John Kerr (actor)
| John Kerr | |
|---|---|
Kerr in 1957
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| Born |
John Grinham Kerr November 15, 1931 New York, New York, U.S. |
| Died | February 2, 2013 (aged 81) Pasadena, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater |
Harvard University UCLA Law School |
| Occupation | Actor and lawyer |
| Years active | 1953–1992 |
| Spouse(s) | Priscilla Smith (1952-1972; divorced); 3 children Barbara Chu (1979-2013; his death); 2 step-children |
John Grinham Kerr (November 15, 1931 – February 2, 2013), was an American actor and lawyer.
Kerr's parents, British-born Geoffrey Kerr and American-born June Walker, were both stage and film actors, and his grandfather was Frederick Kerr, a famed British trans-Atlantic character actor in the period 1880–1930; John developed an early interest in following their footsteps. He grew up in the New York City area, and went to Phillips Exeter Academy in New England; after graduating from Harvard, he worked at the nearby Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts and in summer stock. For some time he pursued graduate studies in the Russian (now Harriman) Institute of Columbia University.
He made his Broadway debut in 1953 in Mary Coyle Chase's Bernardine, a high-school comedy for which he won a Theatre World Award. In 1953-54, he received considerable critical acclaim as a troubled prep school student in Robert Anderson's play Tea and Sympathy. In 1954, he won a Tony Award for his performance, and he starred in the film version in 1956.
Kerr's first television acting role was in 1954 on NBC's Justice as a basketball player who believes that gamblers have ruined his success on the court. His mother appeared with him on the series, which focuses on the cases of attorneys with the Legal Aid Society of New York.
He made The Cobweb for MGM, who liked his work so much they co-starred him with Leslie Caron in Gaby (1956), the third remake of Waterloo Bridge, which, in its original pre-Code 1931 version, featured John's grandfather, actor Frederick Kerr.
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