The Film Experience

by Camila Henriques

The mid 50s were Deborah Kerr's time. She followed up the huge hit The King and I (1956) with two leading roles the following year in Heaven Knows Mr Allison and An Affair to Remember.

1957 brought Oscar nomination number four to Deborah Kerr. It happened for her turn as a nun in Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison. She lost to Joanne Woodward’s intricate work in The Three Faces of Eve. She would applaud, sitting in the Academy audience as a gracious nominees, twice more until the Academy gave her an honorary award in 1994 (presented by Glenn Close, who has since then inherited the forever bridesmaid mantle, *le sigh*). But, for me, it was another movie she did in '57 that truly cemented her as a Hollywood icon.

Leo McCarey’s An Affair to Remember put Kerr in the same frame as Cary Grant. It wasn’t a first time partnership for them, as they had worked together in 1953’s Dream Wife...

It wasn’t even an original venture for the director, who had helmed a previous version of the story, Love Affair - a classic itself, the movie starred Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer and garnered six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. While the 1957 version received less attention in its day, it has become its own movie, thanks to the talented redhead.

Kerr plays Terry McKay, a nightclub singer who gets swept away by Grant’s Nick Ferrante, a notorious womanizer. Their whole courtship happens while they’re committed to other people, who thankfully aren’t antagonized by the circumstances we see in the picture. At the end of the day, it’s all about Terry and Nick: their infatuation with each other, their (mostly hers) resistance to go all in, their plan to finally be together and the tricks life plays on them.

In that sense, I see the film as a testament to Kerr’s power as an actress. Her onscreen charisma shines through every frame and it’s easy to understand her effect on Nick, mostly because she’s having that same effect on us as well. Our first sight of her, wrapped up in that bright orange coat, is a warning: you won’t be able to take your eyes off of Terry McKay. Then, she charms every living being in that visit to Nick’s grandma, capping off with that sentimental rendition of the title song “An Affair to Remember” (where the actress was famously dubbed by Marni Nixon). And, finally, it is Kerr’s transition to a resigned star crossed lover that has the audience on the edge of its seat, practically begging her to tell Nick what really happened. In all truthfulness, she needn’t say a word. Her face does all the work. It’s angst at its best.

Deborah Kerr had a long string of iconic roles in her career - from From Here to Eternity to The Innocents and everything in between - and while An Affair… is far from her most demanding part, it deserves its place as an iconic stage where the Scottish actress really connected with her audience. One look at her, and we know that maybe Terry won’t walk again (as she wishes), but she will allow herself to be happy.