Deborah Kerr

An award-winning actress whose surname was often mispronounced, Deborah Kerr (sounds like "car") was born in Helensburgh, Scotland, on Sept. 30, 1921. Although she trained as a ballerina, Kerr ultimately chose the theater and then went on to star in a series of Hollywood classics across the pond.

Her most memorable roles include a determined nun working to establish a school in the Himalayas in Black Narcissus (1947), an errant wife who finds romance on the sand in From Here to Eternity (1953) and a widowed schoolmarm in The King and I (1956), for which she won a Golden Globe Award. She also garnered an Emmy nomination for her work in "A Woman of Substance" (1984).

Kerr holds the record among leading actresses for the most consecutive Oscar nominations without a win -- six -- although she did eventually earn an honorary statuette in 1994. She died on Oct. 16, 2007, at the age of 86.

Filmography