The final hours of the late Lee Soon-jae and his determination as an actor were revealed, leaving a heavy feeling. In particular, the serious state of his health while alive was shocking.
On the 12th broadcast of KBS2TV's
However, the public who watched the broadcast worried about his health because he looked unusually gaunt. In fact, Lee Soon-jae had reappeared at a public event about three months after suspending activities, and his agency at the time said, "He is undergoing rehabilitation treatment due to decreased leg muscle strength."
On that broadcast, Park So-dam could not hide her sorrow as she recalled the moment. Park So-dam said, "If it had been normal, the teacher would have energetically run up to the podium, but the teacher I knew had different energy, so it hurt my heart," and recalled, "Even seeing it again, it is a painful sight."
In particular, behind-the-scenes stories from filming the KBS drama "Gaesori," which became his last public broadcaster work, were also revealed. During filming, a symptom of losing vision in one eye suddenly appeared, and the cause was cataracts. The problem was the script. Although he had spent his life preparing lines more perfectly than anyone, his decreased vision made reading the script itself difficult.
Ultimately, Lee Soon-jae asked his agency representative and manager to read the script to him, and he continued acting by listening and learning the lines as before. The agency representative recalled, "When it was frustrating, he asked us to print the letters very large. We printed so only about 20 characters fit on a page," and added, "He had never used a magnifying glass until he was 92, but he used one for the first time then."
There were also hearing problems. The agency representative said, "To be more honest, he also wore a hearing aid," and confessed, "He always removed the hearing aid during filming for fear it would show on camera." He went on to say, "He read lines by watching the mouth movements and expressions of the other actor," conveying Lee Soon-jae's determination to never give up acting until the end.
More regrettable was the filming environment. Most of the filming for the drama "Gaesori" took place in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province. Despite his poor health, he continued filming for six months, traveling between Seoul and Geoje more than 20 times.
After that, Lee Soon-jae appeared on stage in the play "Waiting for Godot." But at the time he was barely able to walk properly and even speaking was arduous. The production team recalled, "His coughing sounded serious, so we told him to go to the hospital first," yet he chose the stage until the end. The agency representative also said, "The schedule continued excessively, and performing three to four times a week was not easy," and added, "The coughing worsened, and he was eventually diagnosed with pneumonia."
After finishing his final performance, Lee Soon-jae was urgently hospitalized and then spent about a year in the hospital. But incomprehensible sounds were heard in the hospital room. It turned out he was practicing acting alone even amid delirium. Even as his cognitive function wavered, like a habit ingrained in his body, he recited lines and practiced emotions. The image of Lee Soon-jae, who did not give up acting until the last moments of his life, left a deep impression on both the cast and the viewers.
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