[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d7a9a83866163cb1f6694144b763a1a2.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Kerr rhymes with star!]]
->''"For some strange reason, Americans think that ladies have no sense of humour. I don't know why that should be..."''

Deborah Jane Kerr[[note]](Rhymes with "star", but this doesn't stop people in UsefulNotes/{{Britain}} saying it so it rhymes with the "err" sound in "ferry". On top of that, current [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation NBA]] coach UsefulNotes/SteveKerr pronounces ''his'' last name to rhyme with "sir".)[[/note]] [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever CBE]] (30 September 1921 -- 16 October 2007) was a Scottish-born actress who was one of Hollywood's favourite redheads from the 1940s through the 1960s. Her success was pretty quick out of the gate, with well-received supporting roles in ''Major Barbara'' and ''Love on the Dole'' in her native UK. Teaming up with Michael Powell turned out well for her, with ''Film/TheLifeAndDeathOfColonelBlimp'' and ''Film/BlackNarcissus'' helping get her the attention of Hollywood.

Her early years in Tinseltown were successful, but not in the way she would have hoped. Due to her IAmVeryBritish way of speaking, MGM shoved her in various {{Costume Drama}}s and period pieces. She ended up typecast as an EnglishRose or ProperLady -- in what she mockingly called "poker up the arse parts". The film ''Film/YoungBess'' was the last straw for her, and she nearly had her contract terminated. But luckily for her, Fred Zinnemann cast her in his World War II drama ''Film/FromHereToEternity''. The scene of her passionately kissing Burt Lancaster on the beach as the waves wash over them shocked audiences who were used to seeing her in corsets -- and it helped show Hollywood her range. Although she would go on to play many more English Roses, she credited that with helping her get more varied parts.

She continued working in films until the 60s before abruptly quitting -- appalled by the [[UsefulNotes/NewHollywood violence and sex of the day]]. She went back to the stage, appearing in the original production of UsefulNotes/PulitzerPrize-winning play ''Theatre/{{Seascape}}'', and worked in a few television projects over there afterwards. In her career she amassed six Oscar nominations -- for ''Edward, My Son'', ''From Here To Eternity'', ''Theatre/TheKingAndI'', ''Film/HeavenKnowsMrAllison'', ''Film/SeparateTables'', and ''Film/TheSundowners''. She never won, but was presented with an honorary award in 1994. This was her official goodbye to Hollywood, and she enjoyed a peaceful retirement until her death in 2007.

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!!Some films in which Deborah Kerr appeared include:

* Creator/GeorgeBernardShaw's ''Theatre/MajorBarbara'' (1941)
* ''Love on the Dole'' (1941)
* ''Penn of Pennsylvania'' (1942)
* ''Hatter's Castle'' (1942)
* ''A Battle for a Bottle'' (1942)
* ''Film/TheLifeAndDeathOfColonelBlimp'' (1943)
* ''Film/VacationFromMarriage'' AKA ''Perfect Strangers'' (1945)
* ''Film/ISeeADarkStranger'' (1946)
* ''Film/BlackNarcissus'' (1947)
* ''Film/TheHucksters'' (1947)
* ''Literature/KingSolomonsMines'' (1950)
* ''Literature/QuoVadis?'' (1951)
* ''Film/ThePrisonerOfZenda'' (1952)
* ''Film/DreamWife'' (1953)
* ''Film/YoungBess'' (1953)
* ''Film/{{Julius Caesar|1953}}'' (1953)
* ''Literature/FromHereToEternity'' (1953)
* ''The End of the Affair'' (1955)
* ''Theatre/TheKingAndI'' (1956)
* ''Film/TeaAndSympathy'' (1956)
* ''Film/HeavenKnowsMrAllison'' (1957)
* ''Film/AnAffairToRemember'' (1957)
* ''Film/BonjourTristesse'' (1958)
* ''Film/SeparateTables'' (1958)
* ''Beloved Infidel'' (1959)
* ''Film/CountYourBlessings'' (1959)
* ''Film/TheSundowners'' (1960)
* ''The Naked Edge'' (1961)
* ''Film/TheInnocents'' (1961)
* ''Film/TheNightOfTheIguana'' (1964)
* ''Film/MarriageOnTheRocks'' (1965)
* ''Film/EyeOfTheDevil'' (1967)
* ''Film/{{Casino Royale|1967}}'' (1967)
* ''Film/PrudenceandthePill''
* ''Film/TheArrangement'' (1969)
* ''Film/TheGypsyMoths'' (1969)

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!!Tropes associated with her works:

* ActingForTwo: ''Film/TheLifeAndDeathOfColonelBlimp'' has her playing three different characters in the titular Colonel's life.
* ActorAllusion:[[invoked]] In ''Film/TheGypsyMoths'' she cheats on her husband with Burt Lancaster, in a nod to their roles in ''Film/FromHereToEternity''. There's a reference to the year 1953 which is the year that film was released.
* AdamWesting: She poked fun at her stuffy English Rose persona in ''Film/CasinoRoyale1967''.
* AwardSnub: [[invoked]] Six times she was nominated for an Oscar and never won. In the 90s they presented her with an honorary Oscar for her contribution to film.
* BestKnownForTheFanservice: [[invoked]]
** ''Film/FromHereToEternity'' is a respected war picture among film buffs. But its most memorable detail is the steamy kiss on the beach between Deborah and Burt Lancaster.
** ''Film/TheGypsyMoths'' is remembered for her appearing nude at the age of 47.
* ColbertBump: [[invoked]] When ''Film/AnAffairToRemember'' was shown during ''Film/SleeplessInSeattle'', it enjoyed a surge in popularity through video rentals in the 90s - something she was quite pleased about.
* ContractualPurity: She said in an interview that Hollywood expected its ladies to have no sense of humour, and as such she found herself often playing ProperLady characters - princesses, nuns, governesses and ladies. Avoiding this trope was the reason she did the steamy beach scene in ''Film/FromHereToEternity'' - and although she got many more costume drama roles, she credits the film with helping shake up her image. She invoked it by poking fun at herself while posing in a swimsuit to promote the film, saying "I feel naked without my tiara".
* CreatorBacklash: [[invoked]] She referred to many of her ProperLady costume drama roles as "poker up the arse parts". In fact, the moment ''Film/YoungBess'' wrapped, she went to MGM and asked them to terminate her contract. Luckily for her career ''Film/FromHereToEternity'' was the next film she did.
* DawsonCasting:
** [[invoked]] In ''Film/TheInnocents'' Miss Giddens is meant to be a young governess on her first job (and is only nineteen or twenty in the novella the film's based on). Deborah was forty when the film was made.
** [[invoked]] Inverted in ''Film/YoungBess'' where she was only twenty-four playing UsefulNotes/CatherineParr in her thirties.
** [[invoked]] Possibly inverted in ''Film/TeaAndSympathy'' too. Laura in 1947 mentions having a husband who was in World War I, putting her in her early forties. Deborah was thirty-five.
* DeletedRole: [[invoked]] Her first role was in the film ''Contraband'' but all her scenes were cut.
* DyeHard: [[invoked]] Deborah was a natural dark haired redhead. An aunt who got her into films persuaded her to lighten it.
* FakeAmerican: [[invoked]] In ''Film/FromHereToEternity'' as Karen Holmes.
* FakeAustralian:[[invoked]] In ''The Sundowners''.
* FakeIrish: [[invoked]] Technically as Sister Clodagh in ''Film/BlackNarcissus'' too, though she's NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent. She keeps her accent in the flashbacks to Clodagh's pre-vocational life in Ireland, so it's unknown if Clodagh's accent simply faded from years as a nun. She puts on an Irish accent for real as another nun - this time Sister Angela in ''Film/HeavenKnowsMrAllison''.
* FunnyCharacterBoringActor: [[invoked]] Inverted. Usually typecast as high-minded, long-suffering ladies of various periods. In real life she was reportedly very goofy and fun-loving. Take note of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KNdNiRel9U this]] snarky award presentation.
* IAmNotSpock: [[invoked]] Robert Mitchum reportedly thought she would be like the prim and proper characters she played. During one scene in ''Heaven Knows Mr Allison'', she [[PrecisionFStrike swore]] at the director - and he almost drowned laughing. This was, as they say, the start of a beautiful friendship.
* IAmVeryBritish: Her voice was naturally this, which was probably the reason she did so many period movies.
* MadonnaWhoreComplex: Ran into this early on in her career. American audiences saw her as a Madonna - with her posh English accent and typecasting as ladies in costume dramas. She essentially had to play a Whore to shake up her image.
* MagnumOpusDissonance: [[invoked]] ''Film/TheKingAndI'', ''Film/BlackNarcissus'', ''Film/AnAffairToRemember'' or ''Film/FromHereToEternity'' would be her best known roles. Deborah regarded {{cult classic}} ''Film/TheInnocents'' as her finest performance. In her autobiography she stated that the role she should have won her Oscar for was ''Film/TheSundowners''.
* NonSingingVoice: [[invoked]] In ''The King and I'', dubbed by Marni Nixon. This was actually when such a thing went public. Although Marni Nixon's contract stated that she couldn't say anything, Deborah went to the papers and mentioned her by name. [[note]] Oddly enough, Deborah's own singing in real life was, in her own words "solidly competent". It was more a question of range than quality, although she was perfectly happy for Marni to sing for her. [[/note]]
* TheOtherMarty:[[invoked]] Creator/KimNovak was cast as Catherine in ''Film/EyeOfTheDevil'' and had filmed a good amount of her scenes when she fell off a horse. Deborah was cast to replace her, and nearly all the scenes were re-shot.
* PlayingAgainstType: [[invoked]] ''Film/FromHereToEternity'' had her playing a FakeAmerican trophy wife unhappy in her marriage that has an affair with a Pearl Harbor soldier.
* PlayingWithCharacterType: [[invoked]] As a proper governess in ''Film/TheInnocents''...who may or may not be going mad and with a questionable relationship to a young boy. Also in ''Literature/KingSolomonsMines'', as a ProperLady thrown into the African wilderness - and needs an AdrenalineMakeover to get by.
* PoorMansSubstitute: [[invoked]] Early in her career, she was given a lot of parts that Greer Garson turned down.
* PrimAndProperBun: What her hair was usually up in considering the type of characters she played.
* ProductionPosse: [[invoked]] She starred in two Michael Powell films back to back - ''Film/TheLifeAndDeathOfColonelBlimp'' and ''Film/BlackNarcissus''.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: She abruptly quit films in the 1960s, appalled by the violence and sex of the era.
* StarMakingRole: [[invoked]] ''Film/BlackNarcissus'' brought her to the attention of Hollywood, though it had the effect of typecasting her as an EnglishRose.
* ThoseTwoActors: [[invoked]]
** She was the favourite leading lady of Creator/RobertMitchum, who co-starred with her in four movies: ''Film/HeavenKnowsMrAllison'' (1957), ''Film/TheSundowners'' (1960), ''The Grass is Greener'' (1960), and ''Reunion at Fairborough'' (1985).
** She also did a lot of films with Creator/JeanSimmons. The above-mentioned ''The Grass Is Greener'', ''Film/YoungBess'', ''Film/BlackNarcissus'' (the latter two of which also starred Kathleen Byron).
** She worked with Creator/StewartGranger on ''Young Bess'', 1950's ''Literature/KingSolomonsMines'' and ''Film/ThePrisonerOfZenda''.
* TypeCasting: She played a lot of: [[invoked]]
** English Rose ProperLady - In her early films.
** Governesses - ''Theatre/TheKingAndI'', ''Film/TheInnocents'', ''The Chalk Garden''
** Nuns - ''Black Narcissus'', ''Heaven Knows Mr Alison''
** She was versatile enough to get plenty of other parts after a while, though. Overall a lot of her characters were delicate or refined, who went through harrowing experiences.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: [[invoked]]
** She really wanted to star in ''Film/TheAfricanQueen'', but the studio refused - as she had just done a similar role in ''Literature/KingSolomonsMines'' - and it went to Creator/KatharineHepburn instead. Nobody is exactly ''sorry'' about this, as Hepburn did a bang-up job, but still, you have to wonder...
** She was up for the title role in ''Film/YoungBess'' but scheduling conflicts with ''Edward, My Son'' led to Jean Simmons getting it. Deborah was given the smaller role of Catherine Parr instead.
** Producers of ''Film/CarryOnScreaming'' offered her a lot of money to star, but she opted to do a stage version of ''Literature/FlowersForAlgernon'' instead.
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