Deborah Kerr
Active - 1940 - 1985 | Born - Sep 30, 1921 in Helensburgh, Scotland | Died - Oct 16, 2007 in Suffolk, England | Genres - Drama, Romance | Height: 5' 6"
A cultured actress renowned for her elegance and dignity, Deborah Kerr was one of the leading ladies of Hollywood's Golden Age. Born Deborah Kerr-Trimmer in Helensburgh, Scotland, on September 30, 1921, she was first trained as a dancer at her aunt's drama school in Bristol, England.
After winning a scholarship to the Sadlers Wells Ballet School, Kerr made her London stage debut at age 17 in Prometheus. Meanwhile, she developed an interest in acting and began getting bit parts and walk-ons in Shakespeare productions. While continuing to appear in various London stage plays, Kerr debuted onscreen in 1940 and went on to roles in a number of British films over the next seven years, often playing cool, reserved, well-bred young ladies.
Her portrayal of a nun in Black Narcissus (1947) earned a New York Film Critics Best Actress award and led to an invitation from Hollywood to co-star opposite Clark Gable in The Hucksters. She remained in Hollywood, playing long-suffering, prim, proper, ladylike types until 1953, when she broke her typecast mold by portraying a passionate adulteress in From Here to Eternity, a part for which she had fought. Kerr's range of roles broadened further after that, and she began to appear in British films again. In 1953, Kerr debuted on Broadway to great acclaim in Tea and Sympathy, later reprising her role in the play's 1956 screen version. That same year, she starred as an English governess sent to tutor the children of the King of Siam in one of the most popular films of her career, The King and I.
Kerr retired from the screen in 1969, having received six Best Actress Oscar nominations without an award, although she did receive an honorary Oscar in 1994. She had been honored with a special BAFTA award three years earlier in Britain, and, in 1998, she was further honored in her native land with a Companion of the Order of the British Empire. Kerr, who graced the screen one last time in the The Assam Garden (1985), died of complications related to Parkinson's Disease in October 2007. She was 86.
Available Films:
Active - 1940 - 1985 | Born - Sep 30, 1921 in Helensburgh, Scotland | Died - Oct 16, 2007 in Suffolk, England | Genres - Drama, Romance | Height: 5' 6"
A cultured actress renowned for her elegance and dignity, Deborah Kerr was one of the leading ladies of Hollywood's Golden Age. Born Deborah Kerr-Trimmer in Helensburgh, Scotland, on September 30, 1921, she was first trained as a dancer at her aunt's drama school in Bristol, England.
After winning a scholarship to the Sadlers Wells Ballet School, Kerr made her London stage debut at age 17 in Prometheus. Meanwhile, she developed an interest in acting and began getting bit parts and walk-ons in Shakespeare productions. While continuing to appear in various London stage plays, Kerr debuted onscreen in 1940 and went on to roles in a number of British films over the next seven years, often playing cool, reserved, well-bred young ladies.
Her portrayal of a nun in Black Narcissus (1947) earned a New York Film Critics Best Actress award and led to an invitation from Hollywood to co-star opposite Clark Gable in The Hucksters. She remained in Hollywood, playing long-suffering, prim, proper, ladylike types until 1953, when she broke her typecast mold by portraying a passionate adulteress in From Here to Eternity, a part for which she had fought. Kerr's range of roles broadened further after that, and she began to appear in British films again. In 1953, Kerr debuted on Broadway to great acclaim in Tea and Sympathy, later reprising her role in the play's 1956 screen version. That same year, she starred as an English governess sent to tutor the children of the King of Siam in one of the most popular films of her career, The King and I.
Kerr retired from the screen in 1969, having received six Best Actress Oscar nominations without an award, although she did receive an honorary Oscar in 1994. She had been honored with a special BAFTA award three years earlier in Britain, and, in 1998, she was further honored in her native land with a Companion of the Order of the British Empire. Kerr, who graced the screen one last time in the The Assam Garden (1985), died of complications related to Parkinson's Disease in October 2007. She was 86.
Available Films:
Trivia:
Her singing voice was dubbed by Marni Nixon in The King and I (1956).
Suffered from Parkinson's disease.
Joan Crawford was originally meant to play her role in From Here to Eternity (1953), but when she insisted on shooting the film with her own cameraman, the studio balked. They decided to take a chance and cast Ms. Kerr, who then was struggling with her ladylike stereotype, to play the adulterous military wife who has an affair with Burt Lancaster. The casting worked and Ms. Kerr's career thereafter enjoyed a new, sexier versatility.
Maureen O'Hara was originally meant to play her role in The King and I (1956), but Yul Brynner specifically asked for Deborah.
Was romantically involved with Burt Lancaster while filming From Here to Eternity (1953).
Originally when filming began on Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957), her co-star Robert Mitchum worried that Kerr would be like the prim characters she frequently played. However, after she swore at director John Huston during one take, Mitchum, who was in the water, almost drowned laughing. The two stars went on to have an enduring friendship which lasted until Mitchum's death in 1997.
Kerr wanted to play in "The African Queen" very badly, but MGM boss refused to loan her because she had just appeared in "King Solomon's Mines," which also has an African locale.
[on John Wayne] "He's a warm, kind-hearted, loving, generous, intellectual genius."
[on Alan Ladd] "He was awfully good in putting across what he had, in looks and in manner; he had something very attractive -- a definite film personality which he had worked very hard to perfect."
"I'm almost hysterical at the thought of making people cry with joy 30-odd years after [Cary Grant] and I did our stuff. I've certainly shed tears at An Affair to Remember (1957), even though I know all the tricks of movie magic that went into it. Believe me, Cary and I knew how to kiss. When we did a love scene, we may not have been trying to swallow each other but, for those brief moments, we just loved each other."
[on Robert Mitchum] "I admire Mitchum very much for the simple reason that he happens to be a super actor and contrary to public opinion, he is the most amazingly sensitive and poetic man."
Her singing voice was dubbed by Marni Nixon in The King and I (1956).
Suffered from Parkinson's disease.
Joan Crawford was originally meant to play her role in From Here to Eternity (1953), but when she insisted on shooting the film with her own cameraman, the studio balked. They decided to take a chance and cast Ms. Kerr, who then was struggling with her ladylike stereotype, to play the adulterous military wife who has an affair with Burt Lancaster. The casting worked and Ms. Kerr's career thereafter enjoyed a new, sexier versatility.
Maureen O'Hara was originally meant to play her role in The King and I (1956), but Yul Brynner specifically asked for Deborah.
Was romantically involved with Burt Lancaster while filming From Here to Eternity (1953).
Originally when filming began on Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957), her co-star Robert Mitchum worried that Kerr would be like the prim characters she frequently played. However, after she swore at director John Huston during one take, Mitchum, who was in the water, almost drowned laughing. The two stars went on to have an enduring friendship which lasted until Mitchum's death in 1997.
Kerr wanted to play in "The African Queen" very badly, but MGM boss refused to loan her because she had just appeared in "King Solomon's Mines," which also has an African locale.
[on John Wayne] "He's a warm, kind-hearted, loving, generous, intellectual genius."
[on Alan Ladd] "He was awfully good in putting across what he had, in looks and in manner; he had something very attractive -- a definite film personality which he had worked very hard to perfect."
"I'm almost hysterical at the thought of making people cry with joy 30-odd years after [Cary Grant] and I did our stuff. I've certainly shed tears at An Affair to Remember (1957), even though I know all the tricks of movie magic that went into it. Believe me, Cary and I knew how to kiss. When we did a love scene, we may not have been trying to swallow each other but, for those brief moments, we just loved each other."
[on Robert Mitchum] "I admire Mitchum very much for the simple reason that he happens to be a super actor and contrary to public opinion, he is the most amazingly sensitive and poetic man."
