‘National Actor’ Choi Bool-am Dies; 67 Years Alongside Viewers Through Chief Detective and Country Diaries

[Financial News] Actor Choi Bool-am (whose real name was Choi Yeong-han), who spent many years with viewers as Chief Park in Chief Detective and Chairman Kim in Country Diaries, has died at 87.
According to the broadcasting industry on the 30th, he died at around 10 p.m. on the 29th at a hospital in Seoul’s Gangseo-gu, where he had been receiving inpatient treatment.
After having difficulty getting around following surgery for a herniated disc in March last year, he stepped down from Korean Cuisine and Dining, a KBS1 TV current affairs and culture program he had hosted for 14 years since 2011. He then devoted himself to rehabilitation, but his health is said to have deteriorated sharply recently.
The late actor was born in 1939 (his family register lists his birth year as 1940) in Jemulpo-gu, Incheon (then Dong-gu). He graduated from Seoul Jungang High School, Seorabeol College of Arts and Hanyang University’s Department of Theater and Film. He began acting in 1959 in the theater troupe Experimental Theater Group’s production of Hamlet. In 1965, he further established himself as an actor while working as a member of the National Theater Company of Korea.
He began his television career in 1967. Selected as part of the sixth class of specially recruited actors at Seoul Central Broadcasting Station (now KBS), he played the elderly Kim Jong-seo in the drama Suyang Daegun. He was in his 20s at the time.
He went on to win the public’s affection as a national actor, creating characters who would go down in South Korean television history, including Chief Park Young-han in MBC’s Chief Detective and Chairman Kim of Yangchon-ri in Country Diaries. Considered a pioneering Korean crime-investigation drama, Chief Detective aired from 1971 to 1984 and again from 1985 to 1989. Country Diaries, which ran for 22 years from 1980 to 2002, is the country’s longest-running drama. In You and I (1997–1998), he left a deep impression on viewers as ‘Captain Park.’
Over the course of his 67-year acting career, he gave wide-ranging performances across television dramas, films and theater.
In recognition of his acting talent and contributions to the development of popular culture, he received numerous awards and decorations. At the Baeksang Arts Awards, he won Best Male Actor in the Theater category (1969 and 1971) and Best Male Actor in the TV category (1974 and 1978). He received the Grand Bell Award for Best Male Supporting Actor (1978) and Best Male Actor (1979), as well as the Mokryeon Medal of the Order of Civil Merit (1998) and the Silver Crown Order of Cultural Merit (2014).
In 1972, he was first appointed an honorary police officer for helping foster a friendly image of the police through Chief Detective. In 2024, he became the first civilian to be named honorary head of the National Office of Investigation, with the rank of senior superintendent general.
His close marriage to actress Kim Min-ja was also widely known. He fell in love at first sight with Kim Min-ja after seeing her in the KBS drama Jeongdong Manim, and this led him to move to KBS and begin appearing in dramas. The two continued their relationship by appearing together in plays including Hwanjeolgi (1968). After dating for four years, they married in 1970 and had a son and a daughter.
His survivors are his wife, Kim Min-ja, his son Dongnyeok, and his daughter Dongbi.
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