Career
Her first major screen role was in the Sid Field-Petula Clark London Town, notable for being one of the costliest flops in British-film history. She co-starred with Clark again in the drama film Dance Hall (1950), and was featured in a quick succession of minor films before gaining fame in Genevieve (1953).
Kendall followed this up with the even more popular first film in the Doctor series, the comedy film Doctor in the House (1954) with Dirk Bogarde. She was under contract to the Rank Organisation but was unhappy with the parts offered, turning down Value For Money (1955), As Long As You're Happy (1955) and Doctor at Sea (1955). She did appear in the drama film Simon and Laura (1955) with Peter Finch; the comedy film Abdulla the Great (1955) with Sydney Chaplin and Gregory Ratoff; and the epic historical film The Adventures of Quentin Durward (1955), with Robert Taylor and Robert Morley. In October and November 1957, she appeared in two episodes of the short-lived American television series The Polly Bergen Show, a comedy-variety show on NBC.
In 1958, Kendall won a Golden Globe Award for her performance as Lady Sybil Wren in Les Girls – probably one of the best-known films of her career – the story of three showgirls in postwar Paris (the other actresses were Mitzi Gaynor and Taina Elg). The following year, she starred opposite Harrison in the comedy film The Reluctant Debutante. Kendall died in 1959 soon after completing her last film, the comedy Once More, with Feeling! (1960), starring opposite Yul Brynner.
Read more about this topic: Kay Kendall
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“A black boxer’s career is the perfect metaphor for the career of a black male. Every day is like being in the gym, sparring with impersonal opponents as one faces the rudeness and hostility that a black male must confront in the United States, where he is the object of both fear and fascination.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
“I restore myself when I’m alone. A career is born in public—talent in privacy.”
—Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962)
“Clearly, society has a tremendous stake in insisting on a woman’s natural fitness for the career of mother: the alternatives are all too expensive.”
—Ann Oakley (b. 1944)