Acteurist Spotlight – Deborah Kerr – Part 3: TEA AND SYMPATHY (1956) and BELOVED INFIDEL (1959)

We conclude our Deborah Kerr Acteurist Spotlight with a couple of her big Hollywood movies after the turning point of From Here to Eternity : Vincente Minnelli's Tea and Sympathy (1956), in which she appears as Laura Reynolds, a role she originated on Broadway; and Henry King's Beloved Infidel (1959), in which she stars as Hollywood gossip columnist Sheilah Graham in an autobiographical account of a fascinating rags-to-modest-wealth-and-influence story intersecting with F. Scott Fitzgerald's final years of alcoholic decline and exile in Hollywood. We discuss Minnelli and playwright/screenwriter Robert Anderson's very contemporary-feeling analysis of the performance of gender (masculinity in particular) and Kerr's role as a Sex Christ, and Beloved Infidel 's good-bad-and-ugly, but empathetic, approach to a troubled, abusive relationship. Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: TEA AND SYMPATHY (1956) [dir. Vincente Minnelli] 0h 33m 45s: BELOVED INFIDEL (1959) [dir. Henry King] +++ * Listen to our guest episode on The Criterion Project – a discussion of Late Spring * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s * Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive ) * Read Elise's piece on Gangs of New York – "Making America Strange Again" * Check out Dave's Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist's 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project!

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Acteurist Spotlight – Deborah Kerr – Part 3: TEA AND SYMPATHY (1956) and BELOVED INFIDEL (1959) is an episode from Another Kind of Distance: A Time Travel, Twin Peaks, Film, Doom Patrol and Nostalgia Podcast by Dave.

This episode is 01:01:08 long.

This episode was published on Apr 10, 2026.

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