Yul Brynner(1920-1985)
- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Exotic leading man of American films, famed as much for his completely
bald head as for his performances, Yul Brynner masked much of his life
in mystery and outright lies designed to tease people he considered
gullible. It was not until the publication of the books "Yul: The Man
Who Would Be King" and "Empire and Odyssey" by his son, Yul "Rock"
Brynner, that many of the details of Brynner's early life became clear.
Yul sometimes claimed to be a half-Swiss, half-Japanese named Taidje
Khan, born on the island of Sakhalin; in reality, he was the son of
Marousia Dimitrievna (Blagovidova), the Russian daughter of a doctor,
and Boris Yuliyevich Bryner, an engineer and inventor of Swiss-German
and Russian descent. He was born in their home town of Vladivostok on
11 July 1920 and named Yuli after his grandfather, Jules Bryner. When
Yuli's father abandoned the family, his mother took him and his sister
Vera to Harbin, Manchuria, where they attended a YMCA school. In 1934
Yuli's mother took her children to Paris. Her son was sent to the
exclusive Lycée Moncelle, but his attendance was spotty. He dropped out
and became a musician, playing guitar in the nightclubs among the
Russian gypsies who gave him his first real sense of family. He met
luminaries such as Jean Cocteau and became
an apprentice at the Theatre des Mathurins. He worked as a trapeze
artist with the famed Cirque d'Hiver company.
He traveled to the U.S.
in 1941 to study with acting teacher
Michael Chekhov and toured the country
with Chekhov's theatrical troupe. That same year, he debuted in New York
as Fabian in "Twelfth Night" (billed as Youl Bryner). After working in
a very early TV series,
Mr. Jones and His Neighbors (1944),
he played on Broadway in "Lute Song" with
Mary Martin, winning awards and mild
acclaim. He and his wife, actress
Virginia Gilmore, starred in the first
TV talk show,
Mr. and Mrs. (1948). Brynner
then joined CBS as a television director. He made his film debut in
Port of New York (1949). Two
years later Mary Martin recommended him for the part he would forever
be known for: the King in
Richard Rodgers' and
Oscar Hammerstein II's musical "The
King and I". Brynner became an immediate sensation in the role,
repeating it for film
(The King and I (1956)) and
winning the Oscar for Best Actor.
For the next two decades, he
maintained a starring film career despite the exotic nature of his
persona, performing in a wide range of roles from Egyptian pharaohs to
Western gunfighters, almost all with the same shaved head and
indefinable accent. In the 1970s he returned to the role that had made
him a star, and spent most of the rest of his life touring the world in
"The King and I". When he developed lung cancer in the mid 1980s, he
left a powerful public service announcement denouncing smoking as the
cause, for broadcast after his death. The cancer and its complications,
after a long illness, ended his life. Brynner was cremated and his
ashes buried in a remote part of France, on the grounds of the Abbey of
Saint-Michel de Bois Aubry, a short distance outside the village of
Luzé. He remains one of the most fascinating, unusual and beloved stars
of his time.
bald head as for his performances, Yul Brynner masked much of his life
in mystery and outright lies designed to tease people he considered
gullible. It was not until the publication of the books "Yul: The Man
Who Would Be King" and "Empire and Odyssey" by his son, Yul "Rock"
Brynner, that many of the details of Brynner's early life became clear.
Yul sometimes claimed to be a half-Swiss, half-Japanese named Taidje
Khan, born on the island of Sakhalin; in reality, he was the son of
Marousia Dimitrievna (Blagovidova), the Russian daughter of a doctor,
and Boris Yuliyevich Bryner, an engineer and inventor of Swiss-German
and Russian descent. He was born in their home town of Vladivostok on
11 July 1920 and named Yuli after his grandfather, Jules Bryner. When
Yuli's father abandoned the family, his mother took him and his sister
Vera to Harbin, Manchuria, where they attended a YMCA school. In 1934
Yuli's mother took her children to Paris. Her son was sent to the
exclusive Lycée Moncelle, but his attendance was spotty. He dropped out
and became a musician, playing guitar in the nightclubs among the
Russian gypsies who gave him his first real sense of family. He met
luminaries such as Jean Cocteau and became
an apprentice at the Theatre des Mathurins. He worked as a trapeze
artist with the famed Cirque d'Hiver company.
He traveled to the U.S.
in 1941 to study with acting teacher
Michael Chekhov and toured the country
with Chekhov's theatrical troupe. That same year, he debuted in New York
as Fabian in "Twelfth Night" (billed as Youl Bryner). After working in
a very early TV series,
Mr. Jones and His Neighbors (1944),
he played on Broadway in "Lute Song" with
Mary Martin, winning awards and mild
acclaim. He and his wife, actress
Virginia Gilmore, starred in the first
TV talk show,
Mr. and Mrs. (1948). Brynner
then joined CBS as a television director. He made his film debut in
Port of New York (1949). Two
years later Mary Martin recommended him for the part he would forever
be known for: the King in
Richard Rodgers' and
Oscar Hammerstein II's musical "The
King and I". Brynner became an immediate sensation in the role,
repeating it for film
(The King and I (1956)) and
winning the Oscar for Best Actor.
For the next two decades, he
maintained a starring film career despite the exotic nature of his
persona, performing in a wide range of roles from Egyptian pharaohs to
Western gunfighters, almost all with the same shaved head and
indefinable accent. In the 1970s he returned to the role that had made
him a star, and spent most of the rest of his life touring the world in
"The King and I". When he developed lung cancer in the mid 1980s, he
left a powerful public service announcement denouncing smoking as the
cause, for broadcast after his death. The cancer and its complications,
after a long illness, ended his life. Brynner was cremated and his
ashes buried in a remote part of France, on the grounds of the Abbey of
Saint-Michel de Bois Aubry, a short distance outside the village of
Luzé. He remains one of the most fascinating, unusual and beloved stars
of his time.