Late actor Choi Bool-am requested documentary to reflect on his life

Actor Choi Bool-am passed away at 10:30 p.m. on the 29th in Seoul at the age of 87. While battling illness in 2025, he personally called production staff to request a program to organize his life and acting career.

It has been revealed that the late Choi Bool-am personally requested production staff to create a program reflecting on his life while he was battling illness. Even while fighting his disease, he wished to organize his acting career and life to share with viewers. This anecdote, disclosed immediately after his passing, has added a sense of poignancy, conveying the late actor's sincere attitude in attempting to look back on his time as an actor until his final moments.

On the afternoon of the 30th, MBC aired a memorial special encore documentary, "Paha, I'm Choi Bool-am." This program, originally released in May, was rescheduled to honor Choi Bool-am, who passed away on the 29th. The broadcast drew significant attention by revisiting his life and acting career while revealing special stories of how he maintained connections with the production staff even during his illness.

The broadcast also revealed photos taken in June when Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Choi Hwi-young visited the hospitalized Choi Bool-am, who was with his wife, actress Kim Min-ja. The sight of the deceased maintaining ties with those around him even from his hospital bed drew sympathy from viewers.

In particular, through on-screen captions, the production staff revealed that while already battling illness in 2025, Choi Bool-am personally called them to request a program that would organize his life. The staff stated, "Actor Choi Bool-am, who was already battling illness in 2025, called the production staff directly to request a program to organize his life." This carries special meaning as the project was not started by someone else's suggestion, but because the deceased himself desired time to look back on his life.

Choi Bool-am passed away at 10:30 p.m. on the 29th at a hospital in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, while receiving treatment for deteriorating health. He was 87 years old. The funeral altar was prepared at the Asan Medical Center Funeral Hall, and it received general mourners from 10 a.m. on the 30th. The funeral will be held as a five-day service by the ChildFund Korea. The procession is scheduled for 7:40 a.m. on the 2nd, and a funeral mass will be held at Yeouido Catholic Church around 9 p.m. that same day, presided over by Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung.

Choi Bool-am began his acting career on the stage in the 1959 play "Hamlet." He was selected as a 6th term special talent for KBS in 1967 and appeared in dramas such as "Grand Prince Suyang." In 1969, he expanded his stage by being selected as a special talent for MBC. He later gained public recognition as Chief Park Young-han in the MBC drama "Chief Inspector" and spent a long time with viewers playing the role of Chairman Kim in "Country Diaries." Through these contrasting characters—a steadfast detective and a reliable patriarch—he demonstrated a wide acting spectrum and earned the titles of "National Actor" and "National Father."

Beyond his activities as an actor, he met viewers for a long time as a broadcaster. Since 2011, he served as the presenter for KBS1's "Korean Cuisine and Dining," conveying stories of food and the people within it from across the country. However, he stepped down from the program in 2025 due to health issues, and rumors regarding his health had surfaced in March of this year. While news at the time stated he was recovering, it was later reported that his health had deteriorated, leading to continued hospital treatment.

The "Paha, I'm Choi Bool-am" broadcast in May remains as a record illuminating his life. Having directly expressed his wish to organize his life through the broadcast, Choi Bool-am passed away approximately five months after the program was released. The fact that he requested the work of looking back on his life even while battling illness makes one reconsider the path he walked as an actor and the stories he wished to leave behind for the public.

Choi Bool-am married actress Kim Min-ja in 1969 and had one son and one daughter. Having left behind numerous works and characters throughout his 67-year acting career, he can no longer stand before the stage or the camera, but his sincerity in wanting to record his life until the very end is expected to be remembered for a long time through the memorial documentary.

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