Lee Soon-jae, one of South Korea’s most beloved actors, died on Tuesday at the age of 91, his agency announced.
In a career spanning more than 70 years across films, television and the stage, Lee was fondly known as the “national TV dad” for his many roles as a wise, older man.
This included two of his best-known performances – as a strict father in the 1991 soap What on Earth is Love, and a silly but lovable grandpa in the popular sitcom High Kick! which aired from 2006 to 2012.
News of his death has sparked an outpouring of tributes from young celebrities, including K-pop singers, speaking of his warmth and kindness, to President Lee Jae Myung.
“From theatre to film and television, he brought us laughter, emotion, comfort and courage,” the president wrote on Facebook.
Lee was acting until last year, when he won the grand prize at the KBS Drama Awards for his lead role in the comedy series, Dog Knows Everything. He was the oldest South Korean actor to ever win the honour.
“You become old when you sit down and expect to be waited on,” he told fellow senior actors on the travel show Grandpas over Flowers.
The 2013 show, which revolves around senior stars making strenuous journeys abroad, became a cultural phenomenon.
Born in 1934 in Hoeryeong, a county now in North Korea, Lee was just four years old when his family moved south to Seoul.
He was working in his grandparents’ shop in the capital’s Namdaemun market when Korea was liberated from Japanese rule in 1945.
Lee studied philosophy at the prestigious Seoul National University but ventured into theatre and, eventually, TV and films. He said he was inspired to act after watching Sir Laurence Olivier play the title role in Hamlet.
Lee appeared in some 140 TV shows through his career and continued to act on stage until October 2024, when he withdrew halfway through the run of the play Waiting for Godot because of an illness. He reappeared in public at the awards in December.
He also had a brief foray into politics. In 1992, he was elected as a member of parliament for the conservative Democratic Liberal Party, but at the end of his four-year-term he did not run again.
Lee’s prolific career meant he has remained a household name for a decades, just as familiar to younger audiences and at a time when Korean entertainment is one of the country’s biggest exports.
His celebrity has even spilled onto the internet where scenes of him from High Kick! have resurfaced as memes on TikTok in recent years.
Actor Yoo Yeon-seok, who studied under Lee, said he “exemplified acting” and Lee Soon-jae’s High Kick! co-star Jeong Bo-seok described Lee not just as a mentor in the industry, but a “true mentor in my life”.
He wrote on Instagram: “Teacher, thank you so much for everything. I learned and felt so much from you – not only about acting, but also about life and the attitude of an actor.”
Additional reporting by Rachel Lee
