Seen in Jeonju

Twist Kim passes away

30th November 2010

twist kimIt’s not often that I have time to post during the week when the semester is coming to an end, but I felt that this was important enough for me to take time off from other work to mention. Twist Kim, a staple character actor of the sixties and early 70s passed away today at the age of 74. The cause of death was a stroke.  Twist Kim was born Kim Han-seob in 1936 in the southern city of Busan. He debuted in 1962 in a small role in the film The Man From Tokyo.  Two years later, he was paired with Shin Seong-il in the classic film Barefoot Youth and was launched to stardom. His career wound down about a decade later, although he made sporadic appearances in movies up until 1999 and starred in a short film Dancing Cop, Twist Kim in 2001. 

Twist Kim earned his nickname because of his skill at dancing the twist which he displays in several of his movies. Kim was able to easily switch between playing a tough, lowlife to lovable comic-relief characters. Although I recently complained about his comedy style in the film Father and Sons (his ‘eye-dancing’ scenes were really not funny), I loved the way he acted in films like Barefoot Youth and Early Rain.

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