Yul Brynner

Yul Brynner
Юл Бринер



Yul Brynner in 1972

Born: Yuliy Borisovich Briner, July 11, 1920; Vladivostok, Maritime Province, Far Eastern Republic, Russian SFSR (present-day Primorsky Krai, Far Eastern Federal District, Russian Federation)
Died: October 10, 1985 (aged 65); Manhattan, New York City
Resting place: Saint-Michel-de-Bois-Aubry Russian Orthodox Monastery (near Luzé, France)

Citizenship
Russia (later renounced)
United States (1943–65)
Switzerland (1965–85)

Yuliy Borisovich Briner; (Russian: Юлий Борисович Бринер; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985), better known as Yul Brynner, was a Russian-American actor, singer, and director, considered one of the first Russian-American film stars. He became widely 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 won an Academy Award 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.

Brynner also starred as Ramesses II in the Cecil B. DeMille epic The Ten Commandments (1956). He played General Bounine in the film Anastasia (also 1956), the gunman Chris Adams in The Magnificent Seven (1960) and its first sequel Return of the Seven, and the android "The Gunslinger" in Westworld (1973) and its sequel Futureworld (1976).

Brynner also worked as a model, television director and photographer, and was the author of several books.

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Illness

Brynner began smoking heavily at age 12, and although his promotional photos often showed him with a cigarette in hand, he quit the habit in 1971. In September 1983, he 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 while his throat was fine, he had inoperable lung cancer. He and the national tour of the musical were forced to take a few months off while he underwent radiation therapy, which hurt his throat and made it impossible for him to sing or speak easily. The tour then resumed.

In January 1985, nine months before his death, the tour reached New York for a farewell Broadway run. Aware he was dying, he 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 marked the 4,625th time he had played the role of the King. Meanwhile, Brynner and the American Cancer Society created a public service announcement using a clip from the Good Morning America interview.

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