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Thanks For the Memorys
(you know it's going to be good when I mess up the spelling of the title ;D)
"Shall We Dance?" is perhaps one the most unforgettable lines from any musical ever. No less so is the face we associate with those words - the charming, flushed face of Anna Leonowens played by the most beautiful and brilliant actress, Deborah Kerr. She is the woman I most admire. It doesn't seem right to call her "woman" - she was a "lady"! (all I'm going to say is: LOL WUT?)
She wasn't just a wonderful actress she was a kind and considerate person off the screen. If anyone wrote her letter, they would be sure to get a reply as she had a considerate knack of replying to all letters. (what is a 'considerate knack' though??)
She made about forty-five films in a career spanning from 1941 until 1985. Her most memorable films are, "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp", "Black Narcissus", "Edward, My Son", "Quo Vadis?", "From Here To Eternity", "The King and I", "Separate Tables", "The Sundowners", "The Innocents", "The Chalk Garden", and "The Prisoner of Zenda" (clearly I have always had a hard time just listing the essentials). Her own personal favourite was "The Sundowners" in which her role as Robert Mitchum's sheep farmer's wife was performed without make-up. It is considered one of her finest acheivements. The role she is probably remembered most for is her magical portrayal of Anna Leonowen's in "The King and I". Althought she was dubbed by Marni Nixon for her songs, the film will endure forever as one of Deborah's best roles and as one of the best musicals ever made.
Her role in "Edward, My Son" in 1949, garnered her first adcademy Award nomination of six: "From Here To Eternity", "The King and I", "Separate Tables", "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison", "The Sundowners". It's quite incomprehensible why she never won an Oscar as at least three of those roles she was nominated for, she deserved one. (don't even try to understand that sentence. it's impossible. I wrote it and I have no idea what it means.) She was awarded an honorary oscar in 1993 (it was actually 1994) in appreciation of her unappreciated work in many fine films.
She died on October 16th, 2007 after becoming bedridden from the effects of Parkinson's disease.
I think that she epitomised the grace, beauty, elegance, and talent of Hollywood's Golden Age, and I am so happy to find that so many people echo my thoughts on this amazing lady. There are more than a thousand obituries about her on the internet, not just written by newspapers but by people who knew her, whether old friends or people who admired her and met her, and by people who never met her but who just want to pay a tribute to this wonderful lady. On youtube there are hundreds of videos in memory of her.
Now all that remains for me to do is to echo the words of Glenn Close when she presented Deborah with her honorary Oscar, saying that is was being given to "an artist of impeccable grace and beauty, a dedicated actress whose motion picture career has always stood for perfection, discipline, and elegance.".
Have a photo of Deborah and Donna (Reed) playing golf to ease the pain.
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I know you're all in awe of my prowess as a writer but please, before you go and set fire to all of your essays, stories, poems etc. in a fit of jealous rage, inflate my ego a little more by telling me what you thought about the masterpiece above. Speak to you soon!
I teach 14 year olds and I'd be happy (if a little amused) if one of them wrote that!! x
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I thought this was quite good. Really! You certainly knew a lot more about film than I did at 14. I know Deborah would be flattered!
ReplyDeleteUgh, how could you write like that at 14? I'd kill to write like that now!
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