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Wikipedia

Yul Brynner

Yuliy Borisovich Briner (Russian: Юлий Борисович Бринер; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985), known professionally as Yul Brynner, was an American actor. He was best known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in the Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musical The King and I, for which he won two Tony Awards, and later an Academy Award for Best Actor for the film adaptation. He played the role 4,625 times on stage and became known for his shaved head, which he maintained as a personal trademark long after adopting it for The King and I. Considered one of the first Russian-American film stars,[1] he was honored with a ceremony to put his handprints in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood in 1956, and also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.

Yul Brynner
Юл Бринер
Brynner in 1960
Born
Yuliy Borisovich Briner

(1920-07-11)July 11, 1920
DiedOctober 10, 1985(1985-10-10) (aged 65)
New York City, U.S.
Resting placeSaint-Michel-de-Bois-Aubry Russian Orthodox Monastery (near Luzé, France)
Citizenship
  • Far Eastern Republic (1920–1922)
  • Soviet Union (1922–1943)
  • United States (1943–1965)
  • Switzerland (1965–1985)
OccupationActor
Years active1941–1985
Spouses
(m. 1944; div. 1960)
Doris Kleiner
(m. 1960; div. 1967)
Jacqueline Thion de la Chaume
(m. 1971; div. 1981)
Kathy Lee
(m. 1983)
Children5
Awards

In 1956, Brynner received the National Board of Review Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Rameses II in the Cecil B. DeMille epic The Ten Commandments and General Bounine in Anastasia. He was also well known as the gunman Chris Adams in The Magnificent Seven (1960) and its first sequel Return of the Seven (1966), along with roles as the android "The Gunslinger" in Westworld (1973), and its sequel, Futureworld (1976).[2] In addition to his film credits, he also worked as a model and photographer and was the author of several books.[3][4]

Early life in Russia

 
The Briner family mansion in Vladivostok, Russia, where Yul Brynner was born and lived from 1920 to 1927

Yul Brynner was born Yuliy Borisovich Briner on July 11, 1920,[5][6][7] in the city of Vladivostok.[8] He had Swiss-German, Russian, Buryat (Mongol) and purported Romani ancestry.[9][10] He was born at his parents' home, a four-story house on 15 Aleutskaya Street, Vladivostok into a wealthy Swiss-Russian family of landowners and silver mining developers in Siberia and the Far East. At the time the territory was controlled by the Far Eastern Republic and Vladivostok was partially under Japanese control. The Briner family enjoyed a good life at their four-story mansion. In October 1922, the Red Army occupied Vladivostok, and most of the Briner family's wealth was confiscated and nationalized at the end of the Russian Civil War. The Briners were stripped of home ownership, but the family, including an elder sister, Vera, continued living in their house under a temporary status.[11][12][13][14]

Later in his life, Brynner humorously enjoyed telling tall tales and exaggerating his background and early life for the press, claiming that he was born Taidje Khan of a Mongol father and Roma mother on the Russian island of Sakhalin.[15] He occasionally referred to himself as Julius Briner,[5] Jules Bryner or Youl Bryner.[6] The 1989 biography by his son, Rock Brynner, clarified some of these issues.[15]

Brynner's father, Boris Yuliyevich Briner, was a mining engineer and inventor of Swiss-German and Russian descent, who graduated from Mining University in Saint Petersburg in 1910. The actor's grandfather, Jules Briner, was a Swiss citizen who moved to Vladivostok in the 1870s and established a successful import/export company.[16] Brynner's paternal grandmother, Natalya Yosifovna Kurkutova, was a native of Irkutsk and a Eurasian of partial Buryat ancestry.

Brynner's mother, Marousia Dimitrievna (née Blagovidova), hailed from the Russian intelligentsia and studied to be an actress and singer; she was allegedly of Russian Romani ancestry.[9] Brynner felt a strong personal connection to the Romani people and in 1977 he was named honorary president of the International Romani Union, a title that he kept until his death.[17][18]

In 1922, after the formation of the Soviet Union, Yul's father Boris Briner was required to relinquish his Swiss citizenship and all family members were made Soviet citizens. Brynner's father's work required extensive travel, and in 1923, in Moscow he fell in love with a beautiful actress, Katerina Ivanovna Kornakova, who was the ex-wife of actor Aleksei Dikiy, and stage partner of Michael Chekhov at the Moscow Art Theatre. Many years later, Katerina Kornakova would help Brynner with her letter of recommendation asking Michael Chekhov to employ him in his theatre company in America. In 1924, Yul's father divorced his mother and continued to support her and his children. His father also adopted a girl, because his new wife was childless, and many years later, after the death of his father, Brynner would take his adopted sister into his care. The father and son relationship remained complex and emotionally traumatic for Brynner. After leaving his son and daughter with their mother in Vladivostok, Boris Briner and Katerina Ivanovna Kornakova briefly lived in Moscow, but eventually they moved to Harbin, Manchuria, which at that time remained under Japanese control. There the family established business in international trade.[11][14]

In China

In 1927, Brynner, with his mother and his elder sister, Vera (January 17, 1916 – December 13, 1967), emigrated from Vladivostok, Russia to Harbin, China. There, young Yul and his sister Vera attended a school run by the YMCA.[11][14]

In 1930, Brynner's father gave him an important birthday present - an acoustic guitar. That guitar and the following music lessons made a lasting influence on Brynner's artistic development. His natural curiosity, creativity, and imagination became now focused on mastering the guitar technique and studying classical and contemporary music. Brynner studied music under the guidance of his elder sister, Vera, who was a classically trained opera singer. After several years of arduous studies, Brynner became an accomplished guitar player and singer.[11]

In France and Switzerland

In 1933, fearing a war between China and Japan, Brynner, with sister Vera and their mother, moved to Paris.[16] There, on the 15th of June, 1935, the fourteen-year-old Brynner made his debut at the "Hermitage" cabaret in Paris, where he played his guitar and sang in the Russian and Roma languages. After initial success, he continued performing at various Parisian nightclubs, sometimes accompanying his sister, playing and singing Russian and Roma songs. At that time, Brynner was a student at a lyceum in Paris, where he studied French. His classmates and teachers were aware of his strong character, as he was often involved in fist fighting. In the summer of 1936, Brynner worked as a lifeguard at a resort beach in Le Havre. There he joined a French circus troupe, trained as a trapeze acrobat and worked with a circus troupe for several years,[19] but after sustaining a back injury he left the circus troupe owing to near-unbearable pain, causing him to take narcotics; soon Brynner developed a drug dependency. One day, while buying opium from a local dealer, Brynner met Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) and the two became lifelong friends. Cocteau introduced Brynner to Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Marcel Marceau, Jean Marais, and the bohemian milieu of Paris. The experience and connections eventually helped him in his multifaceted career of acting, directing, and producing.[11]

By 1937, Brynner's efforts to control his spinal pain with opium and other drugs eventually led to drug abuse. Seventeen-year-old Brynner became a drug addict and the family tried to help him treat the illness. He spent a year in Lausanne, Switzerland treating his drug addiction at a Swiss clinic for drug addicts and at Lausanne University Hospital under the generous patronage of his aunt Vera Dmitrievna Blagovidova-Briner, his mother's sister. His aunt Vera Dmitrievna was a physician trained at a medical school in Saint Petersburg, Russia, before the revolution, and later practiced in China and Switzerland. The year-long treatment in Switzerland, which included hypnotherapy, had a lasting effect on Brynner's health. Yul never used illicit drugs again in his life, though he became addicted to cigarette smoking which gradually deteriorated his lungs and negatively impacted his health much later in his life.[16][20][11][21]

Back in China

In 1938 Brynner's mother was diagnosed with leukemia, and the two briefly moved back to China seeking help from his father, who continued supporting them. In Harbin, Brynner's father had a lucrative trade business and lived with his second wife, actress Katerina Ivanovna Kornakova, who was a former member of the Moscow Art Theatre. Katerina Kornakova gave Brynner his first professional acting lessons by showing him scenes from her repertoire at Moscow Art Theatre, and instructing him how to respond to her lines using his voice tone and body language. During their first lessons, Katerina Kornakova demonstrated and explained to Brynner the principles of Konstantin Stanislavsky's school of acting, and the innovative ideas of Michael Chekhov, who founded his own school. Brynner was excited and impressed with the new experience, enabling him to act on a much higher level than his work as a circus acrobat. His father initially tried to prepare his son for a management position at their family business, but changed his mind after watching several acting lessons and witnessing Brynner's happiness.

Katerina Kornakova was impressed with Brynner's intellectual and physical abilities and recommended him to study acting with her former partner Michael Chekhov. Brynner took the letter of recommendation from his stepmother and also accepted money and blessings from his father. With the generous support from both his father and stepmother, Brynner became encouraged and confident in his future success as an actor. At the same time, Brynner's mother's illness progressed and required special medical treatment that was only possible in the United States, so Brynner took his mother on a long trip across the world.[16][11]

In America

 
Brynner's 1943 photo upon immigrating to the United States

In 1940, speaking little English, Brynner and his mother immigrated to the United States aboard the President Cleveland, departing from Kobe, Japan, arriving in San Francisco on October 25, 1940. His final destination was New York City, where his sister already lived.[22][6][16] Vera, a singer, starred in The Consul on Broadway in 1950[23] and appeared on television in the title role of Carmen. She later taught voice in New York.[24]

During World War II Brynner worked as a French-speaking radio announcer and commentator for the US Office of War Information, broadcasting to occupied France. He also worked for the Voice of America, broadcasting in Russian to the Soviet Union during WWII.[25] At the same time, during the war years, he studied acting in Connecticut with the Russian actor Michael Chekhov, and also worked as a truck driver and stage hand for Michael Chekhov's theatre company. Brynner was introduced to Michael Chekhov on the recommendation from his father's second wife, actress Katerina Ivanovna Kornakova who was a former acting partner of Chekhov at the Moscow Art Theatre.[26]

By the time he turned 21, Brynner had already made several international journeys around the world traveling between Asia, Europe, and America. Such extensive traveling contributed to his exposure to a variety of cultural experiences and enriched his creativity.

In 1941, Brynner performed as a singer and guitar player at the "Blue Angel" club in New York. There he met and fell in love with Marlene Dietrich. She was 40, Brynner was 21; it was a mutually beneficial relationship,[clarification needed] and the two became lifelong friends.[26]

Career

1940s

In 1941, Brynner made his stage debut in Broadway production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night that premiered on the 2nd of December 1941. In it, Brynner appeared as Fabian and delivered only a few lines in his broken English with a noticeable Russian accent. The job helped to start adding English to the list of languages he spoke, which included French, Japanese, Hungarian, and some Russian.[27] The show was soon closed, as were many other Broadway productions, after the attack on Pearl Harbor as America declared war on Japan and Nazi Germany. Soon Brynner found a job as a radio commentator delivering war propaganda in French and Russian at the Voice of America radio station. He had little acting work during the next few years[16] but among other acting stints he co-starred in a 1946 production of Lute Song with Mary Martin. He also did some modeling work and was photographed nude by George Platt Lynes.[28][26]

 
Yul Brynner as drug dealer Paul Vicola, a supporting role in Port of New York (1949)

Brynner's first marriage was to actress Virginia Gilmore in 1944, and soon after he began working as a director at the new CBS television studios. In 1948 and 1949, he directed and also appeared on television alongside his wife in the first two seasons of Studio One and also appeared in other shows.

Brynner made his film debut in Port of New York, released in November 1949.[29]

1950s

The King and I

The next year, at the urging of Martin, Brynner auditioned for Rodgers and Hammerstein's new musical in New York. He recalled that, as he was finding success as a director on television, he was reluctant to go back on the stage. Once he read the script, however, he was fascinated by the character of the King and was eager to perform in the project.[30]

 
Brynner with Gertrude Lawrence in the original production of The King and I (1951)

Brynner's role as King Mongkut in The King and I (4,625 times on stage) became his best-known role. He appeared in the original 1951 production and later touring productions as well as a 1977 Broadway revival, a London production in 1979 and another Broadway revival in 1985. He won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for the first of these Broadway productions and a special Tony for the last.[31] He reprised the role in the 1956 film version, for which he won an Academy Award as Best Actor and in Anna and the King, a short-lived TV version on CBS in 1972. Brynner is one of only ten people who have won both a Tony and an Academy Award for the same role.[32]

In 1951 Brynner shaved his head for his role in The King and I.[33][34] Following the huge success of the Broadway production and subsequent film Brynner continued to shave his head for the rest of his life, though he wore a wig for certain roles. Brynner's shaven head was unusual at the time and his striking appearance helped to give him an exotic appeal.[35] Some fans shaved off their hair to imitate him,[36] and a shaven head was often referred to as the "Yul Brynner look".[37][38][39]

Brynner's second motion picture was the film version of The King and I (1956) with Deborah Kerr. It was a huge success critically and commercially.[40]

 
Brynner as Ramesses II in The Ten Commandments (1956)

Cecil B. de Mille hired Brynner for The Ten Commandments (1956) to play Ramesses II opposite Charlton Heston after seeing him in the stage version of The King and I, telling Brynner backstage that he was the only person for the role.[41] He rounded out his year with Anastasia (1956), co-starring with Ingrid Bergman under the direction of Anatole Litvak. Both films were big hits and Brynner became one of the most in-demand stars in Hollywood.[citation needed]

MGM cast Brynner as one of The Brothers Karamazov (1958), which was another commercial success. Less so was The Buccaneer (1958), in which Brynner played Jean Lafitte; he co-starred with Heston and the film was produced by De Mille and directed by Anthony Quinn.

MGM used Brynner again in The Journey (1959), opposite Kerr under the direction of Litvak, but the film lost money. So too did The Sound and the Fury (1959) based on the novel by William Faulkner with Joanne Woodward.

However, Brynner then received an offer to replace Tyrone Power, who had died during the making of Solomon and Sheba (1959) with Gina Lollobrigida. The movie was a huge hit, which postponed the development of a planned Brynner film about Spartacus. When the Kirk Douglas film Spartacus (1960) came out, Brynner elected not to make his own version.[42]

1960s

Brynner tried comedy with two films directed by Stanley Donen: Once More, with Feeling! (1960) and Surprise Package (1960), but public response was underwhelming. He made a cameo in Testament of Orpheus.[43]

 

Although the public received him well in The Magnificent Seven (1960), a Western adaptation of Seven Samurai for The Mirisch Company, the picture proved a disappointment on its initial release in the U.S. However, it was hugely popular in Europe and has had enduring popularity. Its ultimate success led to Brynner's signing a three-picture deal with the Mirisches.[44] The film was especially popular in the Soviet Union, where it sold 67 million tickets.[45] He then made a cameo in Goodbye Again (1961).

Brynner focused on action films. He did Escape from Zahrain (1962), with Ronald Neame as director, and Taras Bulba (1962), with Tony Curtis for J. Lee Thompson. Both films were commercial disappointments; Taras Bulba was popular but failed to recoup its large cost.

The first film under Brynner's three-picture deal with Mirisch was Flight from Ashiya (1963) with George Chakiris. It was followed by Kings of the Sun (1963), also with Chakiris, directed by Thompson. Neither film was particularly popular; nor was Invitation to a Gunfighter (1964), a western. Morituri (1965), opposite Marlon Brando, failed to reverse the series of unsuccessful movies. He had cameos in Cast a Giant Shadow (1966) and The Poppy Is Also a Flower (1966).[2]

Brynner enjoyed a hit with Return of the Seven (1966), reprising his role from the original. Less popular were Triple Cross (1966), a war movie with Christopher Plummer; The Double Man (1967), a spy thriller; The Long Duel (1967), an Imperial adventure tale opposite Trevor Howard; Villa Rides (1968), a Western; and The File of the Golden Goose (1969).[2]

 
Brynner at the premiere of Battle of Neretva in Sarajevo on November 29, 1969[46]

Brynner went to Yugoslavia to star in a war film, Battle of Neretva (1969). He supported Katharine Hepburn in the big-budget flop The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969). Brynner appeared in drag (as a torch singer) in an unbilled role in the Peter Sellers comedy The Magic Christian (1969).[47]

Later career

Brynner went to Italy to make a Spaghetti Western, Adiós, Sabata (1970) and supported Kirk Douglas in The Light at the Edge of the World (1971). He remained in lead roles for Romance of a Horsethief (1971) and a Western Catlow (1971).[2]

Brynner had a small role in Fuzz (1972)[2] then reprised his most famous part in the TV series Anna and the King (1972) which ran for 13 episodes.

After Night Flight from Moscow (1973) in Europe, Brynner created one of his iconic roles in the cult hit film Westworld (1973) as the 'Gunslinger', a killer robot. His next two films were variations on this performance: The Ultimate Warrior (1975) and Futureworld (1976).[2]

Brynner returned to Broadway in Home Sweet Homer, a notorious flop musical. His final movie was Death Rage (1976), an Italian action film.

Personal life

Although Brynner had become a naturalized U.S. citizen, aged 22, in 1943, while living in New York as an actor and radio announcer,[6] he renounced his US citizenship at the U.S. Embassy in Bern, Switzerland, in June 1965 because he had lost his tax exemption as an American resident working abroad. He had stayed too long in the United States meaning he would be bankrupted by his tax and penalty debts imposed by the Internal Revenue Service.[48]

In 2006, Rock Brynner, son of YUL, wrote a book about his father and his family history titled Empire and Odyssey: The Brynners in Far East Russia and Beyond. He regularly returned to Vladivostok, the city of his father's birth, for the "Pacific Meridian" Film Festival.

Health

In September 1983, Brynner suffered a sore throat, his voice changed and doctors found a lump on his vocal cords. In Los Angeles, only hours before his 4,000th performance in The King and I, he received the test results indicating that he had inoperable lung cancer while his throat was not affected. Brynner had begun smoking heavily at age 12. Although he had quit in 1971, his promotional photos often still showed him with a cigarette in hand, or a cigar in his mouth. He and the national tour of the musical were forced to take a few months off while he underwent radiation therapy which produced a side effect that damaged his throat and made it impossible for him to sing or speak easily.[16] The tour then resumed.[49][50]

In January 1985, the tour reached New York for a farewell Broadway run. Aware he was dying, Brynner gave an interview on Good Morning America discussing the dangers of smoking and expressing his desire to make an anti-smoking commercial. The Broadway production of The King and I ran from January 7 to June 30 of that year, with Mary Beth Peil as Anna. His last performance, a few months before his death, marked the 4,625th time he had played the role of the King.

Other interests

In addition to his work as a director and performer, Brynner was an active photographer and wrote two books. His daughter Victoria put together Yul Brynner: Photographer (ISBN 0-8109-3144-3), a collection of his photographs of family, friends, and fellow actors, as well as those he took while serving as a UN special consultant on refugees.[51][52][53]

Brynner wrote Bring Forth the Children: A Journey to the Forgotten People of Europe and the Middle East (1960), with photographs by himself and Magnum photographer Inge Morath, and The Yul Brynner Cookbook: Food Fit for the King and You (1983 ISBN 0-8128-2882-8).

He was also an accomplished guitarist and singer. In his early period in Europe, he often played and sang gypsy songs in Parisian nightclubs with Aliosha Dimitrievitch. He sang some of those same songs in the film The Brothers Karamazov.[citation needed] In 1967, Dimitrievitch and he released a record album The Gypsy and I: Yul Brynner Sings Gypsy Songs (Vanguard VSD 79265).

Relationships and marriages

 
Brynner and Virginia Gilmore in 1944

Brynner married four times, his first three marriages ending in divorce. He fathered three children and adopted two. His first wife (1944–1960) was actress Virginia Gilmore with whom he had one child, Yul "Rock" Brynner (born December 23, 1946). He was nicknamed "Rock" when he was six years old in honor of boxer Rocky Graziano. He is a historian, novelist, and university history lecturer at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York and Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, Connecticut.

Yul Brynner had a long affair with Marlene Dietrich, who was 19 years his senior, beginning during the first production of The King and I.[54]

 
Brynner in 1959

In 1959, Brynner fathered a daughter, Lark Brynner, with Frankie Tilden, who was 20 years old. Lark lived with her mother and Brynner supported her financially. His second wife, from 1960 to 1967, Doris Kleiner is a Chilean model whom he married on the set during shooting of The Magnificent Seven in 1960. They had one child, Victoria Brynner (born November 1962), whose godmother was Audrey Hepburn.[55] Belgian novelist and artist Monique Watteau was also romantically linked with Brynner, from 1961 to 1967.[56] In 1969, it was rumored that Roman Polanski made an adult video /"threesome" with Sharon Tate and Brynner[citation needed].

His third wife (1971–1981), Jacqueline Simone Thion de la Chaume (1932–2013), a French socialite, was the widow of Philippe de Croisset (son of French playwright Francis de Croisset and a publishing executive). Brynner and Jacqueline adopted two Vietnamese children: Mia (1974) and Melody (1975). The first house Brynner owned was the Manoir de Criquebœuf, a 16th-century manor house in northwestern France that Jacqueline and he purchased.[48] His third marriage broke up, reportedly owing to his 1980 announcement that he would continue in the role of the King for another long tour and Broadway run, as well as his affairs with female fans and his neglect of his wife and children.[57]

On April 4, 1983, aged 62, Brynner married his fourth and final wife, Kathy Lee (born 1957), a 26-year-old ballerina from Ipoh, Malaysia, whom he had met in a production of The King and I. They remained married for the last two years of his life. His longtime close friends Meredith A. Disney and her sons Charles Elias Disney and Daniel H. Disney attended Brynner and Lee's final performances of The King and I.[58]

Death

Brynner died of lung cancer on October 10, 1985, at New York Hospital at the age of 65.[59][60] Brynner was cremated and his ashes were buried in the grounds of the Saint-Michel-de-Bois-Aubry Orthodox monastery, near Luzé, between Tours and Poitiers in France.[61]

Anti-smoking campaign

Prior to his death, with the help of the American Cancer Society, Brynner created a public service announcement using a clip from the Good Morning America interview. A few days after his death, it premiered on all major US television networks and in other countries.

Brynner used the announcement to express his desire to make an anti-smoking commercial after discovering he had cancer, and his death was imminent. He then looked directly into the camera for 30 seconds and said, "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." His year of birth, in one version of the commercial, was incorrectly given as 1915.[62]

Legacy

In Russia

 
Statue of Brynner in front of his birthplace in Vladivostok

On September 28, 2012, a 2.4-m-tall statue was inaugurated at Yul Brynner Park, in front of the home where Brynner was born at Aleutskaya St. No. 15 in Vladivostok, Russia. Created by local sculptor Alexei Bokiy, the monument was carved in granite monolith that was acquired in China and delivered to Vladivostok, Russia. The grounds for the park were donated by the city of Vladivostok, which also paid additional costs. Vladivostok Mayor Igor Pushkariov, US Consul General Sylvia Curran, and Brynner's son, Rock, participated in the ceremony, along with hundreds of local residents.

The Briner family cottage in suburban Vladivostok is now a Yul Brynner museum.[63]

In the U.S.

In 1956, Brynner imprinted his hands and feet into the concrete pavement in front of the Graumann's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California. In 1960, Brynner was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6162 Hollywood Boulevard.

In France

Brynner spent many years living, studying, and working in France, and his last will stated his wish to be buried there. His resting place at fr:Abbaye royale Saint-Michel de Bois-Aubry has a memorial mention dedicated to him.

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1949 Port of New York Paul Vicola
1956 The King and I King Mongkut of Siam Academy Award for Best Actor
National Board of Review Award for Best Actor (also for Anastasia and The Ten Commandments)
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated—New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
The Ten Commandments Ramesses National Board of Review Award for Best Actor (also for The King and I and Anastasia)
Anastasia General Sergei Pavlovich Bounine National Board of Review Award for Best Actor (also for The King and I and The Ten Commandments)
1958 The Brothers Karamazov Dmitri Karamazov
The Buccaneer Jean Lafitte
1959 The Journey Russian Major Surov
The Sound and the Fury Jason Compson
Solomon and Sheba Solomon
1960 Once More, with Feeling! Victor Fabian
Testament of Orpheus L'huissier / Court usher Uncredited
Surprise Package Nico March
The Magnificent Seven Chris Larabee Adams Nominated—Laurel Award for Top Action Performance
1961 Goodbye Again Extra in nightclub scene Uncredited
1962 Escape from Zahrain Sharif
Taras Bulba Taras Bulba
1963 Kings of the Sun Chief Black Eagle
1964 Flight from Ashiya Sgt. Mike Takashima
Invitation to a Gunfighter Jules Gaspard d'Estaing
1965 Morituri Captain Mueller
1966 Cast a Giant Shadow Asher Gonen
The Poppy Is Also a Flower Colonel Salem (also titled Danger Grows Wild)
Return of the Seven Chris Adams
Triple Cross Baron Von Grunen
1967 The Double Man Dan Slater / Kalmer
The Long Duel Sultan
1968 Villa Rides Pancho Villa
1969 The File of the Golden Goose Peter Novak
Battle of Neretva Vlado (Vladimir Smirnov)
The Madwoman of Chaillot The chairman
The Magic Christian Transvestite Cabaret Singer Uncredited
1970 Adiós, Sabata Sabata / Indio Black
1971 The Light at the Edge of the World Jonathan Kongre
Romance of a Horsethief Captain Stoloff
Catlow Catlow
1972 Fuzz The Deaf Man
1972 Anna and the King King Mongkut of Siam TV series, 13 episodes
1973 Night Flight from Moscow Col. Alexei Vlassov
Westworld The Gunslinger
1975 The Ultimate Warrior Carson
1976 Futureworld The Gunslinger
Death Rage Peter Marciani

Short subjects:

  • On Location with Westworld (1973)
  • Lost to the Revolution (1980) (narrator)

Box office ranking

 
Yul Brynner star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6162 Hollywood Boulevard

At the height of his career, Brynner was voted by exhibitors as among the most popular stars at the box office:

  • 1956 – 21st (US)
  • 1957 – 10th (US), 10th (UK)
  • 1958 – 8th (US)
  • 1959 – 24th (US)
  • 1960 – 23rd (US)

Select stage work

  • Twelfth Night (1941) (Broadway)
  • Lute Song (1946) (Broadway and US national tour)
  • The King and I (1951) (Broadway and US national tour)
  • Home Sweet Homer (1976) (Broadway)
  • The King and I (1977) (Broadway, London and US national tour)
  • The King and I (1985) (Broadway)

Awards

References

  1. ^ Obituary Variety, October 16, 1985.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Yul Brynner Filmography" tcm.com, retrieved May 30, 2019
  3. ^ "Yul Brynner: A Photographic Journey". yulbrynnerphotographer.com. Retrieved April 21, 2018.
  4. ^ "Yul Brynner's books". Goodreads. Retrieved April 21, 2018.
  5. ^ a b Record of Yul Brynner, #108-18-2984. Social Security Administration. Born in 1920 according to the Social Security Death Index (although some sources indicate the year was 1915) November 27, 2012, at the Wayback Machine Provo, Utah: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2006.
    In his biography of his father, Rock Yul Brynner, he asserts that he was born in the later year (1920).
  6. ^ a b c d United States Declaration of Intent (Document No. 541593), Record Group 21: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685–2004, filed June 4, 1943
  7. ^ "Famous Gypsies". www.imninalu.net.
  8. ^ "Yul Brynner Biography". bio. Retrieved October 19, 2016.
  9. ^ a b Hancock, Ian (1971). "The acquisition of English by American Romani children". WORD. Taylor & Francis. 27 (1–3): 353–362. doi:10.1080/00437956.1971.11435631. There are many such individuals (ie, who have Romani ancestry but who are ignorant, at least at first hand, of their language and culture)-Yul Brynner and Ava Gardner are two well-known examples.
  10. ^ Klímová-Alexander, Ilona (2007). "The Development and Institutionalization of Romani Representation and Administration. Part 3b: From National Organizations to International Umbrellas (1945–1970)—the International Level". Nationalities Papers. Cambridge University Press. 35 (4): 627–661. doi:10.1080/00905990701475079. S2CID 154810008. Yul Brynner (the half-Romani Hollywood star)
  11. ^ a b c d e f g Yul Brynner and the Bryners family history
  12. ^ . Archived from the original on August 22, 2009.
  13. ^ "Bryner, Vera (d.1967)," encyclopedia.com. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
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  22. ^ "FamilySearch.org". FamilySearch.
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  44. ^ "Looking at Hollywood: Yul Brynner, Mirisch Co. Ink 12 Million Dollar Pact" Hopper, Hedda. Chicago Daily Tribune July 6, 1961: c8.
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Further reading

  • Capua, Michelangelo (2006). Yul Brynner: A Biography. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-2461-3.

External links

brynner, brynner, redirects, here, other, uses, brynner, disambiguation, brenner, redirects, here, fictional, jamaican, bobsledder, cool, runnings, yuliy, borisovich, briner, russian, Юлий, Борисович, Бринер, july, 1920, october, 1985, known, professionally, a. Brynner redirects here For other uses see Brynner disambiguation Yul Brenner redirects here For the fictional Jamaican bobsledder see Cool Runnings Yuliy Borisovich Briner Russian Yulij Borisovich Briner July 11 1920 October 10 1985 known professionally as Yul Brynner was an American actor He was best known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in the Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musical The King and I for which he won two Tony Awards and later an Academy Award for Best Actor for the film adaptation He played the role 4 625 times on stage and became known for his shaved head which he maintained as a personal trademark long after adopting it for The King and I Considered one of the first Russian American film stars 1 he was honored with a ceremony to put his handprints in front of Grauman s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood in 1956 and also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 Yul BrynnerYul BrinerBrynner in 1960BornYuliy Borisovich Briner 1920 07 11 July 11 1920Vladivostok Far Eastern Republic now Primorsky Krai Russia DiedOctober 10 1985 1985 10 10 aged 65 New York City U S Resting placeSaint Michel de Bois Aubry Russian Orthodox Monastery near Luze France CitizenshipFar Eastern Republic 1920 1922 Soviet Union 1922 1943 United States 1943 1965 Switzerland 1965 1985 OccupationActorYears active1941 1985SpousesVirginia Gilmore m 1944 div 1960 wbr Doris Kleiner m 1960 div 1967 wbr Jacqueline Thion de la Chaume m 1971 div 1981 wbr Kathy Lee m 1983 wbr Children5AwardsAcademy Award for Best Actor1956 The King and INational Board of Review Award for Best Actor1956 The King and I1956 The Ten Commandments1956 AnastasiaTony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical1952 The King and I and one Special Tony 1985 In 1956 Brynner received the National Board of Review Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Rameses II in the Cecil B DeMille epic The Ten Commandments and General Bounine in Anastasia He was also well known as the gunman Chris Adams in The Magnificent Seven 1960 and its first sequel Return of the Seven 1966 along with roles as the android The Gunslinger in Westworld 1973 and its sequel Futureworld 1976 2 In addition to his film credits he also worked as a model and photographer and was the author of several books 3 4 Contents 1 Early life in Russia 2 In China 3 In France and Switzerland 4 Back in China 5 In America 6 Career 6 1 1940s 6 2 1950s 6 2 1 The King and I 6 3 1960s 7 Later career 8 Personal life 8 1 Health 8 2 Other interests 8 3 Relationships and marriages 9 Death 9 1 Anti smoking campaign 10 Legacy 10 1 In Russia 10 2 In the U S 10 3 In France 11 Filmography 11 1 Box office ranking 12 Select stage work 13 Awards 14 References 15 Further reading 16 External linksEarly life in Russia Edit The Briner family mansion in Vladivostok Russia where Yul Brynner was born and lived from 1920 to 1927 Yul Brynner was born Yuliy Borisovich Briner on July 11 1920 5 6 7 in the city of Vladivostok 8 He had Swiss German Russian Buryat Mongol and purported Romani ancestry 9 10 He was born at his parents home a four story house on 15 Aleutskaya Street Vladivostok into a wealthy Swiss Russian family of landowners and silver mining developers in Siberia and the Far East At the time the territory was controlled by the Far Eastern Republic and Vladivostok was partially under Japanese control The Briner family enjoyed a good life at their four story mansion In October 1922 the Red Army occupied Vladivostok and most of the Briner family s wealth was confiscated and nationalized at the end of the Russian Civil War The Briners were stripped of home ownership but the family including an elder sister Vera continued living in their house under a temporary status 11 12 13 14 Later in his life Brynner humorously enjoyed telling tall tales and exaggerating his background and early life for the press claiming that he was born Taidje Khan of a Mongol father and Roma mother on the Russian island of Sakhalin 15 He occasionally referred to himself as Julius Briner 5 Jules Bryner or Youl Bryner 6 The 1989 biography by his son Rock Brynner clarified some of these issues 15 Brynner s father Boris Yuliyevich Briner was a mining engineer and inventor of Swiss German and Russian descent who graduated from Mining University in Saint Petersburg in 1910 The actor s grandfather Jules Briner was a Swiss citizen who moved to Vladivostok in the 1870s and established a successful import export company 16 Brynner s paternal grandmother Natalya Yosifovna Kurkutova was a native of Irkutsk and a Eurasian of partial Buryat ancestry Brynner s mother Marousia Dimitrievna nee Blagovidova hailed from the Russian intelligentsia and studied to be an actress and singer she was allegedly of Russian Romani ancestry 9 Brynner felt a strong personal connection to the Romani people and in 1977 he was named honorary president of the International Romani Union a title that he kept until his death 17 18 In 1922 after the formation of the Soviet Union Yul s father Boris Briner was required to relinquish his Swiss citizenship and all family members were made Soviet citizens Brynner s father s work required extensive travel and in 1923 in Moscow he fell in love with a beautiful actress Katerina Ivanovna Kornakova who was the ex wife of actor Aleksei Dikiy and stage partner of Michael Chekhov at the Moscow Art Theatre Many years later Katerina Kornakova would help Brynner with her letter of recommendation asking Michael Chekhov to employ him in his theatre company in America In 1924 Yul s father divorced his mother and continued to support her and his children His father also adopted a girl because his new wife was childless and many years later after the death of his father Brynner would take his adopted sister into his care The father and son relationship remained complex and emotionally traumatic for Brynner After leaving his son and daughter with their mother in Vladivostok Boris Briner and Katerina Ivanovna Kornakova briefly lived in Moscow but eventually they moved to Harbin Manchuria which at that time remained under Japanese control There the family established business in international trade 11 14 In China EditIn 1927 Brynner with his mother and his elder sister Vera January 17 1916 December 13 1967 emigrated from Vladivostok Russia to Harbin China There young Yul and his sister Vera attended a school run by the YMCA 11 14 In 1930 Brynner s father gave him an important birthday present an acoustic guitar That guitar and the following music lessons made a lasting influence on Brynner s artistic development His natural curiosity creativity and imagination became now focused on mastering the guitar technique and studying classical and contemporary music Brynner studied music under the guidance of his elder sister Vera who was a classically trained opera singer After several years of arduous studies Brynner became an accomplished guitar player and singer 11 In France and Switzerland EditIn 1933 fearing a war between China and Japan Brynner with sister Vera and their mother moved to Paris 16 There on the 15th of June 1935 the fourteen year old Brynner made his debut at the Hermitage cabaret in Paris where he played his guitar and sang in the Russian and Roma languages After initial success he continued performing at various Parisian nightclubs sometimes accompanying his sister playing and singing Russian and Roma songs At that time Brynner was a student at a lyceum in Paris where he studied French His classmates and teachers were aware of his strong character as he was often involved in fist fighting In the summer of 1936 Brynner worked as a lifeguard at a resort beach in Le Havre There he joined a French circus troupe trained as a trapeze acrobat and worked with a circus troupe for several years 19 but after sustaining a back injury he left the circus troupe owing to near unbearable pain causing him to take narcotics soon Brynner developed a drug dependency One day while buying opium from a local dealer Brynner met Jean Cocteau 1889 1963 and the two became lifelong friends Cocteau introduced Brynner to Pablo Picasso Salvador Dali Marcel Marceau Jean Marais and the bohemian milieu of Paris The experience and connections eventually helped him in his multifaceted career of acting directing and producing 11 By 1937 Brynner s efforts to control his spinal pain with opium and other drugs eventually led to drug abuse Seventeen year old Brynner became a drug addict and the family tried to help him treat the illness He spent a year in Lausanne Switzerland treating his drug addiction at a Swiss clinic for drug addicts and at Lausanne University Hospital under the generous patronage of his aunt Vera Dmitrievna Blagovidova Briner his mother s sister His aunt Vera Dmitrievna was a physician trained at a medical school in Saint Petersburg Russia before the revolution and later practiced in China and Switzerland The year long treatment in Switzerland which included hypnotherapy had a lasting effect on Brynner s health Yul never used illicit drugs again in his life though he became addicted to cigarette smoking which gradually deteriorated his lungs and negatively impacted his health much later in his life 16 20 11 21 Back in China EditIn 1938 Brynner s mother was diagnosed with leukemia and the two briefly moved back to China seeking help from his father who continued supporting them In Harbin Brynner s father had a lucrative trade business and lived with his second wife actress Katerina Ivanovna Kornakova who was a former member of the Moscow Art Theatre Katerina Kornakova gave Brynner his first professional acting lessons by showing him scenes from her repertoire at Moscow Art Theatre and instructing him how to respond to her lines using his voice tone and body language During their first lessons Katerina Kornakova demonstrated and explained to Brynner the principles of Konstantin Stanislavsky s school of acting and the innovative ideas of Michael Chekhov who founded his own school Brynner was excited and impressed with the new experience enabling him to act on a much higher level than his work as a circus acrobat His father initially tried to prepare his son for a management position at their family business but changed his mind after watching several acting lessons and witnessing Brynner s happiness Katerina Kornakova was impressed with Brynner s intellectual and physical abilities and recommended him to study acting with her former partner Michael Chekhov Brynner took the letter of recommendation from his stepmother and also accepted money and blessings from his father With the generous support from both his father and stepmother Brynner became encouraged and confident in his future success as an actor At the same time Brynner s mother s illness progressed and required special medical treatment that was only possible in the United States so Brynner took his mother on a long trip across the world 16 11 In America Edit Brynner s 1943 photo upon immigrating to the United States In 1940 speaking little English Brynner and his mother immigrated to the United States aboard the President Cleveland departing from Kobe Japan arriving in San Francisco on October 25 1940 His final destination was New York City where his sister already lived 22 6 16 Vera a singer starred in The Consul on Broadway in 1950 23 and appeared on television in the title role of Carmen She later taught voice in New York 24 During World War II Brynner worked as a French speaking radio announcer and commentator for the US Office of War Information broadcasting to occupied France He also worked for the Voice of America broadcasting in Russian to the Soviet Union during WWII 25 At the same time during the war years he studied acting in Connecticut with the Russian actor Michael Chekhov and also worked as a truck driver and stage hand for Michael Chekhov s theatre company Brynner was introduced to Michael Chekhov on the recommendation from his father s second wife actress Katerina Ivanovna Kornakova who was a former acting partner of Chekhov at the Moscow Art Theatre 26 By the time he turned 21 Brynner had already made several international journeys around the world traveling between Asia Europe and America Such extensive traveling contributed to his exposure to a variety of cultural experiences and enriched his creativity In 1941 Brynner performed as a singer and guitar player at the Blue Angel club in New York There he met and fell in love with Marlene Dietrich She was 40 Brynner was 21 it was a mutually beneficial relationship clarification needed and the two became lifelong friends 26 Career Edit1940s Edit In 1941 Brynner made his stage debut in Broadway production of Shakespeare s Twelfth Night that premiered on the 2nd of December 1941 In it Brynner appeared as Fabian and delivered only a few lines in his broken English with a noticeable Russian accent The job helped to start adding English to the list of languages he spoke which included French Japanese Hungarian and some Russian 27 The show was soon closed as were many other Broadway productions after the attack on Pearl Harbor as America declared war on Japan and Nazi Germany Soon Brynner found a job as a radio commentator delivering war propaganda in French and Russian at the Voice of America radio station He had little acting work during the next few years 16 but among other acting stints he co starred in a 1946 production of Lute Song with Mary Martin He also did some modeling work and was photographed nude by George Platt Lynes 28 26 Yul Brynner as drug dealer Paul Vicola a supporting role in Port of New York 1949 Brynner s first marriage was to actress Virginia Gilmore in 1944 and soon after he began working as a director at the new CBS television studios In 1948 and 1949 he directed and also appeared on television alongside his wife in the first two seasons of Studio One and also appeared in other shows Brynner made his film debut in Port of New York released in November 1949 29 1950s Edit The King and I Edit The next year at the urging of Martin Brynner auditioned for Rodgers and Hammerstein s new musical in New York He recalled that as he was finding success as a director on television he was reluctant to go back on the stage Once he read the script however he was fascinated by the character of the King and was eager to perform in the project 30 Brynner with Gertrude Lawrence in the original production of The King and I 1951 Brynner s role as King Mongkut in The King and I 4 625 times on stage became his best known role He appeared in the original 1951 production and later touring productions as well as a 1977 Broadway revival a London production in 1979 and another Broadway revival in 1985 He won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for the first of these Broadway productions and a special Tony for the last 31 He reprised the role in the 1956 film version for which he won an Academy Award as Best Actor and in Anna and the King a short lived TV version on CBS in 1972 Brynner is one of only ten people who have won both a Tony and an Academy Award for the same role 32 In 1951 Brynner shaved his head for his role in The King and I 33 34 Following the huge success of the Broadway production and subsequent film Brynner continued to shave his head for the rest of his life though he wore a wig for certain roles Brynner s shaven head was unusual at the time and his striking appearance helped to give him an exotic appeal 35 Some fans shaved off their hair to imitate him 36 and a shaven head was often referred to as the Yul Brynner look 37 38 39 Brynner s second motion picture was the film version of The King and I 1956 with Deborah Kerr It was a huge success critically and commercially 40 Brynner as Ramesses II in The Ten Commandments 1956 Cecil B de Mille hired Brynner for The Ten Commandments 1956 to play Ramesses II opposite Charlton Heston after seeing him in the stage version of The King and I telling Brynner backstage that he was the only person for the role 41 He rounded out his year with Anastasia 1956 co starring with Ingrid Bergman under the direction of Anatole Litvak Both films were big hits and Brynner became one of the most in demand stars in Hollywood citation needed MGM cast Brynner as one of The Brothers Karamazov 1958 which was another commercial success Less so was The Buccaneer 1958 in which Brynner played Jean Lafitte he co starred with Heston and the film was produced by De Mille and directed by Anthony Quinn MGM used Brynner again in The Journey 1959 opposite Kerr under the direction of Litvak but the film lost money So too did The Sound and the Fury 1959 based on the novel by William Faulkner with Joanne Woodward However Brynner then received an offer to replace Tyrone Power who had died during the making of Solomon and Sheba 1959 with Gina Lollobrigida The movie was a huge hit which postponed the development of a planned Brynner film about Spartacus When the Kirk Douglas film Spartacus 1960 came out Brynner elected not to make his own version 42 1960s Edit Brynner tried comedy with two films directed by Stanley Donen Once More with Feeling 1960 and Surprise Package 1960 but public response was underwhelming He made a cameo in Testament of Orpheus 43 Brynner with Rosenda Monteros in The Magnificent Seven 1960 Although the public received him well in The Magnificent Seven 1960 a Western adaptation of Seven Samurai for The Mirisch Company the picture proved a disappointment on its initial release in the U S However it was hugely popular in Europe and has had enduring popularity Its ultimate success led to Brynner s signing a three picture deal with the Mirisches 44 The film was especially popular in the Soviet Union where it sold 67 million tickets 45 He then made a cameo in Goodbye Again 1961 Brynner focused on action films He did Escape from Zahrain 1962 with Ronald Neame as director and Taras Bulba 1962 with Tony Curtis for J Lee Thompson Both films were commercial disappointments Taras Bulba was popular but failed to recoup its large cost The first film under Brynner s three picture deal with Mirisch was Flight from Ashiya 1963 with George Chakiris It was followed by Kings of the Sun 1963 also with Chakiris directed by Thompson Neither film was particularly popular nor was Invitation to a Gunfighter 1964 a western Morituri 1965 opposite Marlon Brando failed to reverse the series of unsuccessful movies He had cameos in Cast a Giant Shadow 1966 and The Poppy Is Also a Flower 1966 2 Brynner enjoyed a hit with Return of the Seven 1966 reprising his role from the original Less popular were Triple Cross 1966 a war movie with Christopher Plummer The Double Man 1967 a spy thriller The Long Duel 1967 an Imperial adventure tale opposite Trevor Howard Villa Rides 1968 a Western and The File of the Golden Goose 1969 2 Brynner at the premiere of Battle of Neretva in Sarajevo on November 29 1969 46 Brynner went to Yugoslavia to star in a war film Battle of Neretva 1969 He supported Katharine Hepburn in the big budget flop The Madwoman of Chaillot 1969 Brynner appeared in drag as a torch singer in an unbilled role in the Peter Sellers comedy The Magic Christian 1969 47 Later career EditBrynner went to Italy to make a Spaghetti Western Adios Sabata 1970 and supported Kirk Douglas in The Light at the Edge of the World 1971 He remained in lead roles for Romance of a Horsethief 1971 and a Western Catlow 1971 2 Brynner had a small role in Fuzz 1972 2 then reprised his most famous part in the TV series Anna and the King 1972 which ran for 13 episodes After Night Flight from Moscow 1973 in Europe Brynner created one of his iconic roles in the cult hit film Westworld 1973 as the Gunslinger a killer robot His next two films were variations on this performance The Ultimate Warrior 1975 and Futureworld 1976 2 Brynner returned to Broadway in Home Sweet Homer a notorious flop musical His final movie was Death Rage 1976 an Italian action film Personal life EditAlthough Brynner had become a naturalized U S citizen aged 22 in 1943 while living in New York as an actor and radio announcer 6 he renounced his US citizenship at the U S Embassy in Bern Switzerland in June 1965 because he had lost his tax exemption as an American resident working abroad He had stayed too long in the United States meaning he would be bankrupted by his tax and penalty debts imposed by the Internal Revenue Service 48 In 2006 Rock Brynner son of YUL wrote a book about his father and his family history titled Empire and Odyssey The Brynners in Far East Russia and Beyond He regularly returned to Vladivostok the city of his father s birth for the Pacific Meridian Film Festival Health Edit In September 1983 Brynner suffered a sore throat his voice changed and doctors found a lump on his vocal cords In Los Angeles only hours before his 4 000th performance in The King and I he received the test results indicating that he had inoperable lung cancer while his throat was not affected Brynner had begun smoking heavily at age 12 Although he had quit in 1971 his promotional photos often still showed him with a cigarette in hand or a cigar in his mouth He and the national tour of the musical were forced to take a few months off while he underwent radiation therapy which produced a side effect that damaged his throat and made it impossible for him to sing or speak easily 16 The tour then resumed 49 50 In January 1985 the tour reached New York for a farewell Broadway run Aware he was dying Brynner gave an interview on Good Morning America discussing the dangers of smoking and expressing his desire to make an anti smoking commercial The Broadway production of The King and I ran from January 7 to June 30 of that year with Mary Beth Peil as Anna His last performance a few months before his death marked the 4 625th time he had played the role of the King Other interests Edit In addition to his work as a director and performer Brynner was an active photographer and wrote two books His daughter Victoria put together Yul Brynner Photographer ISBN 0 8109 3144 3 a collection of his photographs of family friends and fellow actors as well as those he took while serving as a UN special consultant on refugees 51 52 53 Brynner wrote Bring Forth the Children A Journey to the Forgotten People of Europe and the Middle East 1960 with photographs by himself and Magnum photographer Inge Morath and The Yul Brynner Cookbook Food Fit for the King and You 1983 ISBN 0 8128 2882 8 He was also an accomplished guitarist and singer In his early period in Europe he often played and sang gypsy songs in Parisian nightclubs with Aliosha Dimitrievitch He sang some of those same songs in the film The Brothers Karamazov citation needed In 1967 Dimitrievitch and he released a record album The Gypsy and I Yul Brynner Sings Gypsy Songs Vanguard VSD 79265 Relationships and marriages Edit Brynner and Virginia Gilmore in 1944 Brynner married four times his first three marriages ending in divorce He fathered three children and adopted two His first wife 1944 1960 was actress Virginia Gilmore with whom he had one child Yul Rock Brynner born December 23 1946 He was nicknamed Rock when he was six years old in honor of boxer Rocky Graziano He is a historian novelist and university history lecturer at Marist College in Poughkeepsie New York and Western Connecticut State University in Danbury Connecticut Yul Brynner had a long affair with Marlene Dietrich who was 19 years his senior beginning during the first production of The King and I 54 Brynner in 1959 In 1959 Brynner fathered a daughter Lark Brynner with Frankie Tilden who was 20 years old Lark lived with her mother and Brynner supported her financially His second wife from 1960 to 1967 Doris Kleiner is a Chilean model whom he married on the set during shooting of The Magnificent Seven in 1960 They had one child Victoria Brynner born November 1962 whose godmother was Audrey Hepburn 55 Belgian novelist and artist Monique Watteau was also romantically linked with Brynner from 1961 to 1967 56 In 1969 it was rumored that Roman Polanski made an adult video threesome with Sharon Tate and Brynner citation needed His third wife 1971 1981 Jacqueline Simone Thion de la Chaume 1932 2013 a French socialite was the widow of Philippe de Croisset son of French playwright Francis de Croisset and a publishing executive Brynner and Jacqueline adopted two Vietnamese children Mia 1974 and Melody 1975 The first house Brynner owned was the Manoir de Criquebœuf a 16th century manor house in northwestern France that Jacqueline and he purchased 48 His third marriage broke up reportedly owing to his 1980 announcement that he would continue in the role of the King for another long tour and Broadway run as well as his affairs with female fans and his neglect of his wife and children 57 On April 4 1983 aged 62 Brynner married his fourth and final wife Kathy Lee born 1957 a 26 year old ballerina from Ipoh Malaysia whom he had met in a production of The King and I They remained married for the last two years of his life His longtime close friends Meredith A Disney and her sons Charles Elias Disney and Daniel H Disney attended Brynner and Lee s final performances of The King and I 58 Death EditBrynner died of lung cancer on October 10 1985 at New York Hospital at the age of 65 59 60 Brynner was cremated and his ashes were buried in the grounds of the Saint Michel de Bois Aubry Orthodox monastery near Luze between Tours and Poitiers in France 61 Anti smoking campaign Edit Prior to his death with the help of the American Cancer Society Brynner created a public service announcement using a clip from the Good Morning America interview A few days after his death it premiered on all major US television networks and in other countries Brynner used the announcement to express his desire to make an anti smoking commercial after discovering he had cancer and his death was imminent He then looked directly into the camera for 30 seconds and said 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 His year of birth in one version of the commercial was incorrectly given as 1915 62 Legacy EditIn Russia Edit Statue of Brynner in front of his birthplace in Vladivostok On September 28 2012 a 2 4 m tall statue was inaugurated at Yul Brynner Park in front of the home where Brynner was born at Aleutskaya St No 15 in Vladivostok Russia Created by local sculptor Alexei Bokiy the monument was carved in granite monolith that was acquired in China and delivered to Vladivostok Russia The grounds for the park were donated by the city of Vladivostok which also paid additional costs Vladivostok Mayor Igor Pushkariov US Consul General Sylvia Curran and Brynner s son Rock participated in the ceremony along with hundreds of local residents The Briner family cottage in suburban Vladivostok is now a Yul Brynner museum 63 In the U S Edit In 1956 Brynner imprinted his hands and feet into the concrete pavement in front of the Graumann s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood California In 1960 Brynner was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6162 Hollywood Boulevard In France Edit Brynner spent many years living studying and working in France and his last will stated his wish to be buried there His resting place at fr Abbaye royale Saint Michel de Bois Aubry has a memorial mention dedicated to him Filmography Edit With Ingrid Bergman in Anastasia 1956 in The Brothers Karamazov 1958 With Gina Lollobrigida in Solomon and Sheba 1959 In Kings of the Sun 1963 In The Light at the Edge of the World 1971 In Anna and the King 1972 Year Title Role Notes1949 Port of New York Paul Vicola1956 The King and I King Mongkut of Siam Academy Award for Best ActorNational Board of Review Award for Best Actor also for Anastasia andThe Ten Commandments Nominated Golden Globe Award for Best Actor Motion Picture Musical or ComedyNominated New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActorThe Ten Commandments Ramesses National Board of Review Award for Best Actor also forThe King and I and Anastasia Anastasia General Sergei Pavlovich Bounine National Board of Review Award for Best Actor also forThe King and I andThe Ten Commandments 1958 The Brothers Karamazov Dmitri KaramazovThe Buccaneer Jean Lafitte1959 The Journey Russian Major SurovThe Sound and the Fury Jason CompsonSolomon and Sheba Solomon1960 Once More with Feeling Victor FabianTestament of Orpheus L huissier Court usher UncreditedSurprise Package Nico MarchThe Magnificent Seven Chris Larabee Adams Nominated Laurel Award for Top Action Performance1961 Goodbye Again Extra in nightclub scene Uncredited1962 Escape from Zahrain SharifTaras Bulba Taras Bulba1963 Kings of the Sun Chief Black Eagle1964 Flight from Ashiya Sgt Mike TakashimaInvitation to a Gunfighter Jules Gaspard d Estaing1965 Morituri Captain Mueller1966 Cast a Giant Shadow Asher GonenThe Poppy Is Also a Flower Colonel Salem also titled Danger Grows Wild Return of the Seven Chris AdamsTriple Cross Baron Von Grunen1967 The Double Man Dan Slater KalmerThe Long Duel Sultan1968 Villa Rides Pancho Villa1969 The File of the Golden Goose Peter NovakBattle of Neretva Vlado Vladimir Smirnov The Madwoman of Chaillot The chairmanThe Magic Christian Transvestite Cabaret Singer Uncredited1970 Adios Sabata Sabata Indio Black1971 The Light at the Edge of the World Jonathan KongreRomance of a Horsethief Captain StoloffCatlow Catlow1972 Fuzz The Deaf Man1972 Anna and the King King Mongkut of Siam TV series 13 episodes1973 Night Flight from Moscow Col Alexei VlassovWestworld The Gunslinger1975 The Ultimate Warrior Carson1976 Futureworld The GunslingerDeath Rage Peter MarcianiShort subjects On Location with Westworld 1973 Lost to the Revolution 1980 narrator Box office ranking Edit Yul Brynner star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6162 Hollywood Boulevard At the height of his career Brynner was voted by exhibitors as among the most popular stars at the box office 1956 21st US 1957 10th US 10th UK 1958 8th US 1959 24th US 1960 23rd US Select stage work EditTwelfth Night 1941 Broadway Lute Song 1946 Broadway and US national tour The King and I 1951 Broadway and US national tour Home Sweet Homer 1976 Broadway The King and I 1977 Broadway London and US national tour The King and I 1985 Broadway Awards EditIn 1952 he received the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of the King in The King and I In 1985 he received a special Tony Award honoring his 4625 performances in The King and I 64 He won the 1956 Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the King of Siam in the film version of The King and I 65 and made the Top 10 Stars of the Year list in both 1957 and 1958 In 1960 he was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame with a motion pictures star at 6162 Hollywood Boulevard 66 References Edit Obituary Variety October 16 1985 a b c d e f Yul Brynner Filmography tcm com retrieved May 30 2019 Yul Brynner A Photographic Journey yulbrynnerphotographer com Retrieved April 21 2018 Yul Brynner s books Goodreads Retrieved April 21 2018 a b Record of Yul Brynner 108 18 2984 Social Security Administration Born in 1920 according to the Social Security Death Index although some sources indicate the year was 1915 Archived November 27 2012 at the Wayback Machine Provo Utah MyFamily com Inc 2006 In his biography of his father Rock Yul Brynner he asserts that he was born in the later year 1920 a b c d United States Declaration of Intent Document No 541593 Record Group 21 Records of District Courts of the United States 1685 2004 filed June 4 1943 Famous Gypsies www imninalu net Yul Brynner Biography bio Retrieved October 19 2016 a b Hancock Ian 1971 The acquisition of English by American Romani children WORD Taylor amp Francis 27 1 3 353 362 doi 10 1080 00437956 1971 11435631 There are many such individuals ie who have Romani ancestry but who are ignorant at least at first hand of their language and culture Yul Brynner and Ava Gardner are two well known examples Klimova Alexander Ilona 2007 The Development and Institutionalization of Romani Representation and Administration Part 3b From National Organizations to International Umbrellas 1945 1970 the International Level Nationalities Papers Cambridge University Press 35 4 627 661 doi 10 1080 00905990701475079 S2CID 154810008 Yul Brynner the half Romani Hollywood star a b c d e f g Yul Brynner and the Bryners family history Briner Residence Archived from the original on August 22 2009 Bryner Vera d 1967 encyclopedia com Retrieved August 29 2020 a b c Russian biography of Boris Brinner the father of Yul Brynner a b Brynner Rock Yul The Man Who Would Be King Berkeley Books 1991 ISBN 0 425 12547 5 a b c d e f g Rochman Sue A King s Legacy Archived November 2 2016 at the Wayback Machine Cancer Today magazine Winter 2011 December 5 2011 Retrieved January 20 2013 Daniel C Blum 1954 Great Stars of the American Stage Grosset amp Dunlap p 137 Pankok Moritz April 12 2015 The Roma Theatre Pralipe romarchive eu Retrieved June 26 2017 Yul Brynner Interview with Bill Boggs Archived from the original on December 11 2021 via www youtube com Seiler Michael Yul Brynner Dies at 65 30 Years in King and I Los Angeles Times October 10 1985 Retrieved January 5 2013 Doctor Vera Dmitrievna Blagovidova Briner biography at briers ru FamilySearch org FamilySearch Vera Brynner at the Internet Broadway Database Retrieved January 20 2013 Voice teacher Ebony October 23 1966 via Google Books Brynner Rock Yul The Man Who Would Be King p 30 Berkeley Books 1991 ISBN 0 425 12547 5 a b c Russian biography of Yul Brynner and the Bryners family history Yul Brynner Dies at 65 30 Years in King and I Los Angeles Times October 10 1985 Retrieved August 30 2022 Leddick David George Platt Lynes New York Taschen 2000 Port of New York Notes tcm com retrieved May 30 2019 Capua pp 26 28 Winners www tonyawards com tonyawards com Yul Brynner 65 dies of cancer in N Y hospital The Baltimore Sun October 10 1985 Lost actor stars in West End s King UPI com Brynner Rock 2006 Empire amp odyssey the Brynners in Far East Russia and beyond Steerforth Press Crouse Richard 2005 Reel Winners Movie Award Trivia Dundurn p 171 Doyle Hubert 2008 Ventures with the World of Celebrities Movies amp TV ISBN 9780976867760 Douty Linda 2011 How Did I Get to Be 70 When I m 35 Inside Spiritual Surprises of Later Life ISBN 9781594732973 Yacowar Maurice 1999 The Bold Testament ISBN 9781896209319 Miller Frank The King and I tcm com retrieved May 30 2019 Yul Brynner The Ten Commandments YouTube Janson Media Archived from the original on December 11 2021 Retrieved April 2 2018 Future Still in Doubt for Power s Last Film One of 3 Coproducers Reportedly Engaged Yul Brynner Without Consulting Partners Los Angeles Times November 19 1958 p 28 Monaco James 1991 The Encyclopedia of Film Perigee Books pp 121 ISBN 9780399516047 Looking at Hollywood Yul Brynner Mirisch Co Ink 12 Million Dollar Pact Hopper Hedda Chicago Daily Tribune July 6 1961 c8 Velikolepnaya semerka The Magnificent Seven 1960 KinoPoisk in Russian Retrieved August 27 2019 Z Y November 27 2019 Fifty Years ago on This Day there were 6 000 Guests at the Opening of Skenderija Sarajevo Times Retrieved December 20 2019 Krafsur Richard P ed American Film Institute Catalog Feature Films 1961 1970 p 662 R R Bowker Company 1976 ISBN 0 8352 0453 7 a b Capua Michelangelo 2006 Yul Brynner A Biography McFarland ISBN 0 7864 2461 3 Capua pp 151 157 Rosenfeld Megan Classic King and I The Washington Post December 6 1984 p B13 Retrieved December 28 2012 subscription required King Susan Seeing World Through Eyes of Yul Brynner Photographer Los Angeles Times December 14 1996 Davies Lucy Yul Brynner a photographic journey Telegraph January 14 2012 Yul Brynner Photographer Publishers Weekly ISBN 978 0 8109 3144 2 retrieved May 30 2019 Capua chapter 5 Noel Coward Get on with living and enjoy it The Telegraph November 11 2007 Retrieved May 20 2014 Yul Brynner profile at elsur cl Archived September 30 2007 at the Wayback Machine Matthys Francis August 15 2002 Alika Lindbergh construite pour l amour fou La Libre Belgique retrieved March 14 2015 Capua p 151 tv com Yul Brynner biography A King s Legacy Cancer Today magazine Winter 2011 Archived from the original on November 2 2016 Retrieved February 26 2017 Anti smoking PSA on YouTube Abbaye Royal Saint Michel De Bois Aubry in Luze The Loire Valley a journey through France Val de Loire une balade en France Anti smoking PSA wrong birth year on YouTube Rock Brynner in the Russian Far East www rockbrynner com Retrieved April 7 2016 zas IBDb profile The 29th Academy Awards 1957 Nominees and Winners Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences AMPAS Archived from the original on April 2 2015 Retrieved December 28 2017 Hollywood Walk of Fame Yul Brynner Hollywood Walk of Fame Hollywood Chamber of Commerce Retrieved December 28 2017 Further reading EditCapua Michelangelo 2006 Yul Brynner A Biography McFarland ISBN 0 7864 2461 3 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yul Brynner Yul Brynner at the Internet Broadway Database Yul Brynner at IMDb Yul Brynner at AllMovie Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Yul Brynner amp oldid 1133443338, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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