Yul Brynner born on July 11th 1920 in Vladivostok, Russia, remains one of the most unique, somewhat mysterious but highly recognizable and beloved stars of his time. Actor, Director, Narrator, star of stage and screen. He is best known to me as an actor. He was the King in “The King and I” and won an Oscar for that role. “ The Ten Commandments,” “The Magnificent Seven” “Solomon and Sheba”. Just to name a few. Who could forget the unrelenting robot/gunslinger in “Westworld” that chased me through my mid-seventies nightmares. So many movies, television and stage appearances that to list them all would be to write a separate column. His face, voice and that unmistakable bald head, part of the very mystic which made him so memorable.
For so many of us, the legacy of Yul Brynner is wrapped up in the memory of the anti-smoking commercial that aired after his death from lung cancer in 1985. I just saw it for the first time in years on my computer and it put a lump in my throat. That image of the man who had lost his struggle but found a way to fight on. I respect that and respect him for it.
In 2007, I was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer and faced with the facts that the odds were not good. I have survived for two years and now run a non profit organization for funding lung cancer research and offering support to patients and families.
The “Yul Brynner effect” as I now call it is still as effective today as it was 20 years ago and that might not necessarily be a good thing anymore.
Tell anyone you meet that you have lung cancer and the first question back to you is “did you or do you smoke?”
The willingness of someone to donate to a cause is subject to several factors. First being their financial ability to give, second is the ability to connect to the cause. We have been pounding it into peoples’ heads for years that lung cancer is a smokers’ issue, therefore if I don’t smoke, lung cancer is not my issue. It’s that “you did it to yourself,” disconnect coupled with the extremely high mortality rate that keeps lung cancer in the closet even though lung cancer will kill more people this year then breast, colon and prostate cancer combined.
Somehow we have to move beyond that powerful Yul Brynner image and replace it with a new face and a voice, one that says, “ How and why it happened to you is not as important as what we need to do to cure you and keep future generations safe from cancer’s leading killer.” One that will assist research facilities all over the country in educating and employing the next generation of scientists and researchers by generating the funds needed.
Maybe the new face of Lung cancer is in your mirror and the voice is the one in your head telling you to do something now before it is a necessity for a loved one.
