Yul Brynner

He went into the nuptials four times in his life. The first was with actress Virginia Gilmore whom he settled with from 1944 to 1960. Together they had a son, Rock Yul Brynner.

In 1959, he fathered a daughter with Frankie Tilden.

In 1960, he married Doris Kleiner. The unison lasted for seven years until 1967. They were blessed with a daughter, Victoria Brynner.

Yul Bynner was born on July 11, 1920 as Yuliy Borisovich Briner at Vladivostok, Far Eastern Republic (present-day Vladivostok, Russia) to Boris Yuliyevich Briner, a mining engineer and Marousia Dimitrievna. He had a younger sister.

His father’s extra-marital affair led him to be under the care and guidance of his mother who took the children to Harbin, Manchuria. Therein, he attained formal education in a school run by YMCA

With China likely to go into a war with Japan, she shifted her family to Paris in 1932. It was there that he became musically inclined and started playing guitar in Russian nightclubs.

He trained himself as a trapeze acrobat and worked in a French circus for about three years before sustaining a back injury which forced him to leave the job and take up a new career. It was then that he turned to acting.

In 1940, along with his mother, he migrated to US and started living in New York City.

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

Meanwhile, he also trained himself at acting by learning under Russian acting coach, Michael Chekhov. He then toured the country with Chekhov’s theatrical troupe. He made his debut on stage with a small role in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.

He then worked in the TV series, ‘Mr Jones and His Neighbour’ which was followed by the 1946 production of Lute Song with Mary Martin. In addition to acting, he took up several modelling assignments.

He turned to direction with the new CBS television studios, Studio One. He also starred in the first television talk show, ‘Mr & Mrs.’. In 1946, he made his debut in the big screen with the movie, ‘Port of New York’.

Having a successful career as a television director, he resisted acting proposals. However, succumbing to the pressure by Mary Martin, he auditioned for the role of ‘King’ in Rodgers and Hammerstein's new musical ‘The King & I’ in 1947.

In 1952, he was bestowed with a Tony Award in the category of Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of The King in ‘The King and I’. For his 4625 performances in ‘The King and I’, he received a special Tony Award.

In 1956, he won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the King in the film version of ‘The King and I’. Furthermore in the next two years, he was ranked ‘Top 10 Stars of the Year’.

He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6162 Hollywood Blvd