Deborah Kerr

She was respected but just unlucky - plus there was something reliably stolid about her that kept her from lifting above other nominees, year after year.

And she hated it.

She was a Brit. Americans have a love/hate relationship with Britain (as DL repeatedly demonstrates).

She was very much respected, but I imagine the studio heads didn't consider her fuckable enough to make her into a major star.

She was the love of my life.

She WAS a major star, certainly among the top ten actresses of the 1950s and early 60s.

She just never had a uniquely career defining role, usually playing proper ladylike and/or repressed characters who by their very definition didn't show strong passionate emotions.

Even when she went against type in From Here to Eternity, playing a slutty neglected wife, it was all very subtle and low key.

She was apparently very well-loved and respected in Holywood.

She was perhaps too subtle in an industry that loves ham.

Deborah Kerr--Rhymes with Star!

Um, she won as the title character in Mrs. Miniver.

Her contemporaries:

Elizabeth Taylor

Marilyn Monroe

Audrey Hepburn

Grace Kelly

Kim Novak

Sophia Loren

Natalie Wood

Shirley MacLaine

Debbie Reynolds

[quote]Um, she won as the title character in Mrs. Miniver.

Um, that would be Greer Garson, brainiac.

And to think that of those, R9 only Sophia and Shirley are among us still.

She won an honorary Oscar and she was nominated several times.

I absolutely love the move The Innocents and I highly recommend it!

She was great in The Innocents.

The Innocents is a perfect film. Perfect script, haunting black and white photography, flawless performances, creepy sound design, impeccable editing and direction.

It scares the shit out of me every time I watch it.

R2, what does her being British have to do with anything? Lots of British actresses have won Oscars -- Vivien Leigh, Greer Garson, Audrey Hepburn (British citizen), Elizabeth Taylor (British born), Julie Andrews, Julie Christie, Maggie Smith, Glenda Jackson, Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Wendy Hiller, Margaret Rutherford, Vanessa Redgrave, Peggy Ashcroft, Brenda Fricker, Judi Dench, CZJ, Rachel Weisz, Tilda Swinton... but never Deborah Kerr!

R8, Greer Garson

Lots of incredibly talented people haven't won Oscars.

One of my all time favorites. "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison" is a tour de force for both her & Robert Mitchum.

She always seemed a little frigid and repressed.

I liked that about her, R18. I can't imagine any other actress doing Tea and Sympathy.

[quote]One of my all time favorites. "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison" is a tour de force for both her & Robert Mitchum.

I agree. She was fantastic and it's the best acting ever done by Mitchum.

She acts Richard Burton and Ava Gardner off the screen in "Night of the Iguana."

The Innocents is one of my favorites.

[quote]She was perhaps too subtle in an industry that loves ham.

True. Most of her performances still stand up today even if the films themselves are outdated.

Love her in The Innocents (scares me shitless every time) and Black Narcissus.

1949. Nominated for "Edward, My Son". Lost to Olivia de Havilland, for "The Heiress".

1953. Nommed for "From Here To Eternity". Lost to Audrey Hepburn, for "Roman Holiday".

1956. Nommed for "The King and I". Lost to Ingrid Bergman, for "Anastasia".

1957. Nommed for "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison". Lost to Joanne Woodward, for "Three Faces of Eve".

1958. Nommed for "Separate Tables". Lost to Susan Hayward, for "I Want to Live!"

1960. Nommed for "The Sundowners". Lost to Elizabeth Taylor, for "Butterfield 8".

"An Affair to Remember" is about to start on TCM.

[quote]Um, she won as the title character in Mrs. Miniver.[/quote]

I read this and in my head said "Tsk, that was Germaine Greer".

I would KILL to see that version of Mrs Miniver!

Singling Kerr out in this conversation doesn't work. Many great film stars never won competitive oscars for acting.

Barbara Stanwyck, Peter O'Toole, Liv Ullmann, Rosalind Russell, Gena Rowlands, Richard Burton, Julianne Moore, Lilian Gish, Annette Benning, Marilyn Monroe, Albert Finney, Greta Garbo, Carey Grant, Max von Sydow, Mia Farrow, Leslie Howard, Leslie Caron, Charlotte Rampling, Robert Mitchum, Jean Simmons, Catherine Denueve, Robert Redford

"Carey Grant"

Why do people on DL have such a hard time spelling his name correctly?

Other than Liz Taylor, all of those losses make sense. She was marvelous in The Sundowners and certainly Taylor didn't deserve an oscar for Butterfield.

She probably came the closest in the vote tallying for the king and i for the oscar. She also won a golden globe for this. All those years she was in the unenviable position of never being the front runner. She probably would have won (or shirley maclaine) in 1961 if it wasnt for liz taylors pnuemonia and sympathy vote.

The only film she "carried" was The Innocents. In all others she was teamed with a big male star. Which, of curse, wasn't so uncommon back in those days.

As Ingrid Bergman said "It's always nice to win an Academy Award..." It is nice but Deborah Kerr's career stands on its own. No confirmation required.

She may not have ever won an Oscar, but she'll always have the beach scene with Burt Lancaster. Still hot after all these years.

I recently received a box of old Playbills, mostly regional stuff. I was thrilled to find a Playbill from some show starring Ms. Kerr, and wouldn't you know it was autographed? I can't remember what show it was or where, it's in a box in my closet. That was a pleasant surprise.

Black Narcissus should be required viewing for all DL members and deserving of its own thread.

The stylized color photography is remarkable and unlike anything churned out by American cinema back then. B & W stills do not do it justice.

And the scenes of teenage Jean Simmons with the nose jewel and all that swarthy makeup as the teenage nymphomaniac island girl taunting the local homosexual prince in the class room are unforgettable!

Plus the local muscular white guy official in his short shorts and sweaty hairy chest and legs who keeps turning up to calm down the nuns but has just the opposite effect on them. Whoa....was that Stewart Granger?

I agree with r21 - far and away the best thing about "Night of the Iguana".

Her last scene in "Edward, My Son" is absolutely brilliant. The whole arc of her character in the film is a master class in acting.

She was one of my earliest crushes.

I watched King Solomon's Mines countless times. Her scenes with Stewart Granger are a sample of Old Hollywood's classic approach to sexual tension between the romantic leads. Sigh.

Lately I came to appreciate her acting as much as her sensuality, and noticed the many unconventional roles she chose to play.

The Chalk Garden where she played the cool governess hiding a murderous past to young Hayley Mills, was one of the earliest movies that made me stand at attention at the lesbian undercurrant.

She was great in "King Solomon's Mines"! My favorite Deborah Kerr film.

That was David Farrar in Black Narcissus - but yes Stewart Granger would have been better.

She really should have won in 1960 for her wonderful role in The Sundownders - and so should Jean Simmons for her great role in Elmer Gantry. It was the culmination of their great years and decade. Both were very big stars in the 50s playing with all the leading men, Simmons with Brando twice, and Kerr had great chemistry with Mitchum, Niven, Lancaster, Brynner.

Simmons was not even nominated for Elmer Gantry, where her co-stars Lancaster and Shirley Jones won theirs - no wonder she hit the bottle. In my alternative universe they tie in 1960, and Liz deservedly gets hers in 1966 - she did not deserve it for that enjoyable trash Butterfield 8.

Kerr was wonderful playing nuns - Sister Clodagh in Black Narcissus in 1947 when she was 26, and a decade later in 1957 that perfect film with Mitchum, Heaven Knows Mr Allison, where she is the much simpler Irish nun. She was great at suggesting simmering passions beneath that ladylike exterior, as in From Here To Eternity and The Journey in 1959. The Innocents and Night of the Iguana are both terrific roles for her as well.

I recall that Deborah Kerr did a late-in-career tour of "The Last of Mrs. Cheney" in the late 70s. Was it that show?

I saw Kerr on the stage in London in 1972 in a forgettable play, from a Thomas Hardy story, The Day After The Fair. She also did a later play, Shaw's Candida, but I did not bother with that.

Simmons was wonderful as Desiree in the 1976 production of A Little Night Music.

She also had great chemistry with Cary - watching the 4 of them (Kerr, Grant, Mitchum and Simmons) in that 1960 piece of fluff The Grass is Greener, is still a pleasure now.

Deb got matronly rather quickly in the 60s, but then she had been going since the early 40s. Kazan even got her to do a nude scene (it must have been a body double) in The Arrangment, as Kirk's resentful wife, but the astonishing young Faye Dunaway stole that one.

[quote]She may not have ever won an Oscar, but she'll always have the beach scene with Burt Lancaster. Still hot after all these years

Joan Crawford was cast in Kerr's part and either left the production or was fired after a dispute about her costumes. I wonder if that spat was engineered by someone to get her off the picture?

She would have won an Oscar or two if only people had known how to pronounce her last name.

Love The Grass is Greener and that 1960 period look - Deb is the lady of the manor, nicely tailored, while Simmons is her zany friend, all dolled up in quite hideous outfits by Hardy Amies I think, or maybe Balmain ? But Balmain dresses stars perfectly (Kay Kendall, Capucine, Sophia Loren in Arabesque).

It was lovely and touching with Glenn Close introduced her at the Oscars for her honorary one in what, 1993 ? as Kerr was older and frailer then, as Glenn introduced "Miss Deborah Kerr".

Jean Simmons was robbed blind when she wasn't even nominated for "Elmer Gantry." She was one of the most unsung actresses in Hollywood in the 1950's. She was superb in "Until They Sail". BTW, she toured in "A Little Night Music" (I saw the show in Boston)--she never appeared in it on Broadway.

Deborah Kerr's performance in "Black Narcissus" is amazing. At the other end of her career, I love watching her in "The Chalk Garden" because she plays the ambiguity of the character so well. She really does keep you guessing as to whether she murdered her half-sister. I think she did it, but it was justifiable--only she was such a liar (like the Hayley Mills character) that she wasn't believed when it counted.

She was great friends with Robert Mitchum, which is fascinating to me, as it's so hard to imagine the prim and proper Kerr being besties with the rough and laconic Mitchum. Quite revealing, actually.

I loved Jean Simmons in "A Little Night Music" when it opened in London in '75.

Agree with R48 about Kerr playing ambiguity well. Also, there was something very sensual about Deborah Kerr from when she was very young. It is easy to believe that two men would madly fall in love with her in "The life and death of Colonel Blimp," for example. The quality I am talking about is when a woman is sensual, but she is not aware of it and so she doesn't play it up.

I recently saw Kerr on TCM in MGM's The Hucksters, opposite Clark Gable, Ava Gardner and Sydney Greenstreet, which may have been her American cinema debut. Surely she was brought over by LB Mayer as a threat to a possibly recalcitrant Greer Garson? That's a fantastic film btw that gets very little attention nowadays.

If that was her debut then she had a very long career as a Hollywood leading lady....mid-1940s to mid-1960s. Most don't last half as long, so she must have been doing something right.

Was she ever made a Dame? Surprising if not, unless she turned it down for some reason. Bad health, perhaps?

Did anyone read Frank Langella's recent autobiography? He admits (and regrets) that he was very rude to Kerr when they costarred on Broadway together in Edward Albee's Seascape in the late 1960s, but he never explains what provoked his rudeness.

I can't imagine any actor being unnecessarily rude to Deborah Kerr.

[quote]He admits (and regrets) that he was very rude to Kerr when they costarred on Broadway together in Edward Albee's Seascape in the late 1960s, but he never explains what provoked his rudeness.

Only his own ass-holery, which he readily admits. He apparently considered himself an artiste and just didn't take her seriously. In his book he talks about her many efforts to make friends with him, despite his rudeness, but she finally just gave up.

r52, she was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1998, but was never made a dame. Don't know why.

Since the Honours List in the UK is a national honor, dame-hood is only conferred on actors who spend most of their career on the stage in the UK; most film and TV stars aren't considered "national" enough to deserve the highest honor of Knight/Dame-hood.

Since Kerr was mostly a film star in the UK and then went to the US and never really came back, the CBE is the highest award she would likely get.

The rare exceptions are/were Julie Andrews and Elizabeth Taylor, both of whom got their dame-hoods in 2000, when the Queen gave out an enormous amount of titles to celebrate the Millennium.

She had an amazing career and look how many of her films are classics, from her work with Powell and Pressburger ,to the films she made with Robert Wise and Fred Zinnemann. Not many actresses can say the same , and I doubt many of Meryl's films will hold up 50 years from now.In the flashback scene in Black Narcissus she is absolutely radiant, and a perfect example of technicolor at its best .Although I would say Mitcham in Heaven Knows Mr. Allison is just as beautiful.

[quote] And to think that of those, [R9] only Sophia and Shirley are among us still. by: Carrie Fisher

Excuse me?

Add me to the list of Deborah Kerr's brilliant performance in The Innocents, she should've won the Oscar for this. She was also great in The Night of The Iguana, Separate Tables and From Here To Eternity.

She was the one star who was dubbed by Marni Nixon who completely cooperated with her and their mutual efforts are rewarded by a fairly seamless musical performance in The King and I.

She was everything that Greer Garson ever wanted to be, but wasn't.

I also loved her as the Australian drover's wife in "The Sundowners", As a woman who lived in a wagon in the outback, she lost all of her well-bred airs, but kept all her charm.

She reportedly had an affair with Burt Lancaster, during the making of "From Here to Eternity". He was damn hot in those days.

The Tea and Sympathy film is so disappointing but she's gorgeous in it.

I think the film in which she looked the most glamorous was "An Affair to Remember," particularly during the night club scene (also dubbed by Marni Nixon, whose version of the title song is so much better than Vic Damone's).

Like Grace Kelly she showed the simmering passions beneath the ladylike manner. Hollywood tough guy writer Peter Viertel became her second husband, and they seem to have been quite happy together till their deaths. So she must have known Garbo quite well as he was the son of Greta's pal Salka Viertel, who knew all those European writers and artists in Hollywood in the 30s.

He was hired by Anatole Litvak to assist on the script for The Journey in 1959 in Vienna - Kerr's first marriage was more or less over and she and Viertel became an item, much to the chagrin of Joan Fontaine who had been dating him and was considering him for her next husband, so she flew to Vienna to surprise him and was told he was in a restaurant - where she found him with Deborah and realised they were now an item. Joan had replaced Kerr in the stage run of Tea and Sympathy, but Deborah had now replaced her in real life ... Kerr's husband tried to sue Viertel for enticing her away ... just as Richard Brooks did with getting Jean Simmons away from Stewart Granger - that marriage though (Simmons & Brooks) did not last.

r11, Hello?

Saw her onstage in Albee's "Seascape" on Broadway - wonderful as usual.

Yes, Liz winning the Oscar for "Butterfield 8" over Kerr in "The Sundowners" was a major robbery.

"Separate Tables" is one of my favorite Kerr performances.

Wasn't there also some scandal about Peter Viertel writing a roman a clef about John Huston that essentailly blamed him for a murder, called White Hunter or something like that?

Thats White Hunter Black Heart - about the making of The African Queen in Africa in 1950 - Huston really wanted to go off and shoot elephants - dont know if he did or not. Viertel's book was made into a film by Clint Eastwood.

Deborah Kerr is one of the best actresses that have ever graced the screen. She was a delicate flower, A TRUE LADY, A HUMOROUS AND VERY KIND HUMAN BEING AND A CLASSY ACTRESS. She could play brilliantly anything from drama to comedy. She was not stuck-up at all, she was very down to earth and NOT MEAN. She was very polite and she seemed to mean it. A MOVING ACTRESS, A WITTY ONE AND NOT A NERDISH ONE. She deserved a lot,a lot more than she got. Oscars is just glamour and politics. DEBORAH KERR WAS BEYOND THAT, although i'm convinced she had glamour and a mind of her own. She was amazing, really, a true gem and i'm afraid that she wouldn't believe someone who would call her as such.

"She was great friends with Robert Mitchum, which is fascinating to me, as it's so hard to imagine the prim and proper Kerr being besties with the rough and laconic Mitchum."

I don't think she was really all that prim and proper off-screen. When she was young and getting started, she had an affair with British director Michael Powell (who directed her in COLONEL BLIMP and BLACK NARCISSUS). I recall hearing she had a pretty salty tongue when she wanted to use it.

Which only makes her sound like a fun woman who was a consummate pro.

Agree that THE INNOCENTS is her best work - in fact, I believe she felt the same way.

There's a little-known British TV film from the mid-80's with her and Claire Bloom called ANN AND DEBBIE. I've never seen it, but those two sound like a great combination oncsceen.

Although Viven Leigh was fine, I think Ms. Kerr would've been interesting in "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone."

R70 you are absolutely right! Deborah Kerr could have made a very interesting Mrs Stone. Nice observation. Well done sir!

"TRSOMS" was released in 1961, so Deborah would have been forty when it was released, a lovely, youthful, and charming forty. It would have been ridiculous to say that the only way she could get any male attention was to pay for it, at that time in her life!

Maybe she could have done it when she was around sixty, but in 1961 she was wise to make "The Innocents" instead.

Deborah Kerr had a beauty full of depth.In the link i give you below there is one of my favourite photos of her. Here she is in an older age but she is so elegant and real.Unforgettable.

r52, I also saw The Hucksters on TCM. I had dvr'd it to see post-war Gable, but I was entranced by the young Deborah Kerr, whose character actually sleeps with Gable's character, pre-marriage.

The post-war relaxation of the production code was a breath of fresh air although it was 20 years before the shackles were really broken.

I loved her in 'The Arrangement'. She moves me so. Guys, watch that movie if you hadn't already, Deborah is so unique and sweet and serious.

UNIQUE.

I had a chance to see her onstage in "The Last of Mrs. Cheyney" when I was in college in Baltimore. I wrote her a fan letter...and she sent back a lovely note! Swoon.

R77, lucky you! :)

I think she is a rare talent, who showed a real versatility (think The King and I, Black Narcissus, The Sundowners). She had incredibly bad luck with Oscar races (coming up against hot performances or Liz Taylor's pneumonia), and she was so damned classy about it all.

Lots of big stars haven't won oscars. Including oft-nominated great actors beloved in the industry: O'Toole, Finney, Garbo, Stanwyck, Bening, Burton, Rains and Close.

It is not an indication of distaste or conspiracy. It's just that they were passed over in each of the years they were nominated for a variety of reasons.

R69, I saw it on PBS in the late '80s or early '90s, under the title "Rendevous at the Ritz". It was wonderful.

It's on You Tube in 3 parts.

[quote]I don't think she was really all that prim and proper off-screen. When she was young and getting started, she had an affair with British director Michael Powell (who directed her in COLONEL BLIMP and BLACK NARCISSUS). I recall hearing she had a pretty salty tongue when she wanted to use it.

Powell writes about their relationship in his autobiography. They were madly in love. He was her first lover. When she got a call to go to Hollywood he gave her an ultimatum. She chose Hollywood and he never got over her. There is absolutely nothing in his book about Kerr being anything but a lovely young woman.

She probably frustrated people because they never knew if it was prounced Kerr like gurrr or Carr

The exquisite Deborah Kerr :)

She was too dull.

I'm amazed that she made so many films!

Although she shone in many memorable roles already mentioned, my favorite is as the companion to Haley Mills in "The Chalk Garden". Such a proper and understanding English woman who just happened to be recently released from prison for the murder of her sister. Wicked good time.

Wasn't she also in Bonjour Tristesse?

Yes and she was excellent in Bonjour Tristesse! R86, i agree with you.In 'The Chalk Garden',she gave one of her best performances indeed.

[quote]"Carey Grant" Why do people on DL have such a hard time spelling his name correctly?

How the hell would YOU spell Grant?

Ew....R89...excuse me?

Deborah Kerr has been the most gracious actress of all. A gracious heart with a unique sense of humour and a disarming sensitivity behind it.

She even pulled off a respectable comedy turn in "Casino Royale"

I haven't seen her mediocre not even once in her movies. No matter how good or bad the movie was, she always was an ace in every one of them.

Deborah Kerr, the look of an artist.

Deborah Kerr, blue thinking eyes in a hot, exhausting day.

She was extraordinary in 'Tea and Sympathy'.

Add Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell and Irene Dunne as consummate and hugely popular actors who never won a competitive Oscar.

Winning an Oscar is a sign of nothing.

I couldn't agree more with you R97. You are so right about that.

She replaced Kim Novak in "The Eye of the Devil" and was dull and unglamorous. It would have been much more fun with Kim.

Oh R99! I like Kim Novak a lot, however, I have seen Deborah in 'The Eye of the Devil' with David Niven and i found her anything but dull!

Deborah Kerr deserves billions of praises. I won't be tired of paying my tribute to her whenever i feel like it.

R100, I must watch "The Eye of the Devil" again. All I remember of it is the glorious Sharon Tate.

R102...whenever someone mentions Sharon Tate i feel so sad. What an unfair death she met. Yes, Sharon was shining like a jewel in that movie and in general Sharon was astonishingly beautiful. Sick minds kill beauty for nothing. It's so discouraging, really.

Gorgeous pic of Sharon, r103.

“I suppose the part nearest me is Laura Reynolds in Tea and Sympathy. Of course playright Bob Anderson didn't know that, but he wrote Laura Reynolds and Laura Reynolds happened to be me. It was the coming together of a part and an actress - the same attitude to life, a certain shyness in life, a deep compassion for people who are being persecuted for anything.”

Deborah and Sharon in 'The Eye of the Devil'

R105, i didn't know that Deborah felt so close to the character of Laura Reynolds in 'Tea and Sympathy'. Thank you for posting this. I love Deborah.

Deborah had beautiful, intelligent and compassionate eyes. All in one look.

Your kind of beauty lingered on Miss Deborah Kerr even when you grew older. Wonderful expression you had, wonderful you.

EYE OF THE DEVIL is pretty bad, actually. Kerr replaced Kim Novak because the latter proved to be so inept in the role that the producers had to stop shooting to find someone else.

If you look at Novak's work in the 60's, particularly the films made in England (e.g. OF HUMAN BONDAGE, AMOROUS ADVENTURES OF MOLL FLANDERS), it's one vacuous performance after another.

One note about DEVIL - the characters played by Sharon Tate and David Hemmings are one of the few interesting aspects of the film, but Tate's voice was dubbed by some British actress.

Even in this rather mediocre movie, Deborah was fine. It's a watchable and interesting movie, the result is a bit uneven but still i'm glad that i got to watch it.

Deborah was soul-stirring in 'Tea and Sympathy'

Deborah Kerr was not just an actress. She was a brilliant actress and a humble person but a thinking person. She was deep as a human being.

She is so memorable in a rare way.

Deborah was charming and beautiful. In one thread in DL, one OP mentioned among other names Deborah's among the famous people who considered charming by the media, while in reality they weren't.

I totally disagree with this OP about that. Deborah Kerr was a delicate, intelligent and beautiful woman and she obviously had charm.

In the '40s stars were known for their particular fetures, like Betty Grable was known as "the legs", etc. After consulting with studio promoters Kerr was dubbed "the skin" for her flawless complexion.

great thread

R116, i had no idea that Kerr was dubbed 'the skin' for her flawless complexion. It's good to know things, you know? Thanks for your information.

:)

Deborah was not sexless. She had elegance, charm, magnetism, fun. I wonder why some people consider her plain and boring? Really,i don't get it!

Sexless? She was one of my first crushes...and as mentioned a few times before in this thread, see her in "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison" for some CHEMISTRY with Robert Mitchum.

With Yul in The Journey. She was at the height of her beauty in this pic. She hardly moves in this scene yet the emotions she displays on her face are so intense.

Because she had the audacity to expect people to see "Kerr" and pronounce it "car".

The academy does not look highly on being played for fools.

She was a great lady. Nobody who knows about cinema and has seen Deborah in her movies can forget her.

Gorgeous photo of laughing Kerr by Yul Brynner (scroll down):

Another great one of Gardner and Kerr (beginning of page there is a stunningly beautiful Paul Newman):

She always seemed so prim and proper, but then film was so heavily censored during her glory years.

If she'd come in the post-censorship era, could she have been another Maggie Smith?

Very beautiful photos R124-R125! Nice.

R126, i think that Maggie Smith is a great actress, however Deborah and Maggie cannot be compared. Deborah had more chances to play romantic roles than Maggie. Her face was more fitting to play each kind of role, from a desirable woman to a spinster or a nun.

I know that Maggie won two Oscars for two beautiful performances of hers, but Deborah was as skilful as Maggie Smith was. I love them both, but i think that Deborah was underrated and had more potential than great Maggie Smith.

She's competent and dull. You all are tripping.

We may all be tripping, but we're having a lovely time.

(And you, R128?)

R128, she was not dull! You are blind to beauty and you are just getting bored with interesting people. See, think, examine, feel!

Ffs!

NOT DULL

SUBLIME

Not boring at all.

By the way, her life was not so scandalous for some gay carnivorous guys, but it is said that she had a romance with Burt Lancaster and Stewart Granger. This woman was just too discreet to make her affairs 'headlines'.

Deborah dreaming away...

Deborah's stare was not annoying. She had lovely, beautiful, understanding eyes.

Could watch Kerr and Brynner dance in " The King and I " everyday for the rest of my life. They do more great acting in that dance than the whole film.

For Deborah

For gracious and humorous Deborah

She strive for 'more' in a humble witty way

For Deborah,a truly great at heart lady

Deborah you moved us

Deborah is sweeter and more gentle than my praises to her. Neither praises nor bad critics can destroy the purity of her image.

Beautiful photos and nice interviews! I find Deborah incredible as an actress too and she played in so many good movies. She seemed appealing and earthy as a person, i bet she would make an excellent friend.

Bad in bed. Especially now.

R143 what do you mean? Stop acting like a douchebag ffs! You are so low you can't appreciate women of quality and finesse such as Deborah Kerr.

Nice pix R123 but I didn't see my fav Rita Hayworth.

Deborah Kerr with Audrey Hepburn

Once upon a time there was Deborah Kerr in this world

Enduring

Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier counted many famous people among their circle of friends: artists, politicians, actors, etc. One of those people was British actress Deborah Kerr.

Vivien Leigh visiting Deborah on the set of Bonjour Tristesse in the South of France, 1957.

Though their paths did not cross often, Deborah had fond memories of her friend:

“My acquaintance with the lovely Vivien Leigh was one of those friendships that endured over the years, sometimes many years passing without our meeting. My most vivid memory of her was when I was in London, and suffering that infuriating affliction of losing your balance. Not serious, but a long bore! I was in bed at the Connaught Hotel, and the phone rang and it was Vivien, who said: ‘Darling, here we are, both of us in bed! Isn’t it ridiculous?’ We shared the same doctor, and it was he who hastened over to me to inform me of her death. He was afraid I would hear it on the tv or radio…She was without a doubt the most exquisitely beautiful woman ever. I wish I had spent more time with her in my life.”

One more photo with the two of them.

This and the previous one were taken when Vivien Leigh visited Deborah on the set of 'Bonjour Tristesse' in the South of France, 1957.

She was a decent person, and a more than a fine actress. She was also quite beautiful in her 20s through mid 30s,

Still, much like her friend Vivien Leigh, she started to look a little matronly by the time she hit 40. Still attractive, but no longer as sexual or as beautiful.

Deborah shined.

See 'The Chalk Garden' ffs!

If you haven't already, what are you waiting for?

who?

R154 get yourself together!

A tribute to a great woman.

Deborah Kerr ~~~~~~~~~~~

Walter Pidgeon and Deborah Kerr pursue creative photography between takes of 'If Winter Comes'

She seems smart and classy!

I've really enjoyed this thread. Thanks to the OP and other posters who've made me appreciate Deborah Kerr. Now I need to see some of her movies!

Anyone who thinks Deborah Kerr was a "dull" actress probably thinks Lindsay Lohan is "exciting."

R158 it always makes me happy when someone has a good taste and a will to appreciate beauty. By liking Deborah Kerr and by wanting to see her movies you are in such a good path, believe me!

Have that pleasure!

:)

Agreed, R159. Deborah wasn't dull she had a refined elegance. She steals every scene Night of the Iguana like a graceful lighthouse in a storm.

Dyke.

Mary Martin!

What are you talking about?

Are you nuts?

Deborah i like so many actors and actresses. They seem so special. You have a special place in my heart though Miss Kerr and you were beyond special, unique LADY.

No, of course she wasn't black balled! Richard effing Burton never won an Oscar either. Anyway, Kerr was awarded an Honorary Academy Award.

What would you imagine she'd be blackballed for anyway?

"And to think that of those, [R9] only Sophia and Shirley are among us still."by: Carrie Fishertreply 11t

WHAT?! OK, stop making up stuff, especially MORBID LIES. I mean, it's totally bizarre that you'd kill off your login's MOTHER, Debbie Reynolds. (Or were you being unfunnily ironic?) Because Debbie Reynolds is not only very much alive and well, but still very busily performing on stage and in movies and writing books. She'd kick your ignorant keister from here to Sunday if she heard that you'd lumped her into a mass grave of dead actresses.

Speaking of which, Kim Novak is doing just fine too, thank you, merely retired.

Seriously, get your facts straight, "Carrie". Sheesh!

The people who have posted on here to state that Ms Kerr is boring obviously have no clue... But at the same time, you have to realize that hollywood does not have iconic stars the magnitude of Kerr, Crawford, Stanwyck, Davis and many others anymore (there are exceptions like Streep and a few others). 30 yrs from now people will still know their names and work....can the same be said for the likes of Roberts, Witherspoon, Bullock, Kidman, etc ? I think not. Its the same with the music stars today...In a decade or 2 most of the megastars that are force fed to us daily wont even be a memory.

Yes i agree with you R167, people who find Deborah Kerr boring obviously have no clue! You put it right. It's also ridiculous some folks in here to speak with so much contempt about Old Hollywood stars by saying that they are dead and soon to be forgotten. I don't understand that logic.

Press Photo Deborah Kerr

A woman that is very hard to forget

As long as i love cinema, it's impossible to forget the actress Deborah Kerr and her amazing breeze

Six Time Oscar Losers Glenn Close and Deborah Kerr Appearing Together

Glenn Close presenting an Honorary Oscar® to actress Deborah Kerr ('The King and I," "From Here to Eternity," "The Sundowners") in appreciation of a full career's worth of elegant and beautifully crafted performances at the 66th Academy Awards® in 1994.

Quite fitting for one six-time Oscar loser to be presenting an Honorary Oscar® to the other six-time Oscar loser.

Wonder if they discussed that backstage?

Forty-four films and six best Actress nominations speaks for itself.

I love the Innocents, The Chalk Garden, Heaven Knows Mister Allison, Night of the Iguana, Edward, My Son, From Here to Eternity and more.

I agree with r161, her performance in Night of the Iguana is kind of spellbinding. She is as intriguing as Jessica Lange with her dark kindness and worn out wisdom, a sinner/saint. It is a bit of a theme in many of her roles.

No one has spoken Tennessee William's poetic and dark dialogue better on film than Deborah Kerr.

She was a very subtle and skilled actress who brought great subtext to her performances, not dull at all.

Thanks for posting that R172 and R173 your comments on Deborah are very interesting and fair.

Some things cannot get erased from one's memory that easily. One of those things is the magnificent aura of Mrs Deborah Kerr.

Falling in Love with Deborah Kerr

Refined once more

She was not just a dry refined woman and actress. She had her beautiful ways, her humour, her humbleness. A very polite and warm lady. A star of the screen as well. Deborah actually was one of the best actresses of all time.

You can't understand Deborah Kerr's brilliance just by looking at her beautiful photos. If you have seen her in movies, you know already what i mean.

How can anyone find this woman boring?

Look at her stare! There are too many things in it, from intelligence to sweetness and goodness, and also some harnished vanity. How discreet of her! There is a certain spark in that woman, most of the time.

Best Deborah Kerr Movies List

You can vote too.

With Cary Grant

rare and more photos of gorgeous Deborah

OP, I think she faded away because most people weren't entirely sure how to pronounce her last name.

R162, Mary! You in trouble, gurl!

r183, everyone knew it rhymed with S*T*A*R!!!

She was a subtle Goddess

An interesting interview

Thanks to the posters who posted the photo links and the interview. The interview was really good. I became a Deborah Kerr fan because of this thread and the new links make me eager to get to know her life and career better.

Thanks for the interview too.

:)

Kisses.

DEBORAH WE LOVE YOU!

YOU ARE MORE THAN A STAR CLEARLY!

There was always an inner light in Deborah Kerr. How can anyone forget her? Impossible.

She was married to Peter Viertel, the son of Garbo's best friend Salka Viertel. Kerr and Viertel even contributed to the Barry Paris book.

Garbo was very fond of Peter and Kerr. They married in Klosters (1960) and lived in a big hillside house, surrounded by fir trees, south of town.

Kerr, was a friend, Garbo never lost. Kerr's quiet, thoughtful ways always charmed her.

"She could be so funny and had such a wonderful way of knocking herself," remembered Kerr, whose lilting soprano voice downshifts at will into a perfect imitation of Garbo's baritone.

"Once in the late afternoon, we were about to have a glass of wine and I asked, 'Miss G, would you like red or white?' She gave me the most tragic look and said, 'Ooooh, De-bo-rah – that is a terrrrible decision!'”

"You never knew with her, whether she was sending you up or not. Peter, on the other hand, was never deferential. He would say, 'C'mon, Greta – just make up your mind!'"

In 1975, Garbo went to see Kerr in Edward Albee's Seascape and walked backstage afterward to say she admired her performance. "I was so nervous," said Deborah Kerr. "It was among the great thrills in my life that she came to see me. But she wouldn't say anything about the play."

The interview at R187 is quite amazing.

She was robbed - yes, Mary! - for the Sundowners. The Oscar should have been hers.

I agree R193.

:)

[quote]She was married to Peter Viertel, the son of Garbo's best friend Salka Viertel

Didn't Arthur Laurents write some gossipy things about Viertel and his first wife (Jiggy? Piggy? Something like that anyway) in his memoirs?

I agree r193!

R195, i don't know baby, sorry. Anybody knows, guys?

Wonderful, classy and witty woman.

Peter Viertel wrote a roman a clef called something like White Hunter Black Heart about a nasty Hollywood film director shooting a movie in Africa and also mercilessly shooting elephants, based on John Huston's experiences on The African Queen.

Many years later, Kerr made The Night of the Iguana, directed by Huston, but apparently everyone got along just fine.

Viertel's book was eventually made into a film starring Clint Eastwood and Marisa Berenson.

Deborah was so damn good in 'The Night of the Iguana'.

What a pity she didn't appear in more Tennessee Williams plays. She had the depth and the sensitivity to give powerful performances and yet to remain refined and discreet.

Well-stated, R200.

Yes! I would have loved to see Kerr's Amanda in Glass Menagerie, Blanche in Streetcar, Alma in Summer and Smoke and Whatshername in Vieux Carre.

Deborah Kerr & Cary Grant on a break filming Dream Wife (with director Sydney Sheldon)

I LOVE YOU LADY. A big thank you for you great contribution to cinema, theater, art. You were simply more than words can say.

Deborah Kerr the Scottish Rose

Never more luminous than when she played opposite oh-so-handsome Stewart Granger in "The Prisoner of Zenda." Perfect in "The King and I," I cannot imagine anyone better suited for the role of Anna. Props to the poster who realized the amazing chemistry she had with Robert Mitchum. An actress of subtle, endearing charm that is, alas, lost on a few neanderthals here.

I consider her underrated.

I'm embarrassed to admit I was at the Oscars when she was presented with the honorary award and didn't even remember it. She always struck me as pretty dowdy and old, even when she was younger. But I will now go check out some of her performances based on the recommendations here.

My favorite is "Night of the Iguana."