Deborah Kerr, 1945 & 1977
The six-time Oscar nominee’s first appearance in November 1945 is lost to the mists of time but she would take another trip in August 1977 when she would discuss her career – and a potential escape plan via a friendly dolphin.
Kerr spoke of her early passion for dance and how, realising she’d never reach the heights as a prima ballerina, she switched to acting.
She told tales of being discovered in a restaurant for one of her first roles by Gabriel Pascal, and working alongside the “enchanting” Clark Gable for her Hollywood debut in The Hucksters.
Asked for her luxury item, Kerr told Plomley: “I was going to ask for a crochet hook and a flock of sheep but it needs to be inanimate. Can I have the wool? That’ll keep me busy and I can make all kinds of bikinis and heaven knows what else.”
The Glasgow-born star of From Here To Eternity picked The Complete Oxford Dictionary as her book, saying: “I’m fascinated by words and never bored reading and finding a new word, where it came from and why we use it.”
Plomley asked Kerr if she would make a good castaway, to which she replied: “I’d be inventing things, making a toothbrush out of a coconut or something.
“As long as I can fish, know how to grill it, I can rub two sticks together to make the fire, can’t I?”
And would she attempt to escape? “I don’t think I’m that good a swimmer, unless a friendly dolphin came by that I could get astride and go off on.”
One Disc: Symphony No 9 In E Minor by Antonin Dvorak One Book: The Oxford English Dictionary One Luxury: Wool and a crochet hook