Zhao Dan began working in films in the 1930's, including Street Angel in 1937. Zhao remained on the mainland following the Communist victory in 1949 and continued to make films throughout the 1950s and 1960s notably in biographical films playing historical figures of Nie Er, Lin Zexu (both directed by Zheng Junli) and Li Shizhen.

He was married to Ye Luqian in 1936. When he was arrested by Sheng Shicai in Xinjiang in 1939, it was rumored that he was killed. Thus Ye married the playwright Du Xuan. After the war, he was released and returned to Shanghai. He married actress Huang Zongying in 1948. Zhao joined the Communist Party of China in 1957. During the Cultural Revolution, he was persecuted and imprisoned for 5 years. He died of pancreatic cancer in Beijing in 1980.

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