John Kerr

Acting

John Kerr

Born 1931-11-15 · New York City, New York, USA

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.

Acting credits

The Quatermass Xperiment poster
6.5

The first manned spacecraft, fired from an English launchpad, is lost from radar before roaring back to Earth and crashing in a farmer's field. The rocket is found to contain only one of the three men who took off in it; and he is unable to talk but appears to be undergoing a torturous physical and mental metamorphosis.

The Quatermass Xperiment

1955

King of Kings poster
7.1

Who is Jesus, and why does he impact all he meets? He is respected and reviled, emulated and accused, beloved, betrayed, and finally crucified. Yet that terrible fate would not be the end of the story.

King of Kings

1961

The Pit and the Pendulum poster
6.8

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 a cruel Spanish Inquisitor.

The Pit and the Pendulum

1961

The Cobweb poster
5.7

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.

The Cobweb

1955

The Amateur poster
5.4

A researcher for the CIA who convinces his superiors to send him to the eastern bloc in order to avenge the murder of his wife by enemy agents discovers a web of deception underneath his wife's death.

The Amateur

1981

South Pacific poster
6.1

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 she is a nurse? Or should she just wash that man out of her hair? Bloody Mary is the philosopher of the island and it's hard to believe she could be the mother of Liat who has captured the heart of Lt. Joseph Cable USMC. While waiting for action in the war in the South Pacific, sailors and nurses put on a musical comedy show. The war gets closer and the saga of Nellie Forbush and Emile de Becque becomes serious drama.

South Pacific

1958

The Silent Partner poster
7.1

Toronto, Canada. A few days before Christmas, Miles Cullen, a bored teller working at a bank branch located in a shopping mall, accidentally learns that the place is about to be robbed when he finds a disconcerting note on one of the counters.

The Silent Partner

1978

Incident on a Dark Street poster
5.3

A small-time hood is murdered just as he is about to blow the whistle on an organized crime ring.

Incident on a Dark Street

1973

Yuma poster
5.9

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's authority, he must discover the perpetrators and preserve his reputation.

Yuma

1971

Tea and Sympathy poster
7.0

A sensitive young man recalls his time in boarding school when the only person who seemed compassionate towards him was his housemaster's wife.

Tea and Sympathy

1956

The Vintage poster
6.0

A young Italian fugitive and his older protective brother hide among the grape pickers at a vineyard in Provence, France.

The Vintage

1957

The Crowded Sky poster
5.9

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. Heading straight for a commercial jet piloted by Dick Barnett, whose plane is full of passengers, Heath can't tell which way to turn in order to avoid a catastrophe.

The Crowded Sky

1960

Class of '44 poster
6.6

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 in 1944. Benjie joins the Marines as Hermie and Oscy enter college. There, Hermie falls head over heels for another freshman named Julie, and the two old friends deal with a troublesome fraternity president who is in charge of hazings.

Class of '44

1973

Class of '44 poster
6.6

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 in 1944. Benjie joins the Marines as Hermie and Oscy enter college. There, Hermie falls head over heels for another freshman named Julie, and the two old friends deal with a troublesome fraternity president who is in charge of hazings.

Class of '44

1973

Bay Coven poster
4.3

A young newlywed couple move to a remote island only to find a secret coven of witches who want them to join all the fun...or face the consequences.

Bay Coven

1987

No artwork available
8.0

The life of legendary actor Anthony Perkins is recounted by friends and family, colleagues and co-stars, revealing the man underneath Norman Bates.

Anthony Perkins: A Life in the Shadows

1999

The Longest Night poster
7.3

The daughter of a wealthy family is kidnapped and imprisoned underground in a custom-built, ventilated coffin while her family and the police search for her. But the battery that powers the ventilation is running out of juice and the ransom drop has been botched. This movie was originally shown as an ABC Movie of the Week on September 12, 1972. The story is based on the 1968 kidnapping of Barbara Mackle by Gary Krist.

The Longest Night

1972

No artwork available
NR

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 pay their mounting debts. Their stalwart dean, Horace Mann, refuses and would rather go down to defeat than betray his principles. At the moment that all seems lost, a benefactor steps in to rescue them.

Horace Mann's Miracle

1953

Only God Knows poster
5.7

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.

Only God Knows

1974

Gaby poster
7.3

A French ballerina falls in love with an American paratrooper on a two day pass in London near the end of World War II.

Gaby

1956

Plague poster
6.1

An outbreak of a bacteria called M-3 causes people to die in extreme pain via body spasms. A woman who is a carrier escapes from a hospital and goes on the run, spreading the plague to people she encounters, and onto food in fast food stops etc. She has no idea however that she is a carrier, and as such may carry a cure.

Plague

1979

The Ninth Day poster
NR

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 told by the elders that he must stay and marry the group's only young woman.

The Ninth Day

1957

Girl of the Night poster
6.8

Bobbie is a sensitive, lonely call girl who is manipulated and ultimately used by her madam.

Girl of the Night

1960

Snowshoes: A Comedy of People and Horses poster
NR

Some racetrack Johnnies are talking between races when one wonders if you can hynotize a horse into thinking it's a champion. The idea sets in motion a series of hilarious events.

Snowshoes: A Comedy of People and Horses

1957