Ahn, who had blood cancer for years, died at Seoul's Soonchunhyang University Hospital, his agency, the Artist Company, and hospital officials said on Monday.
"We feel deep sorrow at the sudden, sad news, pray for the eternal rest of the deceased and offer our heartfelt condolences to his bereaved family members," the Artist Company said in a statement.
President Lee Jae Myung issued a condolence message, saying Ahn provided many people with comfort, joy and time for reflection. "I already miss his warm smile and gentle voice," Lee wrote on Facebook.
From a child actor to a successful adult actor
Born to a filmmaker in the southeastern city of Daegu in 1952, Ahn made his debut as a child actor in the movie The Twilight Train in 1957. He subsequently appeared in about 70 movies as a child actor before he left the film industry to live an ordinary life.
In 1970, Ahn entered Seoul's Hankuk University of Foreign Studies as a Vietnamese major. Ahn said he graduated with top honors but failed to land jobs at big companies, who likely saw his Vietnamese major as largely useless after a communist victory in the Vietnam War in 1975.
Ahn returned to the film industry in 1977 believing he could still excel in acting. In 1980, he rose to fame for his lead role in Lee Jang-ho's Good, Windy Days, a hit coming-of-age movie about the struggle of working-class men from rural areas during the country's rapid rise and transition.
Ahn won the best new actor award in the prestigious Grand Bell Awards, the Korean version of the Academy Awards.
He later starred in a series of highly successful and critically acclaimed movies, sweeping best actor awards and becoming arguably the country's most popular actor in much of the 1980s-90s.
Ahn had collected dozens of trophies in major movie awards in South Korea, including winning the Grand Bell Awards for best actor five times, an achievement no other South Korean actor has matched.
He built up an image as a humble, trustworthy and family-oriented celebrity who avoided major scandals and maintained a quiet, stable personal life. Past public surveys chose Ahn as South Korea's most beloved actor and deserving of the nickname "The Nation's Actor".
Ahn said he earlier felt confined with his "The Nation's Actor" labelling but eventually thought that led him down the right path.
"I felt I should do something that could match that title. But I think that has eventually guided me in a good direction," Ahn said in an interview with Yonhap news agency in 2023.
Ahn is survived by his wife and their two sons.
