What To Know About The Late Legendary Korean Actor

Veteran Korean actor Lee Soon-jae has passed away at the age of 91.

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Legendary Korean actor Lee Soon-jae passed away on early Tuesday morning (Korea time) at the age of 91. A veteran of TV, theater and film, Lee starred in more than 140 K-dramas (some sources cite over 170) and countless Korean films, plays and reality shows over an illustrious career that spanned seven decades. One of South Korea’s most respected and beloved actors, he was among the first to appear in a Korean TV series at a time when K-dramas were just beginning to emerge. By the time of his death, he was one of Korea’s longest-performing actors.

Born in 1934 in what is now North Korea, Lee and his family moved to Seoul when he was four. He spent his childhood living under Japanese occupation and witnessed Korea’s subsequent liberation and the devastating Korean War that followed. He graduated from the prestigious Seoul National University (basically the Harvard of South Korea) with a degree in philosophy but decided to pursue acting after watching Laurence Olivier in Hamlet.

In 1960, along with other theater majors from Korea’s top universities, he helped found “Experimental Theater” (실험극장), Korea’s first theater artist collective, which kicked off the “small theater movement” in Korea that saw the proliferation of avant-garde plays performed at small independent venues across Seoul.

In 1962, shortly after KBS launched its TV broadcasts, Lee appeared in I’ll Become a Man (나도 인간이 되련다), widely regarded as the first K-drama. Back then, due to a lack of financial resources, K-dramas were shot and broadcast live in a single take—meaning that actors like Lee had no room to make mistakes. Lee was one of the few actors at the time capable of handling such a challenge and began appearing in a number of other TV shows, mostly for the now-defunct channel TBC throughout the 1970s and then for KBS (which is still one of South Korea’s top broadcasters) in the 1980s. Towards the late 1980s, he started working with other TV stations as well.

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In 1991 he starred in the MBC K-drama What Is Love (사랑이 뭐길래), which garnered a whopping 65% viewership rating in South Korea. When the series aired in China in 1997, it was watched by 150 million people, helping to kick off the so-called Korean Wave.

His incredible versatility as an actor was evidenced by the breadth of his TV work, which ranged from acclaimed historical K-dramas like Hur Jun and Yi San to contemporary dramas like Beethoven Virus and Guardian Angel to reality shows like Grandpas Over Flowers, which was later remade by Hollywood as Better Late Than Never. He made audiences laugh by playing a goofy grandfather in the 2006 hit sitcom High Kick! and its 2009 sequel High Kick Through the Roof.

Though best known internationally for his performances on TV, Lee was a prolific actor on the big screen and on stage as well, appearing in over 150 films and about 100 plays that included domestic productions of classic works like Cyrano de Bergerac, Death of a Salesman, King Lear and more.

Aside from his storied acting career, he ventured into politics, winning a congressional seat in Korea’s National Assembly in 1992. He also served as a professor at Sejong University and Gachon University, where he taught acting classes for many years.

Lee remained active until late last year, when his declining health forced him to step away from his role in the Korean production of Dave Hanson’s Beckett-inspired play Waiting for Waiting for Godot. He won the top prize at the 2024 KBS Drama Awards for his performance in his final K-drama Dog Knows Everything, becoming the oldest actor to receive an award at the annual event.

Although Lee had already received the Silver Crown Order of Cultural Merit in 2018 for his contributions to Korean arts and culture, the South Korean government posthumously awarded him the Gold Crown Order of Cultural Merit—the nation’s highest cultural distinction—in recognition of his lifetime achievements.

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According to his agency, Lee passed away from pneumonia around 2 a.m. local time. He is survived by his wife and two children. The late actor’s funeral is scheduled to take place on November 27^th. KBS has even set up a special memorial in Seoul so that members of the general public can pay their respects to the revered actor.

News of his passing has sparked a huge outpouring of grief from the Korean public and entertainment industry. Numerous celebrities, including not only fellow actors but K-pop stars like Girls’ Generation Taeyeon and top TV producers like Nah Yung-suk (who worked with Lee on Grandpas Over Flowers), have all paid tributes to the acting legend. Political leaders such as current South Korean president Lee Jae-myung, Seoul mayor Oh Se-hoon and former South Korean president Lee Myung-bak have also expressed their condolences.

Actor Yoo Yeon-seok (Hospital Playlist, When the Phone Rings), who studied acting under Lee at Sejong University, posted a heartfelt tribute on his Instagram, writing in Korean, “I was truly grateful for the guidance and love you showed your juniors and students throughout your lifetime. I respect and love you, Teacher Lee Soon-jae.”

Jeong Bo-seok, who also starred in High Kick Through the Roof with Lee, shared that he saw Lee as a mentor in both acting and his personal life.

Beloved by Koreans of all ages (as well as many international K-drama fans), Lee Soon-jae will forever be remembered as not only a Korean cultural icon who helped shape the Korean TV industry but also a fatherly figure who generously shared his wisdom with fellow actors and the Korean public alike.

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