"Even after losing most of his sight and with his health rapidly deteriorating, the late Lee Soon-jae never let go of his desire to act, and footage of him alive has been released, delivering a deep resonance. Added to this is the revelation of the identity of the junior to whom he entrusted and believed in the theater world, which further deepens the emotion."
On the 28th of last month, the MBC documentary memorial special 'Actor Lee Soon-jae, I owe you a lot' captured the deceased's final hours that the public did not fully know about. Lee Soon-jae's final work while alive was the KBS2 drama 'Nonsense'. Despite the burden of being the lead, he quietly endured a grueling shooting schedule traveling between Seoul and Geoje Island and never once showed signs of struggle.
But behind that there was a fact that no one knew. He was in a condition where neither eye was 100% visible. Agency representative Lee Seung-hee choked up as she recalled, "Many people don't know. The teacher's left and right eyes were almost not visible, but he trained his acting just as before," and "Because he couldn't see, he said he had to practice even more. If we read him the script, he said he would memorize it."
Lee Soon-jae was also shown in the documentary calmly saying from his hospital bed, "After finishing filming last October, I suddenly couldn't see, so I went to the hospital and my left eye wasn't visible,". Not wanting to burden anyone, he instead prepared more thoroughly and fulfilled his responsibility to acting.
The documentary also revealed the rehearsal site of the play 'Death of a Salesman' that he practiced while alive. His relentless analysis and study of a script of as many as 560 lines was overwhelming. Having nurtured his dream since his days in the Seoul National University theater club, he was one of the few actors who, even after becoming a national actor, never left the theater stage until the end.
Kai, an actor who worked with him in the play 'Waiting for Godot', recalled, "He received energy from the audience. He only said he didn't want to cause trouble. After finishing the one-and-a-half-hour performance, he went straight to the emergency room," and the director also added, "He couldn't walk or speak properly. He cried and tried to stop us, saying to cancel the performance," recalling the time and adding to the heaviness. Still, Lee Soon-jae never said the word "give up."
Meanwhile, the identity of the junior to whom the deceased asked to entrust the theater world was also revealed. It was actor Park Geun-hyung.
On the 28th, which was yesterday, Park Geun-hyung, who appeared as a special MC on SBS 'My Little Old Boy', recalled Lee Soon-jae, a colleague and big brother who had been with him his whole life, and expressed deep longing. He said, "Having lived and worked together for decades, my heart aches so much. All the juniors miss sunbae-nim."
He went on to recall the close friendship with Shin Goo and Lee Soon-jae, saying, "After sunbae-nim comes Shin Goo, and then me. The three of us often gathered to talk about theater." But Park Geun-hyung expressed regret at not being able to say a final farewell, saying, "It's so heartbreaking that after he became unwell and went to the hospital I couldn't even see his face before he left."
In particular, he revealed the words the deceased left when he visited his theater performance. "From now on, you must take charge of the theater world. Please work hard." Park Geun-hyung said this left an impression on his heart "like a will" and his eyes reddened as he conveyed it.
Even though he could not see with either eye, he did not put down the script, and until his last moment he entrusted the future of theater to his juniors. The reason his final request hits especially hard is because the sincerity of 'actor Lee Soon-jae', for whom acting was life, is fully contained within it.<
[Photo] broadcast screen
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