Her last role was as Anna Leonowens in the original Broadway stage
production of
Richard Rodgers and
Oscar Hammerstein II's "The King and I". She discovered
she had cancer during the early part of the stage run and died the
year after the show opened. One of her last requests was that
Yul Brynner,
her leading man in the show, be upgraded in the posters and playbills
from below to above-the title billing, sharing star billing with
whoever would play Anna in other performances.