John Kerr (actor)

John Kerr
Kerr in 1957
Born	John Grinham Kerr (1931-11-15)November 15, 1931 New York, New York, U.S.
Died	Pasadena, California, U.S.
Alma mater	Harvard University UCLA Law School
Occupation	Actor and lawyer
Years active	1953–1986
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.

Early life

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.

Stage career

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.

Film and television career

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 co-starred 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. John Kerr starred with Deborah Kerr (no relation) in Tea and Sympathy (1956).

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 support of the Nazi regime in Germany prior to 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 went to James Stewart.

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 DA Barry Pine.

In 1965, Kerr guest starred on NBC's The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and as Bert Eaton on Rawhide in the 3rd season. He had a regular role on the ABC-TV primetime TV series, Peyton Place, playing District Attorney John Fowler during the 1965-66 season. In 1964-65 he appeared as guest star on several episodes of Twelve O'Clock High. During the 1970s, Kerr had a recurring role as prosecutor Gerald O'Brien on The Streets of San Francisco and in 1977 he appeared in an episode of The Feather and Father Gang. Kerr's last appearance as an actor was a minor role in The Park Is Mine (1986), a made-for-TV movie starring Tommy Lee Jones.

Law career

Around 1966-67, 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 graduated from law school, and passed the California bar in 1970. He later pursued a full-time career as a Beverly Hills lawyer, but still accepted occasional small roles in a variety of television productions over the years. He retired from legal practice in 2000.

Personal life

He met Priscilla Smith while taking a class in Serbo-Croatian language and literature at Harvard; they were married December 28, 1952, and divorced in 1972. He married Barbara Chu in 1979.

On February 2, 2013, Kerr died of heart failure at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, California. He is survived by his wife Barbara Chu; twin daughters Jocelyn and Rebecca, and a son Michael from his first marriage; seven grandchildren; two step-children, Sharon and Chris Chu; and two step-grandchildren.

External links

• Obituary - Variety
• John Kerr at the Internet Movie Database
• John Kerr at the Internet Broadway Database
• John Kerr at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• findagrave.com