My Current Obsession: Deborah Kerr
"The King and I" 20th Century Fox
Old Hollywood is always appealing, not just because of the glitz and glamour but the irretrievable quality of its stars. While it’s easy to be beguiled by the seductive poses of Marilyn Monroe or Betty Hutton, stars that are truly beloved last because they have their own brand of grandeur and refinement. Deborah Kerr was often seen as a prim and proper woman, nicknamed “The English Rose” for her beauty and sophistication. She was poised and often took roles where she played women with a moral compass, who were sophisticated and beautiful, but who often went against what others wanted. Most people of my grandmother’s generation associated Kerr with Catholicism, morality, and erudition, and remember her for her roles in “From Here to Eternity” and “The King and I.”
The reason I am so obsessed with this woman is actually for a role that isn’t listed above. “Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison,” is an ineffable and perfect film with a simple premise and memorable characters. It features a story set in the Asian Pacific Theater at the tail end of World War II, and is set on an island only inhabited by a Scottish nun and an American marine who has washed ashore. This is a role that Kerr was born to play. Her voice soothes, her simple white habit is striking against the beaches and jungles of the island, and her morality feels pure and gentle. Films about good, clean women aren’t made anymore, because the subtext is always that these women are shamed, repressed, and objectified. In this world Kerr is a symbol of hope, an angel for her fallen GI, and we get the nostalgia tinged delight of watching a film about religion that relies on holy tenets not judgments. The film also broke barriers by focusing on two people of the opposite sex who don’t get together in the end, making it that much more unique amidst more sensationalist romantic films.
"Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison," film still, featuring Deborah Kerr and Robert Mitchum 20th Century Fox
In that same year she starred as Terry McKay in “An Affair to Remember,” which has remained one of her most pivotal roles. Kerr could easily flit between a role centering on abject morality, and then seamlessly become a seductive socialite bent between two different men. Kerr learned her craft in the theater before making the leap to film in the forties. MGM proclaimed "Deborah Kerr - it rhymes with star!" which let us all know that a new star had been borne, and it became a common phrase for the rest of her career. Kerr went on to be nominated for six Oscars, though she never won, tying her with Glenn Close and Thelma Ritter for the most nominations without a win in Hollywood history.
It’s not just her purity and grace that audiences love, but her versatility. Kerr was typecast because of her proper English accent, but she fought against this with roles in “King Solomon’s Mines,” “The Prisoner of Zendaya,” and “Quo Vadis?” The early sixties were an interesting period, with roles in the English horror film “The Innocents,” and as a Bond girl in “Casino Royale,” though the latter half of the decade was her undoing. Though she played a Bond girl at 46, (holding the record for oldest until 2015) she was still vying for roles against younger women, and was pressured by producers to seem younger. In 1969 she was persuaded to appear nude in John Frankenheimer’s “The Gypsy Moth,” and the entire experience soured her on the industry. Afterwards she quietly disappeared from the limelight and moved back to England.
"Casino Royale" Columbia Pictures
In the eighties Kerr heavily appeared in television, and was nominated for an Emmy award for “A Woman of Substance” in 1984. As she aged her appeal only grew, and she was one of the last vestiges of Old Hollywood glamour. While Kerr's career didn’t make it past the sixties, it wasn’t entirely her fault. She tried to innovate, to do what was needed in a youth obsessed culture, but it wasn’t enough. She had been seen as a morality figure in films like “Black Narcissus,” and “The King and I,” and she couldn’t shake the ghostly apparition of her career. The seventies changed cinema in huge ways, and made way for new filmmakers and stars that could never have cut it in Old Hollywood. In turn some of our greatest stars disappeared from our screens. Deborah Kerr was an amazing actress, and though she found her niche in the eighties, she disappeared again, eventually dying in 2007 at the ripe old age of 86. She was beloved by her family in England, her legions of fans, and lovers of Old Hollywood alike.
