Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen were two big Hollywood stars that starred together in the
Western The Magnificent Seven. The clashing of egos on the set of the film caused the
two stars not to get along, and there were reported to have been
numerous incidents where the two butted heads over the course of production. Join
Facts Verse as we explore why Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen couldn’t stand each other.
Yul Brynner Started Out on Broadway in The King and I
Yul Brynner was a Hollywood actor that found a niche for himself in the entertainment industry
relatively easily, with his ambiguous looks that made it incredibly hard to tell where
the actor hailed from. Yul’s mixed ethnicity made him a standout in Hollywood back in the day,
and it made him the perfect choice to play the decidedly exotic role of King Mongkut
in The King and I. The King and I originated as a stage musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein.
Early in his career, Yul played the role on Broadway before eventually being given the
chance to reprise the role on the big screen by way of the show’s Hollywood adaptation.
Yul Brynner received acclaim for his portrayal of King Mongkut on the stage,
and he received even wider acclaim when it came time for him to reprise the role
on the screen. When all was said and done, the role of King Mongkut netted Yul both a Tony
Award and an Academy Award. Although Yul’s role on the big screen in the Hollywood adaptation of
The King and I was a big success, it was only the second film that the actor had ever starred in.
He would go on to perform in several more big films over the course of his Hollywood career,
including The Ten Commandments and The Magnificent Seven, the prior of
which costarred Charlton Heston and the latter of which costarred Steve McQueen.
It is mainly Yul Brynner’s time during the filming of The Magnificent Seven that we’ll
be focusing on in this video. In particular, we’ll be taking a look at the way that Yul
didn’t get along with the aforementioned costar Steve McQueen! As Steve McQueen put it shortly
after the film’s notorious filming, he was in his element during the filming of the production while
Yul Brynner simply wasn’t. Some might take Steve’s remarks at face value,
but there was actually a lot more to the story. It seems that Steve McQueen was intent on making
Yul’s life a living hell during the filming of The Magnificent Seven, and it eventually
grew to the point where the actor couldn’t take it anymore without putting up a fight.
Yul Brynner Hated Steve McQueen Steve McQueen and Yul Brynner made up part
of a stunning ensemble cast in The Magnificent Seven, but each of them likely thought that he
was the star. Besides Steve and Yul, the film also featured Charles Bronson, Eli Wallach,
and James Coburn. The film itself was a remake of a Japanese samurai picture by the name of Seven
Samurai, which most film historians will argue remains the better film. Still,
the American update is plenty beloved in its own right. As most have likely already picked up on,
The Magnificent Seven changed the setting of Seven Samurai’s plot from Japan to the West,
and thus changed the genre from samurai film to Western. The film is considered to
be among the best Westerns out there, particularly from around the time.
Although The Magnificent Seven is highly regarded and a big part of the appeal of the film remains
its stunning ensemble cast, watching the movie becomes quite a different experience
once you realize just how much costars Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen couldn’t stand each
other over the course of the film’s production. It’s not all that clear why Steve McQueen chose
to pick a fight with Yul, though neither of the stars was free from their own personal
struggles with their ego. Although it was clearly Steve McQueen that picked the fight,
Yul was no innocent victim. Yul was always a bit of a diva, even from his earliest days on
Broadway. He memorably forced the theater playing the original run of The King and
I to build new accommodations for himself and his limousine so that he could drive
off from the theater without having to interact with a single one of his fans.
Given that The Magnificent Seven was an ensemble film, many of its characters didn’t get all that
much time to shine. Steve McQueen’s character was originally only supposed to have a handful
of lines in the entire film, but Steve ended up throwing a fit and getting the director to give
him a good deal more. The director essentially let Steve McQueen take over the set of the film, and
the star subsequently made the shoot a decidedly negative experience for many of his costars. Steve
seemed to have an especially negative focus on Yul Brynner, and some have suggested the reason was
because Steve felt that Yul’s character was given a nicer gun than his was. If you’re enjoying this
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Steve McQueen Abused His Star Status on the Set Steve McQueen had it his way on the set of The
Magnificent Seven. The actor got the director to give him a good deal more lines and also got to
frame shots so that he could take up more of the screen. Still, this wasn’t enough for Steve’s ego.
In addition to getting more control and being the focal point of the feature, Steve wanted to
make the shoot a nightmare for those around. Steve especially didn’t like Yul Brynner,
and there are multiple accounts of Steve doing annoying things to piss Yul off during
filming. It seems that Steve would always start fiddling with something whenever it came time
for Yul to say a line. Steve would mess with his belt, flip a coin, or rattle around the shotgun
shells that he was holding. It got to the point where Yul hired a personal assistant to come onto
the set of the film and count how many times Steve attempted to interrupt or distract him during
the filming of his key scenes. It’s unclear what exactly Yul did with this information,
but it seems as if the assistant certainly had a good number of incidents to keep count of.
Neither Yul Brynner nor Steve McQueen was the tallest of individuals, with Yul being 5’ 6” and
Steve being 5’ 8”. This put them in essentially the same height bracket, which was well below
the average Hollywood star at the time. However, Steve McQueen apparently considered himself to
be an average-sized man and Yul Brynner to be something of a subhuman. During scenes of The
Magnificent Seven that were filmed outside, Yul would always carefully construct a small mound of
dirt that he could stand on so that the could look as tall as the actors around him. For his part,
Steve McQueen would casually kick these small mounds down whenever he came across them out of
spite for his fellow actor. Out of all that things that Steve McQueen did to Yul Brynner during the
production of The Magnificent Seven, this seems to have been the thing that bothered the actor the
most. Eventually, Yul got sick of it and physically confronted Steve McQueen about kicking
down his dirt mounds. Steve would later claim that Yul’s actual reason for assaulting him was
because the actor was jealous that Steve knew how to ride horses and shoot guns better than he did.
Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen never managed to set aside their differences,
but they did manage to wrap up the filming of The Magnificent Seven, and the film became a huge hit.
Both of the stars’ careers were boosted by the success of the film, though neither one really
needed the boost. Yul Brynner was already a huge star by the time he made his appearance in The
Magnificent Seven, which was arguably a big part of why Steve McQueen was so intimidated. While
Steve McQueen was a tried-and-true action hero, Yul was a fancier film star that had started out
on the stage to great acclaim. Steve and Yul butting heads on the set of The Magnificent
Seven represent the biggest egos of two worlds colliding, and it was something to behold!
Other Interesting Stories About Yul Brynner Other interesting things about Yul Brynner
include the fact that he was a trapeze artist as a child. During this time period, he suffered
an accident that nearly left him unable to move for the rest of his life! The actor was
also a raging bisexual who had numerous Hollywood affairs with both his male and
female contemporaries. Yul Brynner even got to hook up with Judy Garland and Joan Crawford!
Yul Brynner was notable for his striking bald head, which he personally shaved
because he thought it made him stand out. Apparently, Yul refused to ever be a photographer
alongside another bald man, as that would’ve made it seem like he wasn’t special enough. The
actor was married four times over the course of his lifetime and passed away shortly after
reprising his classic The King and I role on Broadway. The actor died in October of 1985.
Besides The Magnificent Seven and The King and I, a few other of Yul’s notable films include The
Ten Commandments and Anastasia. Yul starred in The Ten Commandments alongside Charlton Heston,
and he starred in Anastasia alongside Ingrid Bergman. When Yul found out that he was going
to appear alongside Charlton Heston on the big screen, he set about working out as much
as he could so that he could be buffer than the legendary tough man. However, when it came time
to star alongside Ingrid Bergman, Yul knew that there was going to be little that he could do
to trick the audience into thinking that he was taller than the beautiful actress. Yul didn’t
even bother standing on a stool during his scenes with Ingrid, with Yul telling
the actress that he intended to show the world what a “big horse” she was.
Though The Magnificent Seven remains a great and beloved Western thanks to the performances
of Steve McQueen and Yul Brynner, the two couldn’t stand each other. Now it’s time to hear from you:
did you know that Yul Brynner got into a fight with Steve McQueen on the set of The Magnificent
Seven and that he called Ingrid Bergman a big horse during the filming of Anastasia?
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