Cat. #0006321: YUL BRYNNER

Tough to acquire vintage 8x10-inch black and white portrait in his prime, boldly signed in black felt-tip marker in the 1980s. In good condition. During famously chrome-domed leading man Yul Brynner's lifetime, it was impossible to determine when and where he was born, simply because he changed the story in every interview and, when confronted with these discrepancies, would reply, "Ordinary mortals need but one birthday." In later years, his mixed Russian, Swiss, French, and Manchurian ancestry came to light, but his air of mystery has endured.  After Brynner snagged an Academy Award for his first major big screen role in the film version of The King and I (1956), he was hand-selected by Cecil B. DeMille to play stubborn-hearted Egyptian Pharoah Rameses I in the multi-million-dollar blockbuster The Ten Commandments (1956). Afterwards, it became difficult for the star to play a "normal" character, so he seldom tried, essaying mesmerizing madmen and villains in films like Anastasia (1956), The Brothers Karamazov (1958), The Journey (1959), The Sound and the Fury (1959), The Magnificent Seven (1960), and Return of the Seven (1966).  His last major film role was in the sci-fi thriller Westworld (1973), as a murderously malfunctioning robot, dressed in Western garb. What could have been campy or ludicrous became a chilling characterization in Brynner's hands; his steady, steely-eyed automaton glare as he approached his human victims was one of the more enjoyably frightening film-going benefits of the decade.