# A Gentleman's Dignity

A Gentleman's Dignity (Korean: 신사의 품격; Hanja: 紳士의 品格; RR: Shinsa-ui Pumgyeok) is a 2012 South Korean romantic comedy television series starring Jang Dong-gun, Kim Ha-neul, Kim Soo-ro, Kim Min-jong, and Lee Jong-hyuk. It aired on SBS from May 26 to August 12, 2012 on Saturdays and Sundays at 21:55 for 20 episodes.
The series marked Jang Dong-gun's return to television after twelve years. It was directed by Shin Woo-chul and written by Kim Eun-sook, the same team behind hit dramas Secret Garden, On Air, Lovers in Prague, and Lovers in Paris.

## Synopsis

A Gentleman's Dignity is about the careers and love lives of urban professionals. It tells the story of four men in their forties who have been friends since they were eighteen, as they go through love, breakups, successes, and failures.
Kim Do-jin is a confident playboy who meets Seo Yi-soo and falls for her. To his surprise, she doesn't give him the time of day, and he discovers that she has a crush on his best friend Im Tae-san. He begins a one-sided love for the first time in his life and tries to win her heart.
Im Tae-san starts dating Yi-soo's roommate, Hong Se-ra, but troubles arise when Yi-soo's crush is revealed, and when Se-ra tells him she doesn't want to get married.
Choi Yoon is a lawyer who is still recovering from his wife's death four years ago, but begins to have feelings for Tae-san's much younger sister, Im Meari. Meari has always had a crush on Yoon. However, Yoon refuses to give in to his feelings and jeopardize his friendship with Tae-san.
Lee Jung-rok is married to a rich woman, Park Min-sook, but constantly flirts with other women, which causes problems and trust issues in their marriage.
Meanwhile, a teenager named Colin comes to Korea looking for the four men and claims one of them is his biological father.

## Cast
### Main

* Jang Dong-gun as Kim Do-jin
    A confident ladies' man who heads his own architectural firm with Im Tae-san. Do-jin has a memory loss problem in times of stress and records everything in his daily life with a voice recorder pen. He loves his car and named it "Betty".
* Kim Ha-neul as Seo Yi-soo
    A high school ethics teacher who also umpires amateur baseball games in her free time. Yi-soo has had a secret crush on Tae-san for three years.
* Kim Soo-ro as Im Tae-san
    A partner at Do-jin's firm, heading the construction division. He is a member of the Blue Cats baseball team, and a long-time friend of Yi-soo.
* Kim Min-jong as Choi Yoon
    A lawyer who is still recovering from his wife's death four years ago, and a member of the Blue Cats baseball team.
* Lee Jong-hyuk as Lee Jung-rok
    Owner of a Mango Six café and a bar. He is married to a rich woman, Park Min-sook, but constantly flirts with other women.

### Supporting

* Yoon Se-ah as Hong Se-ra
    A pro golfer. She is Tae-san's girlfriend and Yi-soo's roommate.
* Kim Jung-nan as Park Min-sook
    Jung-rok's extremely wealthy wife.
* Yoon Jin-yi as Im Me Ah-ri
    Tae-san's younger sister and Yi-soo's past student. Meari came back to Korea after studying in America and has an interest in bag design. She has had a crush on Yoon for a long time.
* Lee Jong-hyun as Colin
    An American-born Korean who comes to Korea, claiming that one of the four guys is his biological father. He develops a crush on Meari.
* Kim Woo-bin as Kim Dong-hyub
    A student of Yi-soo who often gets into trouble at school. He has a crush on Yi-soo.
* Park Joo-mi as Kim Eun-hee
    Colin's mother and the first love of the four guys.
* Nam Hyun-joo as Teacher Park
* Park Ah-in as Attorney Kang
* Yoon Joo-man as Team Leader Choi
* Min Jae-sik as Mango Six Cafe's manager
* Kim Chang-seong as Sang-hyun
* Kim Geun as Kim Geun, Hwa Dam's employee
* Lee Joon-hee as Kwon, Hwa Dam's employee
* Jo Hyeon-gyu as Hyeon-gyu, Hwa Dam's employee
* Han Eun Sun as Young-ran, Hwa Dam's employee
* Ahn Jae-min as Yoo Seong-jae
* Kim Yoon-seo as Kim Eun-ji, Do-jin's ex-girlfriend
* Lee Yong-yi as Lee Mi-kyung, Yoon's mother-in-law
* Kim Sun-hwa as Director Song

### Special appearances

* Sa-hee as Do-jin's seducer in the pub in (ep 1)
* Ahn Hye-kyeong as Yoon's client (ep 2 and 10)
* Shin Hye-jeong as Na Jong-seok's daughter (ep 3)
* Choi Sung-jo as Min-sook's fitness trainer (ep 3)
* Kim Kwang-kyu as a high school teacher (ep 4)
* Choi Soo-young as herself (ep. 5)
* Hwang Eun-soo as Hong Se-ra's golfing junior (ep 9 and 12)
* Kim Dong-gyun as Na Jong-seok (ep 11)
* Jung Yong-hwa as himself, and a past student of Yi-soo (ep 13)
* Juniel as a street performer at Hongdae playground (ep 13)
* Kim Sung-oh as an army instructor (ep 15)
* Jang Joon-yoo as Tae-san's blind date (ep 16)
* Cha Hwa-yeon as Yi-soo's mother (ep 16 and 19)
* Bae Ji-hyun as a reporter (ep 20)

## Prologues

A unique feature of this drama is at the beginning of every episode, a prologue (or cold open) is shown. The prologues involve anecdotes about Do-jin, Tae-san, Yoon and Jung-rok's friendship through the years, and they all carry a humorous tone with the exception of episode 16's. The prologues are not related narratively to the previous episode's ending or the present storyline. However, they underline each episode's theme.

## Original soundtrack

The drama has released seven parts of the soundtrack in two OST albums, the first part is "High High" by Kim Tae-woo and the second part features various artists including Jeon Geun-hwa with single "Beautiful Words", Kyung-woo with single "When I Look At You" and Park Eun-ooh with single "Everyday". Actors Jang Dong-gun, Lee Jong-hyun and Kim Min-jong also contributed songs to the soundtrack included in A Gentleman's Dignity OST 2.

## Ratings

| Episode | Date | TNmS | TNmS | AGB Nielsen | AGB Nielsen |
| Episode | Date | Nationwide | Seoul | Nationwide | Seoul |
| 1 | 2012-05-26 | 13.7% | 15.9% | 14.1% | 16,0% |
| 2 | 2012-05-27 | 12.1% | 15.2% | 12.8% | 14.6% |
| 3 | 2012-06-02 | 14% | 15.6% | 14.9% | 16.7% |
| 4 | 2012-06-03 | 14.8% | 19.0% | 14.8% | 16.5% |
| 5 | 2012-06-09 | 17.4% | 20.5% | 15.9% | 17.0% |
| 6 | 2012-06-10 | 16.5% | 20.3% | 16.8% | 19.4% |
| 7 | 2012-06-16 | 18.7% | 22.6% | 17.1% | 18.6% |
| 8 | 2012-06-17 | 18.4% | 22.3% | 16.6% | 18.6% |
| 9 | 2012-06-23 | 19.7% | 22.9% | 18.6% | 20.2% |
| 10 | 2012-06-24 | 19.8% | 22.0% | 20.3% | 21.9% |
| 11 | 2012-06-30 | 23.1% | 26.0% | 22.0% | 23.0% |
| 12 | 2012-07-01 | 23.1% | 26.3% | 20.3% | 21.7% |
| 13 | 2012-07-07 | 21.9% | 26.0% | 22.0% | 23.4% |
| 14 | 2012-07-08 | 22.8% | 26.7% | 21.6% | 22.3% |
| 15 | 2012-07-14 | 26.0% | 30.1% | 23.5% | 24.8% |
| 16 | 2012-07-15 | 26.0% | 29.6% | 23.7% | 25.3% |
| 17 | 2012-07-21 | 26.7% | 30.5% | 24.4% | 26.1% |
| 18 | 2012-07-22 | 21.8% | 25.3% | 24.4% | 26.0% |
| 19 | 2012-08-11 | 18.2% | 20.4% | 18.1% | 19.3% |
| 20 | 2012-08-12 | 24.9% | 28.8% | 23.5% | 25.3% |
| Average | Average | 20.0% | 23.3% | 19.3% | 20.8% |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Nomination | Result |
| 2012 | 5th Korea Drama Awards | Best Drama | A Gentleman's Dignity | Nominated |
| 2012 | 5th Korea Drama Awards | Best New Actress | Yoon Jin-yi | Won |
| 2012 | 5th Korea Drama Awards | Best OST | "My Love" – Lee Jong-hyun | Nominated |
| 2012 | 14th Mnet Asian Music Awards | Best OST | "My Love" – Lee Jong-hyun | Nominated |
| 2012 | 20th Korean Culture and Entertainment Awards | Best Supporting Actress in a Drama | Nam Hyun-joo | Won |
| 2012 | 1st K-Drama Star Awards | Excellence Award, Actress | Kim Ha-neul | Nominated |
| 2012 | 1st K-Drama Star Awards | Acting Award, Actress | Kim Jung-nan | Won |
| 2012 | 1st K-Drama Star Awards | Rising Star Award | Yoon Jin-yi | Won |
| 2012 | 4th Melon Music Awards | Music Style - Best OST | "My Love" – Lee Jong-hyun | Nominated |
| 2012 | 4th Melon Music Awards | T-Store Best Song Award | "My Love" – Lee Jong-hyun | Nominated |
| 2012 | 4th Melon Music Awards | T-Store Best Song Award | "My Heartache" - Lee Hyun | Nominated |
| 2012 | 25th Grimae Awards | Best New Cinematographer | Hwang Min-shik | Won |
| 2012 | SBS Drama Awards | Top Excellence Award, Actor in a Weekend/Serial Drama | Jang Dong-gun | Won |
| 2012 | SBS Drama Awards | Top Excellence Award, Actress in a Weekend/Serial Drama | Kim Ha-neul | Won |
| 2012 | SBS Drama Awards | Excellence Award, Actor in a Weekend/Serial Drama | Kim Soo-ro | Won |
| 2012 | SBS Drama Awards | Excellence Award, Actress in a Weekend/Serial Drama | Yoon Se-ah | Nominated |
| 2012 | SBS Drama Awards | Special Acting Award, Actor in a Weekend/Serial Drama | Kim Min-jong | Won |
| 2012 | SBS Drama Awards | Special Acting Award, Actor in a Weekend/Serial Drama | Lee Jong-hyuk | Won |
| 2012 | SBS Drama Awards | Special Acting Award, Actress in a Weekend/Serial Drama | Kim Jung-nan | Won |
| 2012 | SBS Drama Awards | New Star Award | Yoon Jin-yi | Won |
| 2012 | SBS Drama Awards | New Star Award | Lee Jong-hyun | Won |
| 2012 | SBS Drama Awards | Top 10 Stars | Jang Dong-gun | Won |
| 2012 | SBS Drama Awards | Top 10 Stars | Kim Ha-neul | Won |
| 2012 | SBS Drama Awards | Popularity Award | Kim Ha-neul | Won |
| 2012 | SBS Drama Awards | Best Couple Award | Kim Min-jong and Yoon Jin-yi | Won |
| 2012 | SBS Drama Awards | Lifetime Achievement Award | Kim Eun-sook | Won |
| 2013 | 22nd High1 Seoul Music Awards | Best OST | "My Love" – Lee Jong-hyun | Won |
| 2013 | 49th Baeksang Arts Awards | Best New Actress (TV) | Yoon Jin-yi | Nominated |
| 2013 | 49th Baeksang Arts Awards | Most Popular Actor (TV) | Jang Dong-gun | Nominated |
| 2013 | 49th Baeksang Arts Awards | Most Popular Actress (TV) | Kim Ha-neul | Nominated |
| 2013 | 49th Baeksang Arts Awards | Most Popular Actress (TV) | Yoon Jin-yi | Nominated |

## Novel

A two-part novelization was published in August 2012.