Took up acting after a serious accident curtailed his career as a circus acrobat. Brynner moved to America in 1940, failed a screen test at Universal in 1947 because he looked "too oriental" and gave the first of 4,625 performances (over the course of many revivals) as the King of Siam in the hit Broadway musical "The King & I" in 1951. Brynner recreated the role for the 1956 screen version, winning an Oscar as Best Actor, and subsequently began a successful starring career in filmsTrading on his unidentifiably exotic looks and somewhat imperial manner, Brynner played a succession of royals, secret agents and gunslingers, notably in "The Magnificent Seven" (1960) and "Westworld" (1973).