Redhead of the Week - Deborah Kerr
The Scottish television, stage and film actress Deborah Jane Kerr-Trimmer CBE popular by the name Deborah Kerr was born on the 30th September 1921 in Glasgow, Scotland. Kerr was the only daughter and eldest child of Kathleen Rose & Capt. Arthur Charles Kerr-Trimmer who was a veteran pilot of the First World War and later worked as a civil engineer and naval architect. Deborah Kerr had a younger journalist brother Edward who died in a 2004 road accident.
In 1938, Kerr as a ballet dancer first appeared at Sadler’s Wells and soon jumped to the next step on the performance ladder, acting. In 1940, Kerr appeared in the British war-time spy film Contraband but unfortunately her scenes were edited in the final released version. Her next role was in the 1941 British film Hatter’s Castle. In the subsequent year Kerr played the hero’s love interest in Emeric Pressburger and Michael Powell’s film titled The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. Deborah Kerr struck fame and recognition after playing the acclaimed role of a nun in the 1947 Black Narcissus for which she bagged Actress of the Year Award by the New York Film Critics’.
Deborah Kerr appeared as Karen in the film From Here to Eternity in 1953, the role brought her an Oscar nomination in the category of Best Actress. AFI termed the movie as one of “AFI’s top 100 Most Romantic Films” ever produced in the history of American cinema.
Kerr portrayed various roles such as a nun in Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison, a governess in The Chalk Garden, a mama’s girl in Separate Tables, a sheep-herder’s wife in The Sundowners, a beautiful and lustful screen enchantresses in Beloved Infidel and Bonjour tristesse and as a comic in The Grass is Greener. Deborah Kerr’s most popular roles were in the 1956 musical The King and I and in An Affair to Remember. In 1967, Kerr performed in the James Bond movie Casino Royale, getting the honour of being the oldest Bond Girl at the age of 46. In 1969, Deborah Kerr appeared nude in John Frankenheimer’s The Gypsy Moths, an act intended to maintain her competitiveness against young and upcoming actresses. However Deborah Kerr soon expressed her unwillingness to repeat her nude performance and drifted towards theatres & television towards the end of the 1960’s.
On the 29th November 1945 Kerr married Anthony Bartley who was a commissioned officer in the Royal Air Force and had the rank of Squadron Leader. The couple had 2 daughters namely Melanie Jane who was born on the 27th December 1947 & Francesca Ann who is the actor John Shrapnel’s wife. The couple separated after fourteen years of marriage. On the 23rd July 1960, Deborah Kerr married author Peter Viertel who had a daughter Christine Viertel. Although Kerr resided in Klosters, Switzerland & Marbella, Spain for a long time, she eventually returned to Britain to her own children. Soon after returning to Britain her health condition started deteriorating. Deborah Kerr died of Parkinson’s disease on the 16th October 2007 at Botesdale, Suffolk.
Deborah Kerr received a total of six nominations in the category of Best Actress at the Academy Awards along with four Golden globe nominations during her career as an actress. Out of these Deborah won a Golden Globe for the film The King and I. She was also distinguished by a Henrietta Award bestowing her the title of Best Female in World Cinema.
Although Kerr never received an Oscar, Cannes or BAFTA award dirctly for her perfornamce, she received honorary awards such as a Cannes Film Festival Tribute in 1984 ,a BAFTA Special Award in 1991 & an Honorary Academy Award in 1994 in appreciation of “Perfection, Discipline and Elegance”. In 1998, Deborah Kerr was appointed as a Commander of the Order the British Empire. Deborah Kerr also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for her outstanding contributions to the motion picture industry.
Rupert Alexander Lloyd Grint (born 24 August 1988) is an English actor best known for playing Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films. In December 2007, Grint was ranked #16 in the list of Forbes Top twenty earners under 25 with an annual earning of $4 million (US).
Early life
Grint was born in Harlow, Essex and grew up in Hertfordshire. His mother, Joanne Grint (née Parsons), is a housewife, and his father, Nigel Grint, is a memorabilia dealer. He has one brother, James (born in 1990), and three sisters: Georgina (born in 1993), Samantha (born in 1996) and Charlotte (born in 1998). Before being cast in Harry Potter, he had only appeared in plays for school and his local theatre group, Top Hat Stage School. As a young child, he was once cast as a fish in a play based on the story of Noah’s Ark. He also played Rumpelstiltskin in another school play.
Career
A self-proclaimed fan of the Harry Potter book series, young Grint was interested in getting a role in the film. For his audition, he sent a video he made of himself, in which he dressed as his drama teacher while rapping about how much he wanted the part; Grint won the casting selection with the video. After completing the first Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, he appeared as science-whiz Alan A. Allen in the British film Thunderpants (2002) which received mainly negative reviews[citation needed] and was considered a flop[by whom?]. In 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2009 he again starred as Ron Weasley in the Potter sequels Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Grint also starred in the coming-of-age story Driving Lessons with Laura Linney and Julie Walters (who acted as his character’s mother, Mrs Weasley, in the Harry Potter movies), which was released in the summer of 2006. Grint got excellent reviews for his first leading role: the critics praised the realism he brought into the role of shy teenager Ben Marshall, as well as his “riotous comedic timing” and “fantastic screen chemistry” with Walters.
Also known for his radio and television voice-over work, he appeared as Nigel Molesworth in the Baggy Trousers series for BBC Radio 4 and voiced Peter Pan in a BBC documentary.
On 9 July 2007, Grint and fellow cast-mates Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson left imprints of their hands, feet and wands in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood.
On 2 July 2008, it was announced that Grint would star in Cherrybomb, “a gritty thriller about two teenagers who get into trouble when they both fall for a beautiful new girl in town”. Filming was wrapped up in late August 2008; on 5 December 2008, it was announced that the post-production was completed.
In August 2008, it was announced that Grint is to star in comedy remake of 1993 French film Cible Emouvante, titled Wild Target, alongside Bill Nighy and Emily Blunt.[8] Grint’s character is called Tony. The filming for Wild Target wrapped up on 27 September 2008 and as of mid-2009 the movie is in post-production.
While directing Prisoner of Azkaban, director Alfonso Cuarón said Grint is “the likely future star out of the Hogwarts trio”.
He voiced Ron Weasley in the video game of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, as well as in the video game of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Rupert Grint was also praised by critics for his performance in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Michael McGuire, a writer for the Examiner, had this to say about him:
I appreciated Rupert Grint for the first time. To me, he’s always been “that other guy” in the Potter movies, but he truly steps forward in this edition and, if he keeps it up, he could be the one of the three getting the best parts a decade from now.
Personal life
In July 2004, Grint finished Richard Hale School, taking his GCSE examinations. When not working, he enjoys learning to ride the unicycle, drawing/sketching, watching Tottenham Hotspur and playing golf. Like the character he portrays, Ron Weasley, he has stated that he has arachnophobia.
With his earnings from the “Harry Potter” series, Grint purchased an ice-cream van and then stated jokingly that if his career falls out after the end of the seven part series, then he’ll still have the van. According to his co-star Emma Watson from her interview with Conan O’Brien, the van has all the toppings and such in it.
In September 2007, Grint and his co-stars, along with David Heyman and David Yates attended the National Movie Awards. He lost to his co-star Daniel Radcliffe for Best Actor.
Hair care company Brylcreem released a list of the best and worst male hairstyles of the celebrity world in 2007 putting Rupert Grint’s haircut with the Top 5 Best Male Film Star haircuts and his co-star, Daniel Radcliffe, in the Top 5 Worst Male Film Star haircuts.
Daniel Radcliffe stated in Empire magazine (August 2008) that although he and Emma Watson have had disagreements, it was impossible to fall out with Grint as he is “the most laid back guy in the world.”
In July 2009, it was reported that Grint was recovering from a “mild bout” of swine flu.
Gillian Leigh Anderson (born August 9, 1968) is an Emmy, Golden Globe, and SAG winning actress, best known for her roles as FBI Special Agent Dana Scully in the American TV series The X-Files, Moro in the English dub of Princess Mononoke, Lily Bart in The House of Mirth and Lady Dedlock in the BBC TV series Bleak House.
Early life
Anderson was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Rosemary Anderson, a computer analyst, and Edward Anderson, who owned a film post-production company.Soo n after her birth, her family moved to Puerto Rico for 15 months and then to Crouch End and finally Harringay in North London, so that her father could attend the London Film School. When Anderson was 11 years old, her family moved again, this time to Grand Rapids, Michigan. She attended Fountain Elementary and then City High-Middle School, a program for gifted students with a strong emphasis on the humanities; she graduated in 1986.
With her English accent and background, Anderson was mocked and felt out of place in the American Midwest and soon adopted a Midwest accent. To this day, her accent depends on her location - for instance, in an interview with Jay Leno she spoke in an American accent, but in an interview with Michael Parkinson she spoke with an English accent. In addition, she had her nose pierced in the early 1980s and dyed her hair various colors. Her high school classmates voted her as “Most Bizarre,” “Class Clown”, “Most Likely to go Bald” and “Most Likely to be Arrested.” She was caught trying to jam the high school doors by filling their locks with glue on the eve of her graduation.
Anderson was interested in marine biology, but began acting her freshman year in high school productions, and later in community theater, and served as a student intern at the Grand Rapids Civic Theatre. She attended The Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago (formerly the Goodman School of Drama), where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1990. She also participated in the National Theatre of Great Britain’s summer program at Cornell University.
Career
Anderson moved to New York when she was 20 years old. To support herself when she started her career, Anderson worked as a waitress. She began her career in Alan Ayckbourn’s play, Absent Friends at the Manhattan Theatre Club alongside Brenda Blethyn; she won the 1990-91 Theatre World “Newcomer” Award for her role. Her next theatrical role was in Christopher Hampton’s The Philanthropist at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut.
Anderson moved to Los Angeles in 1992, spending a year auditioning. Although she had once vowed she would never do TV, being out of work for a year changed her mind. Anderson did Home Fires Burning for a cable station, as well as the audio book version of Exit to Eden. She broke into mainstream television in 1993, with a guest appearance on the collegiate drama, Class of ‘96, on the fledgling Fox Network.
As a result of her guest appearance in Class of 96, Anderson was sent the script for The X Files at the age of 24. She decided to audition because “for the first time in a long time, the script involved a strong, independent, intelligent woman as a lead character.” Producer Chris Carter wanted to employ her, but Fox wanted someone with previous TV exposure and greater sex appeal. Fox sent in more actresses, but Carter stood by Anderson, and she was eventually cast as Special Agent Dana Scully. Anderson got the part assuming it would run for 13 episodes, the standard minimum order for American TV networks. Filmed in Vancouver and then in Los Angeles, the series would run for nine seasons, and included two films, released in 1998 and 2008. During her time on The X Files, Anderson won several awards for her portrayal of Special Agent Scully, including an Emmy Award, Golden Globe and two Screen Actors Guild awards for “Best Actress in a Drama Series.” While filming, Anderson met assistant art director Clyde Klotz, whom she would eventually marry.
Anderson had roles in a handful of films during the run of The X-Files and starred in The House of Mirth, an adaptation of the Edith Wharton novel of the same name.
In 1999, Anderson had a supporting role in the English-language release of Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke, where she voiced the character of Moro. Anderson is a proclaimed lover of Miyazaki’s work. She also took part in Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues.
When The X-Files ended, Anderson performed in several stage productions and worked on various film projects. She has participated in narrative work for documentaries on scientific topics. In 2005, she appeared as Lady Dedlock in the BBC television adaptation of Charles Dickens’ novel Bleak House, had a starring role in the Irish film The Mighty Celt (for which she won an IFTA award for Best International Actress) and performed in A Cock and Bull Story, a film version of the novel Tristram Shandy.
In 2006, Anderson was nominated for a British Academy Television Award (BAFTA) for Best Actress and won the Broadcasting Press Guild Television and Radio Award for Best Actress for her role in Bleak House. Anderson also received an Emmy nomination for “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie” for her performance as Lady Dedlock. Furthermore, she was nominated for a Golden Satellite Award and Golden Globe for her performance in Bleak House and came in second place in the Best Actress category of the 2005 BBC Drama website poll for her performance as Lady Dedlock (Billie Piper came in first and Anna Maxwell Martin came in third).
During 2006 and 2007, Anderson appeared in two British films: The Last King of Scotland (2006) and Straightheads (2007).
In December 2007, it was announced that Anderson will host PBS’ Masterpiece Theatre during the Jane Austen series.
On December 10, 2007, Anderson began filming for The X-Files: I Want to Believe. Filming concluded on March 11, 2008. The movie was released on July 25, 2008, with a DVD released on December 2, 2008.
Gillian portrayed Nora in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House at the Donmar Warehouse in London’s West End during a limited engagement which ran from May 14, 2009 until July 18, 2009.