Yangon, Myanmar (CNN) -- When Burmese commuters have an accident they don't dial 911 or any ordinary emergency service. They call the country's version of Marlon Brando, a heartthrob in the 1980s and 90s who turned his back on the film industry to run a fleet of ambulances and bury the nation's dead. A household name in Myanmar, which is also known as Burma, Kyaw Thu has starred in more than 200 films, and even took home a Myanmar Academy Award in 1994 for best actor in "Da-Byi-Thu Ma Shwe Hta." He followed it up with best director for "Amay No Bo" in 2003, but by then his head had already been turned by the story of an old woman left to die alone in hospital.
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Award-winning Burmese actor gave up films to operate free funeral services
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Kyaw Thu was considered a heartthrob in the 1980s and 1990s
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He formed Free Funeral Service Society after hearing the story of a woman abandoned in hospital
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Society now provides ambulance, hospital, disaster relief and education services
He said the pace of @placeholder's transformation, from a military state to thriving democracy at peace with ethnic rivalries, depends on the attitudes of ordinary people.