Kerima

Miriam Charrière, better known as Kerima (10 February 1925 – July 2014) was a French actress best known for her role in the 1951 British film Outcast of the Islands. For publicity reasons, she was portrayed as having exotic origins including claims that she was Javanese or Algerian.

Film career Outcast of the Islands was set in Indonesia and Kerima's role was that of a native girl. In casting the role, director Carol Reed sought someone "seductive, radiant", "as the soul of the country with its mysterious forests". He felt no available actresses were right for the part. In an interview with Der Spiegel, he claimed to have searched for almost a year in Egypt, Singapore, and Borneo, auditioning "dancers, fashion models, beauty queens" before friends recommended Kerima, "daughter of a very wealthy Arab in Algiers". Although her background was not Indonesian, film publicity sought to portray her as an indigenous islander. In London, she was quoted as saying "I live the life of Nature. I ride bareback, I walk barefoot, I swim bare." As she had no acting experience, her role was completely non-verbal. Reed never used the voice of amateurs or children in his films. Had her voice been used, a French accent would have been obvious. Publicity for the film made much use of a scene that included a kiss lasting 112 seconds. This "marathon kiss" was the subject of a Life magazine cover story. Her last known work consisted of minor roles in 1972, the last being a bellydancer in an episode of the British television series The Adventurer.

Ethnicity To create more publicity for Kerima and the movie Outcast, an 'exotic island girl' image consistent with her role was created by the film's executive producer, Alexander Korda. He claimed she was born in Algeria. A search of birth records in Algerian newspapers conducted around 2006 did not find any record of her birth.

Her exotic looks enabled her to play many nationalities, including an Egyptian in Land of the Pharaohs, a Vietnamese in The Quiet American, and an Italian in La Lupa. In addition to Algerian, she has also been described as "a beautiful Pakistani actress", as well as Italian, Indonesian, and Tunisian.

Personal life Kerima, real name Miriam Charrière, was born in Toulouse to French parents. (Another source says that she was "selling jewellery in the South of France".) By age 23, she was fluent in French, Spanish, and Italian. They were later divorced. Her second marriage was to Guy Hamilton, who was an assistant director for Outcast of the Islands, after they met again many years later in Rome. They lived in a villa in Andratx on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca from the mid-1970s.

Kerima died in July 2014, at the age of 89. Hamilton died in April 2016.

Magazine covers Among others, Kerima was the subject of the following magazine covers: 19 May 1952 issue of Life magazine. 30 August 1952 issue of Tempo. 22 February 1952 issue of Ciné Télé Revue 19 January 1952 issue of Picturegoer 24 January 1951 issue of Der Spiegel in The Quiet American, 1958 The Warrior and the Slave Girl (La Rivolta dei gladiatori), 1958 Carmen Herrera in World of Miracles (Il Mondo dei Miracoli), 1959 Maya in The Night of the Great Attack (La notte del grande assalto), 1959 Virginia Toriello in Jessica, 1962 Unnamed girl in The Love Box, 1972 Belly dancer in The Adventurer, 1972 (TV series)