The king and Kerr

The King & Kerr

The glamorous Hollywood star who hailed from Glasgow’s Hillhead would have been 100 this year

Words by STEPHEN ROBERTS

If truth be told, we probably all wish we could romp illicitly and passionately amidst crashing waves on a Hawaiian beach. A lass hailing from Glasgow’s Hillhead did precisely that, albeit in a movie, and it’s possibly still the scene she’s most remembered for. The film was From Here to Eternity (1953) and the actress was our own Deborah Kerr.

Deborah Jane Trimmer was born 100 years ago in September 1921 and found fame as ‘Deborah Kerr’, a star of theatre, film and TV. ‘Kerr’ was a family name that went back to a great-great-grandmother on her father’s side and was the moniker she adopted when she became a movie actress.

Kerr was quality personified, up six times for Best Actress at the Oscars, yet rather undeservedly holding the record for most nominations in this category without winning. She did receive an honorary Academy Award in 1994 to add to two Golden Globes and a BAFTA Special Award.

One of those Golden Globes came for The King and I (1956), in which Kerr played schoolmistress Anna Leonowens getting to grips with the King of Siam in the early-1860s. American tough guy Yul Brynner took home a Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of the king, whilst his leading lady got no further than her third nomination for Best Actress. It was fair going though for the daughter of a civil engineer and First World War captain who’d lost a leg in the Somme, who spent her formative years in her grandparents’ home in Helensburgh, and whose first career choice had been ballet.

If you watched the TV mini-series Black Narcissus (2020), you may want to watch the 1947 film version, in which Deborah Kerr plays the role of Sister Clodagh – The New York Film Critics’ Circle (NYFCC) voted Kerr Best Actress (Kathleen Byron, AKA ‘Sister Ruth’, was another nominee). This was the first of three NYFCC Best Actress awards Kerr collected. That iconic scene in From Here to Eternity helped Kerr receive another Best Actress nomination at the Oscars for her portrayal of The daughter of a civil engineer Karen Holmes, while her frolicsome friend, Burt Lancaster, or First and First World War captain, Sergeant Milton Warden, was similarly nominated, yet thwarted as Kerr spent her formative years in her Best Actor. The film is set in 1941, in grandparents’ home in Helensburgh Hawaii, so unsurprisingly the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour features towards the end. Kerr’s filmography extended to almost 50 movies from 1940 to 1985. As well as those already mentioned, she appeared in Tea and Sympathy (1956), An Affair to Remember (1957), Heaven Knows, Mr Allison (1957) and The Innocents (1961), all when her star was in the ascendant. She was also an accomplished theatre actress, making her debut in Harlequin and Columbine in 1937 in Weston-Super-Mare, and she also did TV and radio work, although it was her big screen roles that resonated. When Deborah Kerr received her Honorary Oscar, the citation LEFT: Deborah praised her movie career for its “perfection, discipline and elegance”. Kerr in ‘The King She was made a CBE (1998) and was given a star on the Hollywood and I’ (1956) Walk of Fame. Deborah died at home (Botesdale, Suffolk) in 2007 and ABOVE: Kerr and Lancaster star in ‘From Here to was buried in a family plot in Alford, Surrey. Fiercely proud of her Scottish roots, she came home in 1990 for the European Film Awards Eternity’ (1953) when Glasgow was European Capital of Culture. S