The hit 1956 movie musical The King and I was based on the 1951 Broadway musical of the same name, which was based on Margaret Landon's 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam, which was based on the 1870 book The English Governess in Siamese Court by Anna Leonowens. There were also other movies based on the same story, one in 1946, two in 1999, and a TV series in 1972.
With so many iterations of the story over 150 years, you wouldn't be surprised to learn that it has historical inaccuracies. One would think that going back to the original 1870 memoir by Anna Leonowens, who really did work for King Mongkut of Siam (now Thailand), would give us the true story, but even that account was highly fictionalized for dramatic effect and to push Leonowens' feminist and abolitionist views.
Maybe it would be better to simply read about Leonowens life. That's where we find that Leonowens had begun fictionalizing details of her life long before she ever went to Siam! Read about the real Anna Leonowens and how she crafted her own life story at Historic Mysteries. -via Strange Company
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King and I was a staple in my house for years and years, great movie
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