Mohamed Zain "Jins" Shamsuddin was a Malaysian film actor, director, politician, writer and producer.
Early life and film career
Mohamed Zain was born in Taiping, Perak on 5 November 1935. He went to SMK King Edward VII Taiping, Perak and he completed his Senior Cambridge exams in 1956, hoping to continue his studies at the University of Malaya in Singapore. His hopes were dashed when the university's admission officer said that they would "keep his application in view". His great-uncle, who was a teacher at the prestigious Anderson School in Ipoh, however managed to apply for a place to study electrical engineering in England three months into the deadline. Zain would use this spare time to take nightly English courses while he stayed with a relative who was the director for Radio Malaysia's education wing. Meanwhile, there were rehearsals of a play that were going on nearby, in which Zain would watch them daily. The lead actor of the play would later chose him as his stand-in, with the blessings of the cast and crew, when it was learnt that the lead's mother fell ill and the lead had to attend to her. When the lead actor's mother passed away and he could not resume his role, Zain's stand-in became permanent. The play would eventually open at the Victoria Memorial Hall in Singapore. This is where he would be discovered by a Shaw Brotherspublic relations officer, who approached him about wanting to act in a movie. He agreed, and thus made his screen debut in Keadilan Illahi in 1956. He went on to act in several films until eventually becoming a main star in 1957 through Pancha Delima, a film directed by P Ramlee.
Rising popularity and other ventures
From 1966 to 1968, Zain had starred in several action movies produced by Malay Film Production where he portrays Jefri Zain, a James Bond-like spy character. He had pursued his studies in the London Film School from 1970 to 1972, obtaining his Diploma in Motion Picture Technology and graduated with first class honours. In 1981, Zain collaborated with the Royal Malaysia Police to produce and direct :ms:Bukit Kepong |Bukit Kepong; a film dramatizing the Bukit Kepong incident, which was a chaotic armed conflict between the Malayan police and Malayan Communist Party gunmen during the Malayan Emergency. The movie, which costed about RM1.3 million to make and collected RM1.7 million at the box-office, won eight awards in the 3rd Malaysia Film Festival the next year including the Best Film category. The film eventually went under a restoration project by KRU Studios in 2014. For much of his life, Zain was interested in making a film about the events that led to the assassination of the British official J.W.W. Birch in Perak in 1875. A newspaper report indicated that he had begun work on such a film in 1992, but it was not completed. In 2004, Zain announced plans to make an epic English-language film entitled The King of the River: Pasir Salak, though the project was ultimately never realized. Even five years later in 2009, Zain expressed his eagerness for the project that he considered his lifelong ambition, saying "I hope to complete my movie on the historical events that happened in Pasir Salak before I die."
Political career
On 13 October 2004, he became the first actor-politician in Malaysia following his appointment as a member of the Dewan Negara in the 11th Parliament of Malaysia. He continued to be a Senator for two terms until 11 February 2011.
Personal life
Zain was first married to actress :ms:Rahmah Rahmat|Rahmah Rahmat in Singapore in 1961, from which their marriage bore a son named Jefri Jins. Their marriage however was short-lived, eventually divorcing in 1963. Ten years later in 1973, he married Halijah Abdullah. They had two children together, Putera Hang Jebat and Putera Hang Nadim.
Illness and death
He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in February 2011, causing him to gradually unable to speak or recognise anybody else, even his own family. When asked who his wife was and where his sons were at one point, he would spontaneously reply: "I'm not married...I don't have any children". Following several years of bad health, Jins died at 5:45 pm at a clinic in Taman Melawati after choking on cekodok on Wednesday, 1 March 2017 at the age of 81, as confirmed by his second son Putera Hang Nadim.
