Anna and the King

1 9 7 2 (USA)
13 x 30 minute episodes

Yul Brynner and Samantha Eggar starred briefly in the CBS series Anna and the King, which ran from September to December of 1972. Reprising his role from the stage and 1967 film versions of The King and I  , Brynner led the series through its monarch vs. feisty western woman scenario, prone to hasty pronouncements and prancing about his palace in loon pants, et cetera et cetera et cetera.

Samantha Eggar played English governess Anna Owens, who arrives in Siam to be teacher to the Kings 67 children. Keye Luke (Kung Fu) and Brian Tochi (St. Elsewhere) were also along for the ride. The staging was well realised and the sets looked beautiful (some were those featured in The King and I) but CBS pulled the plug after 13 episodes.

The true story of how Anna Leonowens, an English governess, went to Siam in 1862 to teach the king's 67 children, became first a personal biographical account (The English Governess At The Siamese Court), then a 1944 novel by Margaret Landon (Anna And The King Of Siam), then a film of the same name (1946) and then, most famously, a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, The King And I, which opened on Broadway in 1951 and was adapted as a hugely successful second feature film in 1956.