movies
celebrities
tv
trailers
box office
photos
dvd
fans
Get Movie Showtimes
Select a Movie
Select a Movie
Now Playing
Act of Valor
(R)
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked
(G)
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked
(G)
Artist, The
(PG13)
Beauty and the Beast 3D
(G)
Big Miracle
(PG)
Chronicle
(PG13)
Contraband
(R)
Descendants, The
(R)
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
(PG13)
Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance 3D
(PG13)
Grey, The
(R)
Iron Lady, The
(PG13)
Jack and Jill
(PG)
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island
(PG)
Man on a Ledge
(PG13)
Muppets, The
(PG)
One for the Money
(PG13)
Red Tails
(PG13)
Safe House
(R)
This Means War
(R)
Underworld: Awakening
(R)
Vow, The
(PG13)
War Horse
(PG13)
Woman in Black, The
(PG13)
Go to
More Movies
OR
Find Theaters
Search
Sign up for our Newsletter
Fan Us
Follow Us
Yul Brynner
MAIN
PHOTOS
VIDEOS
NEWS
CREDITS
BIOGRAPHY
AWARDS
FANSITES
FORUM
BIRTHDAY
July 11, 1920
Sakhalin Island, Russia
DIED
October 10, 1985
RECENT CREDITS
Death Rage
(FILM)
Oct. 22, 1976
Futureworld
(FILM)
Jan. 1, 1976
Night Flight from Moscow
(FILM)
Apr. 7, 1973
Gli Eroi
(FILM)
Feb. 23, 1973
Westworld
(FILM)
Jan. 1, 1973
View all
Yul Brynner Credits
BIOGRAPHY
During his lifetime, it was hard to determine when and where actor Yul Brynner was born, simply because he changed the story in every interview; confronted with these discrepancies late in life, he replied, "Ordinary....
Expand Full Bio
During his lifetime, it was hard to determine when and where actor Yul Brynner was born, simply because he changed the story in every interview; confronted with these discrepancies late in life, he replied, "Ordinary mortals need but one birthday." At any rate, it appears that Brynner's mother was part Russian, his father part Swiss, and that he lived in Russia until his mother moved the family to Manchuria and then Paris in the early '30s. He worked as a trapeze artist with the touring Cirque D'Hiver, then joined a repertory theater company in Paris in 1934. Brynner's fluency in Russian and French enabled him to build up a following with the Czarist expatriates in Paris, and his talents as a singer/guitarist increased his popularity. And when Michael Chekhov hired Brynner for his American theater company, he added a third language -- English -- to his repertoire.
After several years of regional acting, Brynner was hired by the Office of War Information as an announcer for their French radio service. In 1945, Brynner was cast as Tsai-Yong in the musical play Lute Song, which starred Mary Martin; the production opened on Broadway in 1946, and, though its run was short, Brynner won the Most Promising Actor Donaldson award. He went on to do theater in London and direct early live television programs in the States, including a children's puppet show, Life With Snarky Parker. In 1949, the actor made his movie debut as a two-bit smuggler in a Manhattan-filmed quickie Port of New York, which has taken on a video-store life of its own since lapsing into the public domain. On the strength of his Lute Song work of several years earlier, Brynner was cast as the King of Siam in Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1951 musical The King and I. The play was supposed to be a vehicle for Gertrude Lawrence, with the king an important but secondary role; but so powerful was Brynner's work that the role was beefed up in rehearsal, causing supporting actor Murvyn Vye to quit the show when Vye's only song was cut to give more stage time to Brynner. The King and I was an enormous hit, supplying Brynner with the role of a lifetime, one in which he would repeat brilliantly in the 1956 film version -- and win an Oscar in the process. Cecil B. DeMille, impressed by Brynner's King performance, cast the actor as the Egyptian Pharoah Rameses I in DeMille's multimillion-dollar blockbuster The Ten Commandments (1956). It became difficult for Brynner to play a "normal" character after this, so he seldom tried, although he came close to subtle believability in Anastasia (1956) and The Journey (1959). The first baldheaded movie idol, Brynner occasionally donned a wig or, as in Taras Bulba (1962), a Russian pigtail, but his fans (particularly the ladies) preferred him "scalped," as it were. Outside of his film work, Brynner was also an accomplished photographer, and many of his pictures appeared in major magazine spreads or were used as official studio production stills.
Hollywood changed radically in the '70s, and the sort of larger-than-life fare in which Brynner thrived thinned out; so, in 1972, the actor agreed to re-create his King and I role in an expensive weekly TV series, Anna and the King. But it lasted all of eight weeks. Brynner's last major film role was in the sci-fi thriller Westworld (1973) as a murderously malfunctioning robot, dressed in Western garb reminiscent of the actor's wardrobe in 1960's The Magnificent Seven. What could have been campy or ludicrous became a chilling characterization in Brynner's hands; his steady, steely-eyed automaton glare as he approached his human victims was one of the more enjoyably frightening filmgoing benefits of the decade. In 1977, Brynner embarked upon a stage revival of The King and I, and though he was dogged by tales of his outrageous temperament and seemingly petty demands during the tour, audiences in New York and all over the country loved the show. The actor inaugurated a second King tour in 1985; this time, however, he knew he was dying of lung cancer, but kept the news from both his fans and co-workers. Unable to perform the "Shall We Dance" waltz or get all the words out for the song "A Puzzlement," Brynner nonetheless played to packed audiences willing to shell out 75 dollars per ticket. Two months after the play closed in 1985, Brynner died in a New York hospital -- still insisting that his public not know the severity of his condition until after his death, although he had recorded a dramatic public-service announcement to be broadcast afterward that blamed the illness on smoking.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Collapse Full Bio
- Portions of Content Provided by
Rovi Data Solutions
© 2009 Rovi Data Solutions, Inc.
Headlines
A-List Actors Gone Animated
Nov. 20, 2009
Some of the best performances you've never seen.
Read Story
YouTube to Play Movies -- Legally!
Posted: Nov. 10, 2008
News Roundup: Mar. 4
Posted: Mar. 4, 2002
CHANNEL SURFER: Everybody Walk the Dinosaur
Posted: Apr. 16, 2000
View all
Yul Brynner Headlines
Latest Photo Galleries
Westworld Movie Stills
(1)
View all
Yul Brynner Photos
Sponsored Links
Buy A Link Here
Recently Worked With...
Harold Dyrenforth
Morituri
Released: Jan. 1, 2003
Martin Balsam
Death Rage
Released: Oct. 22, 1976
Dana Lee
Futureworld
Released: Jan. 1, 1976
Ben Young
Westworld
Released: Nov. 21, 1973
Luigi Diberti
Night Flight from Moscow
Released: Apr. 7, 1973
Claude Brasseur
Gli Eroi
Released: Feb. 23, 1973
Gerard Herter
Adiós Sabata
Released: Sep. 30, 1970
Hardy Kruger
Bitka na Neretvi
Released: Aug. 19, 1970
Fred Emney
The Magic Christian
Released: Feb. 11, 1970
Katharine Hepburn
The Madwoman of Chaillot
Released: Oct. 12, 1969
Collapse
Expand to view more
Fan Sites
Yul Brynner Fansites
No fan sites available. Create the first!
Are you the #1 Yul Brynner Fan? Sign Up To Create A Website Here.
Go
Build a Fan Site
Sponsored Links
Buy A Link Here
Top 5 Celebrities
Naomi Watts
September 28, 1968
Shoreham, England
Angelina Jolie
June 04, 1975
Los Angeles, CA
Zooey Deschanel
January 17, 1980
Los Angeles, CA
Marisa Tomei
December 04, 1964
Brooklyn, NY
Channing Tatum
April 26, 1980
Cullman, AL
Go to
Top 100 Celebs