female icons
Possessing an elegant beauty and with kindness manifested in her face, her consecration came in 1946 with ‘Cadenas rotos’, directed by David Lean. Two years later she was nominated for an Oscar for playing Ophelia in ‘Hamlet’
Jean Merilyn Simmons (known artistically as Jean Simmons) was born in London on January 31, 1929. Since she was a child she wanted to be an actress, making her film debut in her teens, appearing in the film ‘Give us the moon’ (1944), by Val Guest and Caryl Brahms. His consecration would come two years later with ‘Broken Chains’, directed by David Lean, where he shared the poster with Alec Guinness and John Mills, starting a meteoric career with Gabriel Pascal (‘César and Cleopatra’, 1945), Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (‘Black Narcissus’, 1947) and, above all, Laurence Olivier with ‘Hamlet’ (1948), playing Ophelia, a character for which she was nominated for an Oscar.
Possessor of an elegant beauty, beautiful on the outside and inside and with a kindness that manifested itself on her face, with a serene and clean look, a face with an angel, she is soon called by Hollywood, from where she would never return, to work alongside actors. mythical: she danced with Marlon Brando, was a slave with Kirk Douglas, rode with Gregory Peck or shared drama with Burt Lancaster, marrying Stewart Granger, a marriage that lasted 10 years. The 1950s led the actress to work in major blockbusters: ‘Androcles and the Lion’ (1952) by Chester Erskine or ‘Angel Face’ (1953) by Otto Preminger, one of her huge successes where she leaned on her face harmonious and sweet, it gave life to a manipulative criminal.
Continue with ‘The Holy Robe’ (1953) by Henry Koster, ‘The Virgin Queen’ (1953) by George Sidney, ‘Between Two Women’ (1953) by Roy Rowland, ‘Sinuhe the Egyptian’ (1954) by Michael Curtiz , ‘Desirée’ (1954) by Henry Koster, ‘Demetrius and the Gladiators’ (1954), by Delmer Daves, ‘A Bullet on the Way’ (1954) by John Farrow, ‘Them and Them’ (1955) by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, ‘Footsteps in the Mist’ (1955) by Henry Koster, ‘Horizons of Grandeur’ (1958) by William Wyler, ‘After Darkness’ (1958) by Mervyn LeRoy, or ‘Spartacus’ (1960) by Stanley Kubrick . Always showing great acting versatility of great quality, becoming one of the favorite stars of Hollywood studios, capable of being just as convincing in a historical drama as in a devious thriller.
1960 was also the year she married director Richard Brooks, who directed her in one of his greatest hits, ‘The Fire and the Word’. Later Brooks would direct her again in 1969 in ‘With closed eyes’, for which she was nominated again for an Oscar as best leading actress. Simmons would remain happily married to Richard Brooks until his death on March 11, 1992.
In the decade of the 70s he was moving away from the cinema to direct his professional steps towards television. His work in series like ‘Norte y Sur’ or ‘El Pajaro Espino’ would be unforgettable. The performance in the latter would earn him an Emmy Award. Still at the beginning of the 21st century, he was still working sporadically, contributing his voice to animated films.
Jean Simons worked with all the great directors of her generation, such as the British David Lean or Olivier in the beginning, and later the Americans William Wyler, Michael Curtiz, Otto Preminger, Delmer Daves, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Mervyn LeRoy, Richards Brooks, Stanley Kubrick, George Cukor, Stanley Donen, Henry King, and Robert Wise. His last film was ‘Shadows In The Sun’ (2009), alongside James Wilby and Jamie Dornan. The actress would die on January 22, 2010, at the age of 80, in Santa Monica (California) as a result of lung cancer.
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