Celebrity Biographies
Simon simon
Her feline beauty, her irresistible green eyes and a medium length of hair that gave her an independent look, made her the ideal actress to be The Panther Woman and other inquiring women on the screen.
For her, some film characters were capable of murdering or selling their souls. Simone Simon, one of the best-known faces of classic cinema in France, passed away on February 22 at the age of 94.
Born on April 23, 1910, in Béthune (Pas-de-Calais), a town in northern France, Simone Simon spent her childhood in Marseille. She moved to Paris to practice as a model, and soon became a fashion designer. She made her film debut with the short On opére sans doleur, and was immediately noticed by the director Marc Allégret, who would also later discover Brigitte Bardot , and who offered her to star in Mam’zelle Nitouche . She had some success, for which she was soon offered to work in many films, among which The Lake of the Ladies, also by Allégret, and especially The Human Beast , by Jean Renoir .. In that Zola adaptation, she played the unforgettable Séverine, a sensual woman who managed to seduce a railwayman, played by the legendary Jean Gabin .
Simone’s talent did not go unnoticed by American producers, and Fox offered her a contract. She thus became one of the pioneers of European cinema in Hollywood. Her first job was under the direction of William Dieterle in The Man Who Sold His Soul , an update on the Faust myth. Her portrayal impressed producer Val Lewton , who offered her the part of her life, the tormented Irena Dubrona in The Panther Woman , a landmark fantasy film directed by Jacques Tourneur . Simone also appeared in Revenge of the Panther Woman , an inferior sequel. She was succeeded by decidedly lesser titles, such as Mademoiselle Fifi. Until Max Ophuls rescued her for two memorable movies. In La ronda , a narrator led viewers through an idyllic Vienna through several intertwined stories, such as that of Marie, the lost maiden played by Simone Simon. The pleasure consisted of three episodes, and in one of them, The Model, Simone Simon was a model who had an affair with the painter for whom she posed.
From that moment on, Simone Simon was hardly lavished in the cinema. In 1973 she played a small role in The Lady in Blue , a magnificent comedy by Michel Deville which was her last work.