She holds the record for the most Oscar Nominations without a win. She was a star for decades.
She was equally at home playing the whore……
….and playing the nun.
And, she had the distinction of being nominated for the best actress Oscar a total of six times, and never winning. (Her sole Oscar win was an honorary one, awarded in 1994 citing her “impeccable grace and beauty.”)
Yes, we are talking about Deborah Kerr, one of Great Britain’s most successful exports to Hollywood.
Our favorite Kerr movie is 1953’s From Here to Eternity, which ranks as one of the best Book-2-Movies evolutions Hollywood ever produced. Despite its staggering 650 pages, the book translates beautifully to the screen.
The essence of the James Jones novel was captured perfectly by director Fred Zinnemann, and the famous scene of Burt Lancaster and Kerr in passionate embrace on the beach (see the B&W photo above) has long since been established as a Hollywood pictorial icon. No question — she could turn on the sex appeal.
But what else do you know about this “English rose” who figured prominently in some of the most acclaimed films of the Fifties and early Sixties. As usual, questions today and answers tomorrow. Here we go:
1) Question: Despite her arbitrary Hollywood designation as the “English Rose,” Kerr was actually born in a) Australia; b) Wales; c) Scotland; or d) Serbo-Croatia?
2) Question: Yes, Kerr was nominated in the best actress Oscar category for her work in six films including From Here To Eternity and 1956’s The King and I. Which one of the following did NOT earn her a nomination? a) The Sundowners; b) Edward, My Son; c) Separate Tables; or d) Quo Vadis.
3) Question: Not widely know was the fact that Kerr could sing pretty well, with her vocal abilities on display at least once since she did her own singing in the musical The King and I. a) True or b) False.
4) Question: In her early 30’s Kerr conducted an offscreen affair with which one of her onscreen costars? a) Robert Mitchum; b) Yul Brynner; c) Robert Taylor; or d) Burt Lancaster.
5) Question: How was Kerr’s surname properly pronounced? a) “care”; b) “cur;” c) “car”; d) “currr.”
DEBORAH KERR… An actress who’s great competing Oscar-less career just shows how political and meaningless it is to pit one great performance against another…
And to only give Kerr and so many others, an ‘honorary’ Oscar when they are in frail health to receive it, and only then to round-out a TV presentation show…
The British Academy for Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) recognized Deborah’s talents for the first of four times when it nominated her for The End of the Affair in 1956. In that same year she made the controversial TEA AND SYMPATHY with John Kerr (no relation), and received her second BAFTA nomination in 1958 (two years later for some obscure reason). Both nominations were unsuccessful, but she did experience her one and only taste of success in 1956 when she was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for THE KING AND I. The film won the Best Picture Oscar, its male lead Yul Brynner took home the Best Actor statuette, but Ingrid Bergman won Best Actress for ANASTASIA. Deborah had to settle for a Golden Globe, but at least it was a win at last!
The BAFTA people would momentarily raise her hopes once more in 1965 with a fourth nomination, this time for THE CHALK GARDEN, but…the same old result. Twenty years down the track would see her nominated for the fifteenth (and last) time. This one was a little different, recognizing her contribution to a TV mini-series titled A WOMAN OF SUBSTANCE. A Primetime Emmy Award would have been a nice cap on her illustrious career but, needless to say, it was not to be and she became another ‘also-ran’. Nearly a decade later, in 1994, the Academy finally decided to acknowledge this great lady of the screen by presenting her with an Honorary Academy Award. Three years earlier BAFTA had given her a ‘Special Award’ which, presumably, was to atone for her four unsuccessful nominations. As far as Oscar nominations are concerned there have been three women thus far who have been nominated six times without winning – the other two being Thelma Ritter and Glenn Close. It was Miss Close, ironically, who presented a humble and visibly frail Deborah Kerr with her Honorary Oscar.
Not much of a quiz today, just a quick IMDB check…
1) C
2) D
3) B
4) D
5) C
In 1968 Deborah temporarily retired from movies, appalled at the increasing violence and sex appearing in pictures of the day. She did a little television here and there after that. Her friendship with Mitchum lasted until his death in 1997. He still adored her.
Director William Wyler summed up two of the screen’s truly great ladies when he said: ‘I still think of Audrey Hepburn as the princess, but Deborah Kerr as the queen’. Amen to that!
Keep those ‘COMMENTS’ coming…
Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole were nominated for more Oscars without winning.