Deborah Kerr her long-time friend Robert Mitchum; a mama's girl in "Separate Tables" (1958) opposite David Niven; and a governess in both "The Chalk Garden" (1964) and "The Innocents" (1961) where she plays a governess tormented by apparitions. She also portrayed an earthy Australian sheep-herder's wife in "The Sundowners" (1960) and appeared as lustful and beautiful screen enchantresses in both "Beloved Infidel" (1959) and "Bonjour Tristesse" (1958). Among her most famous roles were Anna Leonowens in the film version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "The King and I" (1956); and opposite Cary Grant as his shipboard romantic interest Terry McKay in
The Innocents (1961 film) use of darkness surrounding her suggests that it is possible that the story that follows could be nothing more than in her own mind – isolated and creating its own supernatural world, according to Frayling. Deborah Kerr was cast in the lead role of Miss Giddens at the counsel of the film's studio and distributor, 20th Century Fox, despite the fact that the governess character in James's original work was twenty years old (Kerr was forty at the time). On discussing the part with Clayton, Kerr recalled: "I remember asking Jack what he wanted me to stress in playing the