He looked white to me and I always thought he is not romani but he spoke the romani language and was member of the romani world congress. I thought he likes Roma and was "honorary member" but this article says he was of mixed race heritage that his father was russian and swiss-german and his mother russian romani. However he was the first man in Hollywood to speak romani at grammy awards.
His Mixed Heritage
Yul Brynner had some very interesting and assorted ancestry. He was born Yuliy Borisovich Briner on July 11, 1920, in Vladivostok, Russia. His father, Boris Yuliyevich, was an inventor and a mining engineer who had Swiss-German and Russian ancestry. His mother, Marousia Dimitrievna, had studied to be an actress and a singer and was of Russian Romani ancestry.
Brynner, for his part, often liked to tell people the fabrication that he had been born "Taidje Khan" to a Romani mother and a Mongol father. Nevertheless, he would eventually embrace all of his mixed heritage in his adult years.
His Mixed Heritage
Yul Brynner had some very interesting and assorted ancestry. He was born Yuliy Borisovich Briner on July 11, 1920, in Vladivostok, Russia. His father, Boris Yuliyevich, was an inventor and a mining engineer who had Swiss-German and Russian ancestry. His mother, Marousia Dimitrievna, had studied to be an actress and a singer and was of Russian Romani ancestry.
Brynner, for his part, often liked to tell people the fabrication that he had been born "Taidje Khan" to a Romani mother and a Mongol father. Nevertheless, he would eventually embrace all of his mixed heritage in his adult years.
