After changing careers, she soon found success as an actress. Kerr originally trained as a ballet dancer, first appearing on stage at Sadler's Wells in 1938. Kerr was educated at the independent Northumberland House School, Henleaze in Bristol, England, and at Rossholme School, Weston-super-Mare. He died, aged 78, in a road rage incident in 2004. Kerr had a younger brother, Edmund ('Teddy'), who became a journalist. Young Deborah spent the first three years of her life in the Scottish west coast town of Helensburgh, where her parents lived with Deborah's grandparents in a house on West King Street. Trimmer and Smale married, both aged 28, on 21 August 1919 in Smale's hometown of Lydney, Gloucestershire.

Arthur Charles Kerr Trimmer, a World War I veteran and pilot who lost a leg at the Battle of the Somme and later became a naval architect and civil engineer. Early life ĭeborah Jane Trimmer was born on 30 September 1921 in Hillhead, Glasgow, the only daughter of Kathleen Rose ( née Smale) and Capt. In 1994, having already received honorary awards from the Cannes Film Festival and BAFTA, Kerr received an Academy Honorary Award with a citation recognizing her as 'an artist of impeccable grace and beauty, a dedicated actress whose motion picture career has always stood for perfection, discipline and elegance'.

Allison (1957), Bonjour Tristesse (1958), Separate Tables (1958), The Sundowners (1960), The Innocents (1961), The Grass Is Greener (1960), and The Night of the Iguana (1964). Her other major and best known films and performances are The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), Black Narcissus (1947), Quo Vadis (1951), From Here to Eternity (1953), Tea and Sympathy (1956), An Affair to Remember (1957), Heaven Knows, Mr. She was nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, becoming the first person from Scotland to be nominated for any acting Oscar.ĭuring her international film career, Kerr won a Golden Globe Award for her performance as Anna Leonowens in the musical film The King and I (1956).

JSTOR ( April 2020) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)ĭeborah Jane Trimmer CBE (30 September 1921 – 16 October 2007), known professionally as Deborah Kerr ( / k ɑːr/), was a British actress.

Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This article needs additional citations for verification.

Oxford casino careers