Choi Eun-hee

Choi Eun-hee (; November 20, 1926 – April 16, 2018) was a South Korean actress, who was one of the country's most popular stars of the 1960s and 1970s. In 1978, Choi and her then ex-husband, movie director Shin Sang-ok, were abducted to North Korea, where they were forced to make films until they sought asylum at the U.S. embassy in Vienna in 1986. They returned to South Korea in 1999 after spending a decade in the United States. Biography Early career and success in South Korea Choi was born in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, in 1926. Her first acting role was in the 1947 film A New Oath. She rose to fame the following year after starring in the 1948 film The Sun of Night and soon became known as one of the "troika" of Korean film, alongside actresses Kim Ji-mee and Um Aing-ran. After marrying the director Shin Sang-ok in 1954, the two founded Shin Film. Choi went on to act in over 130 films and was considered one of the biggest stars of South Korean film in the 1960s and 1970s. She starred in many of Shin's iconic films including 1958's A Flower in Hell and 1961's The Houseguest and My Mother.