Deborah Kerr was born on 30 September 1921 in Helensburgh, Scotland, the daughter of Captain Arthur Kerr-Trimmer. She was educated at Northumberland House, Clifton, Bristol. She first performed at the Open Air Theatre in Regents Park, London. She subsequently performed with the Oxford Repertory Company 1939-40. Her first appearance on the West End stage was as Ellie Dunn in Heartbreak House at the Cambridge Theatre in 1943. She performed in France, Belgium and Holland with ENSA (Entertainments National Service Association, or Every Night Something Awful) - The British Army entertainment service. She has appeared in many films from her first appearance in Major Barbara.
The Night of the Iguana (1964): $250,000
The Adventures of Colonel Blimp (1943): £ 5,000

She was awarded a BAFTA Special Award in 1991 Her last public appearance was in 1994 when she was awarded an honorary Oscar after six failed nominations over the years. Miss Kerr is the only actress to go on to have receive six nominations and not to have won an Oscar. On Oscar evening, Glenn Close presented a special tribute to her work, the Oscar audience watched clips of her films to music. Miss Kerr 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 woman, Miss Kerr 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 Miss Kerr left the stage, which was to become her last official goodbye to Hollywood. Awarded a CBE (Commander of the order of the British Empire) in the 1997/8 New Years Honours List Has two daughters from her marriage to Anthony Bartley: Melanie Jane, born on December 27, 1947 and Francesca Ann. Her singing voice was dubbed by Marni Nixon in The King and I Suffers from Parkinson disease Joan Crawford was originally meant to play her role in From Here to Eternity Maureen O'Hara was originally meant to play her role in The King and I She is mother-in-law of actor John Shrapnel, who married her daughter Francesca. She is thus also the grandmother of writer Joe Shrapnel and actors Lex Shrapnel & Tom Shrapnel. August 2004 - her brother, Edmund Trimmer (78) was murdered in a road rage incident. 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.