THE GREAT-AUNT OF FRANKENSTEIN: BORIS KARLOFF AND THE KING OF SIAM

   

by Taylor Zaccario 

What an arrogant SCHMUCK I am. Here I was thinkin’ I knew everything about the Universal Monster movies. Turns out? I’m an arrogant schmuck! I had zero idea that Boris Karloff’s great-aunt was the real life inspiration for the classic musical, The King and I. 

I discovered this fun little factoid in Michael Mallory’s terrific book, Universal Studios Monsters: A Legacy of Horror. (Thanks to my cousin, Megan, for gifting it to me.) 

Mallory’s book is stocked with beautiful black and white photographs, movie stills, and posters. It’s a part history, part summary, and part analysis of all those classic Universal monster movies. Mallory includes mini-biographies of several relevant actors and behind the scenes folks, such as screenwriter Curt Siodmak, director James Whale, and the formidably talented Dwight Frye. But Mallory’s skinny on Karloff held the most surprising information. 

Karloff, for you poor bastards who don’t know, remains the towering figure for monster fans. He played a whole slew of characters, but his biggie was the Frankenstein Monster. I knew stuff about him. I knew he was born William Henry Pratt in England. I knew he came from Anglo-Indian kin. I knew of his years toiling away in regional theatre before being “discovered" in the Universal Studios commissary. 

I had no idea his great-aunt was Anna Leonowens. 

Leonowens was a writer, educator, feminist, and social activist. In 1862, she accepted an offer to provide a modern English education to the 82 children and 39 wives of Mongkut, King of Siam. She served the Siamese court for six years, first as an English teacher, then as the King’s personal language secretary. Leonowens achieved great respect and a degree of political influence in her position. 

Later in life, Leonowens published a memoir, The English Governess at the Siam Court (1870), about her time in Siam, now modern day Thailand. (Whether Leonowens embellished the facts remains conjecture). The memoir was fictionalized by Margaret Landon in her novel, Anna and the King of Siam (1944). The novel was adapted several times, most famously by Rodgers and Hammerstein into their stage musical, The King and I, which was followed by the 1956 film version. 

I realize this news isn’t exactly hot off the presses. But I thought it was neat trivia that might come in handy if you ever need to impress someone with Karloff facts. 

For those into Karloff and the other Universal monster greats, definitely wander over to your local Amazon.com and checkout Mallory’s book. And if you haven’t seen any Karloff movies, the best place to start is with his best: Bride of Frankenstein (1935).