John Kerr (actor)

John Grinham Kerr (born November 15, 1931 in New York City , New York - † February 2, 2013 in Pasadena , California ) was an American actor .

Life

Family and education

Kerr was born into a family of actors in New York City. His parents Geoffrey Kerr and June Walker were both stage and film actors. His grandfather was the British actor Frederick Kerr , who appeared successfully as a character actor between 1880 and 1930 on American stages and as a film actor ( Waterloo Bridge ; Frankenstein ). In 1938, shortly before the outbreak of World War II , Kerr's parents separated. Kerr's father returned to Britain ; his mother raised Kerr alone. The marriage later divorced in 1945. Kerr grew up in the New York City area. He attended Harvey School in Katanoh, outside of White Plains , from 1942 to 1945 . From 1945 to 1948 he attended the Phillips Exeter Academy in New England . From 1948 he studied at Harvard College , where he was a member of the Drama Club. During his college years he played at the Brattle Theater in Cambridge in 1951/1952 ; there he played in the pieces A Midsummer Night's Dream , What you want and Billy Budd . He also appeared in various summer theaters (1947-1949). His partners there included Luise Rainer , Jean Parker and Gertrude Lawrence . These performances made him want to be an actor. He graduated from Harvard College in June 1952.

Stage career

In the season 1952/1953 he made his Broadway debut in October 1952 in the high school comedy Bernardine by Mary Chase ; Kerr received a Theater World Award for his portrayal of Arthur Beaumont . In the season 1953/1954 he had a great stage success in Robert Anderson's play Loner (original title Tea and Sympathy ). He played the 17-year-old boarding school student Tom Lee. He's an outsider in the community, doesn't care about sports, mountaineering or girls, reads books and poetry and listens to classical music. He is accused of being homosexual by his classmates but actually has an affair with the headmaster's wife. In 1954, Kerr won a Tony Award for his "sensitive portrayal" .

Movie and TV

In 1953, Kerr had his first television role in an episode of the Lux Video Theater series . In 1954, he played his first major television role in the NBC broadcast US Justice . In The Scandal that Rocked the Town , he played a baseball player who believes that unscrupulous game makers are responsible for his unsuccessfulness on the pitch. Kerr starred alongside his mother June Walker in this episode.

He made his film debut in 1955, directed by Vincente Minnelli , in the drama The Lost ; his partners were Lauren Bacall and Richard Widmark . He played the young patient Steven Holt. According to Kerr, he may have got the role because the originally intended James Dean had chosen to star in the movie Giants .

In 1956 he played alongside Leslie Caron in the male lead in the film Gaby , the third remake of the film Waterloo Bridge . John Kerr took on the male lead in 1956 at the side of Deborah Kerr in the film adaptation of Anderson's play Tea and Sympathy under the title Different from the others ; The director was again Vincente Minnelli. Kerr took on another leading role in 1958 in the romantic musical film South Pacific , a film adaptation of the musical South Pacific . He embodied Lt. Joe Cable, a newly arriving naval officer on an intelligence mission who manages to overcome racial and ethnic prejudice. In the disaster film SOS for Flight T 17 (1960), Kerr played a pilot who helps the flight captain ( Dana Andrews ) to land a commercial flight . In the horror film The Pendulum of Death (1961), Kerr played his last notable film role, directed by Roger Corman . His film partners were Vincent Price and Barbara Steele . Kerr played Francis Bernard, a young man who wants to investigate the mysterious death of his sister.

Kerr has made several non-stop and recurring roles in US television series . In 1963 he had a continuous series role in the crime series Arrest and Trial ; he played assistant district attorney Barry Pine. He has another lead series in the television series Peyton Place ; in the season 1965/1966 he impersonated District Attorney John Fowler. In the 1970s, Kerr had a recurring role as District Attorney Gerald O'Brien on the television series The Streets of San Francisco .

Kerr has also had episode roles and guest roles in various American television series , including Smoking Colts (1962), The People at Shiloh Ranch (1963), Wagon Train (1963), 12 O'Clock High (1964/1965), The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1965), Flipper (1967), High Chaparral (1967), FBI (1967–1970), Police Doctor Simon Lark (1971), Owen Marshall - Defense Attorney (1971), Columbo (1972), Police Story (1973–1970) 1976), Barnaby Jones (1974), The Invisible Man (1975), Medical Story (1975), and McMillan & Wife (1977).

He had his last role, according to the film database IMDb , in 1986 as a reporter at a conference in the television film The Ruler of Central Park , with Tommy Lee Jones in the lead role.

Working as a lawyer

From the late 1960s, Kerr studied law at UCLA Law School . He graduated from the Law School and received 1970 in California admission as a lawyer . He worked full time as a lawyer in Beverly Hills . His focus was on damage law and medical liability law . In addition, he continued to take on minor roles in various television series; partly to keep himself afloat financially with his own law firm. In 2000 he gave up his legal practice.

Personal

Kerr was married twice. He met his first wife, Priscilla Smith, at Harvard in 1951 when he was attending lectures in Serbo-Croatian language and literature. Kerr and Smith were married in December 1952; the marriage was divorced in 1972. The marriage resulted in three children, a son and two daughters. In 1979, Kerr married his second wife, Barbara Chu.

Kerr died at the age of 81 after a brief illness.

Filmography

• 1953: Lux Video Theater (episode The White Gown )
• 1954: Justice (TV series, episode)
• 1954: Robin Hood, the red avenger (The Men of Blackwood Forest)
• 1955: The Lost (The Cobweb)
• 1956: Gaby (Gaby)
• 1956: Different from the others (Tea and Sympathy)
• 1957: Under the blazing sun (The Vintage)
• 1958: South Pacific (South Pacific)
• 1960: SOS for flight T 17 (The Crowded Sky)
• 1961: The Pit and the Pendulum (Pit and the Pendulum)
• 1961: King of Kings (King of Kings)
• 1962: Smoking Colts (Gunsmoke) (TV series, episode)
• 1963: The People at Shiloh Ranch (The Virginian) (TV series, an episode)
• 1963: Wagon Train (TV series, an episode)
• 1963–1964: Arrest and Trial (TV series)
• 1964–1965: 12 O'Clock High (TV series)
• 1965: The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (TV series, episode)
• 1965–1966: Peyton Place (TV series)
• 1967: Flipper (TV series, episode)
• 1967: High Chaparral (TV series, episode)
• 1967–1970: FBI (TV series, seven episodes)
• 1971: Police Doctor Simon Lark (Dr. Simon Locke) (TV series, an episode)
• 1971: Owen Marshall - Counselor at Law (TV series, an episode)
• 1972: Columbo (TV series, an episode)
• 1973–1976: Police Story (TV series, five episodes)
• 1973-1977: The Streets of San Francisco (The Streets of San Francisco)
• 1974: Barnaby Jones (TV series, an episode)
• 1975: The Invisible Man (The Invisible Man) (TV series, one episode)
• 1975: Medical Story (TV series, episode)
• 1977: McMillan & Wife (TV series, an episode)
• 1977: Washington Behind Closed Doors (TV series, an episode)
• 1986: The Ruler of Central Park (The Park Is Mine) (TV movie)

Web links

• John Kerr in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• John Kerr in the Internet Broadway Database (English)
• John Kerr, star of 'Tea and Sympathy,' 'South Pacific,' this at 81 - Obituary in: Variety ( English )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} John Kerr, star of 'Tea and Sympathy,' 'South Pacific,' dies at 81 Obituary in Variety ; February 6, 2013
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} John Kerr Chronology ( Memento of the original dated February 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Vita 
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} The Pitfalls of working with Price (Interview with John Kerr)
4. ↑ Justice (1954–1956) ( Memento of the original from October 8, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Complete overview of the episodes)