Deborah Kerr Foundation for the Performing Arts
"The First Lady of Hollywood."
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Dedicated to the work of Deborah Kerr
and all the people, actors and technicians - producers,
directors - who helped Deborah make those wonderful films
we all loved to watch over and over again and again - and
identified with all these years. . . .
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Anthony Bartley died in Cork, Ireland on Friday, April 6th,2001 at the age of 82.
He was the first husband of actress Deborah Kerr and the father of her two daughters, Melanie and Francesca. They divorced in 1959 and Mr. Bartley remarried in 1965 to Victoria Mann and had two more children, both girls.
Miss Kerr remarried in 1960 to novelist and screenwriter Peter Viertel in Klosters, Switzerland, and they raised Peter's daughter - from another marriage where the mother died in a fire - Christine.
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AT A GLANCE
Date of Birth: September 30th, 1921
Education:
Family History: Wanted to be a Ballerina but turned to acting
with great success - "FIRST LADY OF HOLLYWOOD"
First Professional Role: Jenny Hill in "Major Barbara" 1940
Astrological Sign: LIBRA
A CULTURED ACTRESS RENOWNED FOR HER ELEGANCE AND DIGNITY.
SHE MAY HAVE *S*T*A*R*S* IN HER EYES, BUT DEBORAH WILL ALWAYS HAVE HER FEET ON THE GROUND.
Today she is content and happy in her retirement and her
devotion to family and theatrical friends of those by-gone
days. The eminent position and stardom that she has earned - in
her long career - are not laurels that she rests upon; they are
stepping-off points for endeavors long conquered; and now, so
many years later, still beautiful than ever, wearing glamour
like a mantle.
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"Across the years we will walk with Deborah Kerr in deep green
forests, on shores of sand, and when our time on earth is
through, in heaven, too, she will have our hand." -- *[dkfrs]*
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CINEMACTRESS Biography:
Deborah Kerr was on her way to a career in ballet when she took an interest in acting. A number of stage roles and British films led to her marvelous performance in BLACK NARCISSUS (1946). Her 1947 U.S. debut, THE HUCKSTERS, established the kind of character she would portray often: an elegant, prim and proper Englishwoman. Though critics and audiences adored her, she strove to break free from this typecasting - and did in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953). Her role as an adulterous American woman brought her an OSCAR nomination. In all she would receive six nominations - but not a single award. Deborah retired in 1969 and had long lived in Switzerland with her husband Peter Viertel. She made occasional film and TV appearances and received an honorary Oscar in 1994.
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CARTED AWAY. (front page of the N.Y.Daily News - Nov. 16th,1967
Actress Deborah Kerr waves and Liz Taylor smiles as their cart passes one carrying their husbands, Richard Burton and Peter Viertel, at Kennedy Airport on way to plane. Liz and Dick, who arrived from Rome last week, flew to Coast to see her parents in Beverly Hills, The Burtons hope to return here for Thanksgiving.
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. . . Deborah Kerr & Bob Mitchum will re-team again if Dimitri de
Grunwald has his way. He's personally nudging both of 'em to share top billing in his "The Tower" pic . . .
. . . Deborah Kerr and Peter Viertel in town and house-guesting with the Irving Lazars. Miss Kerr and Marcello Mastroianni want to film "Tchin-Tchin" . . .
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NATIONAL ENQUIRER: November 5th, 1967
LONDON - Deborah Kerr and her spouse, Peter Viertel, had a sizzling hassle at a posh party when Peter blew his top because Deborah had been dancing cheek to cheek with Michael Caine for most of half an hour.
Peter struggled to control his temper as he ambled over to Deborah and Michael. In soft but firm tones he informed Mr. Caine that he was cutting in. When Michael refused to let him, Viertel's smoldering temper burst into a blaze of fury.
Viertel told Caine to take his hands off Deborah before he got flattened. Michael droped Kerr instantly and vanished. Viertel's rage subsided and he started to take his wife in his arms. But Deborah shoved him away and blistered his ears, telling him she was fed up with being subjected to his petty jealousy.
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The Film and Television Daily - Tues., July 16th,1968
Deborah Kerr to MGM in Hollywood from Europe to begin wardrobe fitting before joining director John Frankenheimer and co-stars Burt Lancaster, John Phillip Law, and Gene Hackman in Kansas for filming of "THE GYPSY MOTHS."
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Monday, August 5th, 1968:
Edward Lewis, executive producer of "THE GYPSY MOTHS," has arrived in Witchita, Kansas for meetings with director JOHN FRANKENHEIMER, who is currently filming the MGM production.
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Thursday, August 22nd, 1968:
Deborah Kerr returned to Hollywood after a week of rehearsals and conferences at the Witchita location of MGM's "THE GYPSY MOTHS," in which she stars with Burt Lancaster.
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GABRIEL PASCAL, DIES, AFTER LONG ILLNESS
British film producer and director dies at Roosevelt Hospital Tuesday, July 3rd, 1954, after a long illness.
After successfully producing "PYGMALION" in 1938, George Bernard Shaw announced that Pascal was the only person he would intrust with the filming of his plays.
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The largest number of costumes in any one film was 32,000 for "QUO VADIS" (US-51), and the most expensive film for 1951 - at the time the film was produced and in most cases impossible to verify. "Quo Vadis" $8,250.000
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THE PILL TAKES OFF IN NEW YORK !
$345,536 FIRST FIVE DAYS "Prudence and the Pill"
SHOWCASE OUTGROSSES "Hombre" $305,495
"Fantastic Voyage" $290,577
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Best Performance by an Actress
1. Anne Bancroft "The Miracle Worker"
2. Sophia Loren "Two Women
3. Doris Day "Lover Come Back"
4. Geraldine Page "Sweet Bird Of Youth"
5. Deborah Kerr "The Innocents"
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BOXOFFICE POPULARITY POLL:
Actresses
1. Doris Day
2. Shirley MacLaine
3. Audrey Hepburn
4. Sophia Loren
5. Debbie Reynolds
6. Elizabeth Taylor
7. Natalie Wood
8. Kim Novak
9. Susan Hayward
10. Sandra Dee
11. Joanne Woodward
12. Deborah Kerr
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Deborah Kerr in CLASSIC FILM MAGAZINES:
Photoplay - Movie Life - Movie Stars/TV Close-Ups - Movie Mirror - Motion Picture - Modern Screen - Movieland and TV Time - Silver Screen - Screen Stories - Screenland plus TV-Land - Screen Stars - TV and Movie Screen -
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The musical extravaganza that's exotic, romantic and enchanting.
Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
"The King and I."
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Slow, beautiful, and often moving epic drama about a family of Irish sheepherders in Australia during the 1920s who must continually uproot themselves and migrate. They struggle to save enough money to buy their own farm and wind up training a horse they hope will be a money-winner in racing. Well-acted by all, with Johns and Ustinov providing some humorous moments. Adapted from the novel by Jon Cleary. Filmed in Australia and London studios.
Director Fred Zinnemann went a long way to get the colorful and lively outdoor scenes he has in this film, "The Sundowners," he went all the way to Australia, which is the off-beat locale of his tale. The trip was worth it, for a scene of outdoor living and a tingle of open-air adventure are the breath of life in this film.
There's the husband, as sweet and nice a fellow as Robert Mitchum has ever put upon the screen. Oh, he may be stubborn and sometimes thoughtless, but he's the salt of the earth. There's his wife, a loyal, patient woman, wistfully longing for a permanent home but resigned to the wanderlust of her husband. She's an angel. Why not? She's Deborah Kerr.
"The Sundowners" - that's what the Australians call a migrant, a wanderer without a home - is an especially appropriat entertainment for the Christmas holidays.
MAGNIFICENT performances by Deborah Kerr + Bob Mitchum with Peter Ustinov, Glynis Johns, Dina Merrill, Chips Rafferty, Wylie Watson, Lola Brooks, and Michael Anderson,Jr. - from WARNER BROTHERS Studio with an approx. film running-time of 133 Mins. Directed by: Fred Zinnemann; Music by: Dimitri Tiomkin
AWARDS:
Natl. Bd. of Review 1960/actor (Mitchum); N.Y. Film Critics 1960/actress (Kerr).
ACADEMY AWARDS NOMINATION - 1960 for Deborah Kerr (her sixth nomination/did not win).
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Sudsy, lavish romancer, based on the book by gossip queen Sheilah Graham, about her brief romance with novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald. fitzgerald (a badly miscast Peck) was in Hollywood trying to write screenplays when he meets young, English, aspiring writer Graham (an equally miscast Kerr). She becomes his mistress, putting up with Fitzgerald's drinking and insults, while he interferes with her career. Story is slanted towards Graham nobly trying to rescue Fitzgerald from himself (he did actually die from a heart attack while with Graham).
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F.Scott Fitzgerald. . . . . . . .Gregory Peck
Sheilah Graham. . . . . . . . . .Deborah Kerr
Carter. . . . . . . . . . . . . .Eddie Albert
John Wheeler. . . . . . . . . . .Philip Ober
Stan harris. . . . . . . . . . . Herbert Rudley
Lord Donegall. . . . . . . . . . John Sutton
Janet Pierce. . . . . . . . . . .Karin Booth
Robinson. . . . . . . . . . . . .Ken Scott
Dion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Buck Class
Johnson. . . . . . . . . . . . . A. Cameron Grant
Miss Bull. . . . . . . . . . . . Cindy Ames
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the 'sundowners'
Ida Carmody. . . . . . . . . . . . .Deborah Kerr
Paddy Carmody. . . . . . . . . . . .Robert Mitchum
Venneker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Peter Ustinov
Mrs. Firth. . . . . . . . . . . . . Glynis Johns
Jean Halstead. . . . . . . . . . . .Dina Merrill
Quinlan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Chips Rafferty
Sean. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Anderson Jr.
Liz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lola Brooks
Herb Johnson. . . . . . . . . . . . Wylie Watson
Bluey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John Mellon
Ocker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ronald Fraser
Jack Patchogue. . . . . . . . . . . Mervyn Johns
Mrs. Bateman. . . . . . . . . . . . Molly Urquhart
Halstead. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ewen Solon
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Another remake, AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER (1957), is also inferior to, and longer than, the original, LOVE AFFAIR (1939), but in this case, Leo McCary was again in charge. The ease of Cary Grant and the delicacy of Deborah Kerr are no substitutes for Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne; and it ends mawkishly with children carolling 'There's a wonderful place called Tomorrowland, and it's only a dream away'. There is a bit more to this film which is also released by 20th Century-Fox.
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Available on Video "Black Narcissus" England - 1947
Directed by Mickael Powell and Emeric pressburge and starring Deborah Kerr + David farrar, Jean Simmons, Flora Robson, Sabu, Kathleen Bryon, Esmond Knight, Judith Furse
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Anglican nuns face a variety of pressures as they attempt to maintain a convent school and hospital in the Himalayas.
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Available on VIDEO "The Sundowners" USA & AUSTRALIA - 1960
Directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring
Robert Mitchum + Deborah Kerr, Peter Ustinov, Glynis Johns, Michael Anderson Jr., Dina Merrill, Chips Rafferty, Lola Brooks, John Meillon and Wylie Watson
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An itinerant sheep drover in Australia revels in the freedom of the open road while his wife yearns for their own farm.
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Available on VIDEO "The Hucksters" USA - 1947
Directed by Jack Conway and starring Clark Gable + Deborah Kerr, Sydney Greenstreet, Adolphe Menjou, Ava Gardner, Keenan Wynn, Edward Arnold, Frank Albertson, Aubrey Mather, Richard Gains
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An ad exec rebels against the unethical tactics he and his comrades employ at a high-powered Madison Avenue agency.
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Available on VIDEO "The Grass Is Greener" USA - 1960
Directed by Stanley Donen and starring Cary Grant + Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum, Jean Simmons and Moray Watson
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A visiting American oil tycoon creates romantic chaos when he falls in love with a British nobleman's wife.
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Available on VIDEO "Quo Vadis?" USA - 1951
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring Robert Taylor + Deborah Kerr, Peter Ustinov, Leo Genn, Patricia Llaffan, Finlay Currie, Abraham Sofaer, Buddy Baer and Felix Aylmer
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A Roman aristocrat earns Nero's disfavor when he falls in love with a young Christian girl.
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Eleanor Parker: Miscasting Has Sabotaged Her Beauty And Ability To Forgo To Stardom. . .
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LAST-MINUTE FLASH !
DEBORAH KERR'S
Old-Fashioned Wedding
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Deborah had waited so long for this day. When it came, finally, it was bright and sunny, perfect for a wedding. Peter helps his lady step down from the carriage. Deborah's slippers and hat were pink to match her Givenchy gown. Peter was also pleased that both his mother and his daughter were at the wedding. At the wedding reception, the bride greets the newly-wed Yul Brynner as Mel Ferrer looks on. Mel had to leave Audrey Hepburn home with the new baby.
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KLOSTERS, SWITZERLAND - After the turmoil of both their bitter divorces, Deborah Kerr and writer Peter Viertel at last had their wedding. Blue skies held only one cloud: her little girls could not leave England, even for their "most wonderful and beautiful mother in the world," while in their father's custody. Only Peter's Christine rode in the carriage. So these pictures are for Deborah's Melanie and Francesca' scrapbook . . . their mother lovely in her bridal suit of pink Swiss embroidery . . . radiant with her new husband . . . beamed upon by the driver with his quaint smock and flowered hat . . . smiling with her friends, at the small wedding reception that the best man, Irwin Shaw, and his wife gave for them. Then, instead of going away, they went to their own chalet for a honeymoon.
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