Was Yul Brynner the First Bald Hollywood Heart Throb?
Yul Brynner was not your typical Hollywood actor. Yul foreign ancestry led to him being described as ‘exotic’ and he did not grow up with the usual opportunities that allow young people to pursue a career in acting. Brynner was born in 1920 and for much of his life the details of his early years were a mystery. He would make up where he was from and various other details of his life until he became famous, including being part Mongol, part Japanese and part Swiss. However, we now know that he was born in Vladivostok Russia, the Far Eastern Block of Russia and that he had a middle-class upbringing.
Brynner’s father abandoned him when he was a child and his mother moved the family to Paris when Brynner was 14. Here Brynner dropped out of school to become a musician and later worked as a trapeze artist within a circus troupe. Whilst touring as a performer, the actor travelled to the United States at the start of the 1940s.
On arrival to New York City he spoke little to no English but became best known for his role in the musical, The King and I. In this classic film, he played the king of Siam and went on to play the role over 4000 times on stage. He was also well known for his role in The Magnificent Seven, a western made in 1956, and for his portrayal of Rameses in The Ten Commandments. Yul was best known for his bald head and distinctive voice. What was it about Brynner that meant he went from a struggling model and circus performer to household name and Hollywood heartthrob?
Did shaving his hair for the role help win the two Tony Awards and an academy award for the film version play a part? The award for best actor was well deserved as Yul Brynner was an incredibly talented actor. However, shaving his hair certainly gave him his distinctive look and launched his career. If he hadn’t shaved his head, who knows whether he would have been as successful.
Bald and Sexy
The year that changed everything was 1951. Yul Brynner was cast in the musical The King and I, and chose to shave his head. He was suffering from male pattern baldness and the transformation once he shaved all his hair off was amazing. Yul paved the way and made being bald look sexy. His striking appearance helped to give him legendary status. Brynner continued to shave his head for the rest of his life, though on occasion, he would wear a hairpiece for specific roles, choosing to never grow his own hair again. This is likely to be partly due to the male pattern baldness, and partly because the bald head became like Brynner’s trademark and to grow his hair again would change his persona.
Brynner’s bald head was part of what made him sexy and he was never in short supply of female fans. Throughout his life he married four times and had five children, so as with most bald men, he was virile, to say the least. It has also been reported but not verified that he had several affairs. His first three marriages ended in divorce which may be due to infidelity but other factors could certainly have been reasons. His fourth and final wife Kathy Lee was at his bedside when he died.
What do you think Yul would have looked like with scalp micro pigmentation?
Yul Brynner died in 1985, aged 65. His cause of death was lung cancer and near the end of his life, he wanted to get the anti smoking message out there. Part of his interview was used to for an anti smoking commercial. The commercial was hard hitting as it was released after his death and brought the issue of smoking and lung cancer to a far reaching audience. Brynner kept working as long as he could, insisting on filming the anti-smoking commercial and delivering his last ever performance of The King and I on stage the same year as his death. Due to his outstanding career, Yul Brynner received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Would Yul Brynner have been such a heartthrob if he had long hair? He was a struggling male model and performer before he shaved his head to kick start his acting career. We think if Yul hadn’t shaved his head and become a sexy bald man, his career would have fizzled out and no-one would be talking about him anymore.
Brynner amassed a huge fortune throughout his career in Hollywood and Broadway, in later life he renounced his US citizenship for tax reasons.
He really looked stunning and was an icon, many women as well as many men found him and still do incredibly sexy. Male pattern baldness didn’t affect his career and he would have looked amazing with a scalp tattoo (scalp micro pigmentation).
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