John Grinham Kerr (November 15, 1931 – February 2, 2013) was an American actor and attorney. He began his professional career on Broadway, earning critical acclaim for his performances in Mary Coyle Chase's Bernardine and Robert Anderson's Tea and Sympathy, then made a transition into a screen career. He reprised his role in the film version of Tea and Sympathy, which won him the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer, and portrayed Lieutenant Joseph Cable in the Rodgers and Hammerstein movie musical South Pacific. He appeared in a number of television series, including a starring role on Peyton Place. In the 1970s he largely moved from acting to become a lawyer, making a few small cameos in Canadian-produced films like Plague and The Amateur. He operated a legal practice in Beverly Hills until 2000, when he retired from the profession.

Early life

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 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, 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.

Acting career

Stage

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 1953–1954, 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. 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. 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.

Film and television

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. 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. 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. In the 1970s, Kerr had a recurring role as prosecutor Gerald O'Brien on The Streets of San Francisco 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.

Legal career

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.

Personal life

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. He was cremated and his ashes given to his widow.

Stage credits

Other credits

Filmography

Film

Television