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Famous Like Me > Actress > K > Deborah Kerr

Profile of Deborah Kerr on Famous Like Me

 
Name: Deborah Kerr  
   
Also Know As:
   
Date of Birth: 30th September 1921
   
Place of Birth: Helensburgh, Scotland, UK
   
Profession: Actress
 
 
From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia
Deborah Kerr

Deborah Kerr (born September 30, 1921) is a Scottish film actress.

Biography

She was born Deborah Jane Kerr-Trimmer in Helensburgh, Scotland, and originally trained as a ballet dancer, first appearing on stage at Sadler's Wells in 1938. Having switched careers, she found immediate success as an actress.

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 and it was her role as a troubled nun in Michael Powell's Black Narcissus in 1947 which brought her to the attention of Hollywood producers.

Although the Scottish pronunciation of her surname is actually like "care", when she was being promoted as Hollywood actress, her last name was pronounced the same as "car". In order to avoid confusion over pronunciation, the slogan "Kerr rhymes with Star" was used.

Her "English" accent and manner led to a succession of roles, of which the only real departure from stereotype was in From Here to Eternity (1953). Her most famous roles were as the governess Anna Leonowens in the film version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I and for her role opposite Cary Grant in An Affair to Remember. A stage actress, in 1955 she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre.

She experienced a career resurgance in the early 1980s playing Emma Harte in the television adaptation of Barbara Taylor Bradford's A Woman of Substance.

Deborah Kerr has been married twice. First, on November 28, 1945, she married Squadron Leader Anthony Bartley. They had two daughters, Melanie Jane, born on December 27, 1947 and Francesca Ann. They were divorced in 1959. Then on July 23, 1960, she married writer Peter Viertel.

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


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)
  • 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)
  • The End of the Affair (1955)
  • The Proud and Profane (1956)
  • The King and I (1956)
  • Tea and Sympathy (1956)
  • Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957)
  • 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)
  • The Journey (1959)
  • Count Your Blessings (1959)
  • Beloved Infidel (1959)
  • The Sundowners (1960)
  • 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)
  • A Song at Twilight (1973) (TV)
  • Witness for the Prosecution (1982) (TV)
  • A Woman of Substance (1983) (TV)
  • Reunion at Fairborough (1985) (TV)
  • The Assam Garden (1985)
  • Hold the Dream (1986) (TV)

Oscar nominated performances

Deborah Kerr has been nominated for six Academy Awards in the category of Best Actress:

  • Edward, My Son
  • From Here to Eternity
  • The King and I
  • Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison
  • Separate Tables
  • The Sundowners

Although she never actually won an award in this category, she was finally awarded an honorary Oscar in 1994 in recognition of the "perfection, discipline and elegance" of her screen work.

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Deborah Kerr