Birth name:Jean Merilyn Simmons Birth:31 January 1929 Died:22 January 2010 Nationality:
Career / Biography
Jean Simmons was a popular British actress in the 1940's and 1950's most notably in Black Narcissus and Guys And Dolls. She was a good actress in both serious drama and in comedy as well as havsing a good singing voice and a dancer. She was spotted by direct Val Guest who cast her in Give Us The Moon at the age of 15. She then signed a 7 year contract with Rank. Her first major role was in David Lean's adaptation of Great Expectations. Black Narcissus was a controversial film in which she played a young dancer. She was cast as Ophelia in Laurence Olivia's Hamlet for which she got a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination in her first performance in Shakespear. Adam And Evelyne was her first adult role and through it met and married Stewart Granger. In 1950 she made 4 films in Britain and then followed her husband to Hollywood. Howard Hughes of RKO bought her Rank contract. A court battle over the contract hindered her career. Her best film in this period was Angel Face with Robert Mitchum in a good film noir. In Young Bess she again stared with her husband Stewart Granger for MGM. In 1953 she stared in the Biblical epic The Robe. She played the lead role in Desiree opposite Marlon Brando. Footsteps in The Fog was her final film with Stewart Granger. This was followed by the musical Guys And Dolls again with Marlon Brando. The wetern The Big Country was a change in genreand style. Home Before Dark is a dark film that deals withsome on the edge of a mental breakdown. Spartacus was another historical epic. This was followed by the light romantic comedy The Grass Is Grener. Through the 1960's she appeared in a variety of films. Following this she appeared in a number of television series.
