Deborah Kerr
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Deborah Kerr | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Deborah Jane Kerr-Trimmer |
| Years active | 1940 - 1986 |
| Spouse(s) | Anthony Bartley (1945-1959) Peter Viertel (1960-2007) |
| Awards | New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress 1947 Black Narcissus 1957 - Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison 1960 - The Sundowners |
Deborah Kerr, CBE (September 30, 1921 – October 16, 2007) was a Golden Globe award winning and six-time Academy Award nominated Scottish actress.
Early life
The eldest child and only daughter of Capt. Arthur Kerr-Trimmer, a naval architect, and his wife, Kathleen Rose, Deborah Jane Kerr-Trimmer was born in Glasgow, Scotland. She had a younger brother, Edward (a.k.a. Teddy), who became a journalist and died in a road-rage incident in 2004.[1][2]
She 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. Her first acting teacher was her aunt, Phyllis Smale, who ran the Hicks-Smale Drama School in Bristol.[3][4]
Career
Films
Her debut was in the British film Contraband in 1940; her scenes were left on the cutting room floor. She followed that with a series of other films, including Hatter's Castle (1942), in which she starred opposite Robert Newton and James Mason. The following year, she played 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 Black Narcissus in 1947 which brought her to the attention of Hollywood producers.
Kerr played 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 shepherd's wife (The Sundowners) to lustful and beautiful screen enchantresses (Beloved Infidel, Bonjour tristesse) and comedy (The Grass is Greener).
Her roles include 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. The producers of Carry on Screaming in 1966 offered her an amount comparable to the rest of the cast combined to appear in the film, but she turned it down in favour of appearing in an aborted stage version of Flowers for Algernon.
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 persuaded her to appear nude in John Frankenheimer's The Gypsy Moths. This would be the only nude scene in Kerr's career.
She abandoned film work in the late 1960s 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-winning play Seascape.
Television
She experienced a career resurgence in the early 1980s on television, when she played the role originally played 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 was married twice:
- Squadron Leader Anthony Bartley (November 29, 1945 – 1959). They had two daughters, Melanie Jane, born on December 27, 1947 and Francesca Ann (the wife of the actor John Shrapnel). She and Bartley divorced in 1959.
- The writer Peter Viertel (July 23, 1960 until her death). By this marriage she had a stepdaughter, Christine Viertel.
- She died of the effects of Parkinson's disease on the 16th October 2007, aged 86.
- Although she long resided in Switzerland and Spain, she moved back to Britain to be closer to her children.
Honours
Deborah Kerr was appointed a Commander of the British Empire in 1998, but was unable to accept the honor in person due to ill health.[5] For her contributions to the motion picture industry, she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1709 Vine Street.
She was awarded an Honorary Oscar at the Academy Awards in 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 equaled Thelma Ritter for the distinction of receiving the most nominations for an actress for an acting Academy Award, without actually winning.
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
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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
- ^ "'Road rage' killer's appeal win". BBC News. 2006-03-30.
- ^ "Killer's term cut". Worcestor News. 2006-04-05.
- ^ "Deborah Kerr" (obituary). Telegraph.co.uk. 2007-10-18.
- ^ "Kerr, Deborah". International Dictionary of Film and Filmmakers. FindArticles.com. 2000.
- ^ Baxter, Brian (2007-10-18). "Deborah Kerr" (obituary). Guardian Unlimited.
External links
- Deborah Kerr at the Internet Broadway Database
- Deborah Kerr at IMDb
- Deborah Kerr at the TCM Movie Database
- Deborah Kerr at the BFI's Screenonline
- Recent deaths
- 1921 births
- 2007 deaths
- Academy Honorary Award recipients
- Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe (film)
- Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
- Hollywood Walk of Fame
- People from Argyll and Bute
- People from Helensburgh
- People with Parkinson's disease
- Scottish film actors
- Scottish stage actors
- Scottish television actors