Striking poses: The fantastic figure of Yul Brynner

Abstract

<p>Since his successful 1956 appearances in the Hollywood films The King and 1 (Walter Lang),<br />Ten Commandments (Cecil B. DeMille) and Anastasia (Anatole Litvak), Yul Brynner’s star<br />image emerged as elaborately masculine, foreign and exotic, as well as markedly flexible in<br />the range of ethnicities that it was set to convey. Combined with his varying mythical tales of<br />international origins and sexual prowess, Brynner’s intense gestural register and striking body<br />aesthetic, as encapsulated in the trademark baldness, rendered the actor a spectacular sight in<br />1950s Hollywood. In fact Brynner’s mere physical presence dominates many of his films in<br />ways suggestive of elasticity between acting and presence, role and actor – as well as of the<br />centrality of screen presence more generally. This article explores Brynner’s fantastic<br />cinematic figure image in terms of its fabrication, flexibility and reappearance by examining<br />both his film work and biographical accounts. It tracks transformations and continuities in<br />Brynner’s performance style with specific attention on its idiosyncratic and repetitive<br />elements in terms of pose, gesture and motion, with the aim of foregrounding the role of<br />physicality – both material and represented – in the creation of star image.<br /></p>