Irene Sharaff was an American costume designer for stage and screen. Her work earned her five Academy Awards and a Tony Award. Sharaff is universally recognized as one of the greatest costume designers of all time.
Design for Barbra Streisand in Hello, Dolly! (1969)
Royal robe designed for Yul Brynner in The King and I, for which Sharaff won an Oscar.
Headdress for Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra, which won another Oscar for Sharaff.
The King and I is the fifth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on Margaret Landon's novel Anna and the King of Siam (1944), which is in turn derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the early 1860s. The musical's plot relates the experiences of Anna, a British schoolteacher who is hired as part of the King's drive to modernize his country. The relationship between the King and Anna is marked by conflict through much of the piece, as well as by a love to which neither can admit. The musical premiered on March 29, 1951, at Broadway's St. James Theatre. It ran for nearly three years, making it the fourth-longest-running Broadway musical in history at the time, and has had many tours and revivals.
Original Broadway poster (1951)
King Mongkut (far right) with his heir Chulalongkorn seated next to him and some of his other children. A wife is seated at left.
Mongkut with Chulalongkorn, dressed in naval uniforms
Rodgers (left) and Hammerstein