Who Was Yul Brynner?

Yul Brynner was an actor most famous for playing King Mongkut of Siam in “The King and I”. However, he was quite versatile and played figures from history (pirate Jean Lafitte), literature (Dostoevsky, Gogol, Tennessee Williams) as well as the Bible (Solomon, pharaoh).

When westerns became the rage in the 1960s, he played gunslingers, usually Creole because of his exotic looks and accent. His bald head and an intense piercing gaze were his trademarks.

Despite various tall tales told about his nationality and birthplace, Brynner was actually born on July 11, 1920 in Vladivostok, Russia. His mother migrated to Paris France in 1934. Yul learned gypsy guitar and worked in a well-known circus as a trapeze artist until he was hurt in a serious accident.

At age 21, Brynner migrated to the United States to study acting. He found work on the Broadway stage, on TV and in film in the 1940s. Actress Mary Martin recommended him for the role of 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.

Yul Brynner turns up on Jeopardy! fairly frequently. the last time was in 2021 in the BALD IS BEAUTIFUL category and his clues usually have something to do with “The King and I” or his bald head. All the same, if you are going to go on Jeopardy!, it certainly wouldn’t hurt to learn a few things about Brynner or even watch the trailers of some of his films.

10 Great Yul Brynner Films

Yul Brynner is the right response to these 5 clues:

BALD IS BEAUTIFUL $800: Famous for playing a Siamese king, he also played a royal on film in “Solomon and Sheba”–he had hair in that one

THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT $1200: He took home both a Tony & an Oscar for his role in “The King and I”

THE BALD TRUTH $400: So it shall be written, he starred in “Anastasia” & “Solomon and Sheba”

TV & MOVIE ROBOTS $300: He played a gunslinging robot in both “Westworld” & its sequel, “Futureworld”

ACTORS & ROLES $100: He first shaved his head to play Pontius Pilate in “The Greatest Story Ever Told”

These 6 Jeopardy! clues are about Yul Brynner’s films:

FORTUNE FAVORS THE BALD $400: 1956 was a good year for the bald: Ike got re-elected & this movie musical starring Yul Brynner had its premiere

BIBLICAL BIG SCREEN $200: Yul Brynner played this vain pharaoh in 1956’s “The Ten Commandments”

CRESCENT CITY ROLES $400: In “The Buccaneer”, Yul Brynner played this pirate who aided Andrew Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODIES $2000: Also a Yul Brynner film, this Janacek piece came from a Gogol tale of a Cossack who revolts against the Poles