Sixty years ago this month, the beloved musical The King and I opened on Broadway with Yul Brynner as the King of Siam. The show would win 5 Tony Awards - including Best Musical - and run for 1246 performances before closing in 1954. It has been revived on Broadway three times so far - twice with Brynner reprising his famous role. While we have come to recognize the inappropriateness in modern times of casting non-Asian actors in the title role (well, most of us have, anyway), it is hard to deny how indelible Brynner was in the role.
Here he is with Deborah Kerr in the 1956 film version:
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