Actor John Kerr dies. It was a pleasure to intervew him for ICONS Radio Hour.
Obituary LA Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2013/feb/08/local/la-me-passings-20130208
Remembering John Kerr:
A sensitive, boy-next-door
leading man of American films and television in the 1950s and 60s, John Kerr
(who was the son of actors) made a big splash in the Broadway (1953) and film
(1956) versions of "Tea and Sympathy". His best known TV roles were as lawyers,
a profession he opted to pursue in 1970, retiring from acting except for
occasional appearances.
John Kerr's first appearance was as the son of
Ruth Chatterton in "Tomorrow and Tomorrow" at Cape Playhouse in 1940. Kerr was
educated at Phillips Exeter, and Harvard. During summers, Kerr became a junior
fixture at Cape Playhouse, and appeared with the late Gertrude Lawrence in "O
Mistress Mine" and "September Tide." Kerr entered Harvard in 1948 and he was a
member of the Brattle Theatre Company. Kerr played in Shakespeare's "A Midsummer
Night's Dream", "Twelfth Night" and in Christopher Fry's "A Sleep of
Prisoners."
Kerr made his Broadway debut just months after his 1952
graduation from Harvard in "Bernadine". The following year, he created what is
perhaps his most memorable role, Tom, the prep school lad whom his classmates
believe to be a homosexual and who is eventually bedded by the schoolmaster's
wife "to save him" from such a life. Kerr earned a Best Supporting Tony for his
work and was whisked to Hollywood. He made his feature debut playing a suicidal
patient in a mental institution in Vicente Minnelli’s "The Cobweb" (1955). In
"Gaby" (1956), he played a World War II soldier having an affair with Leslie
Caron. That same year, he co-starred opposite Deborah Kerr in the film version
of "Tea and Sympathy". Two years later, Kerr was the doomed Lt. Cable
romantically paired with island girl France Nuyen in the musical "South
Pacific". After these high profile features, he found himself by 1961 in the
more modestly budgeted (to say the least) version of "The Pit and the Pendulum",
produced by Roger Corman and co-starring Vincent Price. Kerr's film career
effectively ended that year, although he played a few bit roles in features
after receiving his law degree.
Throughout the years John Kerr has
appeared in numerous television roles. Kerr had begun on the small screen in
1953, guest-starring on an episode of "Summer Studio One" (CBS). Throughout the
50s and into the 60s, he continued to appear in productions. He finally hooked
onto a regular series with "Arrest and Trial" (ABC, 1963-64), a show that now
appears to be a prototype for "Law & Order", splitting the action between
the cops and the prosecutors, one of whom Kerr played. He again played a
district attorney on "Peyton Place" (ABC), where his character was prosecuting
Rodney Harrington (Ryan O'Neal) for murder. Since passing the California bar in
1970, Kerr has acted only occasionally.
He was in the TV-movie Western
"Yuma" (ABC, 1971) and from time-to-time appeared on episodes of "The Streets of
San Francisco" as a detective in one or two scenes. By the 80s, he was rarely
seen, although one could catch him as a ferry captain in "Bay Coven" (NBC,
1987).
www.classichollywoodchatter.blogspot.com
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=au5vWpi71EQU
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20040628005003/en/News-Alert-MODA-Entertainment-Celebrates-PRIDE-YANKEES#.UtQh1yIo7IU
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20040301005073/en/MODA-Entertainment-Paramount-Pictures-Celebrate-50th-Anniversary#.UtQh9CIo7IU
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/05/prweb2382044.htm
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=52088048
http://edwardkennedydukeellington.blogspot.com/
http://www.prlog.org/10220180-moda-entertainment-announces-mayor-bloomberg-to-declare-april-29th-duke-ellington-day-in-nyc.html
http://www.newswiretoday.com/news/50396/
