Linda Darnell and Deborah Kerr

Who was born on this date:

Actress Linda Darnell was born on October 16, 1923 in Dallas, Texas. Darnell was a model as a child, and progressed to theater and film acting as an adolescent. At the encouragement of her mother, she made her first film in 1939, and appeared in supporting roles in big budget films throughout the 1940s. She rose to fame with co-starring roles opposite Tyrone Power in adventure films and established a main character career after her role in Forever Amber (1947). Furthermore, she won critical acclaim for her work in Unfaithfully Yours (1948) and A Letter to Three Wives (1949). Notorious for her unstable personal life, Darnell was incapable of dealing with Hollywood, and landed in a downward spiral of alcoholism, unsuccessful marriages and highly publicized or scandalous affairs. She failed to receive recognition from the industry and its critics, and disappeared from the screen in the 1950s. She died on April 10, 1965 in a house fire in Glenview, Illinois and her ashes are interred at Union Hill Cemetery in Kennett, Pennsylvania.

Who died on this date:

On October 16, 2007, actress Deborah Kerr died. She was born on September 30, 1921 in Glasgow, Scotland. She was a highly successful British, television and film actress who was nominated six times for an Academy Award for Best Actress but never won. In 1994, however, she was awarded an Honorary Academy Award for her impeccable grace and beauty, and dedication as an actress in motion pictures in which she always stood for perfection, discipline and elegance. Her films include The King and I, An Affair to Remember, From Here to Eternity, The Innocents, Black Narcissus, heaven Knows, Mr. Allison, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp and Separate Tables. She was married twice and is alleged to have had numerous affairs. Some of Kerr's leading men have stated in their autobiographies that they had an affair or romantic fling with her. The actor Stewart Granger claimed that Kerr seduced him in the back of his chauffeur-driven car at the time he was making Caesar and Cleopatra. Likewise Burt Lancaster claimed that he was romantically involved with her during the filming of From Here to Eternity in 1953. But there has been no independent corroboration of either actor's claims. Deborah Kerr died from the effects of Parkinson’s disease October 16, 2007 in Botesdale, Suffolk, England. Her burial location is unknown.