Yuri Borienko
Russian actor and wrestler
Yuri Borienko (born Jan Bolesław Kadlubowski, 27 October 1930 – 10 February 1999) 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. (Borienko and fellow wrestler Mike Marino were matched against American heavyweight Luther Lindsay.)
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 (see below).
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 (1963–2016) and makeup artist Nina Westbury.
James Bond
During his audition for the role of James Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, George Lazenby was required to spar with Borienko as part of his screen test. During this, Lazenby, unaware of how to pull his punches, struck the wrestler, giving him a broken and bloodied nose.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Yuri Borienko” as russian actor and wrestler. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as russian actor and wrestler. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q93337243. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1930, 1999, 1956 and 1960.
A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Yuri Borienko” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.