John Kerr (actor)

Kerr's parents, British-born Geoffrey Kerr and American-born June Walker, were both stage and film actors,[1] and his grandfather was Frederick Kerr, a British trans-Atlantic character actor [2] 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 England;[2] after graduating from Harvard,[3] he worked at the nearby Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts and in summer stock.[4] For some time he pursued graduate studies in the Russian (now Harriman) Institute of Columbia University.

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.[5] 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, New York Drama Critics Award, and Donaldson Award for his performance,[5] and he later starred in the film version in 1956.[6] He subsequently 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.

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.[7]

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.[8]

Kerr starred with Deborah Kerr (no relation) in Tea and Sympathy in 1956, reprising his role from the stage version.[9][6]

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.[1]

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[4][10] 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.[11] He had minor roles in a number of Canadian-produced films, including The Silent Partner (1978), Search and Destroy (1979), and The Amateur (1981). Kerr's last acting appearance was in a 1992 episode of The Ray Bradbury Theater, "Tomorrow's Child".

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.[4] 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 Beverly Hills lawyer,[4] but still accepted occasional small roles in a variety of television productions over the years. He retired from legal practice in 2000.[12]

He married Priscilla Smith in 1952; the couple divorced in 1972. He married Barbara Chu in 1979.[3]

On February 2, 2013, Kerr died of heart failure at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, California.[13] 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.[1] He was cremated and his ashes given to his widow.[14]

• Obituary - Variety
• John Kerr at IMDb
• John Kerr at the Internet Broadway Database
• John Kerr at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• John Kerr at Find a Grave