John Kerr (actor)

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Kerr was born November 15, 1931, in New York City to British-born Geoffrey Kerr and American-born June Walker. Both were stage and film actors, and his grandfather was Frederick Kerr, a British trans-Atlantic character actor {{cite news| last=Vallance| first=Tom| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/john-kerr-actor-best-known-as-the-sensitive-college-boy-seduced-in-tea-and-sympathy-8492086.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220613/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/john-kerr-actor-best-known-as-the-sensitive-college-boy-seduced-in-tea-and-sympathy-8492086.html |archive-date=2022-06-13 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live| title=John Kerr: Actor best known as the sensitive college boy seduced in 'Tea and Sympathy'| newspaper=The Independent| location=London| date=February 13, 2013}} in the period 1880–1930; Kerr developed an early interest in following in their footsteps.

He grew up in the New York City area, and went to Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire; after graduating from Harvard University,[https://variety.com/2013/film/news/john-kerr-star-of-tea-and-sympathy-south-pacific-dies-at-81-1118065769/ "John Kerr, star of ‘Tea and Sympathy,’ ‘South Pacific,’ dies at 81"] Variety, February 6, 2013. 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.{{Citation needed |date=July 2024}}

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.[http://www.playbill.com/person/john-kerr-vault-0000113036# "John Kerr Broadway"] Playbill, retrieved August 27, 2017. In 1953–1954, he received critical acclaim as a troubled prep school student in Robert Anderson's play Tea and Sympathy. In 1954, he won a Tony Award, New York Drama Critics Award, and Donaldson Award for his performance, and he later starred in the film version in 1956.[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/1615/tea-and-sympathy "Tea and Sympathy"] Turner Classic Movies, retrieved August 27, 2017. He starred in stagings of All Summer Long and The Infernal Machine, and both starred and directed a staging of Bus Stop at the Fred Miller Theatre in Milwaukee.{{Citation needed |date=July 2024}}

Throughout the 1960s, he was affiliated with a number of non-profit theatre companies in Southern California, including the La Jolla Playhouse, the UCLA Theatre Group. For a time he was an artist-in-residence at Stanford University. He was the producer of a 1964 summer season of the American National Theater and Academy, held at Beverly Hills High School.

He made The Cobweb for MGM, which liked his work so much it 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.{{cite news| title=JOHN KERR TO DO 2D METRO MOVIE: Actor Set in 'Gaby,' Musical Based on R. E. Sherwood's Play, 'Waterloo Bridge'| first=Thomas| last=Pryor| newspaper=The New York Times| date=29 June 1955| page=24}}

Kerr starred with Deborah Kerr (no relation) in Tea and Sympathy in 1956, reprising his role from the stage version.

In a widely publicized decision in 1956, Kerr declined to play the role of Charles Lindbergh in The Spirit of St. Louis because he did not respect Lindbergh's early alleged support of the Nazi regime in Germany before America's entry into World War II. "I don't admire the ideals of the hero," Mr. Kerr told The New York Post. The part instead went to Jimmy Stewart, a veteran of World War II, who was over 20 years older than Kerr and nearly twice the age of Lindbergh when he made his historic 1927 flight.{{cite news| last=Vitello| first=Paul| title=John Kerr, Star of 'Tea and Sympathy,' Dies at 81| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/09/movies/john-kerr-star-of-tea-and-sympathy-dies-at-81.html| access-date=February 9, 2013| newspaper=The New York Times| date=February 8, 2013}}

Kerr had a major role in the film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific (1958), playing Lt. Joe Cable, the newly arrived marine about to be sent on a dangerous spy mission. In The Crowded Sky (1960), Kerr played a pilot who helps the Captain (Dana Andrews) steer a crippled airliner back to earth. Another film appearance was in Roger Corman's The Pit and the Pendulum (1961). In 1963, Kerr had a continuing role on Arrest and Trial, playing Assistant District Attorney Barry Pine.

During the 1960s, Kerr guest starred on several TV series, including The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Rawhide, Gunsmoke and Adam-12. He had a regular role on the TV series Peyton Place, playing District Attorney John Fowler during the 1965–1966 season. Also in 1964-1965, he appeared as guest star on several episodes of Twelve O'Clock High.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}}

In the 1970s, Kerr had a recurring role as prosecutor Gerald O'Brien on The Streets of San Francisco{{cite web| url=http://www.bmonster.com/cult33.html| title=The "Pitfalls of Working with Price| access-date=2009-01-20| first=Tom| last=Weaver| website=The Astounding B .Monster}} and he made guest appearances in several other TV programs including The Mod Squad, Columbo, McMillan and Wife, Barnaby Jones and The Feather and Father Gang.{{cite web| url=http://www.stefaniepowersonline.com/featherepisodes.htm| website=Stefanie Powers Official Website| title=Feather and Father Gang| access-date=June 17, 2020}}

Kerr took an interest in film directing, and worked as an apprentice with Leo Penn, who was then directing episodes of the television series Run for Your Life — but Kerr was quickly disenchanted by the mundane aspects of the work, and applied to and was accepted at UCLA Law School. He received his J.D. degree from that law school, and passed the California bar in 1970. He later pursued a full-time career as a lawyer, but still accepted occasional small roles in a variety of television productions over the years. He retired from legal practice in 2000.[http://www.fitweb.or.jp/~johnkerr/chron/chron.htm John Kerr Chronology] Fitweb {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130211063351/http://www.fitweb.or.jp/~johnkerr/chron/chron.htm |date=2013-02-11}}

Kerr married Priscilla Smith in 1952; the couple divorced in 1972. He married Barbara Chu in 1979. He had two daughters and a son with Smith as well as a stepson and stepdaughter from his marriage to Chu.

Kerr died of heart failure on February 2, 2013, at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, California.{{cite news| url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-passings-20130208-story.html| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130210110922/http://articles.latimes.com/2013/feb/08/local/la-me-passings-20130208| url-status=live| archive-date=February 10, 2013| title=Obituaries: John Kerr, Garrett Lewis| access-date=February 13, 2013| date=February 8, 2013| newspaper=Los Angeles Times}} He was cremated and his ashes given to his widow.{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FOHgDAAAQBAJ&q=John+Kerr+cremated+scott+wilson&pg=PA403| title=Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons| edition=3d| first=Scott| last=Wilson| date=17 August 2016| publisher=McFarland| page=403| isbn=978-1476625997}}

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• Dream Girl (1947, summer repertory)
• Joan of Lorraine (1946, summer repertory)
• September Tide (1949, summer repertory)
• Billy Budd (1951, Brattle Theatre)
• A Midsummer Night's Dream (1951, Brattle Theatre)
• Twelfth Night (1951, Brattle Theatre)
• A Sleep of Prisoners (1952, Brattle Theatre)
• Ring Round the Moon (1954, Hyde Park Theatre)
• The Rainmaker (1960, Wharf Theater)
• Five Finger Exercise (1961, La Jolla Playhouse)
• Sound Of Murder (1961, La Jolla Playhouse) - as director
• Love and Like (1962, UCLA Theatre Group)
• Antigone (1962, UCLA Theatre Group)
• Hamlet (1963, Stanford University)
• Liliom (1964, University of Oregon)
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1964) - as producer
• Androcles and the Lion (1964, American National Theater and Academy) - as producer
• Oedipus Rex (1964, American National Theater and Academy) - as producer
• J.B. (1964, American National Theater and Academy) - as producer
• Waiting for Godot (1964, American National Theater and Academy) - as producer
• Spoon River Anthology (1964, American National Theater and Academy) - as producer
• Desire Under the Elms (1964, American National Theater and Academy) - as producer
• The Tenth Man (1967, New York City Center)
• Mister Roberts (1965, Melodyland Theatre and Circle Star Theater)

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{{Reflist}}

• [https://variety.com/2013/film/news/john-kerr-star-of-tea-and-sympathy-south-pacific-dies-at-81-1118065769/ Obituary - Variety]
• {{IMDb name|0449734|John Kerr}}
• {{IBDB name}}
• {{iobdb name|31860}}

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Category:1931 births

Category:2013 deaths

Category:Male actors from New York City

Category:American male film actors

Category:20th-century American male actors

Category:American male stage actors

Category:American male television actors

Category:California lawyers

Category:Donaldson Award winners

Category:New Star of the Year (Actor) Golden Globe winners

Category:Phillips Exeter Academy alumni

Category:Theatre World Award winners

Category:Tony Award winners

Category:UCLA School of Law alumni

Category:Harvard University alumni

Category:20th-century American lawyers