While I was away having surgery, one of the great movie stars passed away, Deborah Kerr (rhythms with star) at the age of 86 from Parkinson’s disease.
Naturally her passing made me think of my favorite Kerr movies topped by From Here To Eternity, and including a movie on my all-time favorite scary movies list, The Innocents. Go here for my complete list.
The Kerr canon also includes four films with her all time favorite co-star, Robert Mitchum. The Hollywood tough guy and the genteel English lady were an unlikely pair and that is what made the teaming so divine in such classic flicks as Heaven Knows Mr. Allison and The Sundowners. They also acted together in The Grass Is Greener (with Cary Grant and Jean Simmons) and in the 1985 TV movie Reunion at Fairborough. Said Mitchum of Kerr: "The best, my favorite...Life would be kind if I could live it with Deborah around."
One can’t talk of her career without mentioned An Affair to Remember and The King and I. In the category of a guilty pleasure is the 1967 comedy version of Casino Royale. Kerr played the superspy Mimi opposite David Niven and has mentioned that she enjoyed the part because it gave her the rare opportunity to use her real Scottish brogue. She was typecast as a gentle Englishwoman early on and her real life class meant that the typecasting stuck despite the versatility of her screen career. Check out the NYTimes obit.
One of the true legends is gone.