Kerr, Geoffrey
Entry updated 6 October 2023. Tagged: Author.
Pseudonym of UK actor, screenwriter and author Geoffrey Kemble Grinham Keen (1895-1971), son of the actor-manager Frederick Kerr (1858-1933); he saw active service in World War One. His writing for Cinema includes the scenario for the successful supernatural comedy-romance The Ghost Goes West (1935) directed by René Clair, in which a Scottish castle is dismantled and reassembled in Florida, accompanied by its resident ghost (see Supernatural Creatures).
Kerr's humorous crime novel Under the Influence (1953) centres on the genre theme of Telepathy: the protagonist, a London bank cashier, can read minds though only when sufficiently drunk. In this way he learns of a planned murder which is duly committed; his attempts to give information to the police – "I saw it in his mind." – naturally make him the leading suspect (see Crime and Punishment). Further use of his whisky-fuelled talent is required to extricate himself. This novel was favourably reviewed by Anthony Boucher (October 1954 F&SF), who compared Kerr's Humour to that of F Anstey; and by Damon Knight (May 1955 Science Fiction Quarterly), whose comparison was to Thorne Smith. [DRL]
Geoffrey Kemble Grinham Keen
born London: 26 January 1995
died Aldershot, Hampshire: 1 July 1971
works
- Under the Influence (London: Michael Joseph, 1953) [hb/Biro]
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