Yul Brynner

Birth Name:

Yuliy Borisovich Briner

Birth Date:

July 11, 1920

Birth Place:

Vladivostok, Primorsky Krai, Russia

Death Date:

October 10, 1985

Place of Death:

New York Hospital, New York, New York

Age:

Cause of Death:

Lung cancer

Cemetery Name:

Abbaye Royale Saint-Michel de Bois-Aubry Luzé

Claim to Fame:

Show Business

Exotic leading man of American films, famed as much for his completely bald head as for his performances, Yul Brynner masked much of his early life in mystery. 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".

Fun Facts

Brynner was best known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in the Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musical The King and I, for which he won two Tony Awards, and later an Academy Award for Best Actor for the film adaptation. He played the role 4,625 times on stage.

Considered one of the first Russian-American film stars, he was honored with a ceremony to put his handprints in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood in 1956, and also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.

A large collection of Yul Brynner memorabilia can be found at the Abbaye Royale Saint-Michel de Bois-Aubry in Luze, France.

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. Oh yes he did!

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Abbaye Royale Saint-Michel de Bois-Aubry Luzé

Bois-Aubry, , France

Luzé, , 37120

France

Europe

Grave Location:

Yul Brynner Garden Plot

Grave Location Description

As you enter the abbey walk to the back and follow the trail to the edge of the abbey property. About 300 feet from the abbey lies the great actor Yul Brynner.