DEBORAH KERR

'Deborah Kerr', CBE (born 30 September 1921) is a Golden Globe award winning Scottish actress who is best known today for starring in the films ''The King and I'', ''An Affair to Remember'' and ''From Here to Eternity''.
Nominated six times for an Academy Award as Best Actress, she never won, but was a recipient of an Academy Honorary Award for a motion picture career that has always represented "Perfection, Discipline and Elegance".

Contents

Biography

Youth

Films

Theatre

Television

Personal Life

Honours

Award Nominations

Academy Awards

BAFTA Awards

Emmy Awards

Golden Globe Awards

Filmography

Television Credits

References

External links

Biography

Youth

She was born 'Deborah Jane Kerr-Trimmer' in Helensburgh, Scotland, by the Firth of Clyde, and originally trained as a ballet dancer, first appearing on stage at Sadler's Wells in 1938. After changing careers, she soon found success as an actress.

Films

Her debut in the British film ''Contraband'' in 1940 was left on the cutting room floor. But that was followed by a series of other films, including the triple role of the hero's loves in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's ''The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp''. It was her role as a troubled nun in Powell and Pressburger's ''Black Narcissus'' in 1947 which brought her to the attention of Hollywood producers.
Her British accent and manners led to a succession of roles portraying a refined, reserved, and proper English lady. Nevertheless, Kerr frequently used any opportunity to discard her cool exterior. In the 1950 jungle adventure film ''King Solomon's Mines'', shot on location in Africa with Stewart Granger and Richard Carlson, she impressed audiences with a sexuality and an emotional vulnerability that brought new dimensions to a male-oriented action film.
Kerr also departed from typecasting with her performance as Karen in ''From Here to Eternity'' (1953) for which she received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.
The American Film Institute acknowledged the iconic status of the scene from that film in which she and Burt Lancaster make love on a Hawaii beach amidst the crashing waves. The organization named it one of "AFI's top 100 Most Romantic Films" of all time.
From then on Kerr's career choices afforded her one of the most versatile screen personas in Hollywood, ranging from nuns (''Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison'') and mama's girls (''Separate Tables'') to an earthy sheepherder's wife (''The Sundowners'') to lustful and beautiful screen enchantresses (''Beloved Infidel'', ''Bonjour tristesse'') and delicious comedy (''The Grass is Greener'').
Her most famous roles are, probably, as Anna Leonowens in the film version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ''The King and I'' and opposite Cary Grant in ''An Affair to Remember''. In 1967, at the age of 46, she achieved the distinction of appearing as a Bond Girl in ''Casino Royale''.

In 1969, pressure of competition from younger, upcoming actresses made her agree to appear nude in John Frankenheimer's ''The Gypsy Moths''. This would be the only nude scene in Kerr's career.
Concern about the parts being offered to her, as well as the increasing amount of nudity in films in general, led her to abandon film work at the end of the Sixties in favour of television and theatre work.

Theatre

As a stage actress, Deborah Kerr made her Broadway debut in 1953 in Robert Anderson's ''Tea and Sympathy,'' for which she received a Tony award nomination. Kerr repeated her role along with her stage partner John Kerr (no relation) in Vincente Minnelli's film adaptation of the drama. In 1955, Kerr won the Sarah Siddons Award for her performance in Chicago during a national tour of the play. In 1975, she returned to Broadway, originating the role of Nancy in Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prizewinning play, ''Seascape''.

Television

She experienced a career resurgence in the early 1980s on television, when she played the role originally brought to life on film by Elsa Lanchester, in ''Witness for The Prosecution''. Later, Kerr re-teamed with multiple screen partner Robert Mitchum in ''Reunion at Fairborough''. This period also saw Kerr take on the role as the older version of the female tycoon, Emma Harte, in the adaptation of Barbara Taylor Bradford's ''A Woman of Substance''. For this performance, Kerr was nominated for an Emmy award.

Personal Life

★ Deborah Kerr has been married twice:
# Squadron Leader Anthony Bartley (29 November 1945–1959). They had two daughters, Melanie Jane, born on 27 December 1947 and Francesca Ann (the wife of the actor John Shrapnel). She and Bartley divorced in 1959.
# The writer Peter Viertel (23 July 1960 to date).

★ She currently suffers from Parkinson's disease. Although she long resided in Switzerland and Spain, she has since moved back to Britain to be closer to her children.

★ Deborah's brother Edmund Trimmer was murdered in a road rage incident in August 2004.

★ Her father was a World War I fighter pilot who had a leg amputated.

Honours

★ In 1998, The Queen appointed Deborah Kerr a CBE, after an intensive lobbying effort and letter writing campaign by screenwriter, Michael Russnow. He and other writers petitioned the British government to bestow upon her the title of "Dame," (the feminine equivalent of "Sir,") but it was not to be, probably because she had long since given up stage and screen work.
The Ceremonial Secretariat, which administers the Honours system indicates on its website that retired individuals are usually not considered.
However, in Deborah Kerr's case, Russnow had the support of David Bruce, former head of the Scottish Film Council, who personally lobbied with his friend Tom Clark, then the Minister for Film. Clark was reminded that this screen legend had never been honoured throughout her illustrious career -- not even an MBE, the first rung up the Honours Ladder, and this no doubt quickly greased the way for her recognition.
However, even with letters from no less than Daniel Taradash, screenwriter of "From Here To Eternity" and a former President of the Motion Picture Academy, who reminded the British authorities that Deborah was a treasure whose reception when she received her honorary Academy Award was equalled only by that of another legendary honorary Oscar recipient, Charlie Chaplin, Deborah received only a CBE, though Chaplin had been dubbed a knight.
Although there have been repeated subsequent attempts to gain this further honour for Kerr, including numerous articles in the major British dailies ^[1], and Letters to the Editor (The Evening Standard and The Independent in June 2002) in which the authorities were reminded that while Diana Rigg, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Helen Mirren, Elizabeth Taylor and lately Julie Andrews had been bestowed the title of Dame Commander, whereas six-time Academy Award nominee Deborah Kerr was only a CBE, she has not yet received that higher honour and sadly, with her advanced age and seclusion, probably never will be considered again.

★ For her contributions to the motion picture industry, Deborah Kerr has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1709 Vine Street.

★ Deborah Kerr was awarded an Honorary Oscar at the Academy Awards for the year 1993 in recognition of the "perfection, discipline and elegance" of her screen work.

Award Nominations

Academy Awards

Deborah Kerr was nominated six times in the category of Best Actress :

★ 1949 - ''Edward, My Son''

★ 1953 - ''From Here to Eternity''

★ 1956 - ''The King and I''

★ 1957 - ''Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison''

★ 1958 - ''Separate Tables''

★ 1960 - ''The Sundowners''
She has equaled Thelma Ritter for the distinction of receiving the most nominations for an actress for an acting Academy Award, without actually winning.
It should be noted that her nominations were all for Best Actress, while Ritter's were all for Best Supporting Actress.

BAFTA Awards

Unsuccessful Nominations for Best British Actress :

★ 1955 - ''The End of the Affair''

★ 1956 - ''Tea and Sympathy''

★ 1961 - ''The Sundowners''

★ 1964 - ''The Chalk Garden''

Emmy Awards

Unsuccessful Nomination in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or a Special :

★ 1985 - ''A Woman of Substance''

Golden Globe Awards

For successful Golden Globe Awards, see the Infobox.
Unsuccessful Nominations in the category of Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama :

★ 1949 - ''Edward, My Son''

★ 1957 - ''Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison''

★ 1958 - ''Separate Tables''

Filmography

★ ''Contraband'' (1940) (scenes deleted) ★ ''Major Barbara'' (1941) ★ ''Love on the Dole'' (1941) ★ ''Penn of Pennsylvania'' (1942) ★ ''Hatter's Castle'' (1942) ★ ''The Day Will Dawn'' (1942) ★ ''The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp'' (1943) ★ ''Perfect Strangers'' (1945) ★ ''I See a Dark Stranger'' (1946) ★ ''Black Narcissus'' (1947) ★ ''The Hucksters'' (1947) ★ ''If Winter Comes'' (1947) ★ ''Edward, My Son'' (1949; Oscar nomination: Best Actress) ★ ''Please Believe Me'' (1950) ★ ''King Solomon's Mines'' (1950) ★ ''Quo Vadis'' (1951) ★ ''The Prisoner of Zenda'' (1952) ★ ''Thunder in the East'' (1952) ★ ''Young Bess'' (1953) ★ ''Julius Caesar'' (1953) ★ ''Dream Wife'' (1953) ★ ''From Here to Eternity'' (1953; Oscar nomination: Best Actress) ★ ''The End of the Affair'' (1955) ★ ''The Proud and Profane'' (1956)

★ ''The King and I'' (1956; Oscar nomination: Best Actress) ★ ''Tea and Sympathy'' (1956) ★ ''Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison'' (1957; Oscar Nomination: Best Actress) ★ ''An Affair to Remember'' (1957) ★ ''Kiss Them for Me'' (1957) (dubbing voice for Suzy Parker in a few scenes) ★ ''Bonjour tristesse'' (1958) ★ ''Separate Tables'' (1958; Oscar nomination: Best Actress) ★ ''The Journey'' (1959) ★ ''Count Your Blessings'' (1959) ★ ''Beloved Infidel'' (1959) ★ ''The Sundowners'' (1960; Oscar nomination: Best Actress) ★ ''The Grass Is Greener'' (1960) ★ ''The Naked Edge'' (1961) ★ ''The Innocents'' (1961) ★ ''On the Trail of the Iguana'' (1964) (short subject) ★ ''The Chalk Garden'' (1964) ★ ''The Night of the Iguana'' (1964) ★ ''Marriage on the Rocks'' (1965) ★ ''Casino Royale'' (1967) ★ ''Eye of the Devil'' (1967) ★ ''Prudence and the Pill'' (1968) ★ ''The Gypsy Moths'' (1969) ★ ''The Arrangement'' (1969) ★ ''The Assam Garden'' (1985)

Television Credits

★ ''A Song at Twilight'' (1973)

★ ''Witness for the Prosecution'' (1982)

★ ''A Woman of Substance'' (1983)

★ ''Reunion at Fairborough'' (1985)

★ ''Hold the Dream'' (1986)

References

1. The Scottish Sun, 24 March 2000, p 46-47

External links

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