Deborah Kerr

I'd like to meet:

Date of Birth: 30 September 1921, Helensburgh, Scotland, UK;Date of Death: 16 October 2007, Suffolk, England, UK.Birth Name: Deborah Jane Kerr-TrimmerNickname: The English RoseHeight:: 5' 6" (1.68 m)Spouse: Peter Viertel (23 July 1960 - present)Anthony Bartley (28 November 1945 - 1959) (divorced) 2 childrenTrade Mark: Playing 'classic' English ladiesBorn Deborah Jane Trimmer in Scotland in 1921, she was the daughter of a soldier who had been gassed in World War I. A shy, insecure child, she found an outlet for expressing her feelings in acting. Her aunt, a radio star, got her some stage work when she was a teenager, and British film producer Gabriel Pascal noticed and cast her in his film of George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara (1941) and Love on the Dole (1941). She quickly became a star of the British cinema, with roles such as the three women in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) and the nun in Black Narcissus (1947).In 1947, she came to MGM, where she repeated her success in films like The Hucksters (1947), Edward, My Son (1949) and Quo Vadis (1951). After a while, however, she tired of playing prim-and-proper English ladies, so she made the most of the role of the adulteress who romps on the beach with Burt Lancaster in From Here to Eternity (1953). The film was a success, and Kerr received her second Oscar nomination for the film. She also achieved success on the Broadway stage in "Tea and Sympathy," reprising her role in the 1956 film version. That same year, she played one of her best-remembered screen roles, "Mrs. Anna" in The King and I (1956). More success followed in Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957), An Affair to Remember (1957), Separate Tables (1958), The Sundowners (1960), The Innocents (1961) and The Night of the Iguana (1964). Then, in 1968, she suddenly quit movies, appalled by the explicit sex and violence of the day.After some stage and TV work in the 1970s and 1980s and swan song performances in The Assam Garden (1985) and Hold the Dream (1986) (TV), she retired from acting altogether. Deborah Kerr holds the record of the most Oscar nominations (six) without a win, but that was made up for in 1994, when she was given a Honorary Oscar for her screen achievements.Her last public appearance was in 1994 when she was awarded an honorary Oscar after six failed nominations over the years. Miss Kerr, along with Thelma Ritter, is one of the few actresses to have received six nominations and not to have won an Oscar. On Oscar evening, Glenn Close presented a special tribute to her work, the Oscar audience watched clips of her films to music. Miss Kerr then appeared from behind the screen, obviously frail, in a blue pastel trouser suit and received a standing ovation from her peers. A life-long shy woman, Miss Kerr said, "I have never been so terrified in my life, but I feel better now because I know that I am among friends. Thank you for giving me a happy life." Following this, there was another standing ovation and Miss Kerr left the stage, which was to become her last official goodbye to Hollywood.TRIVIA:She was awarded a BAFTA Special Award in 1991. Awarded a CBE (Commander of the order of the British Empire) in the 1997/8 New Years Honours List.Her singing voice was dubbed by Marni Nixon in _King and I, The (1956)Joan Crawford was originally meant to play her role in From Here to Eternity (1953).Maureen O'Hara was originally meant to play her role in The King and I (1956).She is mother-in-law of actor John Shrapnel, who married her daughter Francesca. She is thus also the grandmother of writer Joe Shrapnel and actors Lex Shrapnel & Tom Shrapnel.She is the great-aunt of Benjamin Viertel.August 2004 - her brother, Edmund Trimmer (78) was murdered in a road rage incident.When she was a young girl, she had a strict "Victorian" grandmother who made her lie on her back, on the floor, for long periods of time, in order to "straighten her back" and ensure good posture.Was romantically involved with Burt Lancaster while filming From Here to Eternity (1953).Originally when filming began on Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957), her co-star Robert Mitchum worried that Kerr would be like the prim characters she frequently played. However, after she swore at director John Huston during one take, Mitchum, who was in the water, almost drowned laughing. The two stars went on to have an enduring friendship which lasted until Mitchum's death in 1997.