Veteran film actress Kim Ji-mi (born Kim Myung-ja) has died in the United States. She was 85.
A dominant figure known as "the face of Korean cinema" from the 1950s through the 1980s, she was a legend who, across more than 700 films, embodied the era's sorrow and hope as well as a woman's strength and beauty.
The Federation of Korean Film Artists said "actor Kim Ji-mi passed away in the United States" and expressed deep condolences. Her health reportedly worsened recently due to complications from shingles. The immediate cause is said to have been hypoglycemic shock.
The late Kim Ji-mi was born in 1940 in Daedeok, Chungnam, and while attending Duksung Girls' High School she was an ordinary girl preparing to study in the United States. But one day at 17 she was unexpectedly chosen by director Kim Ki-young, and her life was transformed. Her debut film, Hwanghon Yeolcha (Twilight Train) (1957), announced the birth of an actress who would go down in Korean film history.
The public later said it was through her that they first understood "what an actress is." With refined beauty, fresh sensibility and a screen-filling presence, Kim Ji-mi was the first "icon" symbolizing the dreams and aspirations Korean cinema held in that era.
She shot to stardom with Byeolare Na Gaseume (A Star in My Heart) (1958) and followed with major box-office hits such as "3 p.m. on a rainy day," Jang Hee-bin, and Firefly, leading the golden age of Korean cinema.
Her femme fatale performance in Firefly in particular continues to be talked about across genders and generations. Kim Ji-mi was not simply a star; she can be considered a trendsetter who led changes in the image of women on screen.
She was also an actress beloved by master directors, and the names of the directors she worked with alone reveal the backbone of Korean film history.
They include Kim Soo-yong (for land, Panama International Film Festival and Grand Bell Award for best actress), Kim Ki-young (The Promise of the Flesh, Grand Bell Award for best actress) and Im Kwon-taek (Gilsotteum, Grand Bell Award for best actress). In particular, Gilsotteum, a masterpiece of the era that captures the pain of separated families, highlights the late actor's passionate yet restrained performance.
She continued her career even after contemporaries of her generation chose retirement, and beyond acting she served as a producer and film industry leader, acting as a bulwark for Korean cinema. Kim Ji-mi founded the production company Jimmi Film in 1985, served as a commissioner of the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) and as chairman of the Film Artists Association, and took it upon herself to be a "shield" for the film industry as well as an actor.
At an open talk at the Busan International Film Festival in 2019, she said, "Every time the administration changed, the film law changed and the films we wanted to make disappeared. Because actors lost places to work, I thought 'I should at least produce.'" Her sense of responsibility and solidarity carried on to many younger filmmakers. She was not simply a star but an elder who protected the film ecosystem.
Called Korea's Elizabeth Taylor, Kim Ji-mi's life shone under the spotlight and was sometimes more arduous. Through marriages and divorces with director Hong Seong-ki, actor Choi Mu-ryong and singer Na Hoon-a, she remained at the center of public love and attention.
But her final reflections always returned to film. "Because of the hands of many filmmakers, Kim Ji-mi existed. I thank the audiences who have protected me until now," she said, words that remained like her final farewell from the screen. She was selected as the recipient of the 2014 Woman Filmmaker of the Year award for lifetime achievement, and at the time the Women Filmmakers' Association applauded her activities, saying she was "a beautiful woman filmmaker who, as a woman, an actress and a film artist, lived a fiercely led life more proactively than anyone," explaining the significance of the award.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Korean Film Artists is preparing a funeral for filmmakers organized by the association.
[Photo] OSEN DB, film still
[OSEN]