Scottish-born actress Deborah Kerr dies aged 86

By Mike Collett-White

LONDON (Reuters) - Scottish-born actress Deborah Kerr, the graceful star who romped in the surf with Burt Lancaster in "From Here to Eternity" and danced with Yul Brynner in "The King and I," has died at age 86.

Her agent Anne Hutton said she died on Tuesday in Suffolk, eastern England.

"Her family was with her at the time. She had suffered from Parkinson's disease for some time and had just had her 86th birthday and so was an elderly lady. She just slipped away," Hutton said on Thursday.

Kerr's beauty, regal bearing and image as an English rose made her a darling of Hollywood, and she starred in more than 40 films spanning nearly 50 years in cinema, playing opposite some of the greatest leading men of her era.

"Her type of refined sensuality proved refreshingly attractive, since it hinted at hidden desires and forbidden feelings, giving her acting an extra edge and interest," the Daily Telegraph wrote in its obituary.

Born Deborah Jane Kerr-Trimmer on September 30, 1921, in Helensburgh, Scotland, she trained in ballet before moving on to theater, then film.

The actress landed her breakthrough screen role as a frightened Salvation Army worker in the all-star adaptation of the satire, "Major Barbara."

However, it was her work in three separate parts in the 1943 Michael Powell-Emeric Pressburger production "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp," as the various women in the hero's life, that brought her wider recognition.