Deborah Kerr

She married a war hero Anthony Bartley in 1945 but divorced him in 1959. She had two daughters from this marriage - Melanie and Francesca.

After divorcing Anthony she married a writer, Peter Viertel.

Deborah Kerr died age of 86 in Suffolk, England, on October 16, 2007, due to complications arising out of Parkinson’s disease.

Deborah Kerr was born Deborah Jane Kerr-Trimmer in Helensburgh, Scotland, on September 30, 1921. Her father was an army engineer named Captain Arthur Kerr-Trimmer and her mother was Kathleen Rose. She had a younger brother, Edmund (Teddy).

She started taking ballet lessons from the age of five and enrolled at the ‘St. Martha’s School’ in Surrey and then at the ‘Northumberland House Boarding School’ in Clifton, Bristol.

At the age of sixteen she attended her aunt Phyllis Smale’s ‘Hicks-Smale Drama School’ in Bristol.

She started taking part in productions at the ‘Open Air Theater’ in Regent Park, London and changed her name to Deborah Kerr.

Deborah Kerr made her stage debut in ‘Harlequin and Columbine’ in 1937.

In 1938 she danced with a ballet group in ‘Prometheus’ produced by the ‘Sadler’s Wells Theater School’.

She acted in the ‘Oxford Repertory Company’ from 1939 to 1940.

She was offered a five-year contract and her first role was in a spy drama ‘Contraband’ in 1939 which was never screened.

She acted in a film adaption of Bernard Shaw’s work titled ‘Major Barbara’ and then in the lead role in ‘Love on the Dole’ in 1940.

Deborah Kerr won the ‘New York Film Critics Award’ in 1947 for ‘Black Narcissus’ and was voted one of the top earning English stars by ‘Motion Picture Herald’ poll.

She won her ‘Academy Award’ nomination and a ‘Golden Globe Award’ nomination in 1948 for ‘Edward, My Son’.

Her second ‘Academy Award’ nomination was for ‘From Here to Eternity’ in 1953.

In 1955 she got a nomination for the ‘BAFTA Award’ for ‘The End of the Affair’.

She won the ‘Golden Globe Award’ and her third ‘Academy Award’ nomination for the film ‘The King and I’ in 1956.