Yul Brynner

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July 11, 1920

October 10, 1985

Yuliy Borisovich Bryner

Virginia Gilmore (m. 1944–1960) (divorced)

Doris Kleiner (m. 1960–1967)(divorced)

Jacqueline Thion de la Chaume (m. 1971–1981) (divorced)

Kathy Lee (m. 1983–1985) (his death)

Actor:

Lost to the Revolution (1980) (voice)

Futureworld (1976)

Death Rage (1976)

The Barony (1975)

Westworld (1973)

The Serpent (1973)

"Anna and the King" (13 episodes, 1972)

Fuzz (1972)

Catlow (1971)

Romance of a Horsethief (1971)

The Light at the Edge of the World (1971)

Adios Sabata (1971)

The Magic Christian (1969) (uncredited)

The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969)

The Battle of Neretva (1969)

The File of the Golden Goose (1969)

The Picasso Summer (1969) (uncredited)

Villa Rides (1968)

The Long Duel (1967)

The Double Man (1967)

Triple Cross (1966)

Return of the Magnificent Seven (1966)

The Poppy Is Also a Flower (1966)

Cast a Giant Shadow (1966)

Morituri (1965)

Invitation to a Gunfighter (1964)

Flight from Ashiya (1964)

Kings of the Sun (1963)

Taras Bulba (1962)

Escape from Zahrain (1962)

Goodbye Again (1961) (uncredited)

The Magnificent Seven (1960)

Surprise Package (1960)

Testament of Orpheus (1960) (uncredited)

Once More, with Feeling! (1960)

Solomon and Sheba (1959)

The Sound and the Fury (1959)

The Journey (1959)

The Buccaneer (1958)

The Brothers Karamazov (1958)

Anastasia (1956)

The Ten Commandments (1956)

The King And I (1956)

General Foods 25th Anniversary Show: A Salute to Rodgers and Hammerstein (1954) (TV)

"Omnibus" (1 episode, 1953)

"Studio One in Hollywood" (2 episodes, 1949-1950)

Port of New York (1949)

"Fireside Theatre" (1 episode, 1949)

"Mr. Jones and His Neighbors" (1944) TV series

Director:

"Omnibus" (1 episode, 1953)

"Sure As Fate" (1 episode, 1950)

"Starlight Theatre" (1 episode, 1950)

"Danger" (3 episodes, 1950)

"Actor's Studio" (2 episodes, 1949-1950)

"Life with Snarky Parker" (1950) TV series

"Studio One in Hollywood" (1 episode, 1949)

"Mr. I. Magination" (1949) TV series

Producer:

"Life with Snarky Parker" (1950) TV series (producer)

Appearances

A Century of Science Fiction (1996)

Rodgers and Hammerstein: The Sound of American Music (1985) (TV)

Night of 100 Stars II (1985) (TV)

The 11th Annual American Music Awards (1984) (TV)

The Royal Variety Performance 1979 (1979) (TV)

The 51st Annual Academy Awards 1979 (TV)

"The Mike Douglas Show" (1 episode, 1977)

The 46th Annual Academy Awards 1974 (TV)

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1 episode, 1973)

The 27th Annual Tony Awards 1973 (TV)

On Location with Westworld (1973) (uncredited)

"The David Frost Show" (1 episode, 1971)

The 25th Annual Tony Awards 1971 (TV)

The Ed Sullivan Show (4 episodes, 1951-1967)

The World's Greatest Showman: The Legend of Cecil B. DeMille (1963) (TV)

The 33rd Annual Academy Awards 1961 (TV)

"CBS Reports with Ed Bradley" (1 episode, 1960)

"Cinépanorama" (1 episode, 1959)

The 29th Annual Academy Awards 1957 (TV)

What's My Line? (1 episode, 1957)

"The Colgate Comedy Hour" (1 episode, 1955)

"Mr. and Mrs." (1948) TV series

Academy Awards

1957 Won Oscar Best Actor in a Leading Role for: The King and I (1956)

Golden Globes

1957 Nominated Golden Globe Best Motion Picture Actor - Comedy/Musical for: The King and I (1956)

Laurel Awards

1961 Nominated Golden Laurel Top Action Performance for: The Magnificent Seven (1960) 5th place

1961 Nominated Golden Laurel Top Male Star 10th place.

National Board of Review, USA

1956 Won NBR Award Best Actor for: The King and I (1956). Also for: Anastasia (1956) and The Ten Commandments (1956)

Walk of Fame

Star on the Walk of Fame Motion Picture At 6162 Hollywood Blvd.

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The Russian-born Yul Brynner sometimes claimed to be the exotic half-Swiss and half-Japanese "Taidje Khan," although his real life was hardly unexciting. He worked as a musician, acrobat, TV talk show host, and TV director before being cast on Broadway as King Mongkut of Siam in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I in 1951. He reprised the role in the 1956 film, for which he won the Best Actor Oscar, and was perennially onstage for the rest of his life.

When Brynner's father abandoned the family, his mother took him and his sister to Manchuria, where they went to a Young Men's Christian Association schoool. The family later moved to Paris, France, where Brynner dropped out of school to become a musician. In 1941, he immigrated to the United States to study acting, and made his stage debut the same year as Fabian in a New York production of Twelfth Night.

Bald, polyglot, and imposing, he was hard to cast. He played ancient monarchs in The Ten Commandments (1956) and Solomon and Sheba (1959), and Russians in Anastasia (1956) and The Brothers Karamazov (1958). He was amusing as the arrogant conductor in Once More, With Feeling! (1960), and did a cameo for old friend Jean Cocteau in Le Testament d'Orphee ou Ne Me Demandez Pas Pourquoi! (1960) (The Testament of Orpheus). However, he also won pop culture immortality as Chris Adams, most magnificent of The Magnificent Seven (1960), and returned in two sequels. Thereafter, he alternated exotic barbarians as in Taras Bulba (1962), super-villains such as The Deaf Man in Fuzz (1972), and cowboys - although even his Western roles are bizarre, such as an Apache among Mayans in Kings of the Sun (1963), and a robot in the science-fiction Western Westworld (1973).

Brynner died of lung cancer on October 10, 1985 in New York City, the same day as Orson Welles.

Knowing he was dying of cancer, Brynner starred in a run of farewell performances of his most famous role, The King and I, on Broadway from January 7 to June 30, 1985, with Mary Beth Peil.

Throughout his life, Brynner was often seen with a cigarette in his hand. In January 1985, nine months before his death, he gave an interview on Good Morning America, expressing his desire to make an anti-smoking commercial. A clip from that interview was made into just such a public service announcement by the American Cancer Society, and released after his death; it includes the warning "Now that I'm gone, I tell you, don't smoke. Whatever you do, just don't smoke. If I could take back that smoking, we wouldn't be talking about any cancer. I'm convinced of that." This advertisement is now featured in the Body Worlds exhibition.

Brynner is interred on the grounds of the Saint-Michel-de-Bois-Aubry Russian Orthodox monastery, not far from Luzé, between Tours and Poitiers, Vienne, France.

People don't know my real self, and they're not about to find out.

He was an accomplished photographer. He took many photos on the sets of the various projects he worked on over the years.

Audrey Hepburn is the godmother of his daughter Victoria.

Salary

The Poppy Is Also a Flower (1966) £ 1

Solomon and Sheba (1959) $600,000