Kay Kendall

Kendall's life is explored in "The Brief, Madcap Life of Kay Kendall," written by Eve Golden, Kim Kendall, and Kim Elizabeth Kendall (University Press of Kentucky, 2002). Actress Laura Leighton starred on Melrose Place from 1993 to 1997. Before her marriage to Harrison, Kendall had a romantic relationship with Sydney Chaplin, a son of Charlie Chaplin. She succumbed to her illness on September 6 the following year, soon after completing the movie "Once More with Feeling", starring opposite Yul Brynner. In 1958, Kendall won a Golden Globe Award for her performance in Les Girls, probably the best-known film of her career.

Harrison was married to actress Lilli Palmer at the time, but when he learned Kendall had been diagnosed with myeloid leukemia from her doctor, he divorced Palmer and married Kendall, never revealing to her the reason for her failing health. Later she starred opposite Rex Harrison in the comedy The Constant Husband (1955), and an affair soon followed. She co-starred with Clark again in Dance Hall (1950), and was featured in a quick succession of forgettable films before gaining fame in "Genevieve" (1953). Her first major screen role was in the Sid Field-Petula Clark musical London Town (1946), notable for being one of the costliest flops in British film history.

Her father was Terry Kendall, a vaudevillian. Her maternal grandmother was Marie Kendall, a musical-comedy star for her vivacious personality and diction while singing. She was born Kay Justine Kendall McCarthy on May 26, 1927 in Withernsea, a coastal resort in eastern England. Kay Kendall (1927-1959) was a British actress.