Margaret Landon
Margaret Landon, born Margaret Dorothea Mortenson in Wisconsin in the early twentieth century, is best recognized for her novel "Anna and the King of Siam." Her upbringing included a strong literary influence from her father's career at the Saturday Evening Post, and she graduated from Wheaton College. In the mid-1920s, she married Kenneth Perry Landon, a Presbyterian missionary who served in Siam (now Thailand). The couple lived in Thailand for about a decade, where Landon became fluent in written Thai and immersed herself in the culture while raising their four children.
During her time in Thailand, Landon began writing her famous book, which was inspired by her experiences there. After facing health challenges, she completed her work and subsequently saw it gain immense popularity through adaptations, notably Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein's musical "The King and I." Landon's contributions to literature, particularly her reflections on Thai culture and her personal experiences, have left a lasting impact. She passed away at the age of ninety after suffering a stroke.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Margaret Landon
Writer
- Born: September 7, 1903
- Birthplace: Somers, Wisconsin
- Died: December 4, 1993
- Place of death: Alexandria, Virginia
Biography
Margaret Landon, best known as the author of Anna and the King of Siam, was born in the very early twentieth century as Margaret Dorothea Mortenson to Annenus Duabus and Adelle Johanne (Estburg) Mortenson in Wisconsin. Landon’s father worked in the business department of the Saturday Evening Post. Her A.B. was from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, and a decade later she taught journalism courses at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
Mortenson married in the mid-1920’s. Her husband was Kenneth Perry Landon, a Presbyterian who took a missionary assignment in Siam (now Thailand) for a decade. He was also the associate dean of area and language studies as the U.S. Department of State Foreign Service Institute. The couple had four children: Margaret Dorothea, William Bradley, Carol Elizabeth, and Kenneth Perry, Jr. The eldest three spoke Thai before they spoke English. Their mother was fluent in written Thai and their father mastered three year’s study in one year.
Landon taught one year of English and Latin in Wisconsin and decided teaching was not what she wanted to do. When her husband was to be sent to Siam in the late in the late 1920’s, she went with him. Their first year was spent in Bangkok learning the language. They were then stationed in the town of Nakhon Sritamarat for about a year. Next they were stationed at Trang.
In the late 1930’s, Landon began to write her book while in Indiana, and finished it four years later in Washington, D.C. She was in poor health for some time after a case of rheumatic fever soon afterward, and delayed more serious writing endeavors due to health for some years. She did write a few more published pieces.
Her book became extremely visible when Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein used it as a basis for their musical The King and I, which in turn became a movie, well-known and beloved after half a century. Landon died of a stroke at the age of ninety.