Anna Leonowens Yul Brynner. The then ambassador of Thailand to the US gave another reason for Thailand's disapproval of "The King and I": its ethno-centric attitude and its barely hidden insult on the whole Siamese nation as childish and inferior to the Westerners. In 1972, Twentieth Century Fox produced a non-musical American TV series for CBS, "Anna and the King", with Samantha Eggar taking the part of Leonowens and Brynner reprising his role as the king. Margaret Landon charged the makers with "inaccurate and mutilated portrayals" of her literary property and sued unsuccessfully for copyright infringement. The series was not a success
Utopia, Limited and eventually her homeland. Two decades earlier, in 1870, Anna Leonowens first wrote about her six-year stint as governess to the children of the king of Siam (Thailand) in "The English Governess at the Siamese Court". The two ladies and their stories are likely to have influenced the characters of Princess Zara and Lady Sophy, respectively. Another impetus for Gilbert in the genesis of the work was his disdain for England's Limited Liability Act of 1862, which he had begun to explore in the previous opera with Sullivan, "The Gondoliers". By using an imaginary setting, Gilbert was emboldened to level