British actress Kerr dies at 86

BBC ^ | 10/18/07

[Borges]

British actress Deborah Kerr, who starred in The King And I and From Here To Eternity, has died at the age of 86. The actress starred in British films before becoming successful in Hollywood.

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

I just looked it up: when that movie was filmed, in 1985, in real life, Robert Mitchum would have been about 67 or 68, and Deborah Kerr would have been about 63 or 64 - and yet still there was chemistry between them.

Can you imagine a random television movie being made these days which would feature a 60's-ish actor & a 60's-ish actress reuniting for some poignant war-time remembrances?

You'd get what? A 71-year-old Alan Alda romancing a 69-year-old Jane Fonda, reminiscing about their pro-Cong work in the 1960's? [Yes, Jane Fonda is about to turn 70!]

Or a 67-year-old James Brolin romancing a 65-year-old Barbara Streisand?

Blecch.

Derbyshire is right: Pop culture is filth.

[Liz]

[uncbob]

I thought she was the most feminine sexiest woman in the movies

Great looking and great body and great voice

[Liz]

"Shall we dance?"

[uncbob]

She was great in King Solomon’s Mines with Steward Granger

Most forget that movie

[Borges]

‘The Innocents’ was an adaptation of Henry James’ ‘The Turn of the Screw’.

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

I don’t think it was that simple politically back then. Look at Depression era films. They are much more left wing than most stuff today. And its hard to believe but John Ford was actually a mean old liberal who made fun of Wayne’s politics.

Yeah, but almost none of the Leftist crap survives to this day - almost all you get on TCM & AMC are Republican actors, in fairly straightforward, non-political roles.

With maybe a couple of exceptions - High Noon & For Whom the Bell Tolls are both communist allegories, and both continue to get some playing time, but then again, they both featured a staunchly Republican lead, in Gary Cooper.

And you know why that is - why we [the American public] spend so much time watching GOP leads on TCM & AMC?

Because people are sick and tired of watching effete, metrosexual, leftist pretty-boys, in meandering, nonsensical, post-modern dreck, and they want to see real men, making real decisions, and charting real [and correct] courses of action, in dramas with plots and character dialogue which actually make sense.

And in which the women [neither the actresses, nor the characters they are portraying] aren't a bunch of cheap, tacky, filthy dime-store whores.

[Borges]

AMC doesn’t really show much of anything worthwhile and hasn’t for years (Halloween sequels are their specialty these days). But virtually all the screwball comedies from the 30s are heavily class consciouses. ‘It Happened One Night’, ‘My Man Godfrey’ and others are filled with the happy ‘salt of the earth’ poor laughing at the idle rich.

[FFranco]

You are right. Many of the leading members of the film community during the ‘30s and ‘40s were Left, for example, Henry Fonda, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Dalton Trumbo, etc. Don’t forget Reagan was a Democrat then, and I think Jane Wyman may have remained a Democrat until her death this year.

Of course, the modern Conservative movement didn’t get started until the problems of Liberalism became more apparent in the 1960s, especially with LBJ’s administration. In the ‘30s and ‘40s a lot of Republicans were isolationist.

We look back on the films of those years and think of all the greats, but don’t forget there were 4 or 5 major studios each turning out a film a week. Out of that high volume, how many greats were created? It’s like television today, with a few great shows out of the thousands produced.

A story about John Ford and Wayne: When they were making They Were Expendable (an excellent film about PT boats), Wayne was the only star who hadn’t served. Ford (who was in the Navy) rode Wayne mercilessly about how he couldn’t salute properly, didn’t know military courtesy, didn’t understand combat, etc. That was the kind of relationship they had.

I read some speculation about Wayne and Reagan. Before WWII, they were about equal status in the movies. Wayne took his deferment from the military because he had several children dependent on him, while Reagan served. I believe he was in the Army Reserve, but could have gotten out because of his hearing problem.

The result was that John Wayne became a major star by acting as a hero in wartime films, while Reagan’s career languished while he made training films. After the war, Wayne’s career soared, while Reagan always remained in the second rank. Makes you appreciate what Ronald Reagan gave up for his country.

[Perfesser]

I am a 67 year old ultra conservative old fart and I have seen “An Affair to Remember” a dozen times. I still choke up at the final scene when Cary Grant realizes the truth, and I don’t care who knows.

[surrey]

I’m with you. Every time I hear the song I tear up. Wonderful movie,probably my all time favorite.

[RoseofTexas]

Don’t know if you knew this but Robert Mitchum was a genius with a high IQ! I heard, can’t remember who, I think Esther Williams or another actress who said Mr. Mitchum would just read the script and acted out his lines perfectly. He had and extraordinary memory, a brilliant man!

[RoseofTexas]

Now I remember who said it...Ms.Olivia De Haviland! They made a movie together. He played a brilliant financially broke college medical student and she played the old maid nurse who he only married for her money. GREAT movie!

[georgiabelle]

So nice to have a male admitt he likes chick flicks. My 3 boys would always gripe about them. Of course they also watched them.

I couldn’t say how many times I’ve watched that movie. And I loved how the director had Cary Grant find out by the picture instead of just being told.

Wish they still made movies like that. I might actually go to a movie theater.

[blu]

Turner Classic Movies (Sunday) will show a couple of Kerr’s films:

“You are receiving this because you have signed up for the Turner Classic Movies’ Schedule Newsletter.

We’re making the following change to honor Deborah Kerr:

Sunday, October 21
Add:
8:00 PM From Here to Eternity
10:15 PM Separate Tables

Delete:
8:00 PM Here Comes Mr. Jordan
10:00 PM Heaven Can Wait”

I’ll be watching!

[luvie]

This is the first I heard of her passing and it is very sad. She was a true lady. I loved that movie, too! Thanks for the clips!

[STARWISE]

She sure was ... a very special true lady.

[Lancey Howard]

Deborah Kerr is one of my favorite acresses of all time.
Lots of great movies.

RIP

[Old Professer]

Father Time is a terrible master, a true tyrant that first lures you with the promise of sylvan fields and sensual slumber cradled in loving arms as you grow to full flower, and then when the petals fade and the days grow dry the sap falls low as the sunset comes.

And, in the seeming blink of an eye, the beauty’s lost, the petals fall and the earth that gave you such hope and support waits patiently for your return as you flutter down til finally all that remains is but soon forgotten dust.

[DumpsterDiver]

Father Time is a terrible master ... waits patiently for your return as you flutter down til finally all that remains is but soon forgotten dust.

Lordy, that strikes me as so depressing that if I had some booze in the house I would pour myself a drink (or two). LOL.