ABSTRACT
In a January 1985 commercial slot, during the height of the deregulation period of the US media industry, American television stations broadcast an interview with actor Yul Brynner, a figure beloved by audiences for his performance in the leading role of Rogers and Hammerstein’s The King and I. The appearance of Brynner chilled viewers: at the time of its first airing, Brynner had been dead for months. The spot opens with the epitaph “Yul Brynner: 1920–1985” as a male voice announces, “Ladies and gentlemen, the late Yul Brynner.” White type dissolves to black as Brynner’s face fades into a close-up. Famously aloof, Brynner now emotes up close and personal into the camera, stern and pleading:
I really wanted to make a commercial when I discovered that I was that sick and my time was so limited. I want to make that commercial that says simply “now that I’m gone, I tell you, don’t smoke. Whatever you do, just don’t smoke.”
(Yul Brynner, American Cancer Society public service announcement, 1985)