Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1956)

spoiled and unaffected as Deborah. Then, on behalf of the company, he presented her with a silver frame inscribed: “D.K. First Lady of the Theatre. May you always remain supreme. With love from the ‘Tea and Sympathy’ Company.” It is one of Deborah’s most prized possessions along with her Degas print, given her by director Elia Kazan; her Durer engraving, a gift from John Kerr; and the pen and ink portrait of her as Laura in “Tea smd Sympathy,” sketched by Bill Holden. Rarely does a star who has created a role on the stage get the chance to recreate it on the screen. Usually, the Front Office gives the command, “Get someone like Nancy Kelly or Deborah Kerr.” But since, nowadays, “what Deborah wants, Deborah gets,” she inherited the same role for the film version, along with John Kerr and Lief Ericson of the original cast. Before reporting for “Tea and Sympathy,” Deborah came to New York for a shopping whirl, and over a luncheon gabfest, we caught up where we had left off in Hollywood last summer, just before she’d left on location to the Virgin Islands for “The Proud and Profane.” “Join the movies and see the world, that’s me!” said Deborah. “But I don’t recommend San Juan in the summer. It’s exotic and colorful, but humid and mosquito-ridden. The kids. Bill Holden’s and mine, had a ball, though. They went sailing every day while we slaved in the midday sun. But everything has its compensations. I think it’s a fine picture, and it brought Bill and Ardis Holden into our lives. We number them among our closest friends now. I’ve also fallen in love since you last saw me.” In answer to my startled look, Deborah hastened to explain, “with ‘The King and I.’ Funny, when I saw ‘The King and I’ in London several years ago, I never dreamed that I would someday play Mrs. Anna on the screen. What an absolutely heavenly part it is, so fairytale in its quality, yet so real — and so full of changing moods. I sing two of the numbers myself, ‘Getting to Know You’ and ‘Shall I Tell You What I Think of You?’ The rest of the Rodgers and Hammerstein score is beyond my vocal range now, so I just start them and when it comes to the high notes, Marni Nixon, a glorious singer, takes over. But the dubbing is so perfect, I’ve almost convinced myself that I sing all the numbers. Actually, I never worked so hard on any picture or enjoyed myself so much. I hope to do another musical one of these days, but I’m afraid I’m spoiled. Mrs. Anna, to me, is what Scarlett O’Hara was to Vivien Leigh. Where can I ever find another role to equal it?” “In the right cycle,” was my reply. “Remember?” Deborah laughed. “You’re so right! For the present. I’m not looking for anything except a long summer holiday in London with Tony and the children. As you know, Tony’s new job keeps him in London most of the year. Of course, every time we separate, the rumors start flying that we are getting divorced. At first, it used to upset me, because in England, where military or marine service is so customary, a British wife adjusts herself to separaUons, with no fuss or gossip from the local busybodies. Tony’s career and success is vital to his happiness and mine. He knew when we were married that acting was to be part of the life that he would share with me, and he wouldn’t dream of asking me to give it up. Nor would I expect him to sacrifice any opportunity to further his career no matter where it took him, because I was only concerned with my own loneliness or malicious rumors. If there’s a mutual trust in any marital relationship, it will survive. If there isn’t, it is destined for an unhappy ending. Happiness isn’t a question of geography; it’s what people bring to it anywhere. We have attained it wherever we happen to be at the time. Maybe it’s because we’re lucky enough to be two well-adjusted people. So, thank goodness, are Melanie and Frankie.” “But if you had to narrow your choice (Continued from page 61) parents had been Texas ranchers, and they died before Cliff was two years old. After that, he was brought up by his beloved grandmother. “She is a remarkable woman,” Cliff says appreciatively. “She’d already raised her own family, but she came out from Denver and took up nursing to bring up two other grandchildren, too, when their mother died of tuberculosis. Grandma gave us a houseful of happiness, and she’ll always be in my heart.” During his school days. Cliff alternated between wanting to become a flier and a sailor. It was to be a long, eventful time before he finally decided on acting. “I was in high school plays,” he says, “because I was always interested in dramatics. But I’d never have been allowed to think of acting as a future. Grandma was conventional,” he grins. “She felt it was fine just as a hobby.” Nevertheless, she was pleased and proud about Cliff’s being president of the high school dramatic club for three years, as she was about all his efforts to get ahead. Always a restless youngster. Cliff recalls, “I couldn’t wait to see more of the world. I wasn’t rebellious — merely independent.” p At the end of his junior year, he asserted his independence and decided to hitchhike to Dallas to try out for the summer theatre there. Adventure Loving Man “When I told Grandma my plan,” says Cliff, “she surprised me by replying, ‘Well, Clifford, you use your own good judgment’! Her trust was the best gift she could have given me. A woman should let a boy try to become a man.” Cliff had earned enough money working after school to pay for his busfare to Dallas, plus twenty dollars extra “to last until I talked myself into a job at the theatre.” At least, that’s the way he had planned it. However, he recalls ruefully, “When the bus stopped in a little town in New Mexico, I lost my money gambling. They shouldn’t let kids gamble, but they do in some places.” As if this weren’t bad enough. Cliff then proceeded to cash in the remainder of his bus ticket — to gamble some more. “I promptly lost the rest of my money,” he confesses, “except for twenty cents I’d saved for food.” The first thing to do, he told himself, was to be practical. But, with just twenty cents — how? “I knew that carrots were healthy and very cheap, so I bought a big bunch to survive on. Then I headed for the freight yard to camp out until I figured how to get out of the mess.” Of course, he was too independent — and pioud — to ask his grandmother to “bail him out.” Then he thought of a friend, Emmett Blake, who worked on a newspaper in Maryland. “I sent him a collect wire, asking for a loan of twelve down to one spot,” I asked, “where wof you most prefer to live?” “Hollywood, I guess, because it’s easi to maintain a happier family life wh making pictures than on the stage. Wh I’m filming, I get an occasional day ( to spend at home, and now with the m five-day week schedule, it’s so wonde ful to have long weekends with the ch dren, at the beach or Palm Springs, just lazying at home together around t pool. I adore our house, and it nev looked so good to me as when I cai back to it after living out of trunlj sleeping in strange beds, all during t road tour of ‘Tea and Sympathy.’ ” To me, their house which is a home, the loveliest of all the stars’ homes I ha visited in Hollywood. Located in Paci Palisades, on a high bluff, it looks like villa on the Mediterranean, with its Spa ish tile roof and its breathtaking thre i.i sided view of the Pacific. The livi ( room and loggia are decorated in lii green, cocoa and white. The sitting roc is in pearl gray, yellow and go Deborah’s bedroom is in Wedgewood bl and white, with white sofas, accented wi‘ coral and turquoise pillows. The wh( sprawling house reflects Deborah’s a I Tony’s own sunny warmth. i Deborah doesn’t have much time ii hobbies, but she has managed to coll^ a priceless assortment of antique chil during her travels — teacups and pots i Worcester, Lowestoff, Dresden, Sevres;! complete Ironstone miniature tea set; al one of the rare and prized Crown Derlf among the 200 sets made for Queen Eli abeth’s Coronation. ’1 And although she, herself, is as frag! as this china, Deborah is unbreakable determination, courage, integrity and i the lasting things of life. These qualitj have brought her to the present pinnaiii of her career, and the pendulum will co! tinue to swing in the future, to bless Ijl with continued success and happineT Next March, when she romps off with Academy Award, remember you read here first] The I i dollars,” Cliff says. “Those were longest two and a half days I’ve a : lived. I still can’t look at raw carrots! Cliff haunted the Western Union off , waiting for a reply from Emmett Bla^ all the while nibbling on his dwindle supply of carrots. When the money caii» he proceeded on his way to Dallas. There, he recalls, “I hung arovmd little theatre until they couldn’t say i| They were doing Shakespeare, and I mi the fastest changes in my life, play p three supporting roles, when they put .a ‘The Merchant of Venice.’ I’ve been aj to hurry ever since,” he grins. ", By the end of the summer. Cliff HI earned enough to return home by tri" In order to see more of the country, routed his way via Colorado and J i Francisco. Once again, he contracl gambling fever. “You’d think I’d h:5 learned my lesson,” he smiles, “bull hadn’t. I threw away my cash in a ! t machine and had to send another wire I Emmett from Denver, asking him to s( j me ten dollars.” While waiting for Emmett to resi him a second time. Cliff didn’t want waste time. Recalling Richard Hallib ton’s exciting travel tales, which he 1 read with great envy, it occurred to C that climbing Pikes Peak would be a w< derful adventure. It was an adventi i|! but terrifying is a better word for