Yul Brynner#Personal life

File:Yul Brynner's birthplace.jpg, Russia, where Yul Brynner was born and lived from 1920 to 1927]]

Yul Brynner was born Yuliy Borisovich Briner on July 11, 1920,Record of Yul Brynner, #108-18-2984. Social Security Administration. [http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/ Born in 1920 according to the Social Security Death Index (although some sources indicate the year was 1915)] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121127100448/http://searches.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ssdi.html |date=November 27, 2012}} Provo, Utah: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2006.
In his biography of his father, Rock Yul Brynner, he asserts that he was born in the later year (1920).United States Declaration of Intent (Document No. 541593), Record Group 21: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685–2004, filed June 4, 1943{{Cite web |url=http://www.imninalu.net/famousGypsies.htm |title=Famous Gypsies |website=www.imninalu.net |access-date=2011-01-31 |archive-date=2016-03-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160326095726/http://www.imninalu.net/famousGypsies.htm |url-status=dead}} in the city of Vladivostok.[http://www.biography.com/people/yul-brynner-9542628 "Yul Brynner Biography"]. bio. Retrieved October 19, 2016. He had Swiss-German, Russian, and Buryat (Mongol) ancestry. He also identified as having Roma ancestry; however, recent findings do not support that claim.{{cite journal |last=Hancock |first=Ian |author-link=Ian Hancock |title=The acquisition of English by American Romani children |journal=WORD |volume=27 |year=1971 |issue=1–3 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |pages=353–362 |doi=10.1080/00437956.1971.11435631 |quote=There are many such individuals (ie, who have Romani ancestry but who are ignorant, at least at first hand, of their language and culture)-Yul Brynner and Ava Gardner are two well-known examples.|doi-access=free}}{{cite journal|author=Klímová-Alexander, Ilona|title=The Development and Institutionalization of Romani Representation and Administration. Part 3b: From National Organizations to International Umbrellas (1945–1970)—the International Level|journal=Nationalities Papers|volume=35|issue=4|year=2007|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=627–661|doi=10.1080/00905990701475079|s2cid=154810008|quote=Yul Brynner (the half-Romani Hollywood star)}} He was born at his parents' home, a four-storey house on 15 Aleutskaya Street, Vladivostok, into a wealthy Swiss Russian family of landowners and silver mining developers in Siberia and the Far East. He was named after his grandfather merchant Yuliy Ivanovich Brinner.

The Briner family enjoyed a good life at their four-storey mansion at the time of his birth. Vladivostok was under Japanese occupation, while the territory was controlled by the Far Eastern Republic—a communist Russian buffer state. The Red Army occupied Vladivostok in October 1922, and most of the Briner family's wealth was confiscated by the state at the end of the Russian Civil War. The Briners family, including Yul's elder sister Vera, continued living in their house under a temporary status, even though the house had been seized.[http://www.bryners.ru/main.php?bryner=5 Yul Brynner and the Bryners family history]{{Cite web|url=http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/Vladivostok/Bryner.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090822191641/http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/Vladivostok/Bryner.htm|url-status=dead|title=Briner Residence|archive-date=August 22, 2009}}"[https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/bryner-vera-d-1967 Bryner, Vera (d.1967)]," encyclopedia.com. Retrieved August 29, 2020.[http://www.bryners.ru/main.php?bryner=2 Russian biography of Boris Brinner, the father of Yul Brynner]

Later in his life, Brynner humorously enjoyed telling tall tales and exaggerating his background and early life for the press, claiming that he was born Taidje Khan of a Mongol father and Roma mother on the Russian island of Sakhalin.Brynner, Rock. Yul: The Man Who Would Be King, Berkeley Books: 1991; {{ISBN|0-425-12547-5}} He occasionally referred to himself as Julius Briner, Jules Bryner, or Youl Bryner. The 1989 biography by his son, Rock Brynner, clarified some of these issues.

Brynner's father, Boris Yuliyevich Briner, was a mining engineer and inventor of Swiss-German and Russian descent. He had graduated from Mining University in Saint Petersburg in 1910. The actor's grandfather, Jules Briner (Бринер, Юлий Иванович), was a Swiss citizen who had moved to Vladivostok in the 1870s and established a successful import/export company.Rochman, Sue. [http://www.cancertodaymag.org/Winter2011/Pages/yul-brynner-lung-cancer.aspx "A King's Legacy"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161102211932/http://www.cancertodaymag.org/Winter2011/Pages/yul-brynner-lung-cancer.aspx |date=November 2, 2016}}, Cancer Today magazine, Winter 2011 (December 5, 2011). Retrieved January 20, 2013.

Brynner's paternal grandmother, Natalya Yosifovna Kurkutova, was a native of Irkutsk and a Eurasian of partial Buryat ancestry.

Brynner's mother, Maria (Marousia) Dimitrievna (née Blagovidova, Мария Дмитриевна Благовидова{{Cite web |title=Мария и Вера Благовидовы-Бринер |url=http://bryners.ru/main.php?bryner=12 |access-date=2024-06-25 |website=bryners.ru}}), hailed from the Russian intelligentsia and had studied to be an actress and singer. According to her son, she was of Russian Roma ancestry, but documents examined by modern historians of Vladivostok claimed the Briner family had no blood connections with Roma. Yul came into close contact with this culture in exile while working with his sister, singer Vera Brinner, and they were looking for a stage image. Vera later sharply objected to this appropriation.{{Cite web |last=Жукова |first=Елена |date=2020-07-22 |title=Цыган, монгол или сахалинец? |url=https://vl.aif.ru/culture/cygan_mongol_ili_sahalinec |access-date=2024-06-25 |website=AiF |language=ru}}{{Cite web |title=Вера Бриннер |url=http://bryners.ru/main.php?bryner=4 |access-date=2024-06-25 |website=bryners.ru}} Brynner felt a strong personal connection to the Roma. In 1977 he was named honorary president of the International Romani Union, a title that he kept until his death.{{cite book |author=Daniel C. Blum |title=Great Stars of the American Stage |publisher=Grosset & Dunlap |year=1954 |page=137}}{{cite web |author=Pankok, Moritz |date=April 12, 2015 |title=The Roma Theatre Pralipe |url=https://www.romarchive.eu/en/theatre-and-drama/institutional-theatre/roma-theatre-pralipe/ |access-date=2017-06-26 |website=romarchive.eu}}

In 1922, after the formation of the Soviet Union, Yul's father Boris Briner was required to relinquish his Swiss citizenship. All family members were made Soviet citizens. Brynner's father's work required extensive travel, and in 1923, in Moscow he fell in love with an actress, Katerina Ivanovna Kornakova. She was the ex-wife of actor Aleksei Dikiy, and stage partner of Michael Chekhov at the Moscow Art Theatre. Many years later, Katerina Kornakova would help Brynner with her letter of recommendation asking Michael Chekhov to employ him in his theatre company in the United States.

In 1924, Yul's father divorced his mother Marousia, but continued to support her and their children. His father also adopted a girl, because his new wife was childless. Many years later, after the death of his father, Brynner would take this adopted sister into his care. The father and son relationship remained complex and emotionally traumatic for Brynner.

After leaving his children and his former wife in Vladivostok, Boris Briner lived briefly in Moscow with Katerina Ivanovna Kornakova, but eventually they moved to Harbin, Manchuria. At that time it remained under Japanese control. Briner established a business in international trade.

In 1927, Marousia Briner took her children, Yuliy and Vera (January 17, 1916 – December 13, 1967), and emigrated from Vladivostok to Harbin, China. There, young Yul and Vera attended a school run by the YMCA.

In 1930, Boris gave Yuliy an acoustic guitar as a birthday present. That guitar and the following music lessons made a lasting influence on Brynner's artistic development. His natural curiosity, creativity, and imagination became focused on mastering the guitar technique and studying classical and contemporary music. Brynner studied music under the guidance of his sister Vera, who was a classically trained opera singer. After several years of arduous studies, Brynner became an accomplished guitar player and singer.

In 1933, fearing a war between China and Japan, Marousia Briner moved with her children to Paris. Many Russians had moved there in exile after the Revolution. There, on June 15, 1935, the fourteen-year-old Brynner made his debut at the "Hermitage" cabaret, where he played his guitar and sang in the Russian and Roma languages. After initial success, he continued performing at various Parisian nightclubs, sometimes accompanying his sister, and playing and singing Russian and Roma songs. At that time, Brynner was a student at a lyceum in Paris, where he studied French. His classmates and teachers were aware of his strong character, as he was often involved in fist fighting.

In the summer of 1936, Brynner worked as a lifeguard at a resort beach in Le Havre. There he joined a French circus troupe, trained as a trapeze acrobat and worked with a circus troupe for several years.{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS3dd-OhsP4 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/cS3dd-OhsP4| archive-date=December 11, 2021 |url-status=live |title=Yul Brynner Interview with Bill Boggs |date=2012-06-26 |via=www.youtube.com}}{{cbignore}} After sustaining a back injury, he left the circus troupe. In nearly unbearable pain, Brynner took narcotics for relief. He soon developed a drug dependency.

One day, while buying opium from a local dealer, Brynner met Jean Cocteau (1889{{ndash}}1963) and the two became lifelong friends. Cocteau introduced Brynner to Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Josephine Baker, Jean Marais, and the bohemian milieu of Paris. The experience and connections eventually helped him in his multifaceted career of acting, directing, and producing.

Seventeen-year-old Brynner became a drug addict and the family tried to help him treat the illness. He spent a year in Lausanne, Switzerland treating his addiction at a Swiss clinic and at Lausanne University Hospital with financial support from his aunt Vera Dmitrievna Blagovidova-Briner, his mother's sister. Blagovidova-Briner was a physician trained at medical school in Saint Petersburg, Russia, before the revolution. She later practiced in China and Switzerland. The year-long treatment in Switzerland, which included hypnotherapy, had a lasting effect on Brynner's health. Yul never used illicit drugs again in his life. He later became addicted to cigarettes, which damaged his lungs and ruined his health as he aged.Seiler, Michael. [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-10-10-mn-15605-story.html "Yul Brynner Dies at 65; 30 Years in King and I"], Los Angeles Times

In Harbin, Brynner's father had a lucrative trade business and lived with his second wife, actress Katerina Ivanovna Kornakova. She gave Brynner his first professional acting lessons by showing him scenes from her repertoire at Moscow Art Theatre. She instructed him in how to respond to her lines using his voice tone and body language. During their first lessons, Katerina Kornakova demonstrated and explained to Brynner the principles of Konstantin Stanislavsky's school of acting, and the innovative ideas of Michael Chekhov. Brynner was excited and impressed with the new experience. His father initially tried to prepare his son for a management position at their family business, but changed his mind after watching several acting lessons and witnessing Brynner's happiness.

Katerina Kornakova was impressed with Brynner's intellectual and physical abilities and recommended him to study acting with her former partner Michael Chekhov. Brynner took the letter of recommendation from his stepmother and also accepted money and blessings from his father. With the generous support from both his father and stepmother, Brynner became encouraged and confident in his future success as an actor.

At the same time, Brynner's mother's illness{{clarification needed |date=August 2024}} progressed and required special medical treatment that was available only in the United States. Brynner traveled with his mother on a long trip across the world.

File:Yul brynner immigration portrait and seal.jpg

In 1940, speaking little English, Brynner and his mother emigrated to the United States aboard the {{SS|President Cleveland|1920|2}}, departing from Kobe, Japan. They arrived in San Francisco on October 25, 1940. His final destination was New York City, where his sister already lived.{{Cite web |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KXHW-H4S |title=FamilySearch.org |website=FamilySearch}} Vera, a singer, starred in The Consul on Broadway in 1950.[http://ibdb.com/person.php?id=94435 Vera Brynner], at the Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved January 20, 2013. She also appeared on television in the title role of the opera Carmen. She later taught voice in New York.{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OkbpkXl3lMwC&dq=vera+brynner&pg=PA56|title=Voice teacher |work=Ebony |date=1966-10-23 |via=Google Books}}

During World War II Brynner worked as a French-speaking radio announcer and commentator for the US Office of War Information, broadcasting to occupied France. He also worked for the Voice of America, broadcasting in Russian to the Soviet Union.Brynner, Rock. Yul: The Man Who Would Be King (p. 30) Berkeley Books: 1991. {{ISBN|0-425-12547-5}} At the same time, during the war years, he studied acting in Connecticut with the Russian actor Michael Chekhov. He worked as a truck driver and stage hand for Chekhov's theatre company.[http://www.bryners.ru/main.php?bryner=5 Russian biography of Yul Brynner and the Bryners family history]

Brynner made his Broadway stage debut in a production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night that premiered on December 2, 1941. He appeared as Fabian, a character with only a few lines, as his English was limited and he had a noticeable Russian accent. The job helped him to start adding English to the list of languages he spoke, which included Russian, French, Japanese, and Hungarian.{{cite web | title=Yul Brynner Dies at 65; 30 Years in 'King and I' | website=Los Angeles Times | date=October 10, 1985 | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-10-10-mn-15605-story.html | access-date=August 30, 2022}} That show, along with many other Broadway productions, closed after the attack on Pearl Harbor, when America declared war on Japan and Nazi Germany.

Soon Brynner found a job as a radio commentator presenting war propaganda in French and Russian at the Voice of America radio station. He had little acting work during the next few years, but did co-star in a 1946 production of Lute Song with Mary Martin. He also did some modeling work and was photographed nude by George Platt Lynes.Leddick, David. George Platt Lynes, New York: Taschen, 2000.

File:Yul Brynner Port of New York 01.jpg Paul Vicola, a supporting role in Port of New York (1949)]]

In 1944 Brynner married actress Virginia Gilmore. Soon after, he began working as a director at the then-new CBS television studios. In 1948 and 1949, he directed and also appeared on television alongside his wife in the first two seasons of Studio One. He also appeared in other shows.

Brynner made his film debut in Port of New York, released in November 1949.[http://www.tcm.turner.com/tcmdb/title/19181/Port-of-New-York/notes.html " 'Port of New York' Notes"] tcm.com, retrieved May 30, 2019

The next year, at the urging of Martin, Brynner auditioned for Rodgers and Hammerstein's new musical in New York. He recalled that, as he was finding success as a director on television, he was reluctant to go back on the stage. Once he read the script, however, he was fascinated by the character of the King and was eager to perform in the project.Capua, pp. 26, 28

File:King dictates to Anna.jpg in the original production of The King and I (1951)]]

Brynner's role as King Mongkut in The King and I (4,625 times on stage) became his best known. He appeared in the original 1951 production opposite Gertrude Lawrence and later touring productions, as well as a 1977 Broadway revival, a London production in 1979, and another Broadway revival in 1985. He won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for the first of these Broadway productions and a special Tony for the last.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tonyawards.com/winners/?q=brynner|title=Winners|website=www.tonyawards.com}}

He reprised the role in the 1956 film version, for which he won an Academy Award as Best Actor. He also played it in Anna and the King, a short-lived TV series on CBS in 1972. Brynner is one of only ten people who have won both a Tony and an Academy Award for the same role.{{Cite web|url=http://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/history/facts/|title=tonyawards.com|access-date=August 9, 2013|archive-date=July 4, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150704091953/http://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/history/facts/|url-status=dead}}

In 1951 Brynner shaved his head for his role in The King and I.{{cite news|title=Yul Brynner, 65, dies of cancer in N.Y. hospital|newspaper=The Baltimore Sun|date=October 10, 1985}}{{cite news|title='Lost' actor stars in West End's 'King'|url=http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2009/06/18/Lost-actor-stars-in-West-Ends-King/UPI-54921245381356|newspaper=UPI.com}} Following the huge success of the Broadway production and subsequent film, he continued to shave his head for the rest of his life, wearing a wig when it was necessary for a role. It was unusual for a man to have a shaven head at the time, and his striking appearance helped to give him an exotic appeal.{{cite book|last=Brynner|first=Rock|title=Empire & odyssey: the Brynners in Far East Russia and beyond|year=2006|publisher=Steerforth Press}} Some fans shaved off their hair to imitate him,{{cite book|last=Crouse|first=Richard|title=Reel Winners: Movie Award Trivia|publisher=Dundurn|year=2005|url=https://archive.org/details/reelwinnersmovie0000crou|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/reelwinnersmovie0000crou/page/171 171]}} and a shaven head was often referred to as the "Yul Brynner look".{{cite book|last=Doyle|first=Hubert|title=Ventures with the World of Celebrities, Movies & TV|year=2008|publisher=Joshua Tree |isbn=9780976867760|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IywAvmhXLPkC&pg=PA112}}{{cite book|last=Douty|first=Linda|title=How Did I Get to Be 70 When I'm 35 Inside?: Spiritual Surprises of Later Life|year=2011|publisher=SkyLight Paths |isbn=9781594732973|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WWL0FrvB0PIC&pg=PA50}}{{cite book| last=Yacowar|first=Maurice|title=The Bold Testament|year=1999|publisher=Bayeus |isbn=9781896209319|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9eX060DD19MC&pg=PA139}}

Brynner's second motion picture was a film version of The King and I (1956) with Deborah Kerr, which was a huge success critically and commercially.Miller, Frank. [https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/121565 The King and I] tcm.com, retrieved May 30, 2019

File:Yul Brynner in The Ten Commandments (1956) (cropped).jpg (1956)]]

Cecil B. de Mille hired Brynner for The Ten Commandments (1956) to play Ramesses II opposite Charlton Heston after seeing him in the stage version of The King and I, telling Brynner backstage that he was the only person for the role.{{cite web|title=Yul Brynner: The Ten Commandments|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObdUuw5JETo |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/ObdUuw5JETo| archive-date=December 11, 2021 |url-status=live|website=YouTube| date=November 2, 2010 |publisher=Janson Media|access-date=April 2, 2018}}{{cbignore}} He rounded out his year with Anastasia (1956), co-starring with Ingrid Bergman under the direction of Anatole Litvak. Both films were big hits and Brynner became one of the most in-demand stars in Hollywood. {{citation needed|date=May 2019}}

MGM cast Brynner as one of The Brothers Karamazov (1958), which was another commercial success. Less so was The Buccaneer (1958), in which Brynner played Jean Lafitte; he co-starred with Heston, Inger Stevens, Claire Bloom and Charles Boyer in a historically accurate tale of the Battle of New Orleans. The film was produced by De Mille and directed by Anthony Quinn.

MGM used Brynner again in The Journey (1959), opposite Kerr under the direction of Litvak, but the film lost money. So too did The Sound and the Fury (1959) based on the novel by William Faulkner with Joanne Woodward.

Brynner then received an offer to replace Tyrone Power, who had died during the making of Solomon and Sheba (1959) with Gina Lollobrigida. The movie, a huge hit, caused the development of a planned Brynner film about Spartacus to be postponed. When the Kirk Douglas film Spartacus came out in 1960, Brynner elected not to make his own version."Future Still in Doubt for Power's Last Film: One of 3 Coproducers Reportedly Engaged Yul Brynner Without Consulting Partners". Los Angeles Times. November 19, 1958. p. 28.

Brynner tried comedy with two films directed by Stanley Donen: Once More, with Feeling! (1960) and Surprise Package (1960), but public response was underwhelming. He made a cameo in Testament of Orpheus.{{Cite book|title=The Encyclopedia of Film|last=Monaco|first=James|publisher=Perigee Books|year=1991|isbn=9780399516047|pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaoffi00mona/page/121 121]|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaoffi00mona/page/121}}

File:Rosenda Monteros and Yul Brynner in The Magnificent Seven (1960).jpg in The Magnificent Seven (1960)]]

Although the public received him well in The Magnificent Seven (1960), a Western adaptation of Seven Samurai for The Mirisch Company, the picture proved a disappointment on its initial release in the U.S. However, it was hugely popular in Europe and has had enduring popularity. Its ultimate success led to Brynner's signing a three-picture deal with the Mirisches."Looking at Hollywood: Yul Brynner, Mirisch Co. Ink 12 Million Dollar Pact" Hopper, Hedda. Chicago Daily Tribune July 6, 1961: c8. The film was especially popular in the Soviet Union, where it sold 67{{nbsp}}million tickets.{{cite web |title="Великолепная семерка" (The Magnificent Seven, 1960) |url=https://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/8207/ |website=KinoPoisk |access-date=August 27, 2019 |language=ru}} He then made a cameo in Goodbye Again (1961).

Brynner focused on action films. He did Escape from Zahrain (1962), with Ronald Neame as director, and Taras Bulba (1962), with Tony Curtis for J. Lee Thompson. Both films were commercial disappointments; Taras Bulba was popular but failed to recoup its large cost.

The first film under Brynner's three-picture deal with Mirisch was Flight from Ashiya (1963) with George Chakiris. It was followed by Kings of the Sun (1963), also with Chakiris, directed by Thompson. Neither film was particularly popular; nor was Invitation to a Gunfighter (1964), a western. Morituri (1965), opposite Marlon Brando, failed to reverse the series of unsuccessful movies. He had cameos in Cast a Giant Shadow (1966) and The Poppy Is Also a Flower (1966).

Brynner enjoyed a hit with Return of the Seven (1966), reprising his role from the original. Less popular were Triple Cross (1966), a war movie with Christopher Plummer; The Double Man (1967), a spy thriller; The Long Duel (1967), an Imperial adventure tale opposite Trevor Howard; Villa Rides (1968), a Western; and The File of the Golden Goose (1969).

File:S.Kragujevic, Yul Brynner in Sarajevo,1969.JPG in Sarajevo on November 29, 1969{{cite news|url=https://www.sarajevotimes.com/fifty-years-ago-on-this-day-there-were-6-000-guests-at-the-opening-of-skenderija/|title=Fifty Years ago on This Day there were 6.000 Guests at the Opening of Skenderija|work=Sarajevo Times|date=November 27, 2019|access-date=December 20, 2019|last1=Z |first1=Y. }}]]

Brynner went to Yugoslavia to star in a war film, Battle of Neretva (1969). He supported Katharine Hepburn in the big-budget flop The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969). Brynner appeared in drag (as a torch singer) in an unbilled role in the Peter Sellers comedy The Magic Christian (1969).Krafsur, Richard P., ed. American Film Institute Catalog, Feature Films 1961–1970 (p. 662), R.R. Bowker Company, 1976; {{ISBN|0-8352-0453-7}}

Brynner went to Italy to make a Spaghetti Western, Adiós, Sabata (1970) and supported Kirk Douglas in The Light at the Edge of the World (1971). He remained in lead roles for Romance of a Horsethief (1971) and a Western, Catlow (1971).

Brynner had a small role in Fuzz (1972) then reprised his most famous part in the TV series Anna and the King (1972) which ran for 13 episodes.

After Night Flight from Moscow (1973) in Europe, Brynner created one of his iconic roles in the cult hit film Westworld (1973) as the 'Gunslinger', a killer robot. His next two films were variations on this performance: The Ultimate Warrior (1975) and Futureworld (1976).[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/24425%7C158718/yul-brynner#filmography "Yul Brynner Filmography"] tcm.com, retrieved May 30, 2019

Brynner returned to Broadway in Home Sweet Homer, a notorious flop musical. His final movie was Death Rage (1976), an Italian action film.

Brynner became a naturalized U.S. citizen, aged 22, in 1943, while living in New York as an actor and radio announcer, and renounced his US citizenship at the U.S. Embassy in Bern, Switzerland, in June 1965 to avoid being bankrupted by taxes and penalties from the Internal Revenue Service; he had stayed in the United States long enough to lose the tax exemption given to American residents working abroad.{{cite book|last=Capua|first=Michelangelo|year=2006|title=Yul Brynner, A Biography|publisher=McFarland|isbn=0-7864-2461-3}}

In 2006, Brynner's son Rock wrote a book about his father and his family history titled Empire and Odyssey: The Brynners in Far East Russia and Beyond. He regularly returned to Vladivostok, the city of his father's birth, for the Pacific Meridian Film Festival.

In 1979, Brynner settled out of court after allegedly contracting trichinosis at Trader Vic's in New York City.{{Cite news |title=TimesMachine: Wednesday October 17, 1979 - NYTimes.com |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1979/10/17/issue.html |access-date=2024-09-04 |work=The New York Times |language=en |issn=0362-4331}}

In September 1983, Brynner suffered a sore throat, his voice changed and doctors found a lump on his vocal cords. In Los Angeles, only hours before his 4,000th performance in The King and I, he received the test results, which indicated that he had inoperable lung cancer, though his throat was not affected. Brynner had begun smoking heavily at age 12. Although he had quit in 1971, his promotional photos often still showed him with a cigarette in hand, or a cigar in his mouth. He and the national tour of the musical were forced to take a few months off while he underwent radiation therapy, which damaged his throat and made singing and speaking difficult. The tour then resumed.Capua, pp. 151–157Rosenfeld, Megan.[https://archive.today/20130201023222/https://secure.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/124184102.html?FMT=AI&FMTS=ABS:AI&date=Dec+6,+1984&author=By+Megan+Rosenfeld+Washington+Post+Staff+Writer&desc=Classic+'King+and+I' "Classic King and I]". The Washington Post, December 6, 1984, p. B13. Retrieved December 28, 2012. {{subscription required}}

In January 1985, the tour reached New York for a farewell Broadway run. Aware he was dying, Brynner gave an interview on Good Morning America discussing the dangers of smoking and expressing his desire to make an anti-smoking commercial. The Broadway production of The King and I ran from January 7 to June 30 of that year. His last performance, a few months before his death, marked the 4,625th time he had played the role of the King.

In addition to his work as a director and performer, Brynner was an active photographer and wrote two books. His daughter Victoria put together Yul Brynner: Photographer,{{Cite book |last1=Brynner |first1=Yul |title=Yul Brynner, photographer |last2=Brynner |first2=Victoria |date=1996 |publisher=Abrams |isbn=978-0-8109-3144-2 |location=New York}} a collection of his photographs of family, friends, and fellow actors, as well as those he took while serving as a UN special consultant on refugees.{{Cite web |last=King |first=Susan |date=December 14, 1996 |title=Seeing World Through Eyes of Yul Brynner, Photographer |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-12-14-ca-8840-story.html |access-date=March 16, 2024 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=January 14, 2012 |title=Yul Brynner: a photographic journey - Telegraph |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/photography/9010603/Yul-Brynner-a-photographic-journey.html |access-date=March 16, 2024 |archive-date=January 14, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114222658/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/photography/9010603/Yul-Brynner-a-photographic-journey.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |date= |title=Yul Brynner Photographer by Yul Brynner |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780810931442 |access-date=March 16, 2024 |website=www.publishersweekly.com}}

Brynner wrote Bring Forth the Children: A Journey to the Forgotten People of Europe and the Middle East (1960), with photographs by himself and Magnum photographer Inge Morath, and The Yul Brynner Cookbook: Food Fit for the King and You (1983).{{Cite book |last1=Brynner |first1=Yul |title=The Yul Brynner cookbook: food fit for the king and you |last2=Reed |first2=Susan |date=1983 |publisher=Stein and Day |isbn=978-0-8128-2882-5 |location=New York}}

He enjoyed singing gypsy songs. In 1967, Dimitrievitch and he released a record album The Gypsy and I: Yul Brynner Sings Gypsy Songs (Vanguard VSD 79265).

File:Yul Brynner-Virginia Gilmore.jpg in 1944]]

Brynner married four times, his first three marriages ending in divorce. He fathered three children and adopted two. His first wife (1944–1960) was actress Virginia Gilmore with whom he had one child, Yul "Rock" Brynner (1946–2023), nicknamed "Rock" when he was six years old in honor of boxer Rocky Graziano. Rock was a historian, novelist, and university history lecturer at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York and Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, Connecticut.{{Cite news |last=Risen |first=Clay |date=October 25, 2023 |title=Rock Brynner, 76, Son of Hollywood Royalty Who Cut His Own Path, Dies |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/25/books/rock-brynner-dead.html |access-date=October 26, 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}

Yul Brynner had a long affair with Marlene Dietrich, who was 19 years his senior, beginning during the first production of The King and I.Capua, [https://books.google.com/books?id=mAllHF9-7ZYC&pg=PA42 chapter 5]; [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3669207/Noel-Coward-Get-on-with-living-and-enjoy-it.html "Noël Coward: 'Get on with living and enjoy it!'"], The Telegraph, November 11, 2007. Retrieved May 20, 2014.

File:Yul Brynner with hair in 1959.jpg

In 1959, Brynner fathered a daughter, Lark Brynner, with Frankie Tilden, who was 20 years old. Lark lived with her mother and Brynner supported her financially. His second wife, from 1960 to 1967, Doris Kleiner (1931–2025){{cite news |last1=Socha |first1=Miles |title=Doris Brynner, Doyenne of Dior Homewares, Dies at 93 |url=https://wwd.com/home-design/home-decor/doris-brynner-dead-dior-1236898666/ |access-date=3 February 2025 |publisher=WWD |date=1 February 2025}} was a Chilean model whom he married on the set during shooting of The Magnificent Seven in 1960. They had one child, Victoria Brynner (born November 1962), whose godmother was Audrey Hepburn.[http://www.elsur.cl/archivo/marzo2000/22marzo2000/elsur/despacho/opinion4.htm Yul Brynner profile at elsur.cl] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930224456/http://www.elsur.cl/archivo/marzo2000/22marzo2000/elsur/despacho/opinion4.htm |date=September 30, 2007}} Belgian novelist and artist Monique Watteau was also romantically linked with Brynner, from 1961 to 1967.{{citation|title=Alika Lindbergh, construite pour l'amour fou|first=Francis|last=Matthys |date=August 15, 2002|work=La Libre Belgique|url=http://www.lalibre.be/culture/livres/alika-lindbergh-construite-pour-l-amour-fou-51b879d7e4b0de6db9a773d6|access-date=March 14, 2015}}

His third wife (1971–1981), Jacqueline Simone Thion de la Chaume (1932–2013), a French socialite, was the widow of Philippe de Croisset (son of French playwright Francis de Croisset and a publishing executive). Brynner and Jacqueline adopted two Vietnamese children: Mia (1974) and Melody (1975). The first house Brynner owned was the Manoir de Criquebœuf, a 16th-century manor house in northwestern France that Jacqueline and he purchased. His third marriage broke up, reportedly owing to his 1980 announcement that he would continue in the role of the King for another long tour and Broadway run, as well as his affairs with female fans and his neglect of his wife and children.Capua, p 151.

On April 4, 1983, aged 62, Brynner married his fourth wife, Kathy Lee (born 1957), a 26-year-old ballerina from Ipoh, Malaysia, whom he had met in the London production of The King and I. They remained married for the last two years of his life. His longtime close friends Meredith A. Disney and her sons Charles Elias Disney and Daniel H. Disney attended Brynner and Lee's final performances of The King and I.{{cite news|title=Yul Brynner biography|url=http://www.tv.com/yul-brynner/person/18963/biography.html|author=tv.com|access-date=March 15, 2009|archive-date=August 1, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090801143550/http://www.tv.com/yul-brynner/person/18963/biography.html|url-status=dead}}

Brynner died of lung cancer on October 10, 1985, at New York Hospital at the age of 65.{{Cite web |url=http://www.cancertodaymag.org/Winter2011/Pages/yul-brynner-lung-cancer.aspx |title="A King's Legacy", Cancer Today magazine, Winter 2011 |access-date=February 26, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161102211932/http://www.cancertodaymag.org/Winter2011/Pages/yul-brynner-lung-cancer.aspx |archive-date=November 2, 2016 |url-status=dead}}{{YouTube |iikQoFpNBNg |Anti-smoking PSA}} His remains were cremated and the ashes were buried in the grounds of the Saint-Michel-de-Bois-Aubry Orthodox monastery, near Luzé, between Tours and Poitiers in France.{{Cite web|url=https://www.loirevalley-france.co.uk/organise-your-stay/visits/other-monuments-and-heritage/abbaye-royale-saint-michel-de-bois-aubry|title=Abbaye Royal Saint-Michel De Bois-Aubry: in Luze, The Loire Valley, a journey through France|website=Val de Loire, une balade en France}}

Prior to his death, with the help of the American Cancer Society, Brynner created a public service announcement using a clip from the Good Morning America interview. A few days after his death, it premiered on all major US television networks and in other countries. Brynner used the announcement to express his desire to make an anti-smoking commercial after discovering he had cancer, and his death was imminent. He then looked directly into the camera for 30 seconds and said, "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." His year of birth, in one version of the commercial, was incorrectly given as 1915.{{YouTube |MTCkO8dwTf4 |Anti-smoking PSA, wrong birth year}}

File:Yul Brynner Park, Vladivostok, Russia.jpg

On September 28, 2012, a 2.4-m-tall statue was inaugurated at Yul Brynner Park, in front of the home where Brynner was born at Aleutskaya St. No. 15 in Vladivostok, Russia. Created by local sculptor Alexei Bokiy, the monument was carved in granite monolith that was acquired in China and delivered to Vladivostok, Russia. It depicts him in the role of King Mongkut of Siam from The King and I. The grounds for the park were donated by the city of Vladivostok, which also paid additional costs. Vladivostok Mayor Igor Pushkariov, US Consul General Sylvia Curran, and Brynner's son, Rock, participated in the ceremony, along with hundreds of local residents.

The Briner family cottage in suburban Vladivostok is now a Yul Brynner museum.{{cite web|title=Rock Brynner in the Russian Far East|url=http://www.rockbrynner.com/|website=www.rockbrynner.com|access-date=April 7, 2016}}

In 1956, Brynner imprinted his hands and feet into the concrete pavement in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California. In 1960, Brynner was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6162 Hollywood Boulevard.

In 2022, a podcast was launched celebrating his filmography, entitled "Here's Looking at Yul, Kid," and has included guests such as Ron Howard.{{Citation |title=We Watched Ron Howard's First-Ever Movie With Him! (From HLAYK Ep. 12 - The Journey) | date=August 10, 2023 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ-FlC0OJAc |access-date=August 14, 2023 |language=en}}

Brynner spent many years living, studying, and working in France, and his last will stated his wish to be buried there. His resting place at Abbaye royale Saint-Michel de Bois-Aubry has a memorial mention dedicated to him.

{{multiple image

| align = right

| direction = vertical

| width = 190

| image1 = Anastasia (1956) trailer 1.jpg

| width1 = 190

| caption1 = With Ingrid Bergman in Anastasia (1956)

| image2 = Yul Brynner as Dmitri Karamazov.jpg

| width2 = 200

| caption2 = in The Brothers Karamazov (1958)

| image3 = Gina Lollobrigida and Yul Brynner, 1959.jpg

| width3 = 190

| caption3 = With Gina Lollobrigida in Solomon and Sheba (1959)

| image4 = Yul Brynner in Kings of the Sun (1963).jpg

| width4 = 190

| caption4 = In Kings of the Sun (1963)

| image5 = Filmopnamen The light of the end of the world in Spanje, Bestanddeelnr 923-8617 (cropped).jpg

| width5 = 190

| caption5 = In The Light at the Edge of the World (1971)

| image6 = Yul Brynner Anna and the King television 1972.JPG

| width6 = 190

| caption6 = In Anna and the King (1972)

}}

Short subjects:

• On Location with Westworld (1973)
• Lost to the Revolution (1980) (narrator)

File:Yul Brynner star on the Hollywood walk of fame 20220516 143916 HDR 2 (1).jpg at 6162 Hollywood Boulevard]]

At the height of his career, Brynner was voted by exhibitors as among the most popular stars at the box office:

• 1956 – 21st (US)
• 1957 – 10th (US), 10th (UK)
• 1958 – 8th (US)
• 1959 – 24th (US)
• 1960 – 23rd (US)

• Twelfth Night (1941) (Broadway)
• The Moon Vine (1943) (Broadway)
• Lute Song (1946) (Broadway and US national tour)
• The King and I (1951) (Broadway and US national tour)
• Home Sweet Homer (1976) (Broadway)
• The King and I (1977) (Broadway, London and US national tour)
• The King and I (1985) (Broadway)

• In 1960, he was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame with a motion pictures star at 6162 Hollywood Boulevard.{{cite web|url=http://www.walkoffame.com/yul-brynner |title=Hollywood Walk of Fame – Yul Brynner |website=Hollywood Walk of Fame |publisher=Hollywood Chamber of Commerce |access-date=December 28, 2017}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{cite book|last=Capua|first=Michelangelo|publisher=McFarland|title=Yul Brynner: A Biography|year=2006|isbn=0-7864-2461-3}}

{{Refend}}

{{commons}}

• {{IBDB name}}
• {{IMDb name|989}}
• {{playbill person}}

{{Navboxes

|title = Awards for Yul Brynner

|list =

{{AcademyAwardBestActor 1941-1960}}

{{National Board of Review Award for Best Actor}}

{{Special Tony Award}}

{{TonyAward MusicalFeaturedActor 1947-1975}}

}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brynner, Yul}}

Category:1920 births

Category:1985 deaths

Category:American male musical theatre actors

Category:American military personnel of Asian descent

Category:American people of Buryat descent

Category:American people of Mongolian descent

Category:American people of Russian descent

Category:American people of Swiss-German descent

Category:Best Actor Academy Award winners

Category:Burials in Centre-Val de Loire

Category:Deaths from lung cancer in New York (state)

Category:Donaldson Award winners

Category:Male Spaghetti Western actors

Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States

Category:Naturalised citizens of Switzerland

Category:People from Vladivostok

Category:People of the United States Office of War Information

Category:People who renounced United States citizenship

Category:Soviet emigrants to the United States

Category:Special Tony Award recipients

Category:Tobacco-related deaths

Category:Tony Award winners