I smoked until this add come on tv. This was such a powerful add and was made with such conviction I gave up cold turkey. I smoked a packed of cigs a day and never touched another one since due to this add. Thanks Yule, I'm certain because of you I've extended my life.
What Yul Brynner did is probably one of the most courageous things an actor has ever done. Just think of the millions of people who stopped smoking because of his influence and the other celebrities who followed his lead and made similar commercials.. Many, many thanks, Yul..
efan2011 Yul Brynner was crippled badly on the flying trapeeze -- maybe even quadriplegic or something, but he made a complete comeback. Everyone should pay really close attention to this.
I remember seeing this for the first time when I was 10, 1986 on aussie tv. I was transfixed by Yul in this commercial, knowing then at my young age how brave he was to spend some of his very limited, precious time to get a message out there to save anyone from suffering the same horrendous end.
@cattlewrangler: I burst out laughing. WHAT A GREAT AD THAT WOULD BE. With technology now it could be made -- for even a spoof on Saturday Night Live. “Whatever you do - don’t take that vaccine”. Brilliant !
The simplicity of the message is striking. There are a lot of anti-smoking campaigns, but Brynner's message, for some reason, gets straight to the heart. I get chills down my spine when I hear him saying "don't smoke. whatever you do, just don't smoke".
I never smoked. But the first time i saw this ad i was so impressed. It imprinted in my mind and decades later i came here to re-watch it - such a short but powerful massage: "Don't smoke. Whatever you do, just don't smoke."
How prophetic...My father died 24 years ago today from throat cancer...Attributed to cigarette smoking...He went thru 3 or 4 packs a day, died at the age of 57, the same day one of his (& mine) favorite actors, the late Yul Brenner, made his transition. He was brilliant in "The Ten Commandments", "The King and I" was one of the few musicals I could actually watch and enjoy, the other being the classic "Wizard Of Oz"...Still missed to this day...Both of them..RIP, Yul...Dad...
The pair of stones and the level of compassion on Yul Brynner for his fellow humans can't be measured. I was 24 and a non-smoker when this commercial came out but I still appreciate Yul's efforts to help others. Be well at God's side sir.
I'm Bill Hicks and I'm dead now cuz I smoked cigarettes cigarettes didn't kill me a bunch of non-smokers kicked the shit out of me one day I tried running they were faster than I I tried hiding they heard me wheezing but I'm in heaven now sniffing Yul Brynner's Noggin woo party time
Yul was an amazing actor. His lived his life consciously and with intent. His enery was astounding....until it was too late and cigarettes caused his death. I was only a child when I first started watching his movies, but as a teen and early twenties I would stay up late into the night to watch his movies back to back. I was so fortunate to see him on stage in New York in The King and I. This was just before he quit the stage due to his impending death. Yul walked out on stage and he took total command. He was one of a kind. His final words were truly honest and profound. Over the last 3 decades, antismoking campaigns have shied away from the "scared straight" message of Brynner, using humor and other strategies to persuade teenagers that smoking is uncool. Still, Brynner's announcement ranks among the most original efforts made by a public health organization to spread the gospel. As a cancer society spokesman said, "There's nothing more forceful than when someone dead looks into the camera and says: 'Don't smoke. I did."'
This is a great human service provided by the late Yul Brynner. He was warning people from his grave about how he regretted ever having smoked. He might have had more time for his family, and to make more films, however smoking KILLED him..if there wasn't any smoking, there wouldn't have been any cancer. I have NEVER smoked!
Yul was one of a kind. Even though he died a year after I was born, i still see old movies of him and think he was breathtaking. Amazing actor and human being. His personalty was incredible. He could play a villain, but it was impossible to hate him. Instead you can be captivated and mesmerize by him. He was in a circus, played a 7 string guitar, acted. I know the list goes on. Wish there were more brilliant men like him out there today. Some people smoke all their lives and it does little. Some die. I do wish he was still around, but am very grateful that I can now see his work and just enjoy his presence on the screen.
Yeah Brynner was great... infact that whole era of Hollywood actors were great and a lot of them from genuine poverty stricken backgrounds. They left us with so many great movies. I think Kirk Douglas must be about the last of them still alive!
Criss Sole if you haven’t seen “Taurus Bulba” check that out. Amazing, intense acting as usual from Yul, of course, but he sings also in his beautiful baritone voice. Tony Curtis also gives a powerful performance.
Smoking is a very slow suicide. When you start smoking, that's when you want to smoke. But once you're lying on your deathbed after years of smoking, barely even coughing out a word (or maybe talking through a stoma) to your loved ones, you'll realize how this could've all been avoided if you'd never started smoking. You would've been healthier and happier, if only you'd never smoked. Once you reach that point, there's no coming back. IF YOU WANT TO SMOKE, DON'T. I can't stress this enough. And if you're already smoking, quit. There's lots of people and places that can help you stop.
I grew up in Yul Brynner's hey day. He was so strong and virile and when he stood up for what he believed in you were cheering him on. For such a man to come forward and tell the truth about smoking in his own way is one of the bravest things I have witnessed.
He worked out with weights rigorously when he got that role because he was going to be in a few scenes with Heston. Heston kept himself in good shape . Brynner didn't want to look badly compared to Heston.
I remember this as clear as yesterday. I tried to quit smoking so many times unsuccessfully. He was already deceased so when this came on the TV it stopped me in my tracks. -- and after seeing this I stopped my 2 and 1/2 - 3 packs a day Winston 100s and never went back. Pretty powerful ad I would say. -- and that’s all it took.
It takes most people about five tries to fully stop smoking, so you sound very normal. Remind people of that if they try and don't quite succeed in choosing Life over Cancer and COPD.
Lost my mother in 2018 to COPD, years spent with medications and oxygen machines,.. Her golden years eaten up by being sick. Loosing my father now to lung cancer which spread to his liver and adrenal glands. Both were hardcore smokers from the 1960's era were smoking was considered "posh". Oh you cant smoke in airplanes any more?... What did smoking cigarettes do for my family?... The same as it does for all. Robbed us of money and diminished the quality of life until it eventually crippled us and killed us. If you start smoking today, with all the information that is out there... You really have yourself to blame. Become addicted if you want and smoke until tar filled poison comes out of your ears! I do not care. Each to their own. But do not expect my taxes to pay for your recovery or medical bills. You did it to yourself.
Love the Bill Hicks quote when he first saw this commercial and heard Yul say "I am speaking to you now that I am gone". Bill was thinking "What the fuck is this guy selling ??
Or bill hicks. That dude got taken out by cigs younger than anyone. I believe I rememeber his post death quote. "Im Bill hicks and im dead now, cause i smoked cigarettes. The cigarettes didn't kill me a bunch of non smokers kicked the shit out of me..... I tried to run, they had more energy than I... I tired to hide, they heard me wheezing..."
The deceitful tobacco companies should be sued for every penny they have amassed, the damage they have inflicted on the back of the unwitting and gullible population and their promotion of the most addictive drug in the world is unforgivable. The mass produced cigarette should be unlawful and band from any further sales, the industry is a cruel jest in the face of the ignorant consumer who usually finds it is a slow form of suicide before it is too late at no fault of their own. RIP Yul another great actor murdered by the tobacco industry.
KirichenkoSucksAss Your wrong, the tobacco pedaled by the big corp drug pushers is filled with 43 unnecessary known cancer causing substances. There is no reason why you cannot legally grow your own tobacco plant this would have less lethal toxins. Your short attempt at debunking my statement has failed because you misinterpreted my comment because of your own bias.
Spencer H Rossay If you want to grow your own tobacco, grow it. If you want to buy tobacco products available in shops, buy them. The point is, nobody should ban or prohibit anything. Also, I'm talking to a person who uses "your" where "you're" should be.
that's right put money into murderers pockets so they can continue their planned genocide, clever, i never thought of that, that would take away all the possibilities of perpetual autonomous revolution and keep corporations with the power they assume over us, i like ur plan.
Spencer H Rossay If you don't like those corporations, don't buy their products. If you don't like other people buying their products, inform them. Nobody should force anybody into anything. As for 'planned genocide', that's conspiracy theorism at its tinfoilhattiest. Nobody needs to kill their customers.
I remember this commercial from when it ran on television. It was so dramatic and had such an affect on me. I have thought of it often and have related its message on a number of occasions.
Guys who stick guitar picks in their mouths are bums...I don’t care if your Slash or Eddie Van Halen...I actually kicked somebody out of my band after he did it three times and then gave it to somebody else to use...it’s such an unsavoury habit, I don’t know what the logic is...but to say that it causes cancer, that’s news to me.
@@rampageclover9788yeah, Eddie tried to claim holding his metal picks in his mouth while in a recording studio with magnetic fields could have caused his cancer. He was reaching. Denial ain't just a river in Egypt
This was part of an interview that he gave when he had a few months left to live. I saw it and wish I could find the entire interview. Brynner played the King of Siam in "The King and I" right up 'til about 2 weeks before he died. A great actor and a good man.
Watching "Westworld" as we speak for the umpteenth time. And Yul Brynner as the bad cowboy is just so relentless in chasing the character played by Richard Benjamin. One of my favorite sci-fi movies from when I was a kid.
+northernsoutherngirl I wanna watch both the OG Brynner version and the upcoming HBO one. The cast on the tv show is unbelievably stacked and I predict it'll be another huge hit for that cable network.
I am watching Westworld right now on TCM. It brought me here after I looked up Yul Brynner and found out he made this video to warn people. Unfortunately this warning, and all subsequent warnings, don't work for many smokers. My mother wouldn't listen, she loved to light up, especially with coffee, she said it was one of her only pleasures, and she was convinced it kept her slim. Maybe it did but her the skin on her face was prematurely aged. She died of lung cancer, a living skeleton, and absolutely destroyed. I despise smoking.
@@beatricemaude4426 im 52 and just watched Westworld tonight. I loved his character and i read he made an ad like this. Very sad but very true/ I know people that have lost organs from smoking and still smoke? Some of my friends my age still smoke and cough up a lung everyday but if i say anything about it, im the enemy and it goes left quick. I quit in 2005 and never looked back. HOWEVER, i can smoke a cigarette at a bar once or twice a year just for fun but it never draws me back in. In fact it reminds me of how nasty it is,lol.
I watched "Westworld" again last night, and Yul Brynner's character reminded me of "The Terminator"--a robot that wouldn't stop chasing his victim, until he killed him. One of his last screen performances, but one of his best.
I gave up after watching this...dont smoke..what ever you do...dont smoke and besides i was different at the train line form the other smokers standing there...
I'm never touching a fucking cigarette, cigar, or anything with tobacco, nicotine, or the factual possibility of causing lung cancer thanks to this ad. Thank you very much, Yul Brynner. You are legend. I owe you one. Rest in peace, my good man.
I remember this commercial vividly watching on my parent's big Zenith. I think it struck with me, the urgency in his eyes, the alarm that I never did smoke, anything. Thank you Mr. Brynner - Gary
I remember that ad too, saw it as a teen, thank God I never smoked myself but i wonder how many people quit because of him, he surely saved many lives...
I was 11 when this commercial started airing in fall 1986, just a week or so after Brynner passed away. A lot of people thought it was pretty unsettling at the time it aired. Glad to see it archived on RUclips: this is the kind of thing that really does need to be made available to others, as a kind of "snapshot" of how things were back then.
Ironic that 17 years before, William Talman (Perry Mason actor who was D.A. Hamilton Burger) did the same thing (filming an anti-smoking commercial) when he knew he was dying of lung cancer (in '68), the commercial aired after he passed, Talman was only 53 when he passed on. His last words were "Don't be a loser" (his character was always losing cases to Perry Mason).
Yul, he had a rainbow colored life. Not many knew he was a man's man. His stop smoking ad hit the spot. A hero after his death,by being a non smoking advocate.
I vaguely remember seeing this as a little kid and looking at my mom, who had a cigarette in her hand. She's still here, but the emphysema is pretty bad. She sleeps with oxygen now, a good 30 years after quitting. May Yul's memory be a blessing.
Known for being an attractive badass. Was man enough to know when he made a mistake that cost him his life. Thanks for this powerful ad, Mr. Brynner, I'm sure that it's saved many, many lives. RIP.
This commercial is credited with me deciding to quit smoking after 21 years of tobacco addiction. Thanks Yul, you did make a differance! You were a also one of the greatest actors of your time.
@@thekingsean92 Still smoke free, are you kidding? It's something I haven't even thought about in many years now. The first six months or so was tempting, but every time I thought about picking up a pack, I'd hear Yul's voice saying: "Don't do it! You've come this far, you can make it the rest of the way". And I'd say: "Thanks Yul, you're a pal". And for the record, I haven't heard from him in a long time now. I guess I got it beat.
@@papawx3 i'm happy for you. Last year tried to quit and managed to get through 7 months before relapsing during a party. I am now trying again, almost completed 1 month but i'm getting strong cravings and associating everything with smoking, rating, drinking ecc. i've recently gone to live in a different country to work a new job so i say to myself i need the cig because i'm stressed but deep down i know they are just excuses. I came by this video so probably Brinner's words could talk some sense in me. Although i'm still feeling off balance this video and your comment surely give me a Little strenght
@@thekingsean92 Once you detox your body of the nicotine {that's the chemical that has you addicted, drink plenty of water or tea}, the rest is psychology. Just keep saying to yourself: "I am out of options. I can't smoke anymore, simple as that", and keep repeating that OUT LOUD to yourself until it gets into your psyche. It really is as simple as that. Believe me when I say, If I can do it, anybody can. NOW QUIT.
I saw Yul Brynner perform during his last year of life... I was absolutely amazed at the presence that the man could exude - I burst into tears in reaction! (And this was before I learned he was dying of cancer...) This man is still one of my favourite actors and always will be. I felt so sorry for his young wife when he finally passed away...
I watched the film Westworld to prepare for the series that premiers tonight. I hadn't seen it before and didn't know much about Yul Brynner. I looked him up after the film, decently impressed by his performance. What a guy, damn shame that this happened to him.
Rest in peace, Yul Brynner. This is actually a very important commercial, one advertising a message that we rarely hear in today's society. My dad smoked for nearly twenty years, and I very clearly recall being two years old and telling my father, "Daddy, don't smoke! You'll get cancer and die!" (Yes, I really did say that!) And lo and behold, he quit a year later.
I've seen so many people die because of smoking including my father. It's a very cruel and undignified way to die. Thank goodness we are so much more educated about smoking nowadays. This was a fantastic thing that he has done for the global community.
libraoct02 Bogie sure packed in a lot during his 57 year lifetime. I have always said that had he lived he likely would have retired probably no later than the early 1960s. He lived just long enough to probably see that times were really changing and so were films. Bogie was a professional and he disliked those in the business that weren't and he hated bad films or those poorly written. I read that he also had a huge disliking of rock and roll (1956 was the year Elvis burst onto the scene)
That's true mark, coz he said that R&R has a mix of obscenety which he strongly disapprove, growing up in a genre where music was very much part of the U .S. culture he felt that it was slowly eroding.
just asking So did several others: Ava Gardner, Betsy Grable, Jonh Wayne, Sammy Davis Jr, Bette Davis - they all died of something related to smoking, even if in old age. You can be a smoker and live long, but you will probably have terrible final years
Oh yes Yul Brynner was a great actor he played Pharaoh in the Ten Commandments that part was meant for him could not have been played any better by any other man Yul Brynner was a really great actor and just a really really good guy he died way too young
What a powerful ad for quitting smoking. I never understood the attraction of putting smoke in one's lungs, but I respect that even with his death sentence, he wanted to take the time to send out a message. That makes Yul an awesome person.
He wasn't dead when he said it, he was dying from lung cancer, knew how he'd gotten it and wanted to let people know that it really can happen. I remember it being a very powerful thing to see, knowing he was now dead. What a loss.
Someone close to me got heart problems due to smoking. He's ok now. Now they have a mountain of medical bills (even after insurance). So please don't smoke and don't smoke around innocent people.
I quit smoking over 8 months ago, but I have a very very bad feeling that I may all ready have lung cancer... I feel for this man, I really do. It's terrible what he must have gone through.
I see a smoking apologist posted a message that 92% of smokers do not get a smoking related illness (source?). Define "smoking related illness". This is an example of a little knowledge being dangerous. People think cigarettes only cause lung cancer. Whenever a non smoker gets lung cancer, that is taken as evidence that the danger of tobacco is hype. Tobacco may not always directly cause cancer, but it increases your risk of dying from many different causes.
What a legend in the world of theater and acting. I simply cannot fathom how anyone can speak on their own death like this. I applaud his courage but that must of been so hard for him to do knowing he was going to pass soon after. RIP Yul Brynner and Peter O'Toole, another smoker. = /
Jenni,Tobacco companies for years conspired to hide the health risks of smoking. Millions of people in the '60s, '70s and '80s didn't know that tobacco caused lung cancer or heart disease. If Yul Brynner and Peter O'Toole would have know the danger of smoking they probably would never started or quit smoking.
David Williams Ah, if only that were true! Lots of people by the 70s and certainly by the 80s knew how bad smoking was - and they smoked anyway. Kids who knew, started smoking too. There's a weird aspect of human psychology involved here. Kids know all about lung cancer and have done for decades now, and still they start. Addiction is too far beyond their experience to be able to relate to: they understand it on a conscious level but not on a practical level. So, when they see adults who they respect in some way (doesn't need to be their hero or anything) smoke, they wonder why. And then they start to imagine answers: maybe quitting isn't really that hard, it's just a bother and people whine about it. Maybe it's worth the risk. Whatever. Any answer they can supply from their own experiences, is necessarily permissive, because they can't fathom the experience of addiction.
Poor man! His life was cut too short. Glad that he took the last precious moments of life he had and dedicated it to something noble. I've had smokers within my family and it is awful. I have only smoked once and regretted it. I hope to God that his message reaches many and touches them.
Smoking tobacco cigarettes is truly the #1 nastiest health habit to have, expensive too. Much better is vaping or cannabis! Much less harmful to the body and the checking account.
I want to make a similar ad for homeboys to wear their pants at the correct height. Except I'm not dead and I never did something so stupid as sag my pants.
I've never smoked, never had much desire to, but seeing this commercial as a teen was probably the clincher that I never would. Thank you, Mr. Brynner. I wish this commercial had not been necessary.
Now that I'm gone, I tell you: Don't smoke. Whatever you do, just don't smoke. If I could take back that smoking, we wouldn't be talking about any cancer. I'm convinced of that.
....and it is also well known to be indicative of someone lost within a discussion/argument when they start picking on typos as a purile form of "come back"... but, to show I am a sporting chap.... YOU TUBE is two words! Wow, great come back huh? :) Lol, you actually think smoking being a filthy habit is simply an OPINION?! I guess picking your nose and eating it being a filthy habit is only an opinion too right? You are either pulling my leg, a comedy genious or both! Putz....
Funny cause Bill Hicks had a great bit about this commercial. Then Bill Burr has his Thursday retro podcast and this is brought up again. I never actually looked it up though. I recommend listening to Bill Hick's speil, he is now dead from cancer though I don't believe it was lung cancer.
In exactly one week it will be six months for me. That's after 30+ years of smoking, and heavily. 2-3 packs a day. I've ruined my lungs, but at least I won't make them worse now.
I love how some smokers "justify" smoking by using an anecdotal comparison to something, or some activity totally unrelated claiming a connection.........Human denial at it's best.
@@goodbrothermusic2740 Sounds like your biggest problem is being angry at yourself for being stupid for smoking, wasting money on cigarettes, having yellow teeth and shit breath, and your house and car smelling like cigarette smoke. Now you're catching on.
I remember this commercial. My dad had already had one lung out by then, and the cancer would come back a few years later to finish him. Not that he would've stopped smoking had he seen it earlier 🤷♂️
Never smoked, and if I were a smoker I would quit. I can get smoking in the old days when medical science center was unaware and it was seen as cool, but today it is down right stupid for anyone to smoke.
![What's My Line? - Yul Brynner; Peter Lind Hayes [panel] (Jan 6, 1957)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/e4q0gi6pw4E/mqdefault.jpg)
![What's My Line? - Yul Brynner; Peter Lind Hayes [panel] (Jan 6, 1957)](/img/tr.png)
I smoked until this add come on tv. This was such a powerful add and was made with such conviction I gave up cold turkey. I smoked a packed of cigs a day and never touched another one since due to this add. Thanks Yule, I'm certain because of you I've extended my life.
me too...
muz guz it's spelled Yul lol
LOL, I bet Siri spell checked it :-P
I'm very sorry someone came on your tee vee. This is a good add too...
He lived 65 years and that's long enough for me, I'll continue smoking
What Yul Brynner did is probably one of the most courageous things an actor has ever done. Just think of the millions of people who stopped smoking because of his influence and the other celebrities who followed his lead and made similar commercials.. Many, many thanks, Yul..
Hollywood could take a lesson from him..
@@beaudare4717 Regular folk aren't all sunshine and hugs either so get off your high horse
Insecure people putting down someone on the internet, trying to make themselves feel superior.
@@BeauDare-ov7py Wow what an absolute crybaby you are
I appreciate your heartfelt sentiment there. But what did he have to lose, other than the life that was about to end anyhow
Still a very powerful message thirty-seven years later.
Truth never does age
Listen to what the man is saying.
It is not a joke...don't smoke.
You just had to rhyme.
This isn't "Silly Time!"
Show some respect,
Or I'll call you collect...
One of the biggest badasses that ever lived, yet he was man enough to admit he effed up. Takes a real man to do that.
RIP Sir!
efan2011 Yul Brynner was crippled badly on the flying trapeeze -- maybe even quadriplegic or something, but he made a complete comeback. Everyone should pay really close attention to this.
throatgorge2 He should have said: Don't smoke and never go on a flying trapeze.
Blow it out your ass!!
Betty Boop, same to you.
A real badass is someone who isn't always concerned about looking badass.
I remember seeing this for the first time when I was 10, 1986 on aussie tv. I was transfixed by Yul in this commercial, knowing then at my young age how brave he was to spend some of his very limited, precious time to get a message out there to save anyone from suffering the same horrendous end.
If he were around now he'd say don't take the covid jab whatever you do don't take the covid jab.
@cattlewrangler: I burst out laughing. WHAT A GREAT AD THAT WOULD BE. With technology now it could be made -- for even a spoof on Saturday Night Live. “Whatever you do - don’t take that vaccine”. Brilliant !
The real Stupid thing too is I still smoked!! No one will ever learn. Ahem and I had the COVID jab!
@@melloshreader smokin cones is better?
The simplicity of the message is striking. There are a lot of anti-smoking campaigns, but Brynner's message, for some reason, gets straight to the heart.
I get chills down my spine when I hear him saying "don't smoke. whatever you do, just don't smoke".
I know, no "ifs" "ands" or "buts"....just that comanding..."just dont smoke"
@@deboraballes9044 WOW ! .....it is common sense that people's lungs are not meant for breathing in smoke 🚬
Pretty powerful because of his delivery, his voice...and he was communicating after his death.
Thanks to the courage of people like Yul Brynner I was able to realize how important it is to quit smoking and quit 40 years ago.
He did quit smoking in 1970. But the damage was done already.
I never smoked. But the first time i saw this ad i was so impressed. It imprinted in my mind and decades later i came here to re-watch it - such a short but powerful massage: "Don't smoke. Whatever you do, just don't smoke."
How prophetic...My father died 24 years ago today from throat cancer...Attributed to cigarette smoking...He went thru 3 or 4 packs a day, died at the age of 57, the same day one of his (& mine) favorite actors, the late Yul Brenner, made his transition. He was brilliant in "The Ten Commandments", "The King and I" was one of the few musicals I could actually watch and enjoy, the other being the classic "Wizard Of Oz"...Still missed to this day...Both of them..RIP, Yul...Dad...
The pair of stones and the level of compassion on Yul Brynner for his fellow humans can't be measured. I was 24 and a non-smoker when this commercial came out but I still appreciate Yul's efforts to help others. Be well at God's side sir.
"I'M YUL BRYNNER...AND I'M DEAD NOW."
Wouldn't have know about this if it wasn't for Bill Hicks.
hell yeah man, im watching that show right now
Lol 😆 here for the same reason.Long live Bill
I'm Bill Hicks and I'm dead now cuz I smoked cigarettes cigarettes didn't kill me a bunch of non-smokers kicked the shit out of me one day I tried running they were faster than I I tried hiding they heard me wheezing but I'm in heaven now sniffing Yul Brynner's Noggin woo party time
tf is this guy selling
Yul was an amazing actor. His lived his life consciously and with intent. His enery was astounding....until it was too late and cigarettes caused his death. I was only a child when I first started watching his movies, but as a teen and early twenties I would stay up late into the night to watch his movies back to back. I was so fortunate to see him on stage in New York in The King and I. This was just before he quit the stage due to his impending death. Yul walked out on stage and he took total command. He was one of a kind. His final words were truly honest and profound.
Over the last 3 decades, antismoking campaigns have shied away from the "scared straight" message of Brynner, using humor and other strategies to persuade teenagers that smoking is uncool.
Still, Brynner's announcement ranks among the most original efforts made by a public health organization to spread the gospel. As a cancer society spokesman said, "There's nothing more forceful than when someone dead looks into the camera and says: 'Don't smoke. I did."'
This is a great human service provided by the late Yul Brynner. He was warning people from his grave about how he regretted ever having smoked. He might have had more time for his family, and to make more films, however smoking KILLED him..if there wasn't any smoking, there wouldn't have been any cancer. I have NEVER smoked!
The date on this video is incorrect by at least 10 years.
I did have cancer. But it was from exposure to chemicals and substances. I worked in construction, and automotive.
@@alandoyle8307.Umm no it's not I remember in 1985 when it came on TV after he died.
Yul was one of a kind. Even though he died a year after I was born, i still see old movies of him and think he was breathtaking. Amazing actor and human being. His personalty was incredible. He could play a villain, but it was impossible to hate him. Instead you can be captivated and mesmerize by him. He was in a circus, played a 7 string guitar, acted. I know the list goes on. Wish there were more brilliant men like him out there today. Some people smoke all their lives and it does little. Some die. I do wish he was still around, but am very grateful that I can now see his work and just enjoy his presence on the screen.
Criss, that's my speech,
exactly what i feel.
Yeah Brynner was great... infact that whole era of Hollywood actors were great and a lot of them from genuine poverty stricken backgrounds.
They left us with so many great movies. I think Kirk Douglas must be about the last of them still alive!
@adecoto03 Cool
@@FightCollective Now this comment makes me even sadder
Criss Sole if you haven’t seen “Taurus Bulba” check that out. Amazing, intense acting as usual from Yul, of course, but he sings also in his beautiful baritone voice. Tony Curtis also gives a powerful performance.
He still looked good even at deaths door.
Brave Soul. Powerful message. Quoting Mr. Brynner as Ramses: "So let it be written, so let it be done."
Smoking is a very slow suicide. When you start smoking, that's when you want to smoke. But once you're lying on your deathbed after years of smoking, barely even coughing out a word (or maybe talking through a stoma) to your loved ones, you'll realize how this could've all been avoided if you'd never started smoking. You would've been healthier and happier, if only you'd never smoked. Once you reach that point, there's no coming back.
IF YOU WANT TO SMOKE, DON'T. I can't stress this enough. And if you're already smoking, quit. There's lots of people and places that can help you stop.
I grew up in Yul Brynner's hey day. He was so strong and virile and when he stood up for what he believed in you were cheering him on. For such a man to come forward and tell the truth about smoking in his own way is one of the bravest things I have witnessed.
U still alive
Simple, short, and powerful.
He's not dead sure he's your man Alex Jones
bit like me - lol
Have a little crush on him every time I watch 10 commandments, rest in peace.
He worked out with weights rigorously when he got that role because he was going to be in a few scenes with Heston. Heston kept himself in good shape . Brynner didn't want to look badly compared to Heston.
Sexy guy indeed! Unique appeal too! Agreed!
Just watched ten comandments last night👍
I had a huge crush on him. I was fortunate to see him in New York in 1985. He blew me away with his presence.
Me too🥰
I remember this as clear as yesterday. I tried to quit smoking so many times unsuccessfully. He was already deceased so when this came on the TV it stopped me in my tracks. -- and after seeing this I stopped my
2 and 1/2 - 3 packs a day Winston 100s and never went back. Pretty powerful ad I would say. -- and that’s all it took.
It takes most people about five tries to fully stop smoking, so you sound very normal.
Remind people of that if they try and don't quite succeed in choosing Life over Cancer and COPD.
Lost my mother in 2018 to COPD, years spent with medications and oxygen machines,.. Her golden years eaten up by being sick. Loosing my father now to lung cancer which spread to his liver and adrenal glands. Both were hardcore smokers from the 1960's era were smoking was considered "posh". Oh you cant smoke in airplanes any more?... What did smoking cigarettes do for my family?... The same as it does for all. Robbed us of money and diminished the quality of life until it eventually crippled us and killed us.
If you start smoking today, with all the information that is out there... You really have yourself to blame. Become addicted if you want and smoke until tar filled poison comes out of your ears! I do not care. Each to their own.
But do not expect my taxes to pay for your recovery or medical bills. You did it to yourself.
Love the Bill Hicks quote when he first saw this commercial and heard Yul say "I am speaking to you now that I am gone". Bill was thinking "What the fuck is this guy selling ??
+Michael Muldowney Afterlife insurance
Out of all the commercials I've watched in my life, this is the one that really sticks with me.
Duh ! ......it is common sense that people's lungs are not meant for breathing in smoke 🚬
At least he knew what happened, unlike Jim Fixx
Or bill hicks. That dude got taken out by cigs younger than anyone. I believe I rememeber his post death quote.
"Im Bill hicks and im dead now, cause i smoked cigarettes. The cigarettes didn't kill me a bunch of non smokers kicked the shit out of me.....
I tried to run, they had more energy than I...
I tired to hide, they heard me wheezing..."
@@pyroAdapt Great, now I'm convinced a bunch of non-smokers silently beat Bill Hicks to death and paid the coroners to cover it up.
The deceitful tobacco companies should be sued for every penny they have amassed, the damage they have inflicted on the back of the unwitting and gullible population and their promotion of the most addictive drug in the world is unforgivable. The mass produced cigarette should be unlawful and band from any further sales, the industry is a cruel jest in the face of the ignorant consumer who usually finds it is a slow form of suicide before it is too late at no fault of their own. RIP Yul another great actor murdered by the tobacco industry.
Whatever you think about tobacco, no substance should ever be banned, everything must be legalized. A dislike for you.
KirichenkoSucksAss
Your wrong, the tobacco pedaled by the big corp drug pushers is filled with 43 unnecessary known cancer causing substances. There is no reason why you cannot legally grow your own tobacco plant this would have less lethal toxins. Your short attempt at debunking my statement has failed because you misinterpreted my comment because of your own bias.
Spencer H Rossay If you want to grow your own tobacco, grow it. If you want to buy tobacco products available in shops, buy them. The point is, nobody should ban or prohibit anything.
Also, I'm talking to a person who uses "your" where "you're" should be.
that's right put money into murderers pockets so they can continue their planned genocide, clever, i never thought of that, that would take away all the possibilities of perpetual autonomous revolution and keep corporations with the power they assume over us, i like ur plan.
Spencer H Rossay If you don't like those corporations, don't buy their products. If you don't like other people buying their products, inform them. Nobody should force anybody into anything.
As for 'planned genocide', that's conspiracy theorism at its tinfoilhattiest. Nobody needs to kill their customers.
I remember this commercial from when it ran on television. It was so dramatic and had such an affect on me. I have thought of it often and have related its message on a number of occasions.
It would have ment so much for Eddie Van Halen to condemn smoking instead of blaming his cancer on guitar picks.
Guys who stick guitar picks in their mouths are bums...I don’t care if your Slash or Eddie Van Halen...I actually kicked somebody out of my band after he did it three times and then gave it to somebody else to use...it’s such an unsavoury habit, I don’t know what the logic is...but to say that it causes cancer, that’s news to me.
@@rampageclover9788yeah, Eddie tried to claim holding his metal picks in his mouth while in a recording studio with magnetic fields could have caused his cancer. He was reaching. Denial ain't just a river in Egypt
How brave to make this commercial...
This was part of an interview that he gave when he had a few months left to live. I saw it and wish I could find the entire interview. Brynner played the King of Siam in "The King and I" right up 'til about 2 weeks before he died. A great actor and a good man.
Watching "Westworld" as we speak for the umpteenth time. And Yul Brynner as the bad cowboy is just so relentless in chasing the character played by Richard Benjamin. One of my favorite sci-fi movies from when I was a kid.
+northernsoutherngirl I wanna watch both the OG Brynner version and the upcoming HBO one. The cast on the tv show is unbelievably stacked and I predict it'll be another huge hit for that cable network.
I am watching Westworld right now on TCM. It brought me here after I looked up Yul Brynner and found out he made this video to warn people. Unfortunately this warning, and all subsequent warnings, don't work for many smokers. My mother wouldn't listen, she loved to light up, especially with coffee, she said it was one of her only pleasures, and she was convinced it kept her slim. Maybe it did but her the skin on her face was prematurely aged. She died of lung cancer, a living skeleton, and absolutely destroyed. I despise smoking.
@@beatricemaude4426 im 52 and just watched Westworld tonight. I loved his character and i read he made an ad like this. Very sad but very true/ I know people that have lost organs from smoking and still smoke? Some of my friends my age still smoke and cough up a lung everyday but if i say anything about it, im the enemy and it goes left quick. I quit in 2005 and never looked back. HOWEVER, i can smoke a cigarette at a bar once or twice a year just for fun but it never draws me back in. In fact it reminds me of how nasty it is,lol.
I watched "Westworld" again last night, and Yul Brynner's character reminded me of "The Terminator"--a robot that wouldn't stop chasing his victim, until he killed him. One of his last screen performances, but one of his best.
@@jodywilke4642 the gunslinger’s eyes are glowing in the desert heat🔥
Nothing says " I'm a dumbass with no respect for myself" like smoking cigarettes.
-and now Vaping.
I gave up after watching this...dont smoke..what ever you do...dont smoke
and besides i was different at the train line form the other smokers standing there...
I remember this ad. It stuck with me. I loved Yul Brynner.
I'm never touching a fucking cigarette, cigar, or anything with tobacco, nicotine, or the factual possibility of causing lung cancer thanks to this ad.
Thank you very much, Yul Brynner. You are legend. I owe you one. Rest in peace, my good man.
I smoke 5 packs a day. I'm 96 yo.
@@johnmamo653 LMAO
What a classic dude, loved his acting and his movies. Yul Brynner baby!
Ramsés rules
R.I.P Yul Brynner
+Magneto E. R. ..The guy was a stud in his day!
I'm an Atheist, Yul was hot
Me too!!! he was gorgeous
So let it be written, so let it be done.
Moses got the last laugh
I remember this commercial vividly watching on my parent's big Zenith. I think it struck with me, the urgency in his eyes, the alarm that I never did smoke, anything. Thank you Mr. Brynner
- Gary
I remember that ad too, saw it as a teen, thank God I never smoked myself but i wonder how many people quit because of him, he surely saved many lives...
I was 11 when this commercial started airing in fall 1986, just a week or so after Brynner passed away. A lot of people thought it was pretty unsettling at the time it aired. Glad to see it archived on RUclips: this is the kind of thing that really does need to be made available to others, as a kind of "snapshot" of how things were back then.
I've listened to you, and I still believe it today!
i was 17 when this commercial aired. it was one of the spookiest commercials i'd ever seen; definitely had an effect on me.
Ironic that 17 years before, William Talman (Perry Mason actor who was D.A. Hamilton Burger) did the same thing (filming an anti-smoking commercial) when he knew he was dying of lung cancer (in '68), the commercial aired after he passed, Talman was only 53 when he passed on. His last words were "Don't be a loser" (his character was always losing cases to Perry Mason).
Yul, he had a rainbow colored life. Not many knew he was a man's man. His stop smoking ad hit the spot. A hero after his death,by being a non smoking advocate.
I vaguely remember seeing this as a little kid and looking at my mom, who had a cigarette in her hand. She's still here, but the emphysema is pretty bad. She sleeps with oxygen now, a good 30 years after quitting.
May Yul's memory be a blessing.
"This goes to all the people out there... remember when Yul Brynner said 'Don't smoke...'"
--Krist Novoselic, Del Mar 1991
I was 8 when this came out. It creeped me out then and it still does now. It's a good thing though. We need more commercials like these.
I ran everyday, ate nothing but tofu and I'm dead: Yule Brenner smoke, drank and got laid every night of his life, he's dead..... Shit!
Yes, but you lived 5 years longer!
Bristow414 Surviving and living are not synonymous.
You probably got laid as well and didn't run out of breath while doing so...unlike Yul!
I remember seeing this when it first aired...it sent a chill down my spine...like hearing a voice from beyond the grave.
It WAS a voice from beyond the grave
God bless Yul Brynner. This Commercial kept me from smoking. Still a life saver to this day.
Known for being an attractive badass. Was man enough to know when he made a mistake that cost him his life. Thanks for this powerful ad, Mr. Brynner, I'm sure that it's saved many, many lives. RIP.
Yul era o talento e a beleza em pessoa. Amo demais essa verdadeira estrela. ♥
i remember this commercial as a kid - - he was a legend. RIP
This commercial is credited with me deciding to quit smoking after 21 years of tobacco addiction. Thanks Yul, you did make a differance! You were a also one of the greatest actors of your time.
Probably one of the oldest comments i have ever encountered on You tube, how Is It going? Hope you are still smoke free
@@thekingsean92 Still smoke free, are you kidding? It's something I haven't even thought about in many years now. The first six months or so was tempting, but every time I thought about picking up a pack, I'd hear Yul's voice saying: "Don't do it! You've come this far, you can make it the rest of the way". And I'd say: "Thanks Yul, you're a pal". And for the record, I haven't heard from him in a long time now. I guess I got it beat.
@@papawx3 i'm happy for you. Last year tried to quit and managed to get through 7 months before relapsing during a party. I am now trying again, almost completed 1 month but i'm getting strong cravings and associating everything with smoking, rating, drinking ecc. i've recently gone to live in a different country to work a new job so i say to myself i need the cig because i'm stressed but deep down i know they are just excuses. I came by this video so probably Brinner's words could talk some sense in me. Although i'm still feeling off balance this video and your comment surely give me a Little strenght
@@thekingsean92 Once you detox your body of the nicotine {that's the chemical that has you addicted, drink plenty of water or tea}, the rest is psychology. Just keep saying to yourself: "I am out of options. I can't smoke anymore, simple as that", and keep repeating that OUT LOUD to yourself until it gets into your psyche. It really is as simple as that. Believe me when I say, If I can do it, anybody can. NOW QUIT.
@@papawx3 I will, thank you so much
The "Ten Commandments" movie as well as childhood
memories of this commercial brought me here...LOVED YUL BRYNNER!!
One of the best commercials ever made. The simplicity and honesty is arresting to the viewer. Thanks for posting.
True words
He saved so many lives after his death ! He wanted so much to live ! Now he's an angel in Heaven !
I saw Yul Brynner perform during his last year of life... I was absolutely amazed at the presence that the man could exude - I burst into tears in reaction! (And this was before I learned he was dying of cancer...)
This man is still one of my favourite actors and always will be. I felt so sorry for his young wife when he finally passed away...
The BEST anti-smoking commercial ever!
Yes, unfortunately myself and millons of others didn't listen
"I'm Yul Brynner and I'm dead now." - classic.
@Kidd Vicious Thanks!
I watched the film Westworld to prepare for the series that premiers tonight. I hadn't seen it before and didn't know much about Yul Brynner. I looked him up after the film, decently impressed by his performance. What a guy, damn shame that this happened to him.
wonderguardstalker you should try and find the sequel Futureworld
@@Steve_Gee74 I will follow this advice, didn't know about the sequel. Will watch it probably this week.
Powerful stuff. Too bad too many too ignorant to listen
Addicted.
Ignorant is the wrong word. The correct word is foolish or perhaps stupid. The year 2020 and people still take up smoking. That’s stupid.
Yule Brenner, You were one the Finest Men that ever lived especially in the movie & play THE KING and I 💞💞💞💞 We miss You!!!
yul brynner (1920-1985)
Rest in peace, Yul Brynner. This is actually a very important commercial, one advertising a message that we rarely hear in today's society. My dad smoked for nearly twenty years, and I very clearly recall being two years old and telling my father, "Daddy, don't smoke! You'll get cancer and die!" (Yes, I really did say that!) And lo and behold, he quit a year later.
I watch this whenever I feel the urge to smoke again. Quit five months ago and hoping I never go back
Before kojak, there was yul bryner with the bald head
Kojak was UGLY
Yul was beautiful
I've seen so many people die
because of smoking including my father.
It's a very cruel and undignified way to die.
Thank goodness we are so much more educated about smoking nowadays.
This was a fantastic thing that he has done for the global community.
Humphrey Bogart died of throat cancer also because of smoking.
libraoct02 Bogie also drank very heavily too. His last two movies, his voice was very gravelish or like stone. One could tell something was not right.
That's right Mark booze makes him more calm and composed apart from smoking. Great actor too bad he died.
libraoct02 Bogie sure packed in a lot during his 57 year lifetime. I have always said that had he lived he likely would have retired probably no later than the early 1960s. He lived just long enough to probably see that times were really changing and so were films. Bogie was a professional and he disliked those in the business that weren't and he hated bad films or those poorly written. I read that he also had a huge disliking of rock and roll (1956 was the year Elvis burst onto the scene)
That's true mark, coz he said that R&R has a mix of obscenety which he strongly disapprove, growing up in a genre where music was very much part of the U .S. culture he felt that it was slowly eroding.
just asking So did several others: Ava Gardner, Betsy Grable, Jonh Wayne, Sammy Davis Jr, Bette Davis - they all died of something related to smoking, even if in old age. You can be a smoker and live long, but you will probably have terrible final years
Oh yes Yul Brynner was a great actor he played Pharaoh in the Ten Commandments that part was meant for him could not have been played any better by any other man Yul Brynner was a really great actor and just a really really good guy he died way too young
Great actor and message.
Wow. His message is better than anything I've ever seen growing up. It's personal and you can tell. 😢
uh, it is common sense that people's lungs are not meant for breathing in smoke 🚬
amazing really, that so many people smoking despite the knowledge of its horrific consequences.
What a powerful ad for quitting smoking. I never understood the attraction of putting smoke in one's lungs, but I respect that even with his death sentence, he wanted to take the time to send out a message. That makes Yul an awesome person.
Ramses II, grande actoraso
He wasn't dead when he said it, he was dying from lung cancer, knew how he'd gotten it and wanted to let people know that it really can happen. I remember it being a very powerful thing to see, knowing he was now dead. What a loss.
Someone close to me got heart problems due to smoking. He's ok now. Now they have a mountain of medical bills (even after insurance). So please don't smoke and don't smoke around innocent people.
I quit smoking and it has been 4 years now.
At the time of this coment, 85 smokers have given thumbs down.
Five years on, how many of those thumbs are still with us ...
I quit smoking over 8 months ago, but I have a very very bad feeling that I may all ready have lung cancer... I feel for this man, I really do. It's terrible what he must have gone through.
You still here, man?
They should still air this today (2017)
+Robert Dambeck: Actually Robert, it’s 2018 (06-28-2018).
al dixon Actually, it’s 2020.
Now 2021
@@dontaviouschandler3961 Two thousand and Twenty-Four.
I see a smoking apologist posted a message that 92% of smokers do not get a smoking related illness (source?). Define "smoking related illness". This is an example of a little knowledge being dangerous. People think cigarettes only cause lung cancer. Whenever a non smoker gets lung cancer, that is taken as evidence that the danger of tobacco is hype. Tobacco may not always directly cause cancer, but it increases your risk of dying from many different causes.
What a legend in the world of theater and acting. I simply cannot fathom how anyone can speak on their own death like this. I applaud his courage but that must of been so hard for him to do knowing he was going to pass soon after. RIP Yul Brynner and Peter O'Toole, another smoker. = /
Jenni,Tobacco companies for years conspired to hide the health risks of smoking. Millions of people in the '60s, '70s and '80s didn't know that tobacco caused lung cancer or heart disease. If Yul Brynner and Peter O'Toole would have know the danger of smoking they probably would never started or quit smoking.
David Williams
Ah, if only that were true! Lots of people by the 70s and certainly by the 80s knew how bad smoking was - and they smoked anyway. Kids who knew, started smoking too.
There's a weird aspect of human psychology involved here. Kids know all about lung cancer and have done for decades now, and still they start. Addiction is too far beyond their experience to be able to relate to: they understand it on a conscious level but not on a practical level. So, when they see adults who they respect in some way (doesn't need to be their hero or anything) smoke, they wonder why. And then they start to imagine answers: maybe quitting isn't really that hard, it's just a bother and people whine about it. Maybe it's worth the risk. Whatever. Any answer they can supply from their own experiences, is necessarily permissive, because they can't fathom the experience of addiction.
Poor man! His life was cut too short. Glad that he took the last precious moments of life he had and dedicated it to something noble. I've had smokers within my family and it is awful. I have only smoked once and regretted it. I hope to God that his message reaches many and touches them.
Smoking tobacco cigarettes is truly the #1 nastiest health habit to have, expensive too.
Much better is vaping or cannabis! Much less harmful to the body and the checking account.
+amazingdany Daily smoking of cannabis is very harmful to the lungs as well as the checking account.
Cannabis has yet to kill anyone.
I want to make a similar ad for homeboys to wear their pants at the correct height. Except I'm not dead and I never did something so stupid as sag my pants.
So we need dead homeboys?
LET'S RIDE!
I remember this commercial when it aired. (Thank you for the memories Yul Brenner. You are missed)-MrsGwennD
I've never smoked, never had much desire to, but seeing this commercial as a teen was probably the clincher that I never would. Thank you, Mr. Brynner. I wish this commercial had not been necessary.
This is horrifying.
Get used to the simple fact that death is a part of life. We all die.
Now that I'm gone, I tell you: Don't smoke. Whatever you do, just don't smoke. If I could take back that smoking, we wouldn't be talking about any cancer. I'm convinced of that.
RIP. love Yul
....and it is also well known to be indicative of someone lost within a discussion/argument when they start picking on typos as a purile form of "come back"... but, to show I am a sporting chap.... YOU TUBE is two words!
Wow, great come back huh? :)
Lol, you actually think smoking being a filthy habit is simply an OPINION?! I guess picking your nose and eating it being a filthy habit is only an opinion too right? You are either pulling my leg, a comedy genious or both!
Putz....
Mr too...Bill hciks bring me here...
I like the commercial that runs now, "The biggest lies are the ones we tell ourselves. Like smoking isn't bad for you."
Bill Burr
bill hicks
Funny cause Bill Hicks had a great bit about this commercial. Then Bill Burr has his Thursday retro podcast and this is brought up again. I never actually looked it up though. I recommend listening to Bill Hick's speil, he is now dead from cancer though I don't believe it was lung cancer.
killercara Will do. I've stumbled across one, Bill and now another. Thank you
In exactly one week it will be six months for me. That's after 30+ years of smoking, and heavily. 2-3 packs a day. I've ruined my lungs, but at least I won't make them worse now.
I love how some smokers "justify" smoking by using an anecdotal comparison to something, or some activity totally unrelated claiming a connection.........Human denial at it's best.
@@deancorrington3894 couldn't have put it better myself! ☺
@@goodbrothermusic2740 You must be an idiot who smokes
@@goodbrothermusic2740 Yes they do.....your point is what? So its ok to smoke because non smokers die every day?
@@goodbrothermusic2740 Sounds like your biggest problem is being angry at yourself for being stupid for smoking, wasting money on cigarettes, having yellow teeth and shit breath, and your house and car smelling like cigarette smoke. Now you're catching on.
@@goodbrothermusic2740 Nah, Ill leave all those problems with you. Nobody likes smokers.
When everyone smoked in the 50s-70s, smoking weeded out a lot of good people.
These days smoking just weeds out the dumb.
Thumbs up if your here because of Bill Hicks
I remember this commercial. My dad had already had one lung out by then, and the cancer would come back a few years later to finish him. Not that he would've stopped smoking had he seen it earlier 🤷♂️
Anyone else light up after watching this?
Congratulations, enjoy cancer!
Why thank you chum :)
G Wizzy I will! And it will be a longer life than yours by the looks of it :)
Never smoked, and if I were a smoker I would quit. I can get smoking in the old days when medical science center was unaware and it was seen as cool, but today it is down right stupid for anyone to smoke.
+Killian Collard Was watching this 30-second PSA like sex for you? I'm sure it is for millions of women!
Rest in paradise.. To one of the absolute greatest actors the world 🌍 has ever known... The late great Mr Yul Brynner ✌💗