Foreign influencers in southern Spain
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Tony Bryant
Marbella
Friday, 27 September 2024
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Marbella has been synonymous with glitz and glamour since the '50s when it began to catch the attention of the world's rich and famous. Although the majority of these celebrities, aristocrats and socialites revelled in the media attention they received, others preferred the quiet life and refused to court the paparazzi.
This was certainly the case with Hollywood sensation Deborah Kerr and her equally famous screenwriter husband Peter Viertel, who enjoyed a quiet life away from the spotlight and cameras in the world-famous Costa del Sol town for 35 years.
The Scottish-born actress and her American husband, who is also credited as the person who introduced surfing to Europe, found their haven in the hilltop Rio Real Golf development, one of the most peaceful estates in Marbella.
The couple chose Marbella in order to escape the Hollywood attention that their celebrity status afforded them, and although they were occasionally seen strolling hand in hand, or dining in one of Marbella's plush restaurants, they enjoyed relative anonymity, something they certainly would not have received in Tinseltown.
Kerr and Viertel brought their property in Rio Real Golf because it offered them the tranquillity they sought. Those who knew the actress say that she always preferred to live a homely life, far from the social events and parties of the 'jet set', preferring to entertain her guests, which included visiting movie stars and celebrities, on the patio of her Hollywood-style mansion. The couple managed to make Marbella a more attractive and exclusive place for other top stars from around the world, which is why one journalist declared Kerr was the "person who invented Marbella".
Kerr, who was suffering from complications of Parkinson's disease, returned to the UK shortly before she died on 16 October 2007; while her husband, who had stayed behind in Marbella, died of cancer less than three weeks later.
In September 2007, Marbella town hall had announced that it had approved the naming of a street after Kerr, although the actress would never see it. After the subsequent death of her husband on 4 November, it was decided to honour both names, something that happened in August 2008.
Calle Deborah Kerr / Peter Viertel runs parallel to the A-7, just a short distance from the home they so cherished.
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