Deborah Kerr

Similar to her losing streak at the Oscars, she was finally awarded a BAFTA "Special Award" in 1991 after being nominated four times. She did, however, win the New York Film Critics Award three times and the Golden Globe Award for The King and I .

Her last public appearance was in 1994 when she was awarded an honorary Oscar after six failed nominations over the years. Along with Thelma Ritter , she is one of the few actresses to have received six nominations and not have won an Oscar. On Oscar evening, Glenn Close presented a special tribute to her work, and the Oscar audience watched clips of her films to music. She then appeared from behind the screen, obviously frail, in a blue pastel trouser suit and received a standing ovation from her peers. A life-long shy person, she said, "I have never been so terrified in my life, but I feel better now because I know that I am among friends. Thank you for giving me a happy life." Following this, there was another standing ovation and she left the stage, her exit becoming her last official goodbye to Hollywood. Ironically, Close herself has since equaled Kerr and Ritters record, receiving six nominations with--so far--no wins.

She was awarded the CBE in the 1998 Queens New Year Honours List for her services to drama.

Has two daughters from her marriage to Anthony C. Bartley : Melanie Jane Bartley (born December 27, 1947) and Francesca Anne Bartley (born December 18, 1951). Bartley was a WWII Royal Air Force squadron leader.

Her singing voice was dubbed by Marni Nixon in The King and I .

Suffered from Parkinsons disease.

Joan Crawford was originally meant to play her role in From Here to Eternity , but when she insisted on shooting the film with her own cameraman, the studio balked. It decided to take a chance and cast Kerr, who then was struggling against her ladylike stereotype, to play the adulterous military wife who has an affair with Burt Lancaster. The casting worked and her career thereafter enjoyed a new, sexier versatility.

Maureen OHara was originally meant to play her role in The King and I , but Yul Brynner specifically asked for Kerr.

Mother-in-law of John Shrapnel , who married her daughter Francesca Shrapnel. She is, thus, also the grandmother of writer Joe Shrapnel and actors Lex Shrapnel and Tom Shrapnel.

Her brother Ted Trimmer was killed in a road-rage incident at the age of 78 (August 2004).

When she was a young girl, she had a strict "Victorian" grandmother who made her lie on her back, on the floor, for long periods of time, in order to "straighten her back" and ensure good posture.

She is the great-aunt of Benjamin Viertel.

In Italy, almost all of her films were dubbed by either Lydia Simoneschi or Renata Marini. She was occasionally dubbed by Dhia Cristiani , Andreina Pagnani and once by Gemma Griarotti in Quo Vadis .

Was romantically involved with Burt Lancaster while filming From Here to Eternity .

Originally when filming began on Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison , her co-star Robert Mitchum worried that Kerr would be like the prim characters she frequently played. However, after she swore at director John Huston during one take, Mitchum, who was in the water, almost drowned laughing. The two stars went on to have an enduring friendship that lasted until Mitchums death in 1997.

Lived in Switzerland and Spain after retiring from acting, but returned to England to be with her family when her Parkinsons disease worsened.

Her surname is pronounced "car", not "care" or "cur".

Her signature in cement for Graumans Chinese Theater in Hollywood was actually cast on the set of The King and I and not at the theater.

Patron of the National Society of Clean Air and Enviromental Protection in Britain from 1992 until her death in 2007.

Her aunt Phyllis Smale, running the Hicks-Smale Drama School in Bristol, became her first acting coach.

Born to Arthur Charles Kerr-Trimmer, a World War I veteran pilot who became a naval architect and civil engineer, and his wife Kathleen Rose Smale, she was originally trained to be a ballet dancer.

She was made a Fellow of the British Film Institute in recognition of her outstanding contribution to film culture.

Deborah Kerr, her husband Peter Viertel and her biographer Eric Braun all died within the space of five weeks in the fall of 2007. All were aged 86.

Received one of the longest standing ovations of all Honorary Oscar recipients when she was awarded an Honorary Oscar for her body of work in 1994.

Daughter-in-law of Salka Viertel and Berthold Viertel.

Is one of five Scottish actors to have received an Academy Award nomination. The others in chronological order are Mary Ure , Ian Bannen , Tom Conti and Sean Connery. As of 2017 Connery is the only one to have won an Academy Award (for his performance in The Untouchables ).

She wanted to play in The African Queen very badly, but MGM refused to loan her because she had just appeared in King Solomons Mines , which also had an African locale.

She has said that three of her films posed "special challenges" for her-- From Here to Eternity , Edward, My Son and The Innocents .

Her aunt, Phyllis Smale, taught drama and elocution and was the primary influence in her life in introducing her to the theatrical arts.

When she appeared in "The Corn Is Green" in 1985, she was suffering from a case of stage fright and, consequently received some of her most disappointing reviews.

William Wyler said, "I still think of Audrey Hepburn as the princess but Deborah Kerr as the queen".

Is one of 27 actresses to have received an Academy Award nomination for their performance in a musical; hers being The King and I . The others, in chronological order, are: Bessie Love ( The Broadway Melody ), Grace Moore ( One Night of Love ), Jean Hagen ( Singin in the Rain (1952) ), Marjorie Rambeau ( Torch Song ), Dorothy Dandridge ( Carmen Jones ), Rita Moreno ( West Side Story ), Gladys Cooper ( My Fair Lady ), Julie Andrews ( Mary Poppins , The Sound of Music and Victor Victoria ), Debbie Reynolds ( The Unsinkable Molly Brown ), Peggy Wood ( The Sound of Music ), Carol Channing ( Thoroughly Modern Millie ), Kay Medford ( Funny Girl ), Barbra Streisand ( Funny Girl ), Liza Minnelli ( Cabaret ), Ronee Blakley ( Nashville ), Lily Tomlin ( Nashville ), Ann-Margret ( Tommy ), Lesley Ann Warren ( Victor Victoria ), Amy Irving ( Yentl ), Nicole Kidman ( Moulin Rouge! ), Queen Latifah ( Chicago ), Catherine Zeta-Jones ( Chicago ), Rene Zellweger ( Chicago ), Jennifer Hudson ( Dreamgirls ), Penlope Cruz ( Nine ), Anne Hathaway ( Les Misrables ), Meryl Streep ( Into the Woods ), and Emma Stone ( La La Land ).

Had three grandsons: Joe (b. 1976), Alexander and Thomas Shrapnel , via her daughter Francesca.

Suffered a miscarriage in February 1961 while two months pregnant with her husband Peter Viertel s baby.

In addition to The King and I , her vocals in An Affair to Remember were also dubbed by Marni Nixon.

Returned to work 8 months after giving birth to her daughter Francesca to begin filming Edward, My Son .

Was 5 months pregnant with her daughter Francesca when she completed filming If Winter Comes .

Returned to work 4 months after giving birth to her daughter Melanie to begin filming Dream Wife .

Was 1 month pregnant with her daughter Melanie when she completed filming King Solomons Mines .

All the most successful people these days seem to be neurotic. Perhaps,we should stop being sorry for them and start being sorry for me--for,being so confounded normal.

I came over here [Hollywood] to act, but it turned out all I had to do,was to be high-minded, long suffering, white-gloved and decorative.

I am really rather like a beautiful Jersey cow, I have the same pathetic,droop to the corners of my eyes.

Most of the waves came up only to our feet, but we needed one that,would come up all the way. We were like surfers, waiting for the,perfect waves. Between each take, we had to do a total cleanup. When it,was all over, we had four tons of grit in our mouths--and other places.

[on why she keeps returning to the stage] It depend on what one wants,from life. If you want to make lots of money, you keep making films.

But if you want to exercise your talent, you look for the challenge of,the stage where you are completely exposed, with no technicians, clever,cameramen, or film editors to help you.

He loved words, and he would admit that he was playing with them all the time. He was obsessive about the rhythm of the sentence, and would add a word, subtract a word. [about Truman Capote],I respect anyone who has to fight and howl for his decency. .