Celebrity Biographies
Jean simmons
This dark beauty that has fascinated generations of moviegoers justifies the enormous fame that British actors have. She sings quite well, and commands attention both in good-natured roles—think Ophelia from Hamlet—and as femme fatales. Although as is well known, Jean Simmons was signed up mainly for big blockbusters of the period.
The one and only Jean Merilyn Simmons was born on January 31, 1929, in Crouch Hill, a neighborhood in the British capital. When she was still at school she decided to try her luck in the world of acting, and she managed to get cast in the film Give Us the Moon , a light comedy directed by Val Guest .
After various appearances in forgotten films, at the age of 24 she played a small role in Caesar and Cleopatra , during which she met Stewart Granger , one of the protagonists, with whom she was destined to live a passionate romance. Both would marry in 1950.
Jean Simmons gave the bell with Broken Chains , with an impeccable job as Estella, the cold young woman who charms the orphaned Pip. This brilliant adaptation of the novel “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens , directed by David Lean , had a huge impact in Britain, where Jean Simmons became a huge star.
Cinematographer Jack Cardiff harnessed the beauty of Jean Simmons more than anyone in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger ‘s visually stunning Black Narcissus . The actress shone as Kanchi, a supporting role. She was a troubled girl sent to regenerate with the leading Catholic nuns, who were trying to spread their doctrine in the Himalayas.
The most important film of the early days of Jean Simmons was Hamlet (1948) , directed and starring Laurence Olivier . For her impeccable work as Ofelia, she was nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actress. She did not win it, but her candidacy caused her to attract a lot of attention in the United States, and soon the big Hollywood studios raffled her off.
Jean Simmons is associated with great period blockbusters such as Androcles and the Lion , The Sacred Robe , Sinuhé the Egyptian and above all Spartacus , where she was Varinia, the self-sacrificing wife of Kirk Douglas ‘s character . She also played a ‘femme fatale’ with enough conviction in Cara de ángel . It is also necessary to cite Horizons of Greatness , by William Wyler , This Land Is Mine , by Henry King , They and They , by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Desirée , by Henry Koster .
With her husband, Stewart Granger, she coincided again in Adam… and she , The Virgin Queen and Footsteps in the Mist , before their loud divorce in 1960. Then she paired up with Richard Brooks , who directed one of her best works, The fire and the word , adaptation of a novel by Sinclair Lewis , where she was an evangelical nun, delivering convincing sermons alongside the opportunist Elmer Gantry ( Burt Lancaster in one of his best works). Jean Simmons remained with Brooks until his death in 1992.
Beginning in the 80s, Jean Simmons focuses on television. She most notably found success with North and South and The Thornbird , though she has also appeared in shows like Murder, She Wrote and Star Trek. The new generation . Even at an advanced age, she has continued to shoot movies like Where Love Lies at a good pace . She passed away on January 23, 2010 of lung cancer at her home in Santa Monica, California.