Background
Kay Kendall was born on 21 May 1926 in Withemsea, United Kingdom. The daughter of dancers, and granddaughter of Marie Kendall.
Kay Kendall was born on 21 May 1926 in Withemsea, United Kingdom. The daughter of dancers, and granddaughter of Marie Kendall.
For some ten years, Kay Kendall flitted around the British cinema trying not to look too tall or too obviously a Vogue cover girl. It was Genevieve (53, Henry- Cornelius) that revealed her as a comedienne bemused by her own loftv handsomeness. She flourished briefly, married actor Rex Harrison, and made two good films in Hollywood before dying of leukemia. The British were suitably affected but still indifferent to their long neglect of her.
She played in variety before making her debut in Fiddlers Three (44, Harrv Watt). Thereafter, she was in Champagne Charlie (44, Alberto Cavalcanti); Dreaming (44, John Baxter); Waltz Time (45, Paul L. Stein); and London Town (46, Wesley Buggies). Umvelcomed, she worked in the theatre and TV before a second attempt: Dance Hall (50, Charles Crichton); Happy Go Lovely (51, Bruce Humberstone); Lady Godiva Rides Again (51, Frank Launder); Wings of Danger (52, Terence Fisher); It Started in Paradise (52, Compton Bennett); Street of Shadows (53, Richard Vernon); and The Square Ring (53, Basil Dearden and Michael Relph).
After her eccentric, trumpet-playing girlfriend in Genevieve, she was rewarded with Doctor in the House (54, Ralph Thomas), Simon and Laura (55, Muriel Box), and The Constant Husband (55, Sidney Gilliat) in which she plaved opposite Harrison. She then w'ent into American films: The Adventures of Quentin Dunvard (55, Richard Thorpe); Abdullah's Harem (56, Gregory Ratoff); Les Girls (57, George Cukor)—her best film; The Reluctant Debutante (58, Vincente Minnelli), with Harrison again; and Once More With Feeling (59, Stanley Donen), which has a very funny harp-playing sequence—she was an actress who made unexpected music.