# Yul Brenner

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yul-brenner/102217>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [April 6, 2002, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yul-brenner/102217 "2002-04-06T21:23:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2002, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yul-brenner/102217/1 "2002-04-06T21:23:20Z")

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did a smoking PSA when he had cancer. I can remember the last line, “Now that I’m dead, I can tell you…don’t smoke.”  
Anyone remember this? Where can I see it?

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**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2002, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yul-brenner/102217/2 "2002-04-06T22:17:13Z")

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I remember those. He said something like, “I truly believe that if I didn’t smoke, I wouldn’t have gotten cancer.”

Those “whatever you do, don’t smoke” comments were used by Joel & the Bots in numerous episodes of MST3K.

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**Author:** ![MamaHen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@MamaHen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MamaHen)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2002, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yul-brenner/102217/3 "2002-04-07T01:32:33Z")

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Yul Brynner did do the commercial. He filmed it before he died. I link I had for it doesn’t work anymore. Just gives me another excuse to look at Yul pics, thanks!

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**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2002, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yul-brenner/102217/4 "2002-04-07T18:12:20Z")

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Actually, not long before he died, Yul Brynner did an appearance on “60 Minutes,” talking about his lung cancer. He told the interviewer (I forget whether it was Mike Wallace or whoever), “I’d like to do a commercial, to be shown after I die, saying I got lung cancer because of smoking. So don’t smoke. Whatever you do, don’t smoke. If I hadn’t smoked for so many years, we wouldn’t be talking about cancer right now. I’m sure of that.”

With the permission of Brynner’s widow and “60 Minutes,” a clip from that interview was re-broadcast regularly as a public service commercial after his death.

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**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2002, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yul-brenner/102217/5 "2002-04-07T23:03:09Z")

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^^^I was going to point this out, but I remembered it as a clip from “Good Morning America.”

Sir Rhosis