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In Remembrance: Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr, who shared a famous steamy kiss with Burt Lancaster in
the 1953 wartime drama From Here To Eternity, has passed away
on October 16, 2007 in Suffolk, England. She was 86.
Although nominated six times for an Academy Award, Kerr would only
receive an honorary Oscar in 1994 for being an
“artist of impeccable grace and beauty, a dedicated actress whose
motion picture career has always stood for perfection, discipline
and elegance.” Even without the recognition of an Academy Award,
Kerr’s multiple roles of strong women helped pushed the boundaries
of Hollywood’s depiction of sex in the 1950s.
Born September 30, 1921 in Helensburgh, Scotland, Kerr moved with
her parents to England when she was five. She studied dance at a
school run by her aunt, eventually winning a scholarship to Saler’s
Wells Ballet School in London. At 17 she made her stage debut as a
member of the corps de ballet in Prometheus. Kerr soon
switched her career ambitions from dancing to drama. She began
taking parts in repertory theater productions around London until
the outbreak of World War II forced their closure in 1939.
Kerr made her film debut a year later in the British film
Contraband. Although her role as a hatcheck girl had just two
lines, they wound up on the cutting room floor. She was more
successful with her next role in the film Major Barbara. An
adaptation of the play by George Bernard Shaw, the film saw Kerr
playing a Salvation Army worker by the name of Jenny, a role she had
previously played on the stage. She continued to act in larger roles
to greater critical notice, culminating with her performance in
1943’s The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp, in which she
played three different women who meet the titular character at
various stages of his life. She also received rave reviews for her
work in The Adventuress (1946, aka I See A Dark Stranger)
and Black Narcissus (1947).
Following the completion of Black Narcissus, Kerr headed to
Hollywood to star in The Hucksters (1947) opposite Clark
Gable. She followed it up with roles in a number of films including
King Solomon’s Mines (1950), Quo Vadis (1951), The
Prisoner Of Zenda (1952) and Julius Caesar (1953).
For From Here To Eternity, Kerr starred as an unhappily
married naval officer’s wife whose affair with the strapping
Lancaster culminates in a kiss on a Hawaiian beach. The scene became
an instant classic, not the least because of the metaphorical waves
crashing over the kissing couple. The role also marked a change from
the reserved, lady-like characters she had been playing, opening the
door for a wide range of parts for the actress.
Her Academy Award nomination for From Here To Eternity was
not her first Oscar nomination. She had previously been nominated
for her work in 1949’s Edward, My Son. She would also be
nominated for The King And I (1956), Heaven Knows, Mr.
Allison (1957), Separate Tables (1958) and The
Sundowners (1960).
Kerr also had other notable performances in such films as An
Affair To Remember (1957) opposite Cary Grant, Beloved
Infidel (1959) and The Night Of The Iguana (1964) with
Richard Burton.
In 1968, following the completion of the films The Gypsy Moths
and The Arrangement (both released in 1969), Kerr decided to
take what she called a “leave of absence” from acting, feeling that
none of the parts being offered suited her. She returned to stage
acting, appearing in productions on both Broadway and in Los
Angeles.
Although she made a few television appearances in the early 1980s,
Kerr’s final film role was in the 1985 drama The Assam Garden. |
