Yul Brynner at 39 years old in London, 1959. He would go on to make The Magnificent Seven the next year.
From the Internet Movie Database IMDb:
It was Yul Brynner who approached producer Walter Mirisch with the idea of doing a Western adaptation of Akira Kurosawa’s classic, Seven Samurai (1954).
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Yul Brynner had a major say in casting decisions, including the decision to cast Steve McQueen. He specifically requested that McQueen be cast as Vin Tanner. Brynner later regretted the move since he and McQueen developed a disastrous relationship on set.
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According to Eli Wallach’s autobiography, Yul Brynner had a major problem with what he perceived as Steve McQueen’s trying to upstage him. According to Wallach, McQueen would do things when on screen with Brynner to draw attention to his character. Examples were his shaking of the shotgun shells and taking off his hat to check the sun during the hearse scene and leaning off his horse to dip his hat in the river when the Seven cross into Mexico. Brynner was supposedly so worried about McQueen stealing his limelight in scenes that he hired an assistant to count the number of times McQueen touched his own hat when Brynner was speaking.
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Mexican censors required the peasants to always be wearing clean clothes, despite being farmers. This caused a huge delay since it meant that dozens of intentionally dirty costumes had to be thoroughly cleaned before filming could commence.
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James Coburn was a big fan of Seven Samurai (1954) and his favorite role in that film was the character that he ended up playing in the Americanized version. He deliberately incorporated Seiji Miyaguchi’s performance as Kyuzo into his performance.
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In later years, Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen reconciled. McQueen, dying of cancer, called Brynner to thank him. “What for?” queried Brynner. “You coulda had me kicked off the movie when I rattled you,” replied McQueen, “but you let me stay and that picture made me, so thanks”. Brynner told him, “I am the king and you are the rebel prince: every bit as royal . . . and dangerous to cross.” McQueen said, “I had to make it up with Yul ’cause without him I wouldn’t have been in that picture.”
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My seventh grade speech teacher took our class to see “The King and I” at the Arena Theater at Sharpstown and Yul Brynner was the star. It was quite a memory and the theater in round was a strange experience.