Deborah Kerr

Born Deborah Jane Kerr-Trimmer in Helensburgh in 1921, the daughter of Captain Arthur Kerr-Trimmer.

A shy, insecure child, she found an outlet for expressing her feelings in acting. She was educated at Northumberland House, Clifton, Bristol. Her aunt found her some stage work when she was a teenager, and British film producer Gabriel Pascal noticed and cast her in his film of George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara (1941) and Love on the Dole (1941).

She quickly became a British cinema star, with roles in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) and Black Narcissus (1947). In 1947, she joined MGM, where she repeated her success in films like The Hucksters (1947), Edward, My Son (1949) and Quo Vadis (1951). Deborah soon tired of playing ‘English Rose’ type parts, and she made the most of her adulteress role when appearing opposite Burt Lancaster in From Here to Eternity (1953). The film was a success. She also achieved success on the Broadway stage in "Tea and Sympathy," reprising her role in the 1956 film version. That same year, she played one of her best-remembered screen roles, "Mrs. Anna" in The King and I (1956) opposite Yul Bryner. 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). Deborah retired from main stream movies in 1968, supposedly appalled by the explicit sex and violence on offer in most films.

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) (TV), she retired from acting altogether. Deborah Kerr holds the record of the most Oscar nominations (six) without a win, but was finally awarded an Honorary Oscar in 1994 for her screen achievements. Similar to her losing streak at the Oscars, Deborah was awarded a BAFTA "Special Award" in 1991 after being nominated four times

Awarded a CBE (Commander of the order of the British Empire) in the 1997/8 New Years Honours List. Deborah had two daughters from her marriage to Anthony Bartley: Melanie Jane, born on December 27, 1947, and Francesca Ann. Bartley was a WWII Royal Air Force squadron leader.

Deborah Kerr died from complications associated with Parkinson’s disease on the 16th October 2007, in Suffolk, England.