The King and I (1956 film) O'Hara, who had a pleasant soprano voice, was originally cast, but Richard Rodgers did not agree to the casting. It was Yul Brynner who pressed for Deborah Kerr to play the role. Marni Nixon provided Kerr's singing for the film. Nixon and Kerr worked side-by-side in the recording studio for songs which combined speaking and singing. Nixon would also dub Kerr's singing the following year, for the film "An Affair to Remember". Donald Bogle's biography of Dorothy Dandridge claims that Dandridge was offered the role of Tuptim in partial fulfillment of her three-picture contract with 20th Century-Fox, but that Dandridge
The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders her true love, and she and Jemmy have a shipboard wedding. Kim Novak took a three-year break from motion pictures after this film, though her 1965 scenes in "Eye of the Devil" were deleted and reshot with Deborah Kerr. She returned to the screen in 1968's "The Legend of Lylah Clare". Co-stars Novak and Richard Johnson married in March 1965. The lead role was originally considered for Diane Cilento, who had gathered critical acclaim from her role in "Tom Jones", but she had other commitments. Had Cilento appeared in the film, Sean Connery would have played the male lead. The