The King and I Fifty years after its premiere, Rodgers biographer Meryle Secrest summed up the musical: The King and I The King and I is the fifth musical by the team of composer Richard Rodgers and dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based on Margaret Landon's novel, "Anna and the King of Siam" (1944), which is in turn derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the early 1860s. The musical's plot relates the experiences of Anna, a British schoolteacher hired as part of the King's drive to modernize his country. The relationship between
John Kerr (actor) him on the series, which focuses on the cases of attorneys with the Legal Aid Society of New York. He made "The Cobweb" for MGM, who liked his work so much they co-starred him with Leslie Caron in "Gaby" (1956), the third remake of "Waterloo Bridge", which, in its original pre-Code 1931 version, featured John's grandfather, actor Frederick Kerr. Kerr starred with Deborah Kerr (no relation) in "Tea and Sympathy" in 1956. In a widely publicized decision in 1956, Kerr declined to play the role of Charles Lindbergh in "The Spirit of St. Louis" because he did not respect Lindbergh's