Raquelle Remembering Kerr: From Here to Eternity
September 30th 2008 06:50
Deborah Kerr – one of the greatest leading ladies of screen history – was born on this day 87 years ago, and will forever be remembered, after her passing last year, for the incredible performances she bestowed in classics like From Here to Eternity (1953) and An Affair To Remember (1957).
Who could ever forget Kerr’s captivating love scene with Burt Lancaster in From Here to Eternity where she so convincingly played the sensuous, philandering housewife opposite the brute and handsome Lancaster. While the clichéd image may rest in the vaults of what some consider ‘soppy old black-and-white cinema’ it’s very easy to forgo the impact this film had on the world at the time. It openly and honestly dealt with the toils and troubles of soldiers stationed on Hawaii in the days just before the attack on Pearl Harbor and was strongly supported by a gifted all-star cast including a young Montgomery Clift, Donna Reed and Frank Sinatra. It’s no surprise the film took home 8 Oscars, including a nomination for Kerr.
And in An Affair to Remember touted as ‘the most romantic films of all-time’ Kerr so brilliantly portrayed the fragilities of young love, tragedy and how true passion never dies. In one of the most memorable and tear jerking reveals in cinematic history, Nickie (Cary Grant) sees the portrait of Terry (Kerr) and realizes she is that someone’s “friend in a wheelchair”. So heart wrenching and bitter sweet was the end to this classic tale that it imparted the inspiration for other remakes, and Nora Ephron’s Sleepless in Seattle (1993).
With true femininity, poise and a strength all of her own Deborah Kerr was a standout of her time and while never got to take home an Academy Award (she nominated 6 times, then honored for her achievements in 1994), she will forever be remembered as a true screen legend.
Who could ever forget Kerr’s captivating love scene with Burt Lancaster in From Here to Eternity where she so convincingly played the sensuous, philandering housewife opposite the brute and handsome Lancaster. While the clichéd image may rest in the vaults of what some consider ‘soppy old black-and-white cinema’ it’s very easy to forgo the impact this film had on the world at the time. It openly and honestly dealt with the toils and troubles of soldiers stationed on Hawaii in the days just before the attack on Pearl Harbor and was strongly supported by a gifted all-star cast including a young Montgomery Clift, Donna Reed and Frank Sinatra. It’s no surprise the film took home 8 Oscars, including a nomination for Kerr.
And in An Affair to Remember touted as ‘the most romantic films of all-time’ Kerr so brilliantly portrayed the fragilities of young love, tragedy and how true passion never dies. In one of the most memorable and tear jerking reveals in cinematic history, Nickie (Cary Grant) sees the portrait of Terry (Kerr) and realizes she is that someone’s “friend in a wheelchair”. So heart wrenching and bitter sweet was the end to this classic tale that it imparted the inspiration for other remakes, and Nora Ephron’s Sleepless in Seattle (1993).
With true femininity, poise and a strength all of her own Deborah Kerr was a standout of her time and while never got to take home an Academy Award (she nominated 6 times, then honored for her achievements in 1994), she will forever be remembered as a true screen legend.
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