Post by Kaz ~;~ on Aug 16, 2010 8:40:35 GMT -5
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Date of Birth
11 July 1920, Vladivostok, Russia
Date of Death
10 October 1985, New York City, New York, USA (lung cancer)
Birth Name
Yuli Borisovich Bryner
Height
5' 10"
Biography
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 Empire and Odysseu by his son Yul "Rock" Brynner in 2006 that many of the details of Brynner's early life became clear. He 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 Boris Bryner, a Swiss-Russian engineer and inventor, and Marousia Blagovidova, the daughter of a Russian doctor. 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.
Spouse
Kathy Lee (4 April 1983 - 10 October 1985) (his death)
Jacqueline de Croisset (23 September 1971 - 1981) (divorced) 2 children
Doris Kleiner (31 March 1960 - 1967) (divorced) 1 child
Virginia Gilmore (6 September 1944 - 26 March 1960) (divorced) 1 child
Trade Mark
Completely shaved head.
The role of the King of Siam in "The King and I".
-----------------------------
Trivia
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.
Son Yul 'Rock' Brynner II (b. 23 December 1946).
Daughter Lark (b. 1958), born out of wedlock and raised by her mother.
Daughter Victoria Brynner (b. November 1962 in Switzerland).
Daughter Mia Brynner (adopted 1974, born in Vietnam).
Daughter Melody Brynner (adopted 1975, 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.
His paternal grandmother, Russian born Natalya Kurkotova, was one-eighth Mongolian.
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.
Died the same day as Orson Welles.
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.
He was an accomplished photographer. He took many photos on the sets of the various projects he worked on over the years.
Mentioned in the popular mid-1980s song "One Night in Bangkok," sung by Murray Head, from the soundtrack of the musical "Chess".
When he found out he would be playing Pharaoh Rameses II opposite Charlton Heston's Moses in The Ten Commandments (1956) and that he would be shirtless for most of the film, he began a rigorous weight lifting program because he did not want to be physically overshadowed by Charlton Heston (which explains his buffer than normal physique during The King and I (1956) another film he was set to work on at the time.)
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).
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, The King and I (1956). He also won a second, Special Tony in 1985 "honoring his 4,525 performances in 'The King and I'."
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).
Appeared in three different films with Eli Wallach: The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Poppy Is Also a Flower (1966) and Romance of a Horsethief (1971).
Apprentice of Michael Chekhov.
Brynner married Doris Kleiner on the set during shooting of The Magnificent Seven (1960).
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)).
Three of his films were remade in the late 1990s, in rapid succession, as animated films: The King and I (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).
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.
Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 111-114. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998.
According to his son, Yul "Rock" Brynner, "In his youth, Yul Brynner was Jean Cocteau's opium supplier." Empire and Odyssey, p. 141.
His grandmother, Natalya Kurkotova, was one-eighth Mongolian, the granddaughter of a half-Buryat merchant from Siberia, meaning that Yuli Borisovich Bryner (Yul Brynner) was about 1/32 Mongolian.
Audrey Hepburn is the godmother of his daughter Victoria.
Godfather of Charlotte Gainsbourg.
Loved modern appliances.
Always prepared breakfast while wearing a silk kimono.
A great believer in rituals.
Was very good friends with Deborah Kerr.
He badly wanted to play the title role in Spartacus (1960) and the role of Rasputin in Nicholas and Alexandra (1971).
Daughter Victoria Brynner is a successful businesswoman who founded her own company Stardust Visions and Stardust Celebrities in Los Angeles (1992).
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.
---------------------------------
Personal Quotes
People don't know my real self, and they're not about to find out.
[to interviewers] Just call me a nice, clean-cut Mongolian boy.
Girls have an unfair advantage over boys: If they can't get what they want by being smart, they can get it by being dumb.
[Message recorded in January 1985, after he was diagnosed with lung cancer] Now that I'm gone, I tell you: Don't smoke, whatever you do, just don't smoke. If I could take back that smoking, we wouldn't be talking about any cancer. I'm convinced of that.
-----------------------------
Date of Birth
11 July 1920, Vladivostok, Russia
Date of Death
10 October 1985, New York City, New York, USA (lung cancer)
Birth Name
Yuli Borisovich Bryner
Height
5' 10"
Biography
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 Empire and Odysseu by his son Yul "Rock" Brynner in 2006 that many of the details of Brynner's early life became clear. He 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 Boris Bryner, a Swiss-Russian engineer and inventor, and Marousia Blagovidova, the daughter of a Russian doctor. 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.
Spouse
Kathy Lee (4 April 1983 - 10 October 1985) (his death)
Jacqueline de Croisset (23 September 1971 - 1981) (divorced) 2 children
Doris Kleiner (31 March 1960 - 1967) (divorced) 1 child
Virginia Gilmore (6 September 1944 - 26 March 1960) (divorced) 1 child
Trade Mark
Completely shaved head.
The role of the King of Siam in "The King and I".
-----------------------------
Trivia
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.
Son Yul 'Rock' Brynner II (b. 23 December 1946).
Daughter Lark (b. 1958), born out of wedlock and raised by her mother.
Daughter Victoria Brynner (b. November 1962 in Switzerland).
Daughter Mia Brynner (adopted 1974, born in Vietnam).
Daughter Melody Brynner (adopted 1975, 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.
His paternal grandmother, Russian born Natalya Kurkotova, was one-eighth Mongolian.
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.
Died the same day as Orson Welles.
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.
He was an accomplished photographer. He took many photos on the sets of the various projects he worked on over the years.
Mentioned in the popular mid-1980s song "One Night in Bangkok," sung by Murray Head, from the soundtrack of the musical "Chess".
When he found out he would be playing Pharaoh Rameses II opposite Charlton Heston's Moses in The Ten Commandments (1956) and that he would be shirtless for most of the film, he began a rigorous weight lifting program because he did not want to be physically overshadowed by Charlton Heston (which explains his buffer than normal physique during The King and I (1956) another film he was set to work on at the time.)
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).
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, The King and I (1956). He also won a second, Special Tony in 1985 "honoring his 4,525 performances in 'The King and I'."
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).
Appeared in three different films with Eli Wallach: The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Poppy Is Also a Flower (1966) and Romance of a Horsethief (1971).
Apprentice of Michael Chekhov.
Brynner married Doris Kleiner on the set during shooting of The Magnificent Seven (1960).
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)).
Three of his films were remade in the late 1990s, in rapid succession, as animated films: The King and I (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).
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.
Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 111-114. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998.
According to his son, Yul "Rock" Brynner, "In his youth, Yul Brynner was Jean Cocteau's opium supplier." Empire and Odyssey, p. 141.
His grandmother, Natalya Kurkotova, was one-eighth Mongolian, the granddaughter of a half-Buryat merchant from Siberia, meaning that Yuli Borisovich Bryner (Yul Brynner) was about 1/32 Mongolian.
Audrey Hepburn is the godmother of his daughter Victoria.
Godfather of Charlotte Gainsbourg.
Loved modern appliances.
Always prepared breakfast while wearing a silk kimono.
A great believer in rituals.
Was very good friends with Deborah Kerr.
He badly wanted to play the title role in Spartacus (1960) and the role of Rasputin in Nicholas and Alexandra (1971).
Daughter Victoria Brynner is a successful businesswoman who founded her own company Stardust Visions and Stardust Celebrities in Los Angeles (1992).
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.
---------------------------------
Personal Quotes
People don't know my real self, and they're not about to find out.
[to interviewers] Just call me a nice, clean-cut Mongolian boy.
Girls have an unfair advantage over boys: If they can't get what they want by being smart, they can get it by being dumb.
[Message recorded in January 1985, after he was diagnosed with lung cancer] Now that I'm gone, I tell you: Don't smoke, whatever you do, just don't smoke. If I could take back that smoking, we wouldn't be talking about any cancer. I'm convinced of that.