A tribute to the legendary character actor

Byun Hee-bong in 2006 (Image: Seo Ji-hyeong for Cine21)

Few performers in Korean cinema have left an everlasting impact as profound as Byun Hee-bong. Even if you are unfamiliar with his name, it is statistically quite probable that you have already seen his unforgettable face and his characteristic smile due to sheer scope of his body of work, spanning decades. His death on September 18 has left a vacuum in the industry, prompting many condolence messages from directors, performers, and industry professionals. 

Born in 1942 near Gwangju, in the southwest region of the country, Byun, whose real given name was In-cheol, began his acting career in 1963 when he passed the audition for radio dramas on the newly established DBS station, before moving on to dubbing for television on public channel MBC a few years later. He subsequently followed that vocation more seriously by joining the Seoul-based theatrical group Sanha, and in 1970 he made his debut television appearance.

Because he was being typecasted as a villain, he eventually chose to take his artist's name, Hee-bong, in 1977 in an attempt to "reset" his image. He first rose to prominence after appearing in epic historical drama series like 1st Republic (1981-1982) and 500 Years of Joseon Dynasty (1983).

But it was his encounter with Bong Joon-ho, a young filmmaker with a lot of creativity who was at the time working on his feature debut, that catapulted his career to new heights. He and frequent lead Song Kang-ho are the only two actors who have appeared in the bulk of Bong's filmography (4 titles out of 7).

To remember the legacy of this great actor who preferred to stick to supporting roles, this week we look back to seven of his most iconic films.

 ​Barking Dogs Never Bite ​(Image: CJ ENM)

Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000) by Bong Joon-ho

While this was Byun's first meeting with Bong, the directing hopeful had been following his career for quite some time. In reality, Bong had been a fan of his since he was a child, with Byun making an early impression on him in one of his earliest performances, in the 1971 TV series Chief Inspector. When Bong was granted the opportunity to direct his first feature film, he imagined Byun as a security guard patrolling the basement level of an apartment complex and chose to bring him on board and rewrite the script just so he could include this character. 

While the main plot revolves around the inexplicable disappearances of pet dogs in an apartment complex, Byun's character brings an abrupt tonal shift mid-movie as he tells the horror story of a heating engineer who was killed, with his body discarded in the cement of the building's foundations, after discovering that the building developers had embezzled money.

​Memories of Murder (Image: CJ ENM) 

Memories of Murder (2003) by Bong Joon-ho

 In Bong's early masterpiece, Byun played the sergeant of the police force in a small town in the 1980s that quickly becomes overwhelmed as they try their best to deal with the country's first serial murders case. Unfortunately, their distressing lack of experience and professionalism constantly gets in the way. This is never more evident than in the scene depicting Byun and Song Kang-ho feverishly attempting to preserve the crime scene, a muddy rice field, from being trampled by journalists, children playing arounds, farmers, and even their own colleagues.

It took a dozen tries to get this long shot right. which was especially tough for Byun because he was intended to slip and tumble down a ridge in that scene. Song added that they were given no precise lines to say and therefore he and Byun had to improvise the entire discussion, but this didn’t pose a big challenge for them as the conversation would just organically flow between them. To Bong's astonishment, Byun never complained throughout the ordeal, despite the fact that he eventual had to go to the hospital at the end of the day.

​The Host (Image: Showbox Entertainment) 

The Host ​(2006) by Bong Joon-ho

This commercial hit, which remains to this day the most successful in Bong’s filmography, catapulted both the filmmaker and Byun to wide acclaim. The actor's portrayal of a snack store owner in a riverfront park in Seoul who, along with his three children, becomes an unlikely vigilante to try to save his granddaughter from a monster impressed the audience, including Bong himself. Indeed, the director later said that he was startled to see how much Byun gave off a different aura in the final cut of the picture, observing that his intense cinematic presence had become comparable to Ian McKellen and Sean Connery.

My Teacher, Mr. Kim (Image: Cinema Service)

My Teacher, Mr. Kim ​(2003) by Jang Kyu-sung

In this comedic drama, a down-on-his-luck professor is sent to a village deep in the Gangwon mountains after being caught red-handed collecting bribes from parents while not taking his duties seriously as an educator. There, he has little option but to perform his work for the five children who attend the school. But he soon gets an unexpected pupil in the form of a grouchy old guy, played by Byun, who convinces him to teach him how to read and write in exchange for cigarettes. Jang Kyu-sung, the director, didn't know Byun before but enjoyed working with him, saying that because he was so committed in the production, he came up with a lot of the nuances that finally fleshed out his character. This idea of bribing the teacher with tobacco was one of them.

​Spring Breeze ​(Image: Cinema Service) 

Spring Breeze (2003) by Zhang Hang-jun

In this comedy about a lethargic novelist who is forced to share his late father's house with an energetic and lively café waitress due to his father's unpaid bills, Byun, who plays another writer, doesn't appear frequently. But when he does, his performance is always outstanding. Director Zhang Hang-jun, like Bong, grew up watching Byun on TV and remembered him fondly from 500 Years of Joseon Dynasty. When he cast Byun, the actor visited him soon after to express his concern that his character would be so little that it would run the risk of being deleted entirely on the cutting board. Zhang then guaranteed him that this would not happen, but he knew that it wouldn’t be difficult for him to fulfill this promise as Byun delivered another scene-stealing performance.

​Lovely Rivals ​(Image: CJ ENM) 

Lovely Rivals ​(2004) by Jang Kyu-sung

Byun played the school administrator in this lighthearted comedy about an elementary schoolgirl who decides to fight against her classroom instructor for the attention of the school's gorgeous new male teacher. When the competition grows so intense that the classroom teacher is forced to leave after slapping her, Byun's character is forced to fill in and is shown singing with the children. Director Jang recalls Byun saying that it was too much of a bother to have to sing in that scene, but all his concerns vanished, and he simply began singing enthusiastically as soon as the camera started rolling.

​Crying Fist ​(Image: ShowEast) 

Crying Fist (2005) by Ryoo Seung-wan

Director Ryoo Seung-wan is of the same generation as Bong, but it was via the latter's earlier films that he discovered Byun and became aware of the breadth of Byun's acting. Ryoo had certain performers including Byun in mind for the cast of his film and didn’t want to settle for anyone else. A former boxer who represented the country at international competitions tries to make a comeback by entering a competition, while a juvenile delinquent who discovered a new passion in boxing sees this same tournament as his last chance to turn his life around.

Ryoo observed that Byun, who was playing the young athlete's coach, would constantly pester the real boxing trainers who were hired to train the actors so he could learn the proper ways to be a trainer on the screen. He would continually display his devotion to the job, improvising in scenes of matches Ryoo also found endearing the fact that Byun was constantly eager to do one more take, and he could see Byun’s deception when he would decide to move to the next scene.