A Broadway and Hollywood Star Hailing from Soviet Russia: The Bright Life and Tragic Death of Yul Brynner

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Name Yula Brynner hardly known to our viewers, although in the 1950s-1960s. in the West he was one of the most popular actors, and even in the Soviet box office the film with his participation "The Magnificent Seven" enjoyed great success. The actor with Russian, Swiss and Buryat roots was born in Vladivostok, and in exile he became a real star, conquering Broadway and Hollywood. His life could be the plot of an adventure film, and his death was the reason for the start of a campaign promoting a healthy lifestyle.

Yul Brynner was a fan of hoaxes, so it is extremely difficult to reconstruct the details of his biography of the first half of his life. He himself claimed that his grandfather Jules Briner was a cabin boy on a pirate ship, that his family went back to Genghis Khan. Yul told other journalists that he was a hereditary gypsy, the third that he was born on Sakhalin, and his mother died in childbirth. Later, his son Rock denied this information, stating that the Briners were Russified Swiss who came to Russia in the 18th century. and engaged in gardening at the royal court.

Yuliy Borisovich Briner was born in 1920 in Vladivostok (when he became an actor, a second "n" appeared in his last name, and his name was reduced to the first two letters). Julius spent his childhood in Vladivostok and Moscow, later the family emigrated to Harbin (China), and then to France. Before becoming an actor, he tried many professions. His artistic abilities were manifested in his youth. From the age of 15, Julius performed with gypsies in a Russian restaurant. Then he became interested in circus art and for about two years performed with the number "flying clown" as an acrobat on a trapeze, until he was seriously injured, because of which he had to leave the circus. Only opium saved from severe pain, and Julius became so addicted to it that he even had to go to a specialized clinic in Switzerland to get rid of drug addiction.

In 1941 Yul Brynner moved to New York. He did not like to remember his first years in America - he had to work as a chauffeur, a bouncer in a restaurant, a model for photographers, and a performer of gypsy romances in nightclubs. But the dream of becoming an actor never left him, and after Yul graduated from Mikhail Chekhov's acting courses, he began performing on Broadway. His first success came in 1951, when the actor starred in the Broadway musical The King and I. This production was so popular that in 1956 the musical was filmed, and Yul Brynner received an Oscar for his role as King of Siam.

Since then, he has had no end to proposals from Hollywood directors. Yul Brynner starred in the films The Brothers Karamazov, Anastasia, Testament of Orpheus, The Magnificent Seven, Taras Bulba and many others. He was called the most famous Russian actor in Hollywood. Marlene Dietrich, with whom he had an affair, advised him to shave bald head, which began to go bald early, and this became part of his image of a superman who easily won women's hearts. He was married to actresses Virginia Gilmore and Catty Lee, he was credited with having affairs with Ingrid Bergman, Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe, however, whether this was true or part of the image remains a mystery.

An affair with Marlene Dietrich left an indelible mark on his soul. The actor said: "".

All his life Yul Brynner was a heavy smoker, smoking three packs a day, and even starred in an advertisement for Camel cigarettes. In 1983. he was diagnosed with lung cancer in the fourth inoperable stage. Realizing that he was living out the last days of his life, the actor starred in a video that was shown all over the world after his death. In it, Yul Brynner addressed all smokers with the words: "". This video was first shown on the day of his death on October 10, 1985. In America, it was the beginning of the promotion of a healthy lifestyle and a fashion to give up cigarettes.

Until the last days, the actor went on stage. Brynner's press agent said, "" And TV journalist Mike Wallace called Yul Brynner "".

Yul Brynner was not the only Hollywood star with Russian roots: How Natasha Zakharenko became the scandalous film star Natalie Wood.