Geoffrey Kerr
Geoffrey Kerr was a British stage and film actor and writer during the middle of the 20th century.
Early life
Geoffrey Kemble Grinham Keen was born on 26 January 1895, in London, the son of character actor and theatrical manager Frederick Kerr and his wife Lucy Houghton Keen, née Dowson. His younger sister was the actor Molly Kerr. He was educated at Charterhouse School, where his father had been a pupil, and was intending to join the Civil Service until he wrote and appeared in a very successful school play and decided on a career in the theatre.At the start of World War I, he obtained a commission in the Shropshire Light Infantry, and saw active service in the trenches. A friend from his theatre days before the war arranged for him to receive training in the Royal Flying Corps but he was wounded when his plane crashed and spent the remainder of the war as an instructor in aerial gunnery with the rank of Captain. In 1920, he travelled to the United States for the first time to appear with his father on Broadway. From that point on for the remainder of the 1920s, he travelled back and forth across the Atlantic quite often, appearing on Broadway in New York City, and making silent films back home in Britain.
Stage career
On Broadway, as Geoffrey Kerr, he performed in such plays as The Stork and London Calling, the latter which he wrote. He also directed occasionally, and co-starred with wife June Walker on Broadway in The Bachelor Father. He ended his acting career in 1934, though he did appear in a play on Broadway in 1949–50, to celebrate the silver Broadway anniversary of the two stars Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne.Just Suppose, playing George East of Suez, playing Harold Knox You and I, playing Roderick White The Changelings, playing Wicky Faber In His Arms, playing Ernest Fairleigh The Stork, playing Lionel Deport- 'First Love", playing Jean The Bachelor Father, playing John Ashley Ada Beats the Drum, directed by Geoffrey Kerr London Calling, written by Geoffrey Kerr, playing George Craft This is New York, playing Joseph Gresham Jr. Collision, playing Dr. Gestzi We Are No Longer Children, playing Jean Servin Domino, playing Cremone Foolscap, staged by Geoffrey Kerr, playing Shakespeare Yellow Jack, playing Stackpoole I Know My Love, playing Frederic Chanler
Film career
Geoffrey Kerr became known in the film industry when he co-starred with his father in the British silent film 12.10, although he did appear in several other silent films prior to that. Most of his silent films were British productions; the "talkies" in 1931 were US productions.The Profligate .... Wilfred12.10 .... Geoffrey BrookeThe Usurper .... Bonamy TredgoldTorn Sails .... Ivor ParryThe Great Day .... Dave LeesonThe Mirage .... Richard DalziellLove's Boomerang .... Saville MenderThe Man from Home .... Horace Granger-SimpsonJust Suppose .... Count Anton TeschyWomen Love Once .... Allen GreenoughThe Runaround .... FredOnce a Lady .... Jimmy FenwickWriting career
From 1935 until the late 1940s, Kerr was a screenwriter and playwright; he also wrote several British television productions in the early 1950s. His best-known film credits include Rene Clair's Break the News, the wartime comedy/melodrama Cottage to Let, and the period drama Jassy. One of Kerr's screenplays from 1936 resurfaced in 1988 as the British TV production, The Tenth Man. His 1947 play The Man in the Street was staged in the West End.His credits include:The Ghost Goes West Weekend Millionaire ... aka Once in a Million The [Tenth Man (1936 film)|The Tenth Man] A Star Fell from Heaven Living Dangerously Break the News Sweet Devil Under Your Hat Bombsight Stolen ... aka Cottage to Let Jassy The Calendar Fools Rush In The Monster of Killoon My Husband and I British TV series
In addition, Kerr wrote a fantasy novel, Under the Influence, about a London bank cashier who can read people's minds, but only when drunk. Kerr attempted to co-write a screenplay with George S. Kaufman based on that novel, but the screenplay remained unfinished.