About Us History
The Yul Brynner Head and Neck Cancer Foundation was created by the late actor after an abnormality was found on his vocal chord in the 1980s. With the combined vision of Yul Brynner and the knowledge and experience of Dr. George Sisson, the Yul Brynner Foundation was incorporated in Chicago in 1984 for the purpose of educating the public about the harmful effects of tobacco and its relationship to mouth and throat cancer.
The Board of Directors included the inaugural Chairman of the Board, Dr. Jerome C. Goldstein, who remains in that position. The board was honored to include Roger Ebert, Larry Gatlin, Dr. Robert Ossoff, Dr. John M. Lore, and Dr. Peter Costantino. The Foundation was initially extremely successful in the development of educational programs and the funding of numerous research grants in head and neck cancer but was relatively inactive through the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Kathy Brynner-Hifler, the widow of the late Yul Brynner, has remained active with the foundation since its inception and continues as Chair, Emeritus, of the Advisory Board.
Janet Trever, who was a three-time cancer victim, began her efforts as Executive Director of the Foundation in the early 1990s and continued her mission until the day she died of this disease in 1999.
In 1997, The Association for Head and Neck Cancer Awareness was formed by Terry Day, M.D., in Nashville, Tennessee. The Association and Yul Brynner Foundation combined efforts, propelling Dr. Day to be elected president of the Yul Brynner Foundation, the position he continues to hold with the Head and Neck Cancer Alliance.
Starting in 1998, the Yul Brynner Foundation organized and directed an annual Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week, an international event designed to further the education of the public and health professionals on this disease. In 2001, the name was officially changed to Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week (OHANCAW) to help publicize oral cancer, the most common site of head and neck cancers. This awareness week continues this year with the Head and Neck Cancer Alliance and will continue until this disease is eradicated.
Yul Brynner was born the son of Boris Bryner, a Swiss-Mongolian engineer and inventor, and Marousia Blagavidova, the daughter of a Russian doctor. He was born in their hometown of Vladivostok on July 11, 1920, and named Yul after his grandfather Jules Bryner. When Yul’s father abandoned the family, his mother took Yul and his sister Vera to Harbin, China, where they attended a school run by the YMCA.
In 1934, Yul’s mother, Marousia, took her children to Paris. Her son was sent to the exclusive Lycée Moncelle, but his attendance was spotty. He dropped out and became a musician, playing guitar in the nightclubs among the Russian gypsies who gave him his first real sense of family. He met luminaries such as Jean Cocteau and became an apprentice at the Theatre des Mathurins. He worked as a trapeze artist with the famed Cirque d’Hiver company. Brynner took up acting after a serious accident curtailed his circus career. He then moved to the U.S. in 1941 to study with acting teacher Michael Chekhov and toured the country with Chekhov’s theatrical troupe. That same year he debuted in New York as Fabian in Twelfth Night (billed as Youl Bryner). Ironically, he failed a screen test at Universal Studios in 1947 because he looked “too oriental.”
After working in a very early TV series, “Mr. Jones and His Neighbors,” he played on Broadway in “Lute Song” with Mary Martin, winning awards and mild acclaim. He and his then-wife, actress Virginia Gilmore, starred in the first TV talk show, “Mr. and Mrs.” Brynner then joined CBS as a television director. He made his film debut in “Port of New York” (1949). Two years later, Mary Martin recommended him for the part he would always be known for, the King in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical “The King and I.” Brynner became an immediate sensation in the role, repeating it for film and winning the Oscar for Best Actor. For the next two decades, he maintained a starring film career despite the exotic nature of his persona, performing in a wide range of roles from Egyptian pharaohs to Western gunfighters, almost all with the same shaven head and indefinable accent.
Outside of his film work, Brynner was also an accomplished photographer, and many of his pictures appeared in major magazine spreads or were used as official studio production stills.
In 1972, the actor agreed to re-create his “King and I” role in an expensive weekly TV series, “Anna and the King.” But it lasted only eight weeks. Brynner’s last major film role was in the sci-fi thriller “Westworld” (1973) as a murderously malfunctioning robot, dressed in western garb reminiscent of the actor’s wardrobe in 1960’s “The Magnificent Seven.” In 1977, Brynner embarked upon a stage revival of “The King and I” that was adored by audiences all over the country.
On October 10, 1985, at age 65, Brynner died in a New York hospital – still insisting that his public not know the severity of his condition until after his death, although he had recorded a dramatic public-service announcement to be broadcast afterward that blamed the illness on smoking.
On Sunday, August 6, 2006, the field of neck and neck cancer surgery lost one of its giants. The passing of Dr. George A. Sisson (1920-2006) brings to a close a unique era in head and neck surgery. Dr. Sisson was considered to be the mover and shaker of his time.
George almost died from a deep abscess in his neck when he was 14 years old. His neighbors in upstate New York raised money to bring in a throat doctor from Buffalo. The doctor opened the abscess, a risky procedure for the time. This brush with death inspired his interest in medicine. Years later, when he was a thirty-year-old recent graduate in otolaryngology, he had to send one of his first patients home with an “inoperable” diagnosis. The patient had a tumor in the posterior throat that extended into the base of her skull, a death sentence in 1951. Dr. Sisson believed that there had to be more effective ways to treat patients with this type of condition, which was the stimulus that started his remarkable career.
Dr. Sisson lived during a rapidly changing time for the field of medicine. During WWI, emergency medical care saw many new surgical procedures that were developed by trial and error. New antibiotics in the early 1930s cleared the way for surgical advancement. Head and neck surgery was a new frontier, and most of today’s routine procedures were not yet even ideas. Dr. Sisson pioneered many complicated and radical procedures that are now considered standard treatment, or were predecessors of procedures commonly used today. Most important, George spearheaded radical changes in the way the head and neck surgery is now taught, and how the profession certifies and maintains high standards among its practitioners. If asked, Dr. Sisson would say the path he followed was due to many coincidences of time and place, as well as motivated physicians, the best of the best, who helped him along the way.
Being of modest means, unlike most medical students at the time, George sacrificed and worked at part-time jobs while he was a student intern and resident. He continued to work night jobs while training with Dr. Hayes Martin at the Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital in New York.
Dr. Martin was a New York general surgeon who was internationally recognized as the expert in the growing field of head and neck surgery. The year following George’s studies at the Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital, Dr. Martin and other general surgeons started the Society of Head and Neck Surgeons (SHNS) to fill the need for continuing education. The new society required its members to be trained as general surgeons, which required two additional years of training. This requirement effectively barred George and his otolaryngology peers from membership, since most otolaryngologists had less than two years of general surgery training. It did not matter that the otolaryngologists were already specialists in head and neck surgery, or that they had personally trained with the founder of the society. They were not general surgeons, and were therefore not eligible for membership. In a new medical specialty, turf wars were already in the making. George and his colleagues felt that they were being treated like second class citizens, so they founded their own society, the American Society of Head and Neck Surgery (ASHNS). The ASHNS grew, set the high standards in Head and Neck Surgery, and was the leader in new developments in the field. In 1989, the SHNS (the society that originally barred George from membership) gave George its highest honor by naming him its Hayes Martin Lecturer. The way was finally opened for joining the two societies. After 40 years, the two societies merged in 1998, bringing together multiple disciplines in the interest for the best treatment for head and neck patients. This was always part of George’s plan.
During his lifetime, George was president of every significantly political and educational organization in head and neck surgery (1). At one time he held two presidencies. He was a master politician at a time when the profession needed one, and he was in great demand internationally as a guest speaker. In addition to training, education, and setting standards, George pioneered several radical surgical techniques and saw the gratifying success of these advances. Today, energy can be focused on survival and reconstruction techniques or as Dr. Sisson liked to say, “Restoration of form and function.”
Today, in an age of constant discoveries and change, George is recognized as a great leader in his field. People from all over the world sought his advice. His students are today’s leaders in head and neck surgery and continue George’s mission in the training and practice of head and neck surgery. George’s legacy is the development of excellence in head and surgery.
One of George’s simplest but most profound contributions was his recognition that doctors and the general public have trouble understanding what is meant by the term “otolaryngology.” To help everyone understand the type of medicine he and his colleagues practice, he changed the name of the 100 year-old “Academy of Otolaryngology” to “Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery.”
Until 1996 at 76 years old, George Sisson was actively engaged in the Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Arena. At that time, on his way to Colorado for a skiing vacation - his favorite pastime - he suffered the first of many strokes. George Sisson was an energetic, innovative educator and physician devoted to excellence. In addition to serving as Director of the Residency Program at Syracuse School of Medicine, he was Chairman and Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Northwestern Medical School and Hospital from 1967 to 1989. Over 150 residents and 35 fellows were educated during his tenure.
In addition to serving in various leadership positions at the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Sisson pioneered original research on recurrent cancer of the larynx, cancer of the Paranasal sinuses, and rehabilitation of voice following laryngeal cancer. He authored or coauthored more than 300 books, chapters, and journal articles on all aspects of head and neck cancer and medical education. The Head and Neck Story is an interesting account of its history and the finest of physicians. It was compiled and edited by Dr. Sisson for the 25th anniversary celebration of the ASHNS when one of his proteges, Dr. Jerry Goldstein was President. At the time it was written, most of the principal characters were alive and able to describe from recall the events of their struggle. Most was substantiated by photos or references from documents of the early minutes which were carefully constructed by the four secretaries along with commentaries by past presidents.
Dr. Sisson co-founded and was a major contributor to the Yul Brynner Head and Neck Cancer Foundation (YBF). In the 1980’s, while Mr. Brynner was being treated for a pre-malignant condition of the larynx, he and George Sisson became friends. Their close friendship led to the establishment of the Yul Brynner Head and Neck Cancer Foundation in 1984. Mr. Brynner passed away in 1985 after recording a dramatic public service announcement about the dangers of smoking that was killing him. At Mr. Brynner’s request, the announcement aired after his death. The organization was formed to educate children and adults about the dangers of smoking and to raise funds for head and neck cancer research.
The Sisson family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Yul Brynner Foundation. Donations will be used to help the Foundation establish the George A. Sisson Lectureship under the direction of the American Head and Neck Society.
Donations can be sent to:
Yul Brynner Foundation
George A. Sisson Lectureship Fund
P.O. Box 250550
Charleston, SC 29425
843-792-6624
www.yulbrynnerfoundation.org
1. Among the many medical organizations for which he served as president were: American Board of Otolaryngology, American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, American Society of Head and Neck Surgery, American Laryngological Society, Society of University Otolaryngologists, Association of Academic Departments of Otolaryngology, and the Chicago Laryngological and Otological Society. He served on the editorial boards of the AMA Archives of the Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Laryngoscope, and Head and Neck Surgery. During his career, he organized and was chairman of numerous national and international symposia and workshops, including the Sisson International Workshop. Held annually at a ski resort, the workshop was one of the first to combine education with family time. Today in its 29th year, the workshop continues to provide a valuable, intimate, and casual setting for top head and neck surgeons to exchange surgical experiences.
