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