Jean Simmons: Difference between revisions
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Playing Ophelia in Olivier's ''Hamlet'' made her a star while still in her teens, although she was already well known for her work in other British films, including her first starring role in the film adaptation of ''[[Uncle Silas]]'', and ''[[Black Narcissus]]'' (both 1947). Olivier offered her the chance to work and study at the [[Bristol Old Vic]], advising her to play anything they threw at her to get experience; she was under contract to the [[Rank Organisation]] who vetoed the idea.<ref>{{cite news |first=Philip |last=French |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jan/23/the-unforgettable-jean-simmons |title=Jean Simmons: an unforgettable English rose |work=The Observer |date=24 January 2010}}</ref> Rank was unhappy at this time also that [[Stewart Granger]] was pursuing his young star and, (according to the actor's account), confronted Granger ("a shop-worn thirty-four"), at a meeting at the [[Dorchester Hotel]] saying that what was going on was wrong since he was a married man with two children. Granger told Rank he had been divorced for six months, and left.<ref>Stewart Granger, Sparks Fly Upward, Granada 1981, p.132</ref> In 1949 Simmons starred with Granger in ''[[Adam and Evelyne]]''. In 1950 Rank sold Simmons's contract to [[Howard Hughes]], who then owned the [[RKO Pictures|RKO]] studio in Hollywood. That year she was voted the fourth most popular star in Britain.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18193224 |title=Critics Praise Drama: Comedians Win Profits. |newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |location=NSW |date=29 December 1950 |accessdate=24 April 2012 |page=3 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> |
Playing Ophelia in Olivier's ''Hamlet'' made her a star while still in her teens, although she was already well known for her work in other British films, including her first starring role in the film adaptation of ''[[Uncle Silas]]'', and ''[[Black Narcissus]]'' (both 1947). Olivier offered her the chance to work and study at the [[Bristol Old Vic]], advising her to play anything they threw at her to get experience; she was under contract to the [[Rank Organisation]] who vetoed the idea.<ref>{{cite news |first=Philip |last=French |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jan/23/the-unforgettable-jean-simmons |title=Jean Simmons: an unforgettable English rose |work=The Observer |date=24 January 2010}}</ref> Rank was unhappy at this time also that [[Stewart Granger]] was pursuing his young star and, (according to the actor's account), confronted Granger ("a shop-worn thirty-four"), at a meeting at the [[Dorchester Hotel]] saying that what was going on was wrong since he was a married man with two children. Granger told Rank he had been divorced for six months, and left.<ref>Stewart Granger, Sparks Fly Upward, Granada 1981, p.132</ref> In 1949 Simmons starred with Granger in ''[[Adam and Evelyne]]''. In 1950 Rank sold Simmons's contract to [[Howard Hughes]], who then owned the [[RKO Pictures|RKO]] studio in Hollywood. That year she was voted the fourth most popular star in Britain.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18193224 |title=Critics Praise Drama: Comedians Win Profits. |newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |location=NSW |date=29 December 1950 |accessdate=24 April 2012 |page=3 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> |
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In 1950 she married the English actor [[Stewart Granger]], with whom she appeared in several films, successfully making the transition to an American career. She made four films for Hughes, including ''[[Angel Face (1952 film)|Angel Face]]'', directed by [[Otto Preminger]]. According to [[David Thomson (film critic)|David Thomson]] "if she had made only one film – ''Angel Face'' – she might now be spoken of with the awe given to [[Louise Brooks]]."<ref name="Thomson">{{cite news |first=David |last=Thomson |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/jan/24/jean-simmons-obituary |title=Jean Simmons obituary |work=The Guardian |date=25 January 2010}}</ref> A court case freed her from the contract with Hughes in 1952.<ref name="Thomson"/> [[image:Jean Simmons in Angel Face trailer.jpg|thumb|left|180px|Simmons in [[Otto Preminger]]'s ''[[Angel Face (1952 film)|Angel Face]]'' - one of four films she made for [[RKO Pictures]] |
In 1950 she married the English actor [[Stewart Granger]], with whom she appeared in several films, successfully making the transition to an American career. She made four films for Hughes, including ''[[Angel Face (1952 film)|Angel Face]]'', directed by [[Otto Preminger]]. According to [[David Thomson (film critic)|David Thomson]] "if she had made only one film – ''Angel Face'' – she might now be spoken of with the awe given to [[Louise Brooks]]."<ref name="Thomson">{{cite news |first=David |last=Thomson |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/jan/24/jean-simmons-obituary |title=Jean Simmons obituary |work=The Guardian |date=25 January 2010}}</ref> A court case freed her from the contract with Hughes in 1952.<ref name="Thomson"/> [[image:Jean Simmons in Angel Face trailer.jpg|thumb|left|180px|Simmons in [[Otto Preminger]]'s ''[[Angel Face (1952 film)|Angel Face]]'' - one of four films she made for [[RKO Pictures]] ]] In 1953 she starred alongside [[Spencer Tracy]] in ''[[The Actress]]'', a film that was one of her personal favourites. Among the many films she appeared in during this period were ''[[The Robe]]'' (1953), ''[[Young Bess]]'' (1953), ''[[Désirée (film)|Désirée]]'' (1954), ''[[The Egyptian (film)|The Egyptian]]'' (1954), ''[[Guys and Dolls (film)|Guys and Dolls]]'' (1955) – "in which she's delightfully proper (and improper) as the [[Salvation Army]] officer Sarah Brown" <ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2008/apr/06/1 Philip French, Screen Legends, No.11]</ref> – ''[[The Big Country]] '' (1958), ''[[Elmer Gantry (film)|Elmer Gantry]]'' (1960), (directed by her second husband, [[Richard Brooks]]), ''[[Spartacus (film)|Spartacus]]'' (1960), ''[[All the Way Home (film)|All the Way Home]]'' (1963) – a film of [[James Agee]]'s novel, ''[[A Death in the Family]]'' – and ''[[The Happy Ending]]'' (1969), again directed by Brooks and for which she received her second Oscar nomination. In the opinion of film critic [[Philip French]], a film of 1958, ''[[Home Before Dark (film)|Home Before Dark]]'', saw her give "perhaps her finest performance as a housewife driven into a breakdown in [[Mervyn LeRoy]]'s psychodrama."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2008/apr/06/1 |title=Philip French's screen legends - No 11: Jean Simmons 1929- |work=The Observer |date=6 April 2008 |first=Philip |last=French}}</ref> |
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By the 1970s Simmons turned her focus to stage and television acting. She toured the United States in [[Stephen Sondheim]]'s well-reviewed musical ''[[A Little Night Music]]'', then took the show to London, and thus originated the role of Desirée Armfeldt on the [[West End theatre|West End]].<ref>[http://www.sondheimguide.com/night.html Sondheim Guide - A Little Night Music]</ref> Doing the show for three years, she said she never tired of Sondheim's music; "No matter how tired or ''off'' you felt, the music would just pick you up." |
By the 1970s Simmons turned her focus to stage and television acting. She toured the United States in [[Stephen Sondheim]]'s well-reviewed musical ''[[A Little Night Music]]'', then took the show to London, and thus originated the role of Desirée Armfeldt on the [[West End theatre|West End]].<ref>[http://www.sondheimguide.com/night.html Sondheim Guide - A Little Night Music]</ref> Doing the show for three years, she said she never tired of Sondheim's music; "No matter how tired or ''off'' you felt, the music would just pick you up." |
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Revision as of 16:14, 10 November 2013
Jean Simmons | |
|---|---|
 Jean Simmons in a 1955 studio publicity shot | |
| Born | Jean Merilyn Simmons 31 January 1929 |
| Died | 22 January 2010 (aged 80) |
| Cause of death | Lung Cancer |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | Aida Foster School of Dance |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, dancer |
| Years active | 1944–2009 |
| Spouse(s) | Stewart Granger (1950–60) (divorced) 1 child Richard Brooks (1960–77) (divorced) 1 child |
| Parent(s) | Charles Simmons, Winifred (Loveland) Simmons |
Jean Merilyn Simmons, OBE (31 January 1929 – 22 January 2010) was a British actress.[1][2] One of J. Arthur Rank's 'well-spoken young starlets,' she appeared predominantly in films, beginning with those made in Great Britain during and after the Second World War, followed mainly by Hollywood films from 1950 onward.[3]
Early life and career
Simmons was born in Lower Holloway, London, England, to Charles Simmons and his wife, Winifred (Loveland) Simmons. Jean was the youngest of four children with siblings Edna, Harold and Lorna. She began acting at the age of 14. During the Second World War, the Simmons family was evacuated to Winscombe in Somerset.[4] Her father, a physical education teacher (who had represented Great Britain in the 1912 Summer Olympics),[5] taught briefly at Sidcot School, and sometime during this period Simmons followed her elder sister on to the village stage and sang songs such as "Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow Wow". Returning to London and just enrolled at the Aida Foster School of Dance, she was spotted by the director Val Guest, who cast her in the Margaret Lockwood vehicle Give Us the Moon.[6] Small roles in several other films followed including the high profile Caesar and Cleopatra, produced by Gabriel Pascal. Pascal saw potential in Simmons and in 1945 he signed her to a seven-year contract.[7] Prior to moving to Hollywood, she played the young Estella in David Lean's version of Great Expectations (1946) and Ophelia in Laurence Olivier's Hamlet (1948), for which she received her first Oscar nomination. She also played an Indian girl in the Powell-Pressburger film Black Narcissus (1947).
It was the experience of working on Great Expectations that caused her to pursue an acting career more seriously:
I thought acting was just a lark, meeting all those exciting film stars, and getting £5 a day which was lovely because we needed the money. But I figured I'd just go off and get married and have children like my mother. It was working with David Lean that convinced me to go on.[8]
Playing Ophelia in Olivier's Hamlet made her a star while still in her teens, although she was already well known for her work in other British films, including her first starring role in the film adaptation of Uncle Silas, and Black Narcissus (both 1947). Olivier offered her the chance to work and study at the Bristol Old Vic, advising her to play anything they threw at her to get experience; she was under contract to the Rank Organisation who vetoed the idea.[9] Rank was unhappy at this time also that Stewart Granger was pursuing his young star and, (according to the actor's account), confronted Granger ("a shop-worn thirty-four"), at a meeting at the Dorchester Hotel saying that what was going on was wrong since he was a married man with two children. Granger told Rank he had been divorced for six months, and left.[10] In 1949 Simmons starred with Granger in Adam and Evelyne. In 1950 Rank sold Simmons's contract to Howard Hughes, who then owned the RKO studio in Hollywood. That year she was voted the fourth most popular star in Britain.[11]
In 1950 she married the English actor Stewart Granger, with whom she appeared in several films, successfully making the transition to an American career. She made four films for Hughes, including Angel Face, directed by Otto Preminger. According to David Thomson "if she had made only one film – Angel Face – she might now be spoken of with the awe given to Louise Brooks."[12] A court case freed her from the contract with Hughes in 1952.[12]
In 1953 she starred alongside Spencer Tracy in The Actress, a film that was one of her personal favourites. Among the many films she appeared in during this period were The Robe (1953), Young Bess (1953), Désirée (1954), The Egyptian (1954), Guys and Dolls (1955) – "in which she's delightfully proper (and improper) as the Salvation Army officer Sarah Brown" [13] – The Big Country (1958), Elmer Gantry (1960), (directed by her second husband, Richard Brooks), Spartacus (1960), All the Way Home (1963) – a film of James Agee's novel, A Death in the Family – and The Happy Ending (1969), again directed by Brooks and for which she received her second Oscar nomination. In the opinion of film critic Philip French, a film of 1958, Home Before Dark, saw her give "perhaps her finest performance as a housewife driven into a breakdown in Mervyn LeRoy's psychodrama."[14]
By the 1970s Simmons turned her focus to stage and television acting. She toured the United States in Stephen Sondheim's well-reviewed musical A Little Night Music, then took the show to London, and thus originated the role of Desirée Armfeldt on the West End.[15] Doing the show for three years, she said she never tired of Sondheim's music; "No matter how tired or off you felt, the music would just pick you up."
She portrayed Fiona Cleary, Cleary family matriarch, in the 1983 mini-series, The Thorn Birds; she won an Emmy Award for her role.
In 1985 and 1986 she appeared in North & South, again playing the role of the family matriarch as Clarissa Main.
In 1988 she starred in The Dawning with Anthony Hopkins and Hugh Grant, and in 1989 she again starred in a mini-series, this time a version of Great Expectations, in which she played the role of Miss Havisham, Estella's adoptive mother. Simmons made a late career appearance in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Drumhead" as a retired Starfleet admiral and hardened legal investigator who conducts a witch-hunt. In 1991 she appeared in the short-lived revival of the 1960s daytime series Dark Shadows, in roles originally played by Joan Bennett. From 1994 until 1998 Simmons narrated the A&E documentary television series, Mysteries of the Bible. In 2004 Simmons voiced the lead-role of Sophie in the English dub of Howl's Moving Castle.
Personal life
Jean Simmons was married and divorced twice. She married Stewart Granger in Tucson, Arizona, on 20 December 1950. In 1956 she and Granger became U.S. citizens; they divorced in 1960. On 1 November 1960, she married director Richard Brooks; they divorced in 1977. Although both men were significantly older than Simmons, she denied she was looking for a father figure. Her father had died when she was just 16 but she said: "They were really nothing like my father at all. My father was a gentle, soft-spoken man. My husbands were much noisier and much more opinionated ... it's really nothing to do with age ... it's to do with what's there – the twinkle and sense of humour."[8] And in a 1984 interview, given in Copenhagen at the time she was shooting the film Yellow Pages, she elaborated slightly on her marriages, stating,
It may be simplistic, but you could sum up my two marriages by saying that, when I wanted to be a wife, Jimmy [Stewart Granger] would say: 'I just want you to be pretty.' And when I wanted to cook, Richard would say: 'Forget the cooking. You've been trained to act – so act!' Most people thought I was helpless – a clinger and a butterfly – during my first marriage. It was Richard Brooks who saw what was wrong and tried to make me stand on my own two feet. I'd whine: 'I'm afraid.' And he'd say: 'Never be afraid to fail. Every time you get up in the morning, you are ahead.'
She had two daughters, Tracy Granger and Kate Brooks, one by each marriage – their names bearing witness to Simmons' friendship with Spencer Tracy[16] and Katharine Hepburn. Simmons moved to the East Coast of the US in the late 1970s, briefly owning a home in New Milford, Connecticut near her longtime friend Rex Reed. Later she moved to Santa Monica, California, where she lived until her death from lung cancer. She died at home on 22 January 2010, nine days before her 81st birthday, surrounded by her family.[17]
Throughout her life Simmons spoke out publicly about her own struggle with addiction, and in 2003 became the patron of the UK drugs and human rights charity Release. She was an active supporter of their campaigns for just, humane and effective drug policies, recognising that many of those with drug problems cannot afford the luxurious facilities available to celebrities. In 2005 Simmons signed a petition to the British Prime Minister Tony Blair asking him not to upgrade cannabis from a class C drug to a class B.[18]
She was cremated in Santa Monica and her ashes buried in North London in Highgate Cemetery West. [citation needed]
Filmography
Box Office Ranking
For a number of years, British film exhibitors voted her among the top ten British stars at the box office via an annual poll in the Motion Picture Herald.
- 1949 - 4th[41] (9th most popular over all)[42]
- 1950 - 2nd (4th most popular over all)[43]
- 1951 - 3rd[44]
Awards and nominations
References
- ^ Obituary Los Angeles Times, 23 January 2010.
- ^ Obituary London Independent, 26 January 2010.
- ^ Aljean Harmetz (January 23, 2010). "Jean Simmons, Actress, Dies at 80". The New York Times. Retrieved January 24, 2010.
Jean Simmons, the English actress who made the covers of Time and Life magazines by the time she was 20 and became a major mid-century star alongside strong leading men like Laurence Olivier, Richard Burton and Marlon Brando, often playing their demure helpmates, died on Friday at her home in Santa Monica, California. She was 80. The cause was lung cancer, according to Judy Page, her agent. ...
- ^ Picturegoer 2 August 1947 'Are They Being Fair To Jean Simmons?'
- ^ as told to Gloria Hunniford in Sunday, Sunday television interview LWT, autumn 1985
- ^ Val Guest So You Want to be in Pictures? p.58.ISBN 1-90311-115-3
- ^ Jean Simmons, The Biography Channel
- ^ a b Woman's Weekly, Christmas 1989
- ^ French, Philip (24 January 2010). "Jean Simmons: an unforgettable English rose". The Observer.
- ^ Stewart Granger, Sparks Fly Upward, Granada 1981, p.132
- ^ "Critics Praise Drama: Comedians Win Profits". The Sydney Morning Herald. NSW: National Library of Australia. 29 December 1950. p. 3. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
- ^ a b Thomson, David (25 January 2010). "Jean Simmons obituary". The Guardian.
- ^ Philip French, Screen Legends, No.11
- ^ French, Philip (6 April 2008). "Philip French's screen legends - No 11: Jean Simmons 1929-". The Observer.
- ^ Sondheim Guide - A Little Night Music
- ^ Picture Show and TV Mirror, 2 July 1960, p.7. Simmons says her daughter was named after Spencer Tracy in interview, but adds, "Jimmy (Stewart Granger) says he got the name from the role Katharine Hepburn played in The Philadelphia Story "
- ^ "British-born Hollywood actress Jean Simmons dies at 80". BBC. 2010-01-23. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
- ^ Goodchild, Sophie (2005-12-18). "Sting leads campaign against Blair's plan to reclassify cannabis". The Independent. London. Retrieved 17 March 2010.
- ^ "Sports Day (1944)". IMDb.
- ^ "Give Us the Moon (1944)". IMDb.
- ^ "Mr. Emmanuel (1944)". IMDb.
- ^ "Kiss the Bride Goodbye (1945)". IMDb.
- ^ "Meet Sexton Blake (1945)". IMDb.
- ^ "Uncle Silas (1947)". IMDb.
- ^ "Cage of Gold (1950))". IMDb.
- ^ "Affair with a Stranger (1953)". IMDb.
- ^ "A Bullet Is Waiting (1954)". IMDb.
- ^ "Home Before Dark (1958)". IMDb.
- ^ "This Earth is Mine (1959)". IMDb.
- ^ "Life at the Top (1965)". IMDb.
- ^ "Beggarman, Thief (1979)". IMDb.
- ^ "A Small Killing (1981)". IMDb.
- ^ "December Flower (1984)". IMDb.
- ^ "Midas Valley (1985)". IMDb.
- ^ "Perry Mason: The Case of the Lost Love (1987)". IMDb.
- ^ "Yellow Pages (1988)". IMDb.
- ^ "Katherine Palmer (1995)". IMDb.
- ^ "Winter Solstice (2003)". IMDb.
- ^ "Through the Moebius Stip (2005)". IMDb.
- ^ "Shadows in the Sun (2009)". IMDb.
- ^ "Bob Hope Takes Lead from Bing In Popularity". The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1954). ACT: National Library of Australia. 31 December 1949. p. 2. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
- ^ "TOPS AT HOME". The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954). Brisbane, Qld.: National Library of Australia. 31 December 1949. p. 4. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
- ^ "BOB HOPE BEST DRAW IN BRITISH THEATRES". The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954). Hobart, Tas.: National Library of Australia. 29 December 1950. p. 4. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
- ^ "Vivien Leigh Actress Of The Year". Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld. : 1885 - 1954). Qld.: National Library of Australia. 29 December 1951. p. 1. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
External links
- Jean Simmons at IMDb
- Jean Simmons at Memory Alpha
- Jean Simmons at the TCM Movie Database
- The Jean Simmons Memorial YouTube Page
- Jean Simmons - A Fan Resource
- Jean Simmons 1946 newsreel footage from British Pathe (newsreel search)
- Jean Simmons in motorboat Britlsh Pathe
- BBC obituary
- Telegraph obituary
- Obituary in The New York Times (January 23, 2010)
- Biography
- In Appreciation of Jean Simmons (1929-2010)
- Photographs and literature
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
- 1929 births
- 2010 deaths
- 20th-century English actresses
- 21st-century English actresses
- Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe (film) winners
- Breast cancer survivors
- Cancer deaths in California
- Deaths from lung cancer
- Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie Primetime Emmy Award winners
- English film actresses
- English expatriates in the United States
- English musical theatre actresses
- English stage actresses
- English television actresses
- Actresses from London
- Officers of the Order of the British Empire
- People from Islington
- Volpi Cup winners
- Alumni of the Aida Foster Theatre School