Exotic leading man of American films, famed as much for his completely bald head as for his performances. Brynner masked much of his life in mystery and in outright lies designed to tease the gullible, and it was not until the publication of a biography by his son in 1989 that many of the details of Brynner's early life became clear(er). He often claimed to be a half-Swiss, half-Japanese named Taidje Khan, born on the island of Sakhalin; in reality he was the son of Boris Bryner, a Swiss-Mongolian engineer and inventor, and Marousia Blagovidova, the daughter of a Russian doctor. He was born in their hometown of Vladivostok on 11 July 1915, and named Yul after his grandfather Jules Bryner. When Yul's father abandoned the family, his mother took Yul and his sister Vera to Harbin, China, where they attended a school run by the YMCA. In 1934 Yul'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 artists 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, 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.. Brynner then joined CBS as a television director. He made his film debut in Port of New York. Two years later Mary Martin recommended him for the part he would always be known for: the King in Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical "The King and I". Brynner became an immediate sensation in the role, repeating it for film (The King and I) 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 shaven 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. He remains one of the most fascinating, unusual and beloved stars of his time.


The Poppy Is Also a Flower (1966): £ 1
Solomon and Sheba (1959): $600,000

In 1950, before he achieved fame, he was the director of a children's puppet show on CBS, "Life with Snarky Parker" (1950), which lasted barely eight months on the air before cancellation. Daughter Lark (b. 1958), born out of wedlock and raised by her mother. Daughter Mia Brynner (adopted 1974, born in Vietnam). Despite numerous resources stating that Brynner was interred at the non-existent "Saint Robert Churchyard at the Monastery of Saint Michael," in the non-existent "La Tourraine, France," Brynner actually was buried on the grounds of the Abbey Saint-Michel de Bois Aubry, not far from the village of Luzé, France. Is a recipient of the presitigious Connor Award, given by the brothers of the Phi Alpha Tau fraternity based out of Emerson College in Boston. While touring in the play "Odyssey" in the mid-1970s, he attained a reputation for being a holy terror toward hotel staff members. Among other things, all hotel suites where he would stay had to be painted a certain shade of tan and all kitchens in those hotel suites had to be stocked in advance with "one dozen brown eggs, under no circumstances white ones!" (it should be noted, in fairness, that Brynner personally paid the expense of these requests). The play itself, later retitled "Home, Sweet Homer," had a successful pre-Broadway tour of over a year, but lasted exactly one performance when it opened on Broadway in 1976. Mentioned in the popular mid-1980s song "One Night in Bangkok," sung by Murray Head, from the soundtrack of the musical "Chess". A recording of him explaining how being bald helped him is included in a song by Stephen Malkmus (of Pavement) entitled "Jo Jo's Jacket." The first verses are about Brynner and include a reference to Westworld (1973) and The King and I (1956). Is the only actor to appear in both The Magnificent Seven (1960) and its first sequel, Return of the Seven (1966). He did not, however, appear in either of the other sequels, Guns of the Magnificent Seven (1969) and The Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972). Apprentice of Michael Chekhov. One of only eight actors to have won both a Tony and an Oscar for having portrayed the same roles on stage and screen. The others are Joel Grey (Cabaret (1972)), Shirley Booth (Come Back, Little Sheba (1952)), Rex Harrison (My Fair Lady (1964)), Anne Bancroft (The Miracle Worker (1962)), Paul Scofield (A Man for All Seasons (1966)), José Ferrer (Cyrano de Bergerac (1950)) and Jack Albertson (The Subject Was Roses (1968)). Sometimes claimed that he was part-Japanese, that his birth name was Taidje Khan and that he hailed from the Russian island of Sakhalin. He was actually born as Yuli Borisovich Bryner to a Swiss/Russian father. According to his son, Yul "Rock" Brynner, "In his youth, Yul Brynner was Jean Cocteau's opium supplier." Empire and Odyssey, p. 141. Audrey Hepburn is the godmother of his daughter Victoria. Loved modern appliances. A great believer in rituals. He badly wanted to play the title role in Spartacus (1960) and the role of Rasputin in Nicholas and Alexandra (1971). Was acting in an adaptation of Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night' (his Broadway debut), when Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese. That night's show was canceled and most of the crew enlisted soon after. The show lasted only 15 performances and Brynner was out of a job until 1943.