Trivia

Met and fell in love with Rex Harrison, who was married at the time, after they appeared together in Marriage a la Mode (1955). Rex learned of Kay's leukemia from her doctor a couple of years later. He divorced Lilli Palmer and married Kay in 1957, agreeing with the doctor never to tell her the reason for her failing health. They lived the good life up until the end.

Her husband Rex Harrison maintained that while he was singing "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" in My Fair Lady (1964) he was thinking of her to access his innermost emotion. This is particularly evident in one scene where he sits and looks almost tearful and lost.

Jill St. John has said that Kendall was her idol.

Her grandmother, Marie Kendall, was an Edwardian music hall star. Her father, Terry Kendall, was a music hall song-and-dance man.

Cousin of Jack Cardiff

She was born at Stanley House, Hull Road, Withernsea near the lighthouse, which after being decommissioned was bought by her brother in law, Dr Rollo Campbell and turned into a museum with one room devoted to Kay.

She was educated in Wales, Scotland and London. She studied ballet for six years in London, joining a chorus line while in still her early teens. She then toured English music halls in a double act with her sister Kim.

Half-sister of Cavan Kendall.

A memorial service was held for her at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London on 22 September 1959.

Studied ballet for 8 years.

Sister of Terry Kendall Jr. and Kim Campbell.

Toured with ENSA during the war singing and dancing. before switching to acting.

Was offered the lead in The Blue Lagoon (1949) with the condition that London Town (1946) would become successful, however, after that project became a critical and commercial failure, J. Arthur Rank discouraged her from taking the role, thus prematurely ending her contract with Rank.

Is one of 23 actresses who won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical but did not receive an Oscar nomination for the same performance; hers being for Les Girls (1957) (tied with Taina Elg). The others, in chronological order, are: June Allyson for Too Young to Kiss (1951), Ethel Merman for Call Me Madam (1953), Jean Simmons for Guys and Dolls (1955), Taina Elg for Les Girls (1957), Marilyn Monroe for Some Like It Hot (1959), Rosalind Russell for A Majority of One (1961) and Gypsy (1962), Patty Duke for Me, Natalie (1969), Twiggy for The Boy Friend (1971), Raquel Welch for The Three Musketeers (1973), Barbra Streisand for A Star Is Born (1976), Bernadette Peters for Pennies from Heaven (1981), Kathleen Turner for Romancing the Stone (1984) and Prizzi's Honor (1985), Miranda Richardson for Enchanted April (1991), Jamie Lee Curtis for True Lies (1994), Nicole Kidman for To Die For (1995), Madonna for Evita (1996), Renée Zellweger for Nurse Betty (2000), Sally Hawkins for Happy-Go-Lucky (2008), Amy Adams for Big Eyes (2014), Awkwafina for The Farewell (2019), Rosamund Pike for I Care a Lot (2020) and Rachel Zegler for West Side Story (2021).

Related to Danny O'Dea.

Niece of Pat Kendall.