
John Kerr
John Grinham Kerr (November 15, 1931 – February 2, 2013), was an American actor and lawyer. 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 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. 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 made The Cobweb for MGM, who liked his work so much they 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. 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. 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 ABC-TV primetime TV series, Peyton Place, playing District Attorney John Fowler during the 1965-66 season. Also in 1964-65 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. Kerr's last acting appearance was a minor role in The Park Is Mine (1986), a made-for-TV movie starring Tommy Lee Jones.
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 0.085 |
Birthday | 1931-11-15 |
Place of Birth | New York, New York, USA |
Also Known As |

1978

The Silent Partner
7.032/141
Toronto, Canada. A few days before Christmas, Miles Cullen, a bored teller working at a bank branch located in a shopping mall, accidentally learns th...
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The Silent Partner

1961

The Pit and the Pendulum
6.9/338
In the sixteenth century, Francis Barnard travels to Spain to clarify the strange circumstances of his sister's death after she had married the son of...
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The Pit and the Pendulum

1956

Tea and Sympathy
7/47
A sensitive young man recalls his time in boarding school when the only person who seemed compassionate towards with him was his housemaster's wife.
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Tea and Sympathy

1958

South Pacific
6.1/108
Can a girl from Little Rock find happiness with a mature French planter she got to know one enchanted evening away from the military hospital where sh...
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South Pacific

1955

The Cobweb
5.8/31
Patients and staff at a posh psychiatric clinic clash over who chooses the clinic’s new drapes – but drapes are the least of their problems.
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The Cobweb

1971

Yuma
5.9/16
A down-and-dirty town is forced to shape up when a new marshal (Clint Walker) comes to town. However, when a scheme is launched to destroy the lawman'...
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Yuma

1960

The Crowded Sky
5.6/12
When Navy pilot Dale Heath takes off, he doesn't expect his navigational equipment to fail and must adapt when it goes out along with his radio. Headi...
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The Crowded Sky

1973

Class of '44
5.9/5
During the last years of World War II, Hermie, Oscy, and Benjie are coming of age. They went their separate ways when they graduated from high school...
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Class of '44

1956

Gaby
7/1
A ballerina resorts to prostitution when her fiance is reported killed in World War II.
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Gaby

1960

Girl of the Night
5/2
Bobbie is a sensitive, lonely call girl who is manipulated and ultimately used by her madam.
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Girl of the Night

1957

The Vintage
5.5/2
A young Italian fugitive and his older protective brother hide among the grape pickers at a vineyard in Provence.
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The Vintage

1999

Anthony Perkins: A Life in the Shadows
0/0
The life of legendary actor Anthony Perkins is recounted by friends and family, colleagues and co-stars, revealing the man underneath Norman Bates.
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Anthony Perkins: A Life in the Shadows

1979

Search and Destroy
6.8/6
The hunter becomes the prey as a Vietnam veteran (Perry King) tries to ferret out the real culprit after being tagged as the prime suspect in the murd...
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Search and Destroy

1973

Class of '44
5.9/5
During the last years of World War II, Hermie, Oscy, and Benjie are coming of age. They went their separate ways when they graduated from high school...
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Class of '44

1957

The Ninth Day
0/0
After World War III a small group of people live in the desert. A young man tries to run away, hoping to find other communities of survivors, but is t...
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The Ninth Day

1953

Horace Mann's Miracle
0/0
In the 1850s, the small mid western college of Antioch faces going out of business unless it changes school policy and takes on wealthy clientèle to p...
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Horace Mann's Miracle

1955

The Quatermass Xperiment
6.5/199
The first manned spacecraft, fired from an English launchpad, is first lost from radar, then roars back to Earth and crashes in a farmer's field, and...
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The Quatermass Xperiment

1972

The Longest Night
6.2/4
The daughter of a wealthy family is kidnapped and imprisoned underground in a custom-built, ventilated coffin while her family and the police search f...
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The Longest Night

1973

Incident on a Dark Street
5/3
A small-time hood is murdered just as he is about to blow the whistle on an organized crime ring.
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Incident on a Dark Street

1953

Rex Newman
0/0
Rex Newman, Reporter for the Globe and News.
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Rex Newman

1974

Only God Knows
5/2
The sponsors of a drug-rehabilitation center stage a robbery to maintain funding of the facility, but the loot turns out to be syndicate-owned.
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