Yul Brynner

Academy Award-winning Yul Brynner was a Russian movie and stage actor. He has played various roles in films and theatre in his career. He was not just an actor but also a performer who impressed millions of viewers with his wide range of talent, bustling energy, impeccable looks, and charming self.

Brynner was married four times, three of which ended with divorce & remained in a marital relationship with 4th wife until his death. He had four children from his marriage. On 10th October 1985, Brynner died of lung cancer in New York City, the same day actor/director Orson Welles pa s sed away.

Early Life Details!

Yuliy Borisovich Briner was born on 11th July 1992 in Vladivostok, Far Eastern Republic (now Russia). 

Throughout his lifetime, The Magnificent Seven held three different citizenship; he was Russian (then the Soviet Union) until the 40s, & later owned American citizenship (1943-65) & Swiss citizenship (1965-85).

Fell in love with Katya Kornukova

Briner is of mixed ethnicity, Swiss-German & Russian ancestry. He was the youngest of two to father Boris Yuliyevich Briner, a mining engineer, and mother Marousia Dimitrievna, an actress & singer. His late elder sister Vera (b. January 17, 1916- d. December 13, 1967) was an opera singer.

Reportedly, Yul's father, Boris, abandoned his family after he fell in love with Katya Kornukova, an actress while in Moscow for work. As a result, Yul, along with his sister & mother, moved to Harbin, China. However, at that time, the tension between China & Japan saw fears of war which made them move to Paris in 1932.

Worked as a radio announcer & commentator, 

While in Paris, Brynner played in Russian nightclubs before working as an acrobat in a French circus troupe for 5 years. By 1940, Yul Brynner & his mother immigrated to the United States on a ship called President Cleveland. They lived in New York City, where his sister already resided & worked as an opera singer & voice teacher.

During World War II, he worked as a radio announcer & commentator while also studying acting with Russian teacher Michael Chekhov in Connecticut.

Acting Career Of Brynner

During World War II, Yul Brynner started working as a French Speaking radio announcer and commentator at the Office of War Information in the U.S., broadcasting propaganda to occupied France.

Brynner also trained himself in acting, learning under Russian acting coach Michael Chekhov. He then toured the country with Chekhov’s theatrical troupe.

Debut Movie

Brynner made his debut on stage with a small role in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. He then worked in the television series, ‘Mr. Jones and His Neighbour’ followed by the 1946 production of Lute Song with Mary Martin.

In addition to acting, Brynner also took up various modeling assignments. He turned to direction with the new CBS TV studio, Studio One. He was also featured on the first television talk show, ‘Mr & Mrs..’ He made his debut on the big screen with the 1949 film noir crime film, ‘Port of New York.’ 

Tv Director

Having a successful career as a TV director, Brynner resisted acting proposals. But, succumbing to the pressure of Mary Martin, Brynner auditioned for the role of ‘King’ in the American musical film, ‘The King & I’ in 1947.

‘The King & I’ brought him immense critical acclaim. He portrayed King Mongkut in the movie version in 1956 and a short-lived TV version on CBS in 1972.

Yul in ‘The King & I

After the grand success of ‘The King & I,’ Brynner was cast in other movies. He gained superstar status with his roles in the movies, ‘The Ten Commandments and ‘Anastasia.’

Brynner’s brilliance in acting, exotic persona, and indefinable accent led him to do roles in some other movies, including ‘Solomon and Sheba,’ ‘Taras Bulba’ ‘The Magnificent Seven,’ and ‘Kings of the Sun.’

End The Acting Career

At the end of his acting career, Brynner played a titular role in the movie, ‘The Ultimate Warrior’ followed by ‘Death Rage’ in 1976. His last league of movies includes Michael Crichton's ‘Westworld’ and its sequel ‘Futureworld.’ 

Brynner did not just limit his talent to acting and direction but instead ventured forward as a photographer, author, and guitarist.

Penned two books

In his lifetime, Brynner penned two books, ‘The Yul Brynner Cookbook: Food Fit for the King and You and ‘Bring Forth the Children: A Journey to the Forgotten People of Europe and the Middle East.’ Both the books comprised photos that Brynner had taken.

As a guitarist, Brynner recorded some songs in the movie, ‘The Brothers Karamazov,’ which was released in 1967, ‘The Gypsy and I: Yul Brynner Sings Gypsy Songs.’

Married For 4 Times 

Yul Brynner had been married four times, fathering five children, out of which two were adopted. In 1994, he tied the knot with an actress,

Virginia Gilmore, with whom he shared a son, Yul Brynner Jr. (b. December 23, 1946), who later nicknamed him "Rock" at 6 years old in honor of Rocky Graziano.

Divorce After Sixteen Years of Marriage

After 16 years of marriage, the actor divorced his first wife, Virginia, on March 26, 1960. And following 5 days of divorce, Brynner married again; his second wife, Doris Kleiner, is a Chilean model. They exchanged vows on March 31, 1960, during a shooting on the set of The Magnificent Seven.

Yul and Doris remained together for 7 years & welcomed daughter Victoria Brynner (b. 1962) before they divorced in 1967.

Then, the Academy Award-winning late actor married his third wife, Jacqueline Simone Thion de la Chaume (who died in 2013). They walked down the aisle on September 23, 1971, and divorced a decade later in 1983. While together, the former duo didn't share any kids but adopted two children from Vietnam in 1974: Mia and Melody.

Afterward, at the age of 62, Yul married for the fourth time; his wife, Kathy Lee, a Malaysian ballerina, was only 26 years old then. They married on April 4, 1983, & remained together for 2 years before the actor died.

Wife And Daughter

Not to mention, the Anastasia actor is away from the shades of an extra-marital affair. He reportedly had a relationship with German-American actress Marlene Dietrich for a long time; she was 19 years older than him. The two have been dating each other since the first production of The King and I during the late 50s.

Moreover, Brynner became father to daughter Lark Brynner in 1959 from his relationship with a then-20-year-old woman named Frankie Tilden. He supported them financially. Reportedly, at that time, he was still married to his first wife, Virginia Gilmore.

Death At 65

On October 10, 1985, Brynner died of lung cancer in New York City- he was 65 years old then. As reported, Yul has been smoking since age 12. In September 1983, the test showed a lump on his vocal cords that turned out to be inoperable lung cancer.

In early 1985, he discussed the effects of smoking in an interview with Good Morning America. A few days after his death, an anti-cigarette public service announcement was shown on all the major US TV networks and in many other countries.

He rests at peace at Saint-Michel-de-Bois-Aubry Russian Orthodox Monastery in France.

Net Worth

Brynner was active in the acting industry for more than four decades, from 1941 to 1985. During the last days of his career, he worked in the films: Death Rage (1976) and Futureworld (1976). Yul was undoubtedly one of the most successful Hollywood actors of his time, with 47 notable on-screen credits.

Yul Brynner was a millionaire at the time of his death; his net worth was an estimated $10 million (inflation in the 2020s). The King and I actor left most of his fortune to his 4th wife, Kathy Brynner, including a New York co-op apartment at United Nations Plaza- she sold that later for $1.85 million.

Salary and Earnings

His movies earned big at the box office, Port of New York made $1748000, Anastasia made $1082000, and The Journey made $692,000, among others. 

Similarly, Brynner had an annual salary of $1 million, and his daily income was $2,960.