Brynner died on October 10, 1985, the same day as Orson Welles so that the two were reminisced about as something of a Hollywood double bill, occasionally joined by Rock Hudson who had died the week prior. Covering the event of Brynner's death, The Washington Post characterized him as an actor internationally known ‘for his shaved head.’ The accompanying illustration was from The King and I, bringing together two key strands of the actor's star image.

Exploring star image in a posthumous perspective, this concluding chapter first returns to Brynner's association with his kingly role by focusing on the stage revivals of The King and I, 1976–1985, solidifying the link. This is followed by a discussion on the forms and diverse technologies of remembrance: obituaries, posthumously aired infomercials, biographies, statues, and contemporary products of vernacular digital culture. Focusing on both repetitions and variations, the chapter asks what remains of film stardom after an actor's demise.

A king on repeat

Promoting the new Broadway run of The King and I in 1977, Brynner emphasized the play's contemporary feel and factual timeliness in comparison with the time of its initial premiere:

Brynner recurrently argued that the different revival and tour productions were in fact nothing less than novel productions – less facsimiles than re-imaginings staged for a changed social context where equal human rights were no longer a novel invention. Even as it may seem odd to argue that a musical play written in the 1950s, set in a nineteenth century Siamese court was, in fact, ahead of its time, Brynner framed it in metonymic terms as a spectacle tackling modern human rights, cosmopolitan notions of equality, and culture clashes between East and West.