Deborah Kerr, Actress Known For Genteel Grace And A Sexy Beach Kiss, 86
DGH
Deborah Kerr, Actress Known for Genteel Grace and a Sexy Beach Kiss,
Dies at 86
By DOUGLAS MARTIN [New York TImes]
Deborah Kerr, a strikingly versatile actress whose screen persona of a
genteel, tea-sipping Englishwoman blossomed into a deeper, more
provocative identity when she played a ocean-swept sex scene opposite
Burt Lancaster in "From Here to Eternity," died Tuesday [October 16,
2007] in Suffolk, England.
The death was confirmed yesterday [October 18, 2007] by Jack Larson, a
family friend. She had Parkinson's disease.
Louis B. Mayer, boss of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, famously decreed that
Miss Kerr's last name rhymed with star, and she more than lived up to
the billing with big roles in memorable pictures like "The King and
I" (1956), "An Affair to Remember" (1957) and "The
Sundowners" (1960).
In more than four decades as a major Hollywood actor, Miss Kerr, who
had red-gold hair and blue-green eyes, was nominated for six Academy
Awards without winning. In 1994 she received an honorary Oscar for her
lifetime of work. The citation called her an "artist of impeccable
grace and beauty."
Her influence persisted after she retired from big-screen movies in
1969 and moved to Switzerland and Spain, appearing only in occasional
stage and television roles. Film buffs still return with fascination
to her intriguing performance in "Black Narcissus" (1947), in which
she played a nun whose pride yields to spiritual humility while doing
missionary work in the Himalayas.
Her indelible performance in "An Affair to Remember" could be felt
below the surface of Nora Ephron's "Sleepless in Seattle" (1993). It
used the theme song and clips of critical scenes from the earlier tear-
jerker, which went on to a renewed burst of popularity.
It is hard to overstate the impact of Miss Kerr's appearance in "From
Here to Eternity" in 1953. Until then she had played what she called
"goody, goody" roles; Laurence Olivier termed her "unreasonably
chaste." Miss Kerr, with Greer Garson and Jean Simmons, was the
quintessential Englishwoman, with all the staidness that implied.
In "Eternity" Miss Kerr was suddenly something entirely different: a
sexy, adulterous wife making torrid love to Burt Lancaster on a
Hawaiian beach. Parts of the scene were so daring for the time that
they were cut.
The role broadened her image. Moviegoers came to suspect that even in
the more refined moments of her later roles, a raw sensuality lurked
below Miss Kerr's placid surface. This mix of niceness and sexiness
prompted tag lines like "A Sweet Kerr Named Desire" and did not
exactly hurt at the box office.
"I don't think anyone knew I could act until I put on a bathing suit,"
Miss Kerr said in an interview with Collier's magazine.
A line Miss Kerr delivered in the 1956 movie "Tea and Sympathy"
exemplified her seemingly new knowingness. As she's about to sexually
initiate an anguished student, she tells him, "When you speak of this
in future years, and you will, be kind."
Versatility was a hallmark of subsequent roles. Yul Brynner, who had
played the King on Broadway in "The King and I," chose Miss Kerr for
the 1956 film version. She was nominated for a fifth Oscar for her
role as a repressed spinster in "Separate Tables" (1958). Her sixth
nomination was for "The Sundowners" (1960), in which she performed
without makeup as a sheep farmer's wife.
Stage roles were fewer but drew positive comment. When "Tea and
Sympathy" opened on Broadway in 1953, with Miss Kerr in the role she
later reprised in the film, Brooks Atkinson, writing in The New York
Times, noted her "effortless style."
Deborah Jane Kerr-Trimmer was born on Sept. 30, 1921, in Helensburgh,
Scotland. From an early age, she staged dramatic presentations for her
family. Her father, Arthur, was a naval architect who died when she
was in her midteens.
She attended a drama school in Bristol, England, and ballet school in
London. She abandoned her ambition to dance professionally partly
because her 5-foot-7 height limited possible roles. She focused on
acting and appeared in open-air Shakespeare plays in Regent's Park.
She also read children's stories for the British Broadcasting
Corporation.
Miss Kerr signed a film contract in 1939 with the producer and
director Michael Powell. He described her as a "plump little dumpling
who was obviously going places" and cast her as a hatcheck girl in
"Contraband" (1940). Her part, with her two lines, was cut.
Then Gabriel Pascal, the producer and director, cast her as Jenny Hill
in a film adaptation of Shaw's "Major Barbara" (1941). Because of her
inexperience, he enrolled her in Oxford Playhouse, where she appeared
in several roles. At her own suggestion, she volunteered with the
Salvation Army so she could gain insight into her character. Now less
plump thanks to her assiduous work and wartime rations, she received
positive notices in both Britain and the United States.
More roles in British films came quickly. A notable one was the female
lead in "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" (1943). Miss Kerr played
three different aspects of the ideal woman in three generations.
Hollywood legend has it that Mr. Mayer of M-G-M saw this picture after
its release in the United States in 1945 and said: "That girl's a
star. Get her."
Miss Kerr's last film in England was "Black Narcissus," for which she
won the New York Film Critics Award for best actress after its
American release. (The award also recognized her critically acclaimed
role as a young Irish woman in the 1946 film "I See a Dark
Stranger.")
Her first film for M-G-M was "The Hucksters" (1947). She played
opposite Clark Gable under a contract that initially paid her $3,000 a
week and guaranteed that she would be a co-star in all her
productions. She was soon leading lady to Cary Grant, James Mason,
Stewart Granger and Spencer Tracy.
Miss Kerr earned her first Oscar nomination for her third film for M-G-
M, "Edward, My Son" (1949), in which she played the alcoholic wife of
Mr. Tracy. But she soon grew uneasy about playing the foil for male
stars in movies like "King Solomon's Mines" (1950) with Mr. Granger.
"I wore a halo of decorum and was just about as exciting as an
oyster," she told American Weekly magazine in 1957.
So she got a new agent, Bert Allenberg. He had called her and
declared: "Deborah, for years now you've been playing the insipid
English virgin. I think I can get you the roles you ought to have,"
Collier's reported.
Harry Cohn, who was president of Columbia Pictures, originally wanted
Joan Crawford or somebody like her, decidedly un-virginal. Mr.
Allenberg argued the merits of a different sort of sexuality: a
heroine "who looks like a lady but acts like a harlot."
"The result is screen history - which keeps repeating itself in the
form of love scenes almost identical to that which Deborah and Burt
played," American Weekly magazine said.
Miss Kerr's first marriage, to Anthony Bartley, an Englishman who had
been a decorated fighter pilot during World War II, ended in divorce.
She is survived by her husband, Peter Viertel, an author and
screenwriter; her daughters Melanie and Francesca; a stepdaughter,
Christine Viertel; and three grandchildren.
It is likely that her role in "The King and I," as Anna in her famous
hoop skirt, tops many people's list of favorite Kerr characters. In an
interview with The Chicago Tribune in 1986, Miss Kerr suggested it
might not have been hers.
"I'd rather drop dead in my tracks one day than end up in a wheelchair
in some nursing home watching interminable replays of 'The King and
I,'" she said before hooting with laughter.
Richard Severo contributed reporting.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/19/movies/19kerr.html?ref=obituaries
Bob Feigel
proffered:
> Would that be *the* Jack Larson who played 'Jimmy Olson' in tv's
>"Superman" series?
Would you be the dolt who reposts an entire message in order to ask a
two line question - albeit an interesting questing.
--
"It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens." - Woody Allen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wax-up and drop-in of Surfing's Golden Years: <http://www.surfwriter.net>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jim Beaver
"A" <aa...@hot.net> wrote in message
news:13hl9tk...@corp.supernews.com...
> x-no-archive: yes
>
> "DGH" <peri...@eudoramail.com> wrote in message
> news:1192928605.8...@i38g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
>
>> Deborah Kerr, Actress Known for Genteel Grace and a Sexy Beach Kiss,
>> Dies at 86
>>
>> By DOUGLAS MARTIN [New York TImes]
>>
>> Deborah Kerr, a strikingly versatile actress whose screen persona of a
>> genteel, tea-sipping Englishwoman blossomed into a deeper, more
>> provocative identity when she played a ocean-swept sex scene opposite
>> Burt Lancaster in "From Here to Eternity," died Tuesday [October 16,
>> 2007] in Suffolk, England.
>>
>> The death was confirmed yesterday [October 18, 2007] by Jack Larson, a
>> family friend. She had Parkinson's disease.
>
> "Superman" series?
(snipping 7 GB of extraneous material)
Yes, it is. Jack is/was friends with three-quarters of the interesting
people in Hollywood history. Among his particularly close friends: Leslie
Caron, Greta Garbo, Montgomery Clift, Sascha Viertel (and her son Peter, aka
Mr. Deborah Kerr), James Dean, Libby Holman, Virgil Thomson, John Houseman,
Christopher Isherwood, and, of course, me. (presume smiley-face here)
Jack himself is just about as fascinating as any of these. Except, of
course, me. (ditto)
Jack and his longtime companion James Bridges did a goodly number of
interesting films together as producers.
Jim Beaver
La N
"Jim Beaver" <jumb...@prodigy.spam> wrote in message
news:isOSi.7078$oA2....@nlpi068.nbdc.sbc.com...
>
> Jack himself is just about as fascinating as any of these. Except, of
> course, me. (ditto)
>
>
IAWTP :)
- nilita
La N
"La N" <nilita20...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:tQOSi.45594$%B2.41783@edtnps82...
Just 10 minutes after I posted this I got a phone call from friends in
Vancouver. They were telling me that last night they decided to rent a DVD
and just "veg out". I asked them what they watched, and they said "Next."
"Next"? I responded. "Never heard of it. Is it a new release?"
Yup, she said, adding that it was very good.
I replied that I'm way out of the loop as far as movies go anymore.
Friend responded, "It was good. It was written by Jim Beaver."
Doh! :) :) :). Once again I'm reminded that I'm the only person in the
Universe, including in my circle, who until recently hadn't heard of Jim
Beaver except through Usenet posts.
- nilita
Jim Beaver
I hate to burst this lovely bubble, but I didn't write NEXT. I'm in it, but
I didn't write it.
Jim Beaver
La N
"Jim Beaver" <jumb...@prodigy.spam> wrote in message
Ooops ... my mistake. They said it was "another Jim Beaver" movie.
After hearing this, I went to imdb.com and briefly scanned the NEXT site,
saw your name as an actor and something about "written by" ... I see it was
you who wrote the synopsis of the movie for the site. Doh!
Yesterday was a multi-tasking w*rk day for *moi*. Brain was not fully
functional. I'll go to my room now...;(
- nilita
La N
>
> "Jim Beaver" <jumb...@prodigy.spam> wrote in message
> news:LLYSi.7679$lE2....@newssvr22.news.prodigy.net...
>>
>> >> it,
>> but I didn't write it.
>>
>
> Ooops ... my mistake. They said it was "another Jim Beaver" movie.
>
> After hearing this, I went to imdb.com and briefly scanned the NEXT site,
> saw your name as an actor and something about "written by" ... I see it
> was you who wrote the synopsis of the movie for the site. Doh!
>
> Yesterday was a multi-tasking w*rk day for *moi*. Brain was not fully
> functional. I'll go to my room now...;(
>
PS: Deadwood fans among them - and that's why they would have called it
another "Jim Beaver film"..
- nilita, the only person in the world seemingly hasn't seen Deadwood. Yet.