Yul Brynner

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.

One of 13 actors who have received an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of a real-life king. The others in chronological order are Charles Laughton for The Private Life of Henry VIII. (1933), Robert Morley for Marie Antoinette (1938), Basil Rathbone for If I Were King (1938), Laurence Olivier for Henry V (1944) and Richard III (1955), José Ferrer for Joan of Arc (1948), John Gielgud for Becket (1964), Peter O'Toole for Becket (1964) and The Lion in Winter (1968), Robert Shaw for A Man for All Seasons (1966), Richard Burton for Anne of the Thousand Days (1969), Kenneth Branagh for Henry V (1989), Nigel Hawthorne for The Madness of King George (1994), and Colin Firth for The King's Speech (2010).

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.

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.

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.

Had one son with his first wife, Virginia Gilmore: Yul "Rock" Brynner II (born December 23, 1946).

(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".

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.

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's initial choice for their Broadway "King and I" musical's featured role King of Siam was Rex Harrison, a role that he had played in Anna and the King of Siam (1946), but Harrison was unavailable due to film work. Mary Martin (I) suggested Brynner to them for the role since he had appeared on Broadway with her in the stage-musical "Lute Song", and they took her up on her suggestion. Brynner. In rehearsals, at his first meeting with costume designer Irene Sharaff, he had only a fringe of curly hair. He asked Sharaff what he was to do about it. When she told him to shave it, he was horrified and refused, convinced he would look terrible. During out-of-town tryouts in New Haven, CT (February 27, 1951), Sharaff told Rodgers and Hammerstein and director John Van Druten, "Brynner should be bald!" Ordered to shave his head, he gave in, shaving off his long curly black hair and putting dark stage make-up on his shaved head. The effect was so well received that it became his trademark. He came to dominate his role and the musical, starring in a four-year national tour culminating in his last performance, a special Sunday-night show, on June 30, 1985, in honor of Brynner and his 4,625th performance of the role. He died less than four months later, on October 10, 1985.

Won Broadway's 1952 Tony Award as Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Musical) for "The King and I", a role he recreated in his Oscar-winning performance in the film of the same name, King and I, The (1956). He also won a second, Special Tony Award in 1985 "honoring his 4,525 performances in 'The King and I'".

Brynner became an immediate sensation in the role, repeating it for film (King and I, The (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.

Daughter Lark Brynner (born 1958) was born out of wedlock. She was raised by her mother, German actress Frances Martin.

Was the visual inspiration for the original illustrations of superhero Green Lantern/Abin Sur (created in 1959). He was 39 years old at the time. Sur is well-known as the predecessor of Green Lantern/Hal Jordan, who replaced him after his death when Sur crashed with his ship on planet Earth.

He was the only actor to appear in both The Magnificent Seven (1960) and its first sequel, Return of the Seven (1966). However, he did not appear in either of the other sequels, Guns of the Magnificent Seven (1969) and The Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972).

Had one daughter with his second wife, Doris Kleiner: Victoria Brynner (born November 1962 in Switzerland).

Jack Kirby used his physical likeness (noticeably his bald head and intense stare) as the visual inspiration for the original illustrations of Prof. Charles Xavier in the ''X-Men'' comics (created in 1963). He was 43 years old at that point.

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".

Actively sought the role of Grigori Rasputin in Nicholas and Alexandra (1971). However, Tom Baker was cast.

Is one of only nine 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)), Jack Albertson (The Subject Was Roses (1968)) and Viola Davis (Fences (2016)).

A recording of him explaining how being bald helped him is included in a song by Stephen Malkmus (of Pavement) titled "Jo Jo's Jacket". The first verses are about Brynner and include a reference to Westworld (1973) and King and I, The (1956).

Had two daughters with his third wife, Jacqueline de Croisset: Mia Brynner (adopted 1974, born in Vietnam) and Melody Brynner (adopted 1974, born in Vietnam).

Yul Brynner left the bulk of his estate to his 4th wife, Kathy Brynner. He left Kathy their New York Co-Op Apartment at United Nations Plaza, which she sold 3 years later for approximately $1.75 million. He also left a life-estate interest in his French Chateau.

Mentioned in the popular mid-1980s song "One Night in Bangkok", sung by Murray Head, from the soundtrack of the musical "Chess".

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 111-114. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998.

He died on the same day as his The Battle of Neretva (1969) co-star Orson Welles: October 10, 1985.

Three of his films were remade in the late 1990s, in rapid succession, as animated films: King and I, The (1956) and Anastasia (1956) were remade as animated films of the same name The King and I (1999), Anastasia (1997)) and The Ten Commandments (1956) was remade as The Prince of Egypt (1998).

Daughter Victoria Brynner is a successful businesswoman who founded her own company Stardust Visions and Stardust Celebrities in Los Angeles (1992).