Editing Deborah Kerr (section)

===Film stardom===
[[File:Deborah Kerr (SAYRE 4880) (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|Kerr in 1942]]
Kerr became known playing the lead role in the film of ''[[Love on the Dole (film)|Love on the Dole]]'' (1941). Critic [[James Agate]] wrote that ''Love on the Dole'' "is not within a mile of [[Wendy Hiller]]'s in the theatre, but it is a charming piece of work by a very pretty and promising beginner, so pretty and so promising that there is the usual yapping about a new star".<ref name="Telegraph"/>

She was the female lead in ''[[Penn of Pennsylvania]]'' (1941) which was little seen; however ''[[Hatter's Castle (film)|Hatter's Castle]]'' (1942), in which she starred with [[Robert Newton]] and [[James Mason]], was very successful. She played a Norwegian resistance fighter in ''[[The Day Will Dawn]]'' (1942). She was an immediate hit with the public: an American film trade paper reported in 1942 that she was the most popular British actress with Americans.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article44833626 |title=FILM NOTES. |newspaper=[[The West Australian]] |location=Perth |date=7 December 1945 |access-date=9 July 2012 |page=13 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

Kerr played three women in [[Michael Powell]] and [[Emeric Pressburger]]'s ''[[The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp]]'' (1943). During the filming, according to Powell's autobiography, Powell and she became lovers:<ref name="Powell">{{cite book |last=Powell |first=Michael |title=A Life in Movies |publisher=Faber |edition=reprint |year=2000 |isbn=978-0571204311}}</ref> "I realised that Deborah was both the ideal and the flesh-and-blood woman whom I had been searching for".<ref name="Powell"/> Kerr made clear that her surname should be pronounced the same as "car". To avoid confusion over pronunciation, [[Louis B. Mayer]], head of [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] billed her as "Kerr rhymes with Star!"<ref name="car">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/19/movies/19kerr.html |title=Deborah Kerr, Actress Known for Genteel Grace and a Sexy Beach Kiss, Dies at 86 |date=19 October 2007 |access-date=20 October 2007 |first=Douglas |last=Martin |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> Although the [[British Army]] refused to co-operate with the producers—and [[Winston Churchill]] thought the film would ruin wartime morale—''Colonel Blimp'' confounded critics when it proved to be an artistic and commercial success.<ref name="Powell"/>
{{multiple image|perrow = 1|width = 220px
| image1 = Deborah Kerr 3.jpg
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| footer = Kerr in ''[[Black Narcissus]]'' (1947)
}}
Powell hoped to reunite Kerr and lead actor [[Roger Livesey]] in his next film, ''[[A Canterbury Tale]]'' (1944), but her agent had sold her contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. According to Powell, his affair with Kerr ended when she made it clear to him that she would accept an offer to go to Hollywood if one were made.<ref name="Powell"/>

In 1943, aged 21, Kerr made her West End début as Ellie Dunn in a revival of ''[[Heartbreak House]]'' at the [[Cambridge Theatre]], stealing attention from stalwarts such as [[Edith Evans]] and [[Isabel Jeans]]. "She has the rare gift", wrote critic <!-- Not knighted until 1954. -->[[Beverley Baxter]], "of thinking her lines, not merely remembering them. The process of development from a romantic, silly girl to a hard, disillusioned woman in three hours was moving and convincing".<ref name="Telegraph"/>

Near the end of the Second World War, she also toured Holland, France, and Belgium for [[ENSA]] as Mrs Manningham in ''Gaslight'' (retitled ''Angel Street''), and Britain (with [[Stewart Granger]]).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Keene |first=Ann T. |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1803828 |title=Kerr, Deborah (1921-2007), actress |date=March 2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |series=American National Biography Online|doi=10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1803828 }}</ref>

[[Alexander Korda]] cast her opposite [[Robert Donat]] in ''[[Perfect Strangers (1945 film)|Perfect Strangers]]'' (1945). The film was a big hit in Britain. So too was the spy comedy drama ''[[I See a Dark Stranger]]'' (1946), in which she gave a breezy, amusing performance that dominated the action and overshadowed her co-star [[Trevor Howard]]. This film was a production of the team of [[Frank Launder]] and [[Sidney Gilliat]].

Her role as a troubled nun in the Powell and Pressburger production of ''[[Black Narcissus]]'' (1947) brought her to the attention of Hollywood producers. The film was a hit in the US, as well as the UK, and Kerr won the [[New York Film Critics Award]] as Actress of the Year. British exhibitors voted her the eighth-most popular local star at the box-office in 1947.<ref>'Bing's Lucky Number: Pa Crosby Dons 4th B.O. Crown', ''The Washington Post'' 3 January 1948: p. 12.</ref> She relocated to Hollywood and was under contract to [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]].