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Actor Lee Soon-jae, who passed away at dawn on November 25. After receiving the Grand Prize at last year’s KBS Drama Awards, he said, ‘I have owed you so much throughout my entire life. Thank you very much. |
Actor Lee Soon-jae, who remained active as the ‘oldest working actor’ in the industry, passed away in the early hours of November 25 at the age of 91. The late actor was a ‘national actor’ who transcended genres such as broadcast, film, and theater, constantly broadening his acting spectrum while resonating with the times.
Born in 1934 in Hoeryong, North Hamgyong Province, as the eldest son among three brothers and one sister, he moved to Seoul with his grandparents at age four. His official birth year is listed as 1935. He experienced liberation during elementary school and the Korean War during high school.
While studying philosophy at Seoul National University, he rekindled his passion for acting by rebuilding the university’s theater club in 1956 together with classmates such as Shin Young-kyun and Lee Nak-hoon. That same year, he made his debut as an actor in the play ‘Beyond the Horizon.’ He later recalled that after watching Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet, he opened his eyes to acting as an art form. After graduating in 1960, he joined forces with fellow theater practitioners to establish ‘The Experimental Theater,’ Korea’s first member-based theater troupe.
He began his broadcasting career in 1961 with the KBS inaugural drama ‘I Want to Be a Man, Too.’ In 1964, he became an exclusive actor as part of TBC's first open recruitment class. He appeared in over 100 dramas until TBC closed in 1980 due to the Chun Doo-hwan government's media consolidation measures.
He was also active on the silver screen. He appeared in films such as ‘Gunsmoke’ (directed by Jung Jin-woo, 1966), ‘The Freezing Point’ (Kim Soo-yong, 1967), and ‘Guests Who Arrived on the Last Train’ (Yoo Hyun-mok, 1967). In 1976, he won the Best Actor Award at the 13th Baeksang Arts Awards for his role in director Choi In-hyun's film ‘Concentration of Attention,’ which depicted the life of Heo Jun.
The work that brought him widespread public recognition was television drama. In 1991, at age 57, he starred in the MBC drama ‘What is Love,’ playing the patriarchal character Lee Byung-ho, widely known as Daebal’s father, earning nationwide affection. In ‘The Men of the Bathhouse’ (1996), ‘Hur Jun’ (1999), ‘Yi San, Wind of the Palace’ (2007), and ‘Mom’s Dead Upset’(2009), he took on roles as strict yet warm fathers and mentors, solidifying his status as the “nation’s father.”
He experienced another peak in his 70s. At age 72, he transformed into the eccentric yet bumbling director of a traditional Korean medicine clinic, Lee Soon-jae, in the MBC daily sitcom ‘High Kick through the Roof’ (2006),showcasing his comedic talents. His character, ‘Porn Soon-jae,’ who gets caught watching adult videos, brought laughter to audiences and earned him the Grand Prize at the MBC Entertainment Awards for this work.
In 2013, he expanded his activities into variety shows by appearing on tvN's travel program ‘Grandpas Over Flowers’alongside Shin Gu, Park Geun-hyeong, and Baek Il-seop. His tireless stamina and enthusiastic demeanor earned him the nickname ‘Straight-Ahead Soon-jae.’
His greatest love was the theater stage. Even past his eighties, he appeared in plays like ‘Jangsu Sanghoe’ (2016) and ‘The Student and Monsieur Henri’ (2017). In ‘King Lear’ (2021), he flawlessly delivered the massive amount of lines in the 200-minute performance. In 2023, he took his first step as a director, bringing Russian literary giant Anton Chekhov's play ‘The Seagull’ to the grand theater stage.
At the special stage of the 60th Baeksang Arts Awards ceremony last May, he stated, “Even after a lifetime of work, there are still things I haven't mastered and areas where I fall short. Hundreds of actors who thought, ‘I've done enough; I'm a complete actor now,’ have vanished from the screen. Only those who gave their utmost effort remain today.”
Last October, he took the stage for about a month as Esther in the play ‘Waiting for Godot’ but stepped down due to health reasons. His last broadcast work was the KBS drama ‘Nonsense,’ which aired last year. After receiving the Grand Prize at the KBS Drama Awards in December last year, he stated, “I want to tell our viewers that I owe them a lifetime of gratitude and have received so much help from them.”
He briefly entered politics. In the 1992 14th National Assembly elections, he ran as a candidate for the then-ruling Democratic Liberal Party in the Jungnang Gap constituency of Seoul and was elected. He later abandoned further political runs, disillusioned with politics, but stated that his political experience taught him the qualities of a proper leader.
The late actor served as a professor in the Department of Film Art at Sejong University and, until recently, taught students as a chair professor in the Department of Acting and Arts at Gachon University.
The government posthumously awarded Lee Soon-jae the Order of Cultural Merit, Gold Crown. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism stated the reason for the award, saying, “He was loved by all age groups for his sincerity in acting and his humanistic qualities,” adding, “He was a cultural artist who practiced social responsibility beyond the arts.”
The funeral is located at Asan Medical Center in Seoul. He is survived by his wife, Choi Hee-jung, his son, Jong-hyeok, and his daughter, Jung-eun. The funeral procession will be at 6:20 AM on November 27.
※This article was translated by an AI tool and edited by a professional translator.
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