Since most if not all of the major stars have been covered ad nauseam, many publishers have come out with books on 2nd, 3rd and 4th tier celebrities. British actress and comedienne Kay Kendall [Les Girls; Wings of Danger), who did indeed have a brief life and career, fits into the lattermost of those categories. Kendall was talented and tragic, dying young of leukemia, which her husband and family tried very hard to keep her from knowing until nearly the end. Her husband was Rex Harrison, and Kendall would have probably been forgotten by all but her most obsessive fans, however many, if it had not been for that association with a much bigger star. Kendall's marriage to Harrison played out during a time when the latter was ascendant due to his triumphs in both the stage and screen versions of My Fair Lady. Eve Golden's entertaining and page-turning book won't necessarily have you admiring Kendall's character, although she was probably no worse than a lot of other husband-stealing, rather "trampy" and superficial starlets; Kendall also became full of herself. (Kendall stole Harrison from Lilli Palmer, who had herself broken up an earlier marriage to Harrison. Harrison claimed that he primarily married Kendall only because she was dying.) Kendall was great friends with Dirk Bogarde and his partner, Anthony Forwood. Biographer Golden does a very good job dissecting Kendall's films and performances while never neglecting her interesting personal life.
Verdict: Good read for those interested in this talented if minor British actress. ***.
4 comments:
I have this book and read it when it first came out. Kendall was marvelous, would have been such a big star! I think Harrison never got over her death; he was so cruel to his next wife, another of my favorite actresses, Rachel Roberts, that she committed suicide when he divorced her. But Kay Kendall was everything - glamour, sophistication, humor and beauty.
-Chris
I think you're a fan of hers! Seriously, Kendall did have that all-elusive "it" that makes a star, and we'll never know how far she might have gone had she lived.
Another biographer suggested that Rachel Roberts was a nasty and hopeless drunk who made Harrison's life miserable, while others might suggest that Harrison drove the woman to drink -- the truth is probably somewhere in the middle!
A very short but beautiful life.
I remember her in The Adventures of Quentin Durward together with Robert Taylor and Duncan Lamont.
The final part of Richard Thorpe´s trilogy after Ivanhoe and Knights of the Round Table.
Yes, she appeared in quite a few interesting movies in her brief career.
Thank you for your comments!
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