Movies List
TV Show List
The Assam Garden

as Helen

1985
A Woman of Substance

as Emma Harte

1984
Witness for the Prosecution

as Nurse Plimsoll

1982
The Arrangement

as Florence Anderson

1969
The Gypsy Moths

as Elizabeth Brandon

1969
Casino Royale

as Agent Mimi / Lady Fiona McTarry

1967
Marriage on the Rocks

as Valerie Edwards

1965
The Night of the Iguana

as Hannah Jelkes

1964
The Chalk Garden

as Miss Madrigal

1964
The Innocents

as Miss Giddens

1961
The Naked Edge

as Martha Radcliffe

1961
The Grass Is Greener

as Hilary Rhyall

1960
The Sundowners

as Ida Carmody

1960
The Journey

as Diana Ashmore

1959
Beloved Infidel

as Sheilah Graham

1959
Bonjour Tristesse

as Anne Larson

1958
Separate Tables

as Sibyl Railton-Bell

1958
An Affair to Remember

as Terry McKay

1957
Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison

as Sister Angela

1957
The King and I

as Anna Leonowens

1961
The Proud and Profane

as Lee Ashley

1956
Tea and Sympathy

as Laura Reynolds

1956
From Here to Eternity

as Karen Holmes

1953
Julius Caesar

as Portia

1953
Young Bess

as Catherine Parr

1953
Dream Wife

as Effie

1953
The Prisoner of Zenda

as Princess Flavia

1952
Thunder in the East

as Joan Willoughby

1953
Deborah Kerr Deborah Kerr

Birthday

1921-09-30

Place of Birth

Helensburgh, Scotland, UK

Biography

Born Deborah Jane Kerr-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 she came to the attention of British film producer Gabriel Pascal, who cast her in his film of George Bernard Shaw's "Major Barbara" (Major Barbara (1941)) and Love on the Dole (1941). She quickly became a star of the British cinema, playing such diverse roles as the three women in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) and the nun in Black Narcissus (1947). In 1947 she "crossed the pond" and came to MGM, where she found 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. She also achieved success on the Broadway stage in "Tea and Sympathy," reprising her role in the 1956 film version (Tea and Sympathy (1956)). 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), she retired from acting altogether. Kerr holds the record for the most Academy Award nominations for Best Actress without a win (six), but that was made up for in 1994, when she was given an Honorary Oscar for her screen achievements. Date of Death 16 October 2007, Botesdale, Suffolk, England  (complications from Parkinson's disease)
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