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The bitter feud between Steve McQueen and Yul Brynner

Posted on by Josh L
The bitter feud between Steve McQueen and Yul Brynner

Yul Brynner - Steve McQueen - Far Out Magazine

(Image credit: Alamy / Anefo)

At its best, Hollywood is a place where dreams are shared, stories are told equally, and the work of a team is united in one brilliant thread that is sewn across the screen. At worst, however, it’s a collection of egos competing to get more attention than others. Biting and scratching at each other, actors are often some of the worst offenders, and this can often lead to bitter feuds like Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen can testify

Known as one of the finest modern actors of his time, Yul Brynner was an intriguing Hollywood figure with an eclectic background. He was a Russian, French, Swiss and American actor, singer, director, producer, model, photographer and writer. He was the ultimate Renaissance man, the likes of which rarely appeared in Hollywood.

Although he is known for a number of films made during the late-mid 20th century, Brynner is best remembered for his portrayal of King Mongkut in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. The king and Ifor which he won two Tony Awards. Later, when the stage play was adapted into a feature film, Brynner also won the Academy Award for Best Actor at the 1957 Academy Awards.

Only his second feature film role, Brynner’s appearance in the the king and i launched an impressive Hollywood career, starring in Decalogue in 1956, as well as The Brothers Karamazov and The noise and the fury complete the decade.

However, at the turn of the 1960s, Brynner’s success reached commercial heights with the release of A wonderful sevena remake of Akira Kurosawa’s western seven samurai in which the actor starred alongside Charles Bronson, Eli Wallach, James Coburn and Steve McQueen. The picture is widely regarded as one of the best Westerns ever made, and arguably one of the best films of every actor to have appeared in the film, but that doesn’t mean it was a comfortable place to work.

Steve McQueen is an actor

(Authors: Alamy)

Filled with multiple egos, the ensemble cast became a source of tension, especially when McQueen was unhappy that his character only had seven lines of dialogue in the original script. Bowing to the pressure, director John Sturges said heartthrob McQueen that he would give him some control behind the camera, a power the actor abused, using his unique position to sideline Brynner and draw attention to himself.

It’s the kind of role that’s given to stars the studio is desperate to add to the film, a move that draws audiences into the weekend. However, they clearly misunderstood how seriously McQueen could take his new role. The actor used his location to poke fun at Brynner, doing childish acts that drew the camera to him rather than Brynner. Such actions included tossing a coin and rattling shell casings during one of Brynner’s speeches.

Perhaps his most infuriating antics was when McQueen kicked aside a pile of dirt Brinner had created for himself to stand on in order to appear as tall as the other actors. The kind of bullying that would befit a snotty high school teenager rather than one of the most popular actors of his generation.

This became a major point in production, as Mark Eliot wrote in a 2005 book Steve McQueen: Biography that Brinner once “grabbed” McQueen in a threatening manner. Remembering the tension between himself and the star Magnificent Seven McQueen said: “We didn’t get along. Brynner came up to me in front of many people and grabbed my shoulder. He was crazy about something. He doesn’t drive well and doesn’t know anything about guns, so maybe he thought I was a threat.’

Continuing, McQueen added: “I was in my element. He wasn’t. When you work in the scene with Yule, you must stand absolutely still, ten feet away. Well, that’s not how I work.” While McQueen is right in certain terms, not allowing another performer to try to do their best work is the kind of attitude that can make the whole production feel bittersweet.

The pair’s partner, Robert Vaughn, further commented on their on-set feud in his 2008 biography. happy life in which the actor mentions that McQueen was jealous of Brynner’s gun in the film. Vaughn writes, “Steve was extremely competitive. It wasn’t enough just to be successful—he had to be more successful than anyone else.”

Hollywood can be a nasty place. Just like in the school yard, accidentally stepping on the toes of one of the cool kids can be very disturbing. However, it’s nice to know that, at least in this story, new guy Brynner wasn’t afraid to stand up to the captain of the football team.

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