Yul Brynner

Yul Brynner

Yul Brynner (born Yuliy Borisovich Briner, Russian: Юлий Борисович Бринер; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985) was a Russian-born Swiss film and stage actor. Brynner was best known for his portrayal of King Mongkut of Siam in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I, for which he won two Tony Awards and an Academy Award for the film version. He played the role 4,625 times on stage. He also starred as Ramesses II in the 1956 Cecil B. DeMille blockbuster The Ten Commandments, and played General Bounine in the 1956 film Anastasia, and the gunman Chris Adams in The Magnificent Seven. Brynner was noted for his distinctive voice and for his shaved head, which he maintained as a personal trademark long after adopting it in 1951 for his role in The King and I. Earlier, he was a model and television director, and later a photographer and the author of two books.

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