Yul Brynner - Quite simply the King..!

YUL BRYNER (1920- 1985)

Born Yuliy Borisovich Brynner in Russia, his mother was the daughter of a jewish Doctor and his father too belonged to a religious jewish family...however Yul Bryner made tall claims about his parentage. He is believed to have gone round telling that he had Royal Mongoloid ancestry.Yul's autobiography claims he was born with the name Taidje Khan of 'Mongolian royalty' on the island of Sakhalin, but this is contradicted by his own son, Rock.

In my opinion Yul Bryner was easily one of the Best looking actors ever.He had exotic looks and this must have made him a very popular and in demand model that he was before he started acting in films.
And he made some really Great movies.My own particular favorites are Of course 'The King and I (1952).He was too good in his role of Mongkut, the King of Siam.It was with this film that he became famous for his unique shaven-headed look, which he kept on as his personal trade mark.I particularly like the scene where he is dictating a letter to Deborah Kerr, (who plays the role of an English tutor )He keeps changing his positions causing her to do the same as, she being a commoner has to be in a position lower than him, and ,at one stage he lies on the floor and LOL she tries to do the same flattening herself on the floor, even as she keeps on writing what he is dictating ..having seen the film King and I, it is difficult to forget this particular scene..

Another fantastic performance was in 'The Ten Commandments'.I simply cannot imagine any other actor in the role of the Pharoh other than him.
The other movies i liked were' Anastasia' with Ingrid Bergman..they looked very good together, and The Magnificent seven, where he plays the role of a swaggering cow boy.

He is supposed to have been Just 5' 8' tall , but He had a large personality that more than made up for his lack of height.He had a larger than life image., he was probably one of the earliest male stars to be photographed nude.

Brynner was linked with Actress Marlene Dietrich, he was supposed to have had an affair with her and also with Judy Garland, in fact he was linked with several other ladies.He must have been quite a ladies man with those killer looks.

Brynner was apparently a heavy smoker , supposed to have had a four pack a day habit, which ultimately claimed his life .He died of lung cancer at the age of 70..
He was a Star in the real sense with a commanding screen presence and Great at what he did. 

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