Want to know the best Deborah Kerr movies? How about the worst Deborah Kerr movies? Curious about Deborah Kerr box office grosses or which Deborah Kerr movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Deborah Kerr movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which ones got the worst reviews? Well you have come to the right place…. because we have all of that information and much more.
Deborah Kerr (1921-2007) was a 6-time Oscar® nominated Scottish film, theatre and television actress. Her IMDb page shows 53 acting credits from 1940-1986. This page will rank 38 Deborah Kerr movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television roles and 6 of early British films were not included in the rankings.
Drivel part of the page: After really struggling with our last two movie pages (Top 50 Stars 1950-2010)…we were happy to see Lyle’s request for a Deborah Kerr page. Why you ask? A quick look in our database showed we already had 26 of her movies ready to go. That would leave about 10 movies to research….which is actually a very manageable amount of movies. In other words…..it was going to be easy to do…..and it moved up to the top of the request list. So without any further delay…please check out one of the most underrated actress of all-time….Deborah Kerr.
Deborah Kerr Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort Deborah Kerr movies by co-stars of her movies
- Sort Deborah Kerr movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost.
- Sort Deborah Kerr movies by yearly domestic box office rank or trivia
- Sort Deborah Kerr movies by how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and Oscar® wins each Deborah Kerr movie received.
- Sort Deborah Kerr movies by Ultimate Movie Ranking (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
- Use the sort and search buttons to make this table very interactive. For example…if you type in “David Niven” in the search box….the 4 Niven/Kerr movies will pop right up.
Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Deborah Kerr Table
- Thirteen Deborah Kerr movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 34.21% of her movies listed. Quo Vadis (1951) was her biggest box office hit.
- An average Deborah Kerr movie grosses $115.00 million in adjusted box office gross.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 27 of Deborah Kerr’s movies are rated as good movies…or 71.10% of her movies. Black Narcissus (1947) was her highest rated movie while Casino Royale (1966) was her lowest rated movie.
- Eighteen Deborah Kerr movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 47.36% of her movies.
- Eight Deborah Kerr movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 21.05% of her movies.
- An average Ultimate Movie Ranking (UMR) Score is 40.00. 24 Deborah Kerr movies scored higher that average….or 63.15% of her movies. From Here to Eternity (1953) got the the highest UMR Movie Score while Count Your Blessings (1959) got the lowest UMR Movie Score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Deborah Kerr
1. Deborah Jane Kerr-Trimmer was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1921.
2. Deborah Kerr holds the record for most Best Actress Oscar® nominations without winning. She was nominated 6 times.
3. Deborah Kerr is one of 4 Scottish actors to receive an acting Oscar® nomination. The other three? Mary Ure, Tom Conti and Sean Connery. Connery is the only one to win one.
4. Deborah Kerr did receive an Honorary Oscar® in 1994. For being “An artist of impeccable grace and beauty, a dedicated actress whose motion picture career has always stood for perfection, discipline and elegance.”
5. 7 Deborah Kerr movies received a Best Picture Oscar® nomination: 1950’s King Solomon’s Mines, 1951’s Quo Vadis, 1953’s From Here To Eternity, 1953’s Julius Caesar, 1956’s The King and I, 1958’s Separate Tables, & 1960’s The Sundowners.
6. Deborah Kerr was married two times. She had two children and three grandchildren.
7. Deborah Kerr replaced Joan Crawford in 1953’s From Here To Eternity. She replaced Maureen O’Hara in 1956’s The King And I. She really wanted the Katharine Hepburn role in The African Queen….but MGM thought it was similar to her role in King Solomon’s Mines..and would not let her take the role.
8. Deborah Kerr’s An Affair To Remember (1957) was voted the 5th greatest romance of all time by the American Film Institute.
9. Our favorite quote on Deborah Kerr comes from William Wyler….” I still think of Audrey Hepburn as the princess but Deborah Kerr as the queen”.
10. Critical rating scores for the 6 early Deborah Kerr British movies: 1941’s Major Barbara 68.5%, 1941’s Love on the Dole 67.0%, 1942’s The Avengers 58.0%, 1942’s Courageous Mr. Penn 57.5%, 1942’s A.J. Cronin’s Hatter’s Castle 61.0% & 1946’s I See A Dark Stranger 64.5%.
10A. Deborah Kerr’s cumulative totals: Adjusted domestic box office: $4.37 billion. Her movies received 71 Oscar® nominations….winning 22 Oscars®.
Check out Deborah Kerr’s movie career compared to current and classic stars on our Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time page.
Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences. Golden Globes® are the registered trademark and service mark of the Hollywood Foreign Press.
Deborah’s co-stars in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) were ROGER (not Richard) Livesey and Anton Walbrook
Steve
Hey Steve Crook….good catch….that error has been fixed….once again my memory let me down. When I am doing these pages…I try and go down that column and remember all the co-stars….I failed on that movie….close…..but no cigar. Thanks again.
Hi
Deborah Kerr was beautiful and very British. I think her best work was Black Narcissis. The colour in it was fantastic and all the performances were electric. Highly recommended.
She was great with Yul Brynner in The King and I and she clearly had fantastic chemistry with Robert Mitchum. He said that behind all that lady like behaviour, she cursed like a trooper and he loved her for it. It was interesting that Joan Crawford almost got From Here Til Eternity but in reality she was far too old for the part. And really it was only a supporting role, despite being billed as a lead.
I’m glad that she didn’t get The African Queen. She was unfortunate with the Oscars, 6 nominations. You can see her on youtube receiving her honorary Oscar, she was quite frail and was very moving. Great page.
Hey Chris.
1. I guess I need to go back and revisit Black Narcissus. I saw it many years ago….but my memory is telling me it was a long slow moving movie.
2. I think she and Mitchum were awesome together…..I read that “cursing” tidbit …funny stuff. I really loved them in The Sundowners.
3. I think Crawford’s age was causing all the issues….she wanted her own cameraman….I guess he was a wizard that could turn back time.
4. I think she and Bogart would have made a good team on African Queen….but the Hepburn role would have been much different.
5. I will have to check out that Honorary Oscar video….I read they gave her a long standing ovation….that had to make her feel good. That is another reason the Honorary Oscars need to be on the telecast….that has been some of the greatest Oscar moments….now they should a 3 minute video with 3 or 4 getting their Honorary Oscars…it is just not the same.
Thanks for stopping by.
I liked the quote from William Wyler you printed. Deborah Kerr did in fact play a queen on film, but in which film, any guesses?
I remember the movie poster blurb on one of her first Hollywood films “Kerr rhymes with star!” 🙂
A very British actress, Kerr became one of the Hollywood greats. I’ve seen 15 of the 39 you’ve listed. Black Narcissus is one of my favorites, highly recommended if you haven’t seen it, the ending is fantastic. Narcissus is no.1 on the critics chart but way down on the UMR chart, tut tut.
Other favorites include – From Here to Eternity, The King and I, King Solomon’s Mines, Quo Vadis, The Prisoner of Zenda and one of the all time great ghost movies – The Innocents, which still has the power to chill and send shivers down the back.
Movies I’ve missed include The Hucksters, Separate Tables and The Grass is Greener.
Good work Bruce and another worthy addition to your website. Voted Up!
Hey Steve.
1. Glad you liked the Wyler comment as well.
2. Kerr as a queen…..she was close in The King and I….let’s see she was a lady in The Grass Is Greener….and nun in Black Narcissus…..I don’t know the answer.
3. Tally count…Flora 28….me 16…and you 15…..it is rare that I am not last when tallying classic performers.
4. Black Narcissus did not do well in the States….but it is first in reviews….that has to count for something….lol.
5. I saw Black Narcissus years ago…but the ending did not register with me as much as you….thinking it had something to do with the bell….now I have to go and research that…thanks for more work…lol.
6. Of the 5 favorites you listed….I have only seen 2 of them…but enjoyed From Here To The King and I…both good Oscar winning movies.
7. Of the ones you have not seen….Separate Tables is the best of the bunch….but it is not that great of a movie. The Hucksters and especially The Grass is Greener were big disappointments….and I am a huge very forgiving Cary Grant fan.
8. Thanks for the visit and comment…..both you and Flora commented quickly but she just barely edged you out.
Hi, Bruce!
I am a Deborah Kerr fan for sure.
Great idea for a page, Lyle!
Movies I have seen by ranking:
The highest rated movie I have seen is Number 1: From Here to Eternity
The highest ranked film I have not seen is a bit of point to discuss: Number 5 is King Soloman’s Mines and I tried to watch it but quit when a huge spider was on. So I have tried to see it.
Number 11 is the highest ranked film where I have not seen any of it: The Proud and the Profane.
The lowest ranked movie I have seen is Number 36: Beloved Infidel about the writer F. Scott Fitzgerald.
I have thus seen in their entirety:
9 of the top 10
17 of the top 20
24 of the top 30
28 movies overall
Most disappointing and I never want to see it again: Eye of the devil. Yuck!
Favourites include in no order – and no, it is not one of my Peck favourites number 36, though it should be seen at least once because it is about real people:
From Here to Eternity
Tea and Sympathy
The King and I
The Innocents
Separate Tables
Black Narcissus
Julius Caesar
Night of the Iguana
The Hucksters
An Affair to Remember
Flora
Hey Flora, we posted our comments at about the same time, but you beat my by one minute. 🙂
That was close, for sure.
I see we share some of the same favourites. Of course as I said, K.S.M. I could not finish.
Regarding her last name, there was an added element of oddity for tea and Sympathy because her co-star had the same last name. But she and John Kerr were not related at all.
Hey Flora
1. As always thanks for checking out our latest page.
2. I agree Lyle made a good suggestion….and an easy one to put together.
3. Sorry you did not get to finish King Solomon’s Mines….I have not seen it either….but I want to.
4. Not surprised that you have seen her movie with Gregory Peck. That looks statistically like one of Peck’s misfires during that time period.
5. Tally count…you 28….me 16…yes me…..Steve does not get his normal 2nd spot on these classic pages…and Steve 15.
6. I have seen 9 of the 10 favorites with Tea and Sympathy being the one that I have not seen.
Congrats on the tally victory and for edging Steve in the first to comment category. Thanks for sharing your Kerr thoughts.
Thanks. And congratulations to you for beating Steve in the tally count.
🙂
My Top 5 Deborah Kerr Movies
1. The Innocents
2. Black Narcissus
3. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
4. From Here to Eternity
5. The Sundowners
Glad to Colonel Blimp make this page. It is almost a forgotten film here in the states.
Hey Hymane…..thanks for sharing your Top 5 list. I liked The Innocents, From Here To Eternity….probably in the minority…but I did not enjoy Black Narcissus as much….granted it was beautiful to watch….I just found the movie very slow moving.