LONDON, Oct 18: British actress Deborah Kerr, star of films including “From Here To Eternity” and “The King And I”, has died at the age of 86, her agent said on Thursday.

Kerr had suffered from Parkinson’s disease for several years and died in Suffolk, eastern England, on Tuesday.

The Scot was known for an iconic scene in “From Here To Eternity” in which she and Burt Lancaster kiss passionately on a beach in Hawaii as the waves break around them.

The epic 1953 romance, set during World War II and also starring Montgomery Clift and Frank Sinatra, elevated her to major league stardom.

She was nominated for, but did not win, a Best Actress Academy Award for the film, which won eight Oscars overall.

From then, she starred in movies as diverse as the 1956 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “The King And I” with Yul Brynner — for which she was again Oscar-nominated — and James Bond spoof “Casino Royale” (1967) with David Niven and Peter Sellers.

From the late 1960s, Kerr focused on theatre and television roles.

The actress was married twice and was made a CBE (Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II in 1998. Despite never winning an Oscar, she received an honorary Academy Award in 1994 in recognition of her achievements.—AFP