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Cha In-pyo remembers Choi Bool-am's respect for younger actors

At the veteran actor's memorial, colleagues recall a television father figure and mourn the passing of a pioneering generation.

Channel: KBS News ·

South KoreaStory of October 31, 2026Trari Newsroom

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[이런뉴스] “이순재·최불암 선생님 돌아가시고…” 후배들 안타까운 발길 / KBS 2026.10.30.

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0:14Cha In-pyo offers condolences to Choi's family and wishes the actor a peaceful rest.
0:54Cha recalls playing Choi's son in You and I and being treated as an equal despite their seniority gap.
1:51Kang Seok-woo says the morning news of Choi's death came as a shock.
2:16Kang mourns Choi and Lee Soon-jae as towering figures of Korean acting's first generation.
3:33Kang names Choi's enduring television roles, then regrets not having shown him more personal warmth.

Playing Choi Bool-am's son left Cha In-pyo with a memory that went beyond their scenes together: an established star treating a much younger colleague as his equal.

Cha shares that recollection outside Choi's memorial on October 30, in footage from South Korea's Korean Broadcasting System (KBS). Funeral wreaths line the corridor as fellow actors arrive to pay their respects.

Cha recalls their father-and-son roles in the drama You and I. Despite the distance between them in seniority, he says, Choi treated younger performers with equal personal dignity. The experience of acting alongside him remains a cherished memory.

For Cha, that screen relationship also reflected Choi's place in viewers' lives. He describes an actor who had spent many years serving as a father figure to the nation through television. He offers condolences to the family and wishes Choi a peaceful rest.

Actor Kang Seok-woo says he was shocked to learn of the death through the morning news. His tribute places the loss alongside that of Lee Soon-jae, expressing sadness that the towering figures of Korean acting's first generation are passing away. The report also notes the death of Ahn Sung-ki earlier this year.

Kang names Choi's work in Chief Inspector, Country Diaries and Age of Heroes as performances that will endure. But his recollection ends on something more personal than a list of roles: regret that he had not spent more time with Choi socially or shown him greater warmth while he could.