Yuri Borienko
Yuri Borienko was a Polish wrestler and actor, known for his performance as Blofeld's henchman Grunther in the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
Biography
Borienko travelled to America in 1956, possibly beginning his wrestling career there. He returned to Britain in 1960, where he worked for independent promoters before being signed up by Joint Promotions in 1962. His ring name was derived from Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and another wrestler called Stanislaus Borienko. Up until the end of the decade, the wrestler could be seen touring regularly in the rings of Southern England, pitted against other heavyweights, disappearing at times to appear in television and movie productions.Working as an actor, Borienko guested in episodes of British TV series including Adam Adamant Lives!, Z-Cars, The Troubleshooters, Department S, The Persuaders!, Jason King, The Protectors, Raffles, The Professionals and Strangers as well as a number of films.
After retiring from acting, Borienko and his family moved to Canada where he spent the final 11 years of his life running a motel, dying in 1999 from leukaemia. His children include Jas Kadlubowski, businessman Stefan Kadlubowski and makeup artist Nina Westbury.