Deborah Kerr
Birthday: Born in 1921-09-30 in Helensburgh, Scotland, UK
Deathday: 2007-10-16
Deborah Jane Trimmer CBE, known professionally as Deborah Kerr, was a British actress. She was nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Actress. During her international film career, Kerr won a Golden Globe Award for her performance as Anna Leonowens in the musical film The King and I (1956). Her other major and best known films and performances are The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), Black Narcissus (1947), Quo Vadis (1951), From Here to Eternity (1953), Tea and Sympathy (1956), An Affair to Remember (1957), Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957), Bonjour Tristesse (1958), Separate Tables (1958), The Sundowners (1960), The Innocents (1961), The Grass Is Greener (1960), and The Night of the Iguana (1964). In 1994, having already received honorary awards from the Cannes Film Festival and BAFTA, Kerr received an Academy Honorary Award with a citation recognizing her as "an artist of impeccable grace and beauty, a dedicated actress whose motion picture career has always stood for perfection, discipline and elegance". Description above from the Wikipedia article Deborah Kerr, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
TV Credits
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Character: Miss Plimsoll
Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The longest-running primetime series in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning during 1951 and continuing into 2013. From 1954 onward, all of its productions have been shown in color, although color television video productions were extremely rare in 1954. Many television movies have been shown on the program since its debut, ...
A Woman of Substance
Character: Emma Harte
The life of Emma Harte, from kitchen maid at the beginning of the twentieth century, to respected business woman and grandmother in the 1980s. From humble beginnings, Emma Harte starts her business with a small shop, but over the next twenty years, she expands her stores and invests in the growing textile industry in Leeds....
The Steve Allen Show
Character: Self - Recipient
...
The Oscars
Character: Self
An annual American awards ceremony honoring cinematic achievements in the film industry. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a statuette, officially the Academy Award of Merit, that is better known by its nickname Oscar....
Talking Pictures
Character: Self (archive footage)
A look back at television appearances by legends of the silver screen, using archive footage to tell the story of their lives and careers....
Hold the Dream
Character: Emma Harte
The follow-up to A Woman of Substance with Emma Harte at age eighty in the last winter of her life and dealing with her granddaughter Paula, as well as her respected advisor Henry Rossiter and Blackie O'Neill....
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Character: Self
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night. For its first ten years, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California; in May 1972, the show moved permanently to Burbank, California. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time....
The Ed Sullivan Show
Character: Self
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the CBS Sunday Night Movie, which ran only one season and was eventually replaced by other shows. In 2002, The Ed Sullivan Show was ranked #15 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time....
Dinah!
Character: Self
Dinah's show premiered 9 September 1974 and continued through to 4 September 1981. She started out the 70's with Dinah's Place which usually featured one guest and was more of a home oriented show about cooking, crafts and occasionally music. This format lasted until May of 1974. When the show came back in October of 1974 the format had changed drastically to a variety talk show which was called Dinah. and went on until 1981. This show was also known as "Dinah and Friends" during the summer of 1...
Tony Awards
Character: Self - Host / Presenter
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances, and an award is given for regional theatre....
Entertainment Tonight
Character: Self
Daily tabloid television news show on entertainment and celebrity news with unprecedented access to Hollywood's biggest stars, exclusive behind-the-scenes looks at upcoming film and television projects, as well as the real story behind Hollywood's latest news....
What's My Line?
Character: Self - Panelist
Four panelists must determine guests' occupations - and, in the case of famous guests, while blindfolded, their identity - by asking only "yes" or "no" questions....
Cinépanorama
Character: Self
...
The Dick Cavett Show
Character: Self - Guest
The Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks....
What's My Line?
Character: Self
Four panelists must determine guests' occupations - and, in the case of famous guests, while blindfolded, their identity - by asking only "yes" or "no" questions....
Playhouse
Character: Carlotta Gray
A one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC....
Movie Credits
Eye of the Devil
Character: Catherine de Montfaucon
A French nobleman deserts his wife because of an ancient family secret....
John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick
Character: Self (archive footage)
Biography of risk-taker and raconteur John Huston from his childhood to become one of the most highly respected filmmakers in the world....
Bonjour Tristesse
Character: Anne Larson
A spoiled teenager spends the summer at the French Riviera with her rich, widower, playboy father, but when his old flame resurfaces, she resolves to keep her frivolous lifestyle at all costs....
Sir John Mills' Moving Memories
Character: Self (archive footage)
A film biography with a difference, Sir John Mills' Moving Memories charts the life of one of Britain's most distinguished actors. Compiled from interviews with the man himself and with his family and friends, it traces his career from humble beginnings to all-time great of British cinema. The many film clips reveal an electric screen presence and a willingness to undertake a range of difficult, challenging roles....
Julius Caesar
Character: Portia
The assassination of the would-be ruler of Rome at the hands of Brutus and company has tragic consequences for the idealist and for the republic....
Witness for the Prosecution
Character: Nurse Plimsoll
Sir Wilfred Robarts, a famed barrister is released from the hospital, where he stayed for two months following his heart attack. Returning to the practise of his lawyer skills, he takes the case of Leonard Vole, an unemployed man who is accused of murdering an elderly lady friend of his, Mrs. Emily French. While Leonard Vole claims he's innocent, although all evidence points to him as the killer, his alibi witness, his cold German wife Christine, instead of entering the court as a witness for th...
From Here to Eternity
Character: Karen Holmes
In 1941 Hawaii, a private is cruelly punished for not boxing on his unit's team, while his captain's wife and second in command are falling in love....
Quo Vadis
Character: Lygia
After fierce Roman commander Marcus Vinicius becomes infatuated with beautiful Christian hostage Lygia, he begins to question the tyrannical leadership of the despotic emperor Nero....
An Affair to Remember
Character: Terry McKay
A couple falls in love and agrees to meet in six months at the Empire State Building - but will it happen?...
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Character: Edith Hunter / Barbara Wynne / Angela "Johnny" Cannon
General Candy, who's overseeing an English squad in 1943, is a veteran leader who doesn't have the respect of the men he's training and is considered out-of-touch with what's needed to win the war. But it wasn't always this way. Flashing back to his early career in the Boer War and World War I, we see a dashing young officer whose life has been shaped by three different women, and by a lasting friendship with a German soldier....
Casino Royale
Character: Agent Mimi / Lady Fiona McTarry
Sir James Bond is called back out of retirement to stop SMERSH. In order to trick SMERSH, James thinks up the ultimate plan - that every agent will be named 'James Bond'. One of the Bonds, whose real name is Evelyn Tremble is sent to take on Le Chiffre in a game of baccarat, but all the Bonds get more than they can handle....
The Grass Is Greener
Character: Hilary Rhyall
Victor and Hillary are down on their luck to the point that they allow tourists to take guided tours of their castle. But Charles Delacro, a millionaire oil tycoon, visits, and takes a liking to more than the house. Soon, Hattie Durant gets involved and they have a good old fashioned love triangle....
I See a Dark Stranger
Character: Bridie Quilty
Proud Irishwoman Bridie Quilty journeys to Dublin while World War II rages across Europe. During her travels, she encounters J. Miller, who recruits her as a Nazi spy. She acquires the necessary information that leads to the breakout of a German spy who holds key information about the Allies' newest offensive plans. However, the arrival of British officer David Baynes and his romancing of Bridie lead to unexpected consequences....
The Prisoner of Zenda
Character: Princess Flavia
A kingdom's ascending heir, marked for assassination, switches identities with a lookalike, who takes his place at the coronation. When the real king is kidnapped, his followers try to find him, while the stand-in falls in love with the king's intended bride, the beautiful Princess Flavia....
The Night of the Iguana
Character: Hannah Jelkes
A defrocked Episcopal clergyman leads a bus-load of middle-aged Baptist women on a tour of the Mexican coast and comes to terms with the failure haunting his life....
The Proud and Profane
Character: Lee Ashley
In this romantic drama, beautiful Red Cross volunteer Lee Ashley arrives on the South Pacific island of New Caledonia to learn more about the circumstances surrounding the death of her husband, Howard, in the Battle of Guadalcanal. There, Ashley falls for the gruff, seductive Marine Lt. Col. Colin Buck, but struggle and tragedy follow when the widow learns about the reality of Buck's life back home....
The Sundowners
Character: Ida Carmody
In the Australian Outback, the Carmody family--Paddy, Ida, and their teenage son Sean--are sheep drovers, always on the move. Ida and Sean want to settle down and buy a farm. Paddy wants to keep moving. A sheep-shearing contest, the birth of a child, drinking, gambling, and a racehorse will all have a part in the final decision....
Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison
Character: Sister Angela
A Roman Catholic nun and a hard-bitten US Marine are stranded together on a Japanese-occupied island in the South Pacific during World War II. Under constant threat of discovery by a ruthless enemy, they hide in a cave and forage for food together. Their forced companionship and the struggle for survival forge a powerful emotional bond between them....
Separate Tables
Character: Sibyl Railton-Bell
The lives of a disparate group of unfulfilled people converge at a small, seaside English hotel in this adaptation of Terence Rattigan's classic play....
King Solomon's Mines
Character: Elizabeth Curtis
Fortune hunter Allan Quatermain teams up with a resourceful woman to help her find her missing husband lost in the wilds of 1900s Africa while being pursued by hostile tribes and a rival German explorer....
Young Bess
Character: Catherine Parr
The mother died under the executioner's axe; the daughter rose to become England's greatest monarch -- the brilliant and cunning Queen Elizabeth I. Jean Simmons portrays young Bess in this rich tapestry of a film that traces the tumultuous, danger-fraught years from Elizabeth's birth to her unexpected ascension to the throne at a mere 25. Charles Laughton reprises his Academy Award®-winning* role as her formidable father Henry VIII. Deborah Kerr plays her last stepmother (and Henry's last of six...
Tea and Sympathy
Character: Laura Reynolds
A sensitive young man recalls his time in boarding school when the only person who seemed compassionate towards with him was his housemaster's wife....
The Gypsy Moths
Character: Elizabeth Brandon
Three skydivers and their travelling thrill show barnstorm through a small midwestern town one Fourth of July weekend....
The Day Will Dawn
Character: Kari Alstad
Sports journalist Colin Metcalfe is picked for the job of foreign correspondent in Norway when Hitler invades Poland. On the way to Langedal his boat is attacked by a German U-Boat, however when he tells the navy about it they do not believe him and, to make matters worse, he is removed from his job. When German forces invade Norway, Metcalfe returns determined to uncover what is going on and stop the Germans in their tracks....
The Innocents
Character: Miss Giddens
A young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted by ghosts and that the children are being possessed....
The King and I
Character: Anna Leonowens
Widowed Welsh mother Anna Loenowens becomes a governess and English tutor to the wives and many children of the stubborn King Mongkut of Siam. Anna and the King have a clash of personalities as she works to teach the royal family about the English language, customs and etiquette, and rushes to prepare a party for a group of European diplomats who must change their opinions about the King....
Black Narcissus
Character: Sister Clodagh
A group of Anglican nuns, led by Sister Clodagh, are sent to a mountain in the Himalayas. The climate in the region is hostile and the nuns are housed in an odd old palace. They work to establish a school and a hospital, but slowly their focus shifts. Sister Ruth falls for a government worker, Mr. Dean, and begins to question her vow of celibacy. As Sister Ruth obsesses over Mr. Dean, Sister Clodagh becomes immersed in her own memories of love....
Major Barbara
Character: Jenny Hill
Idealistic young Barbara is the daughter of rich weapons manufacturer Andrew Undershaft. She rebels against her estranged father by joining the Salvation Army. Wooed by professor-turned-preacher Adolphus Cusins, Barbara eventually grows disillusioned with her causes and begins to see things from her father's perspective....
The Chalk Garden
Character: Miss Madrigal
The peculiar antics of Laurel, an emotionally troubled young girl, are the focus of The Chalk Garden – a stately household drama set on the cliffs of the English south coast. Edith Evans plays a matriarchal grandmother who, in raising her granddaughter, has neglected her other love – a barren chalk garden. Mayhem ensues as Laurel's behavior frightens away a succession of governesses until an enigmatic one is hired in spite of her mysterious references. She skillfully sets about tending to the gi...
The Arrangement
Character: Florence Anderson
An adman attempts to rebuild his shattered life after suffering a nervous breakdown....
Love on the Dole
Character: Sally
Depressing and realistic family drama about the struggles of unemployment and poverty in 1930s Lancashire. The 20-year-old Kerr gives an emotionally charged performance as Hardcastle, one of the cotton workers trying to make life better. Interlaced with humour that brings a ray of sunshine to the pervasive bleakness, this remains a powerful social study of life between the wars, and was a rare problem picture to come out of Britain at the time....
Dream Wife
Character: Effie
Clemson Reade, a business tycoon with marriage on his mind, and Effie, a U.S. diplomat, are a modern couple. Unfortunately there seems to be too much business and not enough pleasure on the part of Effie. When Clemson meets Tarji, a princess trained in all the arts of pleasing men, he decides he wants an old fashioned girl. Princess Tarji's father is king of oil-rich Bukistan. Because of the oil situation and to maintain good political relations during the courtship between Clemson & Tarji, the ...
Hatter's Castle
Character: Mary Brodie
The year is 1880. On the outskirts of the fictional small Scottish town of Levenford there stands a strange building, half cottage, half castle, embraced with thick stone walls. The townsfolk nickname the fortress "Hatter's Castle", for James Brodie, the man who built it. Brodie is a hatter who keeps the members of the family in fear and submission; he is brutal, arrogant, selfish and cruel. His wife, who has long been ailing, and his daughter Mary, are in awe of him. His son Angus, aged 15, alo...
The Journey
Character: Diana Ashmore
A Communist officer falls hard for a married woman trying to escape from Hungary....
Please Believe Me
Character: Alison Kirbe
A woman in London unexpectedly inherits a Texas ranching fortune, and takes a transatlantic voyage to collect her fortune, not suspecting two men aboard both plan on winning her hand before she reaches America. One is a gambler interested in her money, and the other, a rich man looking for a wife. The rich man's friend, meanwhile, believes the heiress is actually a gold-digger....
Prudence and the Pill
Character: Prudence Hardcastle
Prudence Hardcastle is on the pill. So is her sister-in-law, but someone has been swapping aspirin for their pills. Is it the teenage niece, the maid, the chauffeur, a lover, Prudence's husband Gerald, or all of the above?...
The End of the Affair
Character: Sarah Miles
During the 1940s, Maurice Bendrix, a writer recently discharged from the armed service, falls in love with Sarah Miles, whom he interviews for a book. Sarah is married, but she and Maurice eventually give in to their mutual attraction, leading to an affair that lasts several months. Maurice's jealousy, along with the bombing of London by the Germans, seemingly leads to the end of their relationship. However, the reasons are later revealed to be more complex....
Edward, My Son
Character: Evelyn Boult
Following the death of his only son, a ruthless businessman reflects on his life, his unhappy marriage and his questionable parenting skills....
The Hucksters
Character: Kay Dorrance
A World War II veteran wants to return to advertising on his own terms, but finds it difficult to be successful and maintain his integrity....
Marriage on the Rocks
Character: Valerie Edwards
Ad-agency president Dan Edwards goes to Mexico to celebrate his nineteenth wedding anniversary and winds up getting divorced by mistake, whereupon his wife Valerie marries his best friend Ernie Brewer by mistake....
The Naked Edge
Character: Martha Radcliffe
Five years after George Radcliffe was the chief witness in a high profile murder case, his wife receives a blackmailing letter accusing him of the crime....
Beloved Infidel
Character: Sheilah Graham
In the late 1930s, Sheilah Graham’s Hollywood column quickly becomes popular for its biting tone. At a party, she meets author F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the two begin a torrid affair. Scott laments that his writing has fallen out of fashion, and when he is fired from his screenwriting position, he begins drinking heavily. Soon his intrusive, volatile behavior threatens their relationship and Sheilah's career....
Uncertain Verification
Character: (archive footage)
A short film containing a collection of clips from various Hollywood movies....
If Winter Comes
Character: Nona Tybar
The small English town of Penny Green is swarming with scandal when textbook author Mark, unhappily married to the shrewish Mabel, cultivates a friendship with Effie, a young pregnant girl. As the townsfolk theorize that Mark is the baby's father, Effie - already troubled because of her impending motherhood - commits suicide, and circulating rumors lead the authorities to think Mark killed her. The innocent writer must fight to clear his name....
Perfect Strangers
Character: Catherine Wilson
After World War II service changes them, a married couple dread their postwar reunion....
Count Your Blessings
Character: Grace Allingham
Englishwoman Grace Allingham marries Frenchman Charles Edouard de Valhubert, but their marriage quickly becomes unusual. Because Charles cheats on her and lives away from his family out of professional obligation to his government, Grace ends up raising the couple's son, Sigismond, on her own. Grace and Charles are finally reunited after nearly a decade apart, and, while they seem headed for a permanent split, there's still a spark between them....
The Assam Garden
Character: Helen
An insecure, aggressive widow of a tea garden manager reluctantly develops an affectionate relationship with an Indian housewife and her family....
Penn of Pennsylvania
Character: Gulielma Maria Springett
Penn of Pennsylvania is a 1941 British historical drama film directed by Lance Comfort and starring Deborah Kerr, Clifford Evans, Dennis Arundell, Henry Oscar, Herbet Lomas and Edward Rigby. The film depicts the life of the Quaker founder of Pennsylvania, William Penn. It portrays his struggle to be granted a colonial charter in London and attracting settlers to his new colony as well as his adoption a radical new approach with regard to the treatment of the Native Americans. It is also known by...
Thunder in the East
Character: Joan Willoughby
During India's first years of independence from Britain, Steve Gibbs lands his armaments loaded plane in Ghandahar province hoping to get rich. Pacifist Prime Minister Singh hopes to reach an agreement with guerilla leader Khan, the maharajah is a fool, and the British residents are living in the past. Steve's love interest is Joan Willoughby, the blind daughter of a parson....
Rat Pack
Character: Self (archive footage)
In the 1950s, a small group of artists monopolized the attention of the cameras and the public. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford together form the "rat pack": they sing the most popular hits of the moment, star in the most profitable Hollywood films and are already making a splash on television . This documentary, produced by a recognized specialist in the history of Hollywood, recounts the exceptional destiny of this informal group which flirted with th...
Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger
Character: (archive footage)
Martin Scorsese presents this very personal and insightful new feature-length documentary about British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger....
Cary Grant: A Celebration of a Leading Man
Character: Self
A retrospective of the life and career of actor Cary Grant, including clips from his films and interviews with his friends and co-workers....
Yul Brynner: The Man Who Was King
Character: Self (archive footage)
There is only one Yul Brynner. No other actor had his looks, his range of talents, his energy and his capacity to draw others into the spell of his charm. A true sophisticate of deliberately mysterious origins, Yul Brynner was at home in a wide variety of languages and social environments....
Reunion at Fairborough
Character: Sally Wells Grant
World War II vets travel to England for a reunion at their old base. Stars Judi Trott, Barry Morse, Red Buttons, Deborah Kerr, Shane Rimmer, Robert Mitchum...
Robert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star
Character: Self
A retrospective on the career of Robert Mitchum through interviews with friends and co-workers, scenes from his films and the actor himself....
A Song At Twilight
Character: Carlotta Gray
Enormously successful writer Sir Hugo Latymer has a tryst with the past not altogether to his liking. This bittersweet comedy is the story of a cosmopolitan author caught in his declining years between two women, one being his wife of convenience for twenty years, the other, one of his former lovers....
On the Trail of the Iguana
Character: Self
Behind the scenes documentary of the filming of Tennessee Williams' The Night of the Iguana....
Rome, the Eternal City
Character: Self
A Traveltalk style documentary look at Rome....
Ann and Debbie
Character: Ann
Two friends, Ann and Debbie, meet for drinks to discuss marriage difficulties....
Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker
Character: Self
This documentary, hosted by actor Burgess Meredith, explores the life and career of movie director Otto Preminger, whose body of work includes such memorable films as Anatomy of a Murder, Exodus, Laura, Forever Amber, Advise and Consent, In Harm's Way, The Moon Is Blue, The Man with the Golden Arm, and many other movies made from the '30s through the '70s. Interviews with actors Frank Sinatra, Vincent Price, James Stewart, Michael Caine, and others who worked with the flamboyant and sometimes co...
And the Oscar Goes To...
Character: Self (archive footage)
The story of the gold-plated statuette that became the film industry's most coveted prize, AND THE OSCAR GOES TO... traces the history of the Academy itself, which began in 1927 when Louis B. Mayer, then head of MGM, led other prominent members of the industry in forming this professional honorary organization. Two years later the Academy began bestowing awards, which were nicknamed "Oscar," and quickly came to represent the pinnacle of cinematic achievement....
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff
Character: Sister Clodagh (archive footage) (uncredited)
In 2001 Jack Cardiff (1914-2009) became the first director of photography in the history of the Academy Awards to win an Honorary Oscar. But the first time he clasped the famous statuette in his hand was a half-century earlier when his Technicolor camerawork was awarded for Powell and Pressburger's Black Narcissus. Beyond John Huston's The African Queen and King Vidor's War and Peace, the films of the British-Hungarian creative duo (The Red Shoes and A Matter of Life and Death too) guaranteed im...
Night of 100 Stars
Character: Self
The most glittering, expensive, and exhausting videotaping session in television history took place Friday February 19, 1982 at New York's Radio City Music Hall. The event, for which ticket-buyers paid up to $1,000 a seat (tax-deductible as a contribution to the Actors' Fund) was billed as "The Night of 100 Stars" but, actually, around 230 stars took part. And most of the audience of 5,800 had no idea in advance that they were paying to see a TV taping, complete with long waits for set and cost...
Nice Girls Don't Stay for Breakfast
Character: Self - Actress (archive footage)
In the late 1990s, iconic photographer Bruce Weber barely managed to convince legendary actor Robert Mitchum (1917-97) to let himself be filmed simply hanging out with friends, telling anecdotes from his life and recording jazz standards....