Margaret Landon

Novelist

Birthday September 7, 1903

Birth Sign Virgo

Birthplace Wisconsin

DEATH DATE Dec 4, 1993 (90)

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About

An American writer, she is most remembered for her popular 1944 novel, Anna and the King of Siam, which provides a fictionalized account of the life of real-life governess Anna Leonowens. The book sold a million copies and inspired The King and I, a Broadway musical with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II.

Before fame

After graduating from Wheaton College in Illinois, she worked briefly as a schoolteacher.

Trivia

She and her husband established a mission school in Trang, Thailand.

Family life

She married Kenneth Landon in 1926; they had four children.

Associated with

The King and I was made into a CBS film starring Samantha Eggar.