 |
|
|
||||
|
News
|
||||
|
News
|
Dateline: 24th January, 2010
Jean Simmons (1929 - 2010) Actress Jean Simons has died of lung cancer, just over a week short of her 81st birthday. Born in Holloway and brought up in Cricklewood, she started performing at the age of 14, having been "spotted" at a dance class by Val Guest who cast her in Give Us the Moon, which starred Margaret Lockwood. At the age of 17 she played Estella in David Lean's film Great Expectations and then, at 19, appeared as Ophelia in Oliver's film version of Hamlet. Olivier offered her the chance to go to Bristol Old Vic with the recoomendation that she get as much experience as possible but by then she was under contract to the Rank Organisation which sold her contract to RKO and she went to Hollywood where she appeared in numerous blockbusters, including Young Bess, The Robe, Guys and Dolls, Elmer Gantry and Spartacus, working with a whole range of stars including Richard Burton, Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra. Kirk Douglas and Stewart Granger who became her first husband. In the seventies the big film parts started to dry up and she turned to the stage, touring the US and then coming to the West End in Sondheim's A Little Night Music. She also appeared in the mini-series The Thorn Birds in 1986 (for which she won an Emmy for best supporting actress) and then in two series of North and South in 1985 and 1986. She also won a Golden Globe for Best Musical/Comedy Actress in Guys and Dolls (1956). She was nominated for two Academy Awards, two BAFTAs, one Emmy and five Golden Globes. She was awarded the OBE in the New Year Honours List in 2002.
Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
|
|||
|
|
