Eve Golden - The Brief, Madcap Life of Kay Kendall

the brief, madcap life of
kay kendall

the brief, madcap life of

Kay

Kendall

eve golden with kim kendoll

THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY

Publication of this volume was made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Copyright 2002 by The University Press of Kentucky

Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University. All rights reserved.

Editorial and Sales Offices: The University Press of Kentucky 663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 405084008

02 03 04 05 065 4 3 2 1

Frontispiece: Kay Kendall. Photo courtesy of Kim Kendall.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Golden, Eve.

The brief, madcap life of Kay Kendall /

Eve Golden with Kim Kendall.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-8131-2251-1 (alk. paper)

1. Kendall, Kay, 1927-1959 I. Kendall, Kim

Elizabeth, 1925- . II. Title.

PN2598.K623 G65 2002

791.43028092-dc21

This book is printed on acid-free recycled paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials.

Manufactured in the United States of America.

She was quite magic. Everywhere you went, people used to stop and stare... she radiated.

Roddy McDowell

She was a wonderful, instinctive clown, probably the most wonderful that weve ever had.

Dirk Bograde

Oh, wifey, whats to become of me?

Kay Kendall

Contents

Foreword

How This Book Came to Be

Maraday Wahlborg

The concept for this book was born in a far-off country in 1959, when Kay Kendall died so tragically. I was a teenager living in South Africa, and I idolized Kay. Her devil-may-care attitude, flamboyant personality, zest for life, beauty, and radiant smile were all captivating to a spotty-faced, gangling teenager. Her death stunned me and, far from forgetting about her, I decided that someday, somehow, her story would be told. My boxes of memorabilia grew through my life, changed countries with me and always remained part of me. Newspapers, magazines, and friends of Kay s received letters over the years requesting stories and photographs, and it proved to be an exciting study.

After settling in the U.S. in 1984, I had more time to think about Kay, and my hopes to see her story told remained steadfast. Modern communication made information available and simplified the project considerably. I knew that Kay had a sister somewhere and started trying to track down Kima daunting task, as I had no idea where she lived or what her married name was. A trip to London proved to be the turning point in my search. I received an article about the lighthouse in Withernsea that Kim had transformed into the Kay Kendall Memorial Museum. Not a minute was wasted! I immediately wrote to Kim in care of the museum.

My delight on receiving a phone call from Kim is indescribable. As it turned out, she had just started to record her own memories of Kay and was also determined to write a biography. Kims cousin Fiona, a successful writer herself, had set the idea in motion, so my offer to do whatever research was needed came at the perfect moment. Kim commissioned me to set off around the world and do whatever it took to gather information on Kay. She was enormously generous and helpful in getting me appointments with people who would have been difficult to interview had I approached them as a stranger. Many of the people in show business who had known Kay were a little reluctant to trust an unknown researcher, but most of them duly granted me an interview.

I set off to meet and interview everyone who still remembered Kay Kendall. There were many moments of hilarity, many of frustration, and many of pure joy. The research involved a trip to Hollywood, several weeks in London, and a quick flight to Sweden to interview the gracious Princess Lilian, an old friend of Kays. She told many stories that had us both in fits of laughter, as she lovingly fingered the heavy gold necklace that Kay had often worn and which now graced her own neck. People were extremely friendly and cooperative, and several interviews ran to four or five hours, sometimes with a gin and tonic to loosen them up and help them remember stories! Kay still lived on in London, and at times it was hard to believe how clearly and fondly she is remembered. Libraries, museums, restaurants, film studios, fellow actors, and personal friends were all approached with enthusiasm, usually with excellent results. Once people started talking, memories flooded back, often accompanied by tears and touching moments.

In Hollywood, Carol Matthau, a great friend of Kay s, talked for hours, sometimes stopping to wipe away a stray tear, sometimes whispering as she relived a part of her life very dear to her. Dinah Sheridan, a co-star in Genevieve, was wonderfully informative, and we spent a fascinating afternoon together. The late Sir Dirk Bogarde, Kays very close friend and co- star, was initially resistant to the idea of talking to a stranger, but he soon relaxed and gave a colorful interview, remembering things in great detail and expressing himself with a flourish which befits a talented actor and writer such as he. Laurie EvansKays agentand his wife, Mary, spent a pleasant few hours chatting about her and filling me in on background to her film career. They spoke of the poignancy of Kays marriage to Rex Harrison and were able to give me details of her final journey back to London, as they were among the few who saw her in the last days of her short life. Mary Evans still wears Kay s little gold ring on her pinkie. A trip to Kays birthplace resulted in interviews with several of her relatives and a sentimental wander through the museum dedicated to her.

Other commitments kept Fiona from working on the project; but in 1999, Kim phoned and told me that Eve Golden wanted to write the biography. Eve duly received everything I had spent a lifetime collecting, and she and I have shared many funny moments as weve worked together on Kays quirky life. Eve conducted additional interviews and added reams of research material to which she had access as a seasoned biographer. The entire collection of memorabilia will be duly housed at the lighthouse in Withernsea, and Kay Kendalls beautiful smile and tales of her crazy life will live on forever.

Prologue

June 23, 1957, Universalist Church of the Divine Paternity, New York City

It was getting on toward midnight, but the Reverend Dr. Charles Francis Potter had agreed to keep his Upper West Side church open for this special, top-secret wedding. The bride and groom rushed in, accompanied by a small group: the brides sister was matron of honor, the grooms lawyer was best man, the grooms dresser, and actress and friend Margaret Leighton lent moral support. Near the doorway of the small chapel, newsman Earl Wilson crept in with a camera. The press had known since the day beforewhen the couple had obtained a marriage licensethat the ceremony was in the works. But only Wilson had sniffed out the time and the place.