Her first major screen role was in the 1946 musical
London Town, one of the more expensive flops in British film history. She co-starred with
Petula Clark again in the drama film
Dance Hall (1950), and was featured in a quick succession of minor films before achieving fame in
Genevieve (1953). She appeared in the drama
Simon and Laura (1955) with
Peter Finch; the comedy
Abdulla the Great (1955) with
Sydney Chaplin and
Gregory Ratoff; and the
epic historical film The Adventures of Quentin Durward (1955), with
Robert Taylor and
Robert Morley. In October and November 1957, she appeared in two episodes of the short-lived American television series
The Polly Bergen Show. In 1958, Kendall won a
Golden Globe Award for her performance as Lady Sybil Wren in
Les Girls, the story of three showgirls in postwar Paris (with
Mitzi Gaynor and
Taina Elg). Kendall died in 1959, aged 32, soon after completing her last film, the comedy
Once More, with Feeling! (1960), starring opposite
Yul Brynner.
Critical assessment Stanley Donen, who produced and directed
Once More, with Feeling!, said: "She was completely unpredictable. She was an instinctive comedienne with a real clown sense. No one has had it since
Carole Lombard – and Kay was a better actress." "As they say about crime victims, Kay Kendall was in the wrong place at the wrong time," wrote Rhoda Koenig, a critic writing for
The Independent in 2006. "In her case, the crime was a waste of talent. One of the most delightful of British actresses... few of her films gave her a chance to shine. A natural screwball heroine, Kendall was born too late for the 1930s comedies in which she would have been the equal of the scatty but scintillating Carole Lombard or
Claudette Colbert, and too soon for the naughtiness and absurdity of the 1960s... Kendall was beautiful and funny. She was a true comedienne, unafraid to compromise her ladylike appearance with pratfalls, pop eyes and comic drunk scenes. Kendall could get away with such antics without looking vulgar." ==Personal life==