余麗珍（1923年－2004年3月4日），廣東開平人，生於新加坡，是香港五、六十年代著名的粵劇及電影演員。她自幼喜愛粵劇，十三歲正式學戲，由於天資聰敏又肯苦練，十六歲便在南洋一帶成名，十八歲更受聘前往美國登台。1942年，她在鳳凰劇團主演《蛋家妹賣馬蹄》與《陳世美不認妻》（與白駒榮合作）等劇。1943年，她與羅品超以「光華劇團」班牌合作，同台者有靚次伯、李海泉、蝴蝶女與崔子超，首演劇目為《冷面皇夫》；同年她在《夜送京娘》中首次以「紮腳踩蹻」功架作賣點，此後成為她的標誌。抗戰勝利後，她先後擔任大鳳凰劇團、麗春花等劇團的台柱，又自組麗士劇團。她擅演粵劇傳統戲與傳統功架，藝術出眾，被譽為「藝術旦后」；首本戲有《三月杜鵑魂》《紮腳劉金定》《蟹美人》《七彩蝴蝶精》等，並以唱工見稱於《燕子樓》。
1947年她開始拍電影，主演的首部影片是《三月杜鵑魂》。1959年，她與夫婿、著名粵劇編劇李少芸合組麗士影業公司，主力攝製粵劇戲曲片；1959至1967年間，麗士出品超過九十部影片，其中著名的戲曲片有《紮腳十三妹大鬧能仁寺》（1960）、《金鳳斬蛟龍》（1961）、《金鐧怒碎銀安殿》（1962）等，另出品《冷秋薇》（上、下集，1963）、《四兒女》（上、下集，1964）、《半張碌架床》（1964）等時裝片。她一生主演及參演約一百四十部電影，1967年上映的《教子殺父皇》是她主演的最後一部影片。她與鄧碧雲、羅艷卿、鳳凰女、吳君麗等結義為「八牡丹」，排行最長，號稱「紫牡丹」。1968年她退出藝壇，其後移居加拿大，2004年在多倫多病逝。
English
Yu Lai-zhen (1923 – 4 March 2004), a native of Kaiping in Guangdong who was born in Singapore, was a leading Cantonese opera and film actress in Hong Kong in the 1950s and 1960s. Fond of Cantonese opera from childhood, she began formal training at thirteen and, being both gifted and diligent, made her name in the Nanyang region by sixteen and was engaged to perform in the United States at eighteen. In 1942 she starred with the Fung Wong troupe in A Tanka Girl Sells Water Chestnuts and Chen Shimei Denies His Wife, opposite Pak Kui-wing. In 1943 she performed under the Kwong Wah banner with Law Ban-chiu, sharing the stage with Leng Chi-pak, Lee Hoi-chuen, Wu Dip-nui and Tsui Chi-chiu, her first appearance there being The Cold-faced Prince; that same year she first used the 'bound-foot stilts' technique as her selling point in The Night Escort of Jing Niang, which afterwards became her trademark. After the war she was a leading actress of the Tai Fung Wong and Lai Chun Fa troupes and later formed her own Lai Si troupe. Admired for her mastery of traditional Cantonese opera scenes and techniques, she was hailed as the 'Empress of the Art of Dan'. Her signature operas included The Soul of the March Azalea, Jim Kok Lau Kam Ding, The Crab Beauty and The Colourful Butterfly Sprite, and she was noted for her singing in Swallow Tower.
She entered films in 1947, her first starring role being The Soul of the March Azalea. In 1959 she and her husband, the celebrated opera playwright Lee Siu-wan, founded Lai Si Film Company to concentrate on Cantonese opera pictures. Between 1959 and 1967 it released more than ninety films, among the famous opera titles Jim Kok Sister Thirteen at Nengren Temple (1960), The Golden Phoenix Slays the Dragon (1961) and The Golden Mace Smashes the Silver Hall (1962), as well as contemporary dramas such as A Bitter Autumn Rose (1963), Four Children (1964) and Half a Bunk Bed (1964). She appeared in about 140 films, her last starring vehicle being Teaching the Son to Slay the Emperor (1967). She was the eldest of the 'Eight Peonies' sisterhood of opera actresses, which included Tang Bik-wan, Law Yim-hing, Fung Wong-nui and Ng Kwan-lai, and took the name Purple Peony. She retired in 1968, later settled in Canada, and died in Toronto in 2004.
