Organize, control, distribute and measure all of your digital content. She wasnt yearning for anything but maybe her marriage back, Kate says. I really dont have a bad word to say about her., The British-born actress got her start early, garnering international renown at just 17 for her portrayal of Estella in David Leans, . Photo shows 46-year-old actress Jean Simmons with her daughters Tracy, 18, and Kate 14, on the launch which took them and members of the cast of ''A Little Night Music'', in which Jean is appearing, on an outing from Westminster to Hampton Court yesterday. The pair wed in 1960 following Jeans decade-long marriage to the British actor Stewart Granger, with whom she had her first daughter, Tracy. She appeared in North and South (198586), again playing the role of the family matriarch as Clarissa Main, and starred in The Dawning (1988) with Anthony Hopkins and Hugh Grant. [6] Her father, a physical education teacher,[7] taught briefly at Sidcot School, and some time during this period, Simmons followed her eldest sister onto the village stage and sang popular songs such as "Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow Wow". MGM cast her in the lead of Young Bess (1953) playing a young Queen Elizabeth I with Granger. Then, in the same year, she played the adopted daughter of Stewart Granger in Adam and Evelyne. She did Life at the Top (1965) with Laurence Harvey, Mister Buddwing (1966) with James Garner, Divorce American Style (1967) with Dick Van Dyke, and Rough Night in Jericho (1967) with George Peppard and Dean Martin. The Fifties were a magical time for her career, singing with Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra in Guys And Dolls, playing a widow who found romance with Paul Newman in Until They Sail, riding the Wild West with Charlton Heston and Gregory Peck in The Big Country and winning rave reviews for Home Before Dark as a housewife recovering from a mental breakdown. (Photo by Gary Merrin/Keystone/Getty Images) Embed Save PURCHASE A LICENSE Standard editorial rights Custom rights How can I use this image? Jean Simmons is UPDATE SOON. Pay less and get more with our Packs. Michelle and Kate have two living rooms in their home, one of which has a neutral colour scheme, with a deep burgundy hue painted close to the ceilings providing an accent to the muted cream. Hughes eventually got the message and Jean finally found some roles worthy of her abilities including TheActress opposite Spencer Tracy. Is the actress Jean Simmons still alive? Privacy Policy, Emmerdale spoilers: Belles new romance as villain returns after 10 years, Emmerdale spoilers: Major character return confirmed and fans will be delighted, Emmerdale star Chelsea Halfpenny expecting first baby with fiancJames Baxter, Emmerdale spoilers: Lydia lets rip at Samson amid grief over death. She got an Oscar nomination for it (she lost to Maggie Smith in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie), but rather more out of respect than conviction. After a couple of weeks, film director Val Guest visited the school. Access the best of Getty Images with our simple subscription plan. According to her, this film changed her perception about filming, which till such time was only fun and games for her, and from that time onwards she seriously contemplated taking up acting as a career. Who is Kate Brooks? Then she started to work in television, and sometimes it was only the end credits that told one that that had been Jean Simmons. She said yes!!! But eventually the lure of stardom proved just too tantalising. Id whine: Im afraid. And hed say: Never be afraid to fail. Later on in life, she turned rather hermit-like, Kate says. And when I wanted to cook, Richard would say: "Forget the cooking. Carrying on with the extravagance of the proposal, they married in Elvis Presleys Graceland in Memphis Tennessee in September 2019. Emmerdales Michelle Hardwick has married producer Kate Brooks in Memphis and the ceremony looks adorable. More or less, in the early 1970s, she seemed to retire. During her Loose Women interview, Michelle recalled, We met a couple of years ago, across the coffee machine, thats the only time we ever see each other at work, we started going out a couple of years ago.. A court case freed Simmons from the contract with Hughes in 1952. "[21] Smarting over his rebuff from Granger, Hughes instructed Preminger to treat Simmons as roughly as possible, leading the director to demand that costar Mitchum repeatedly slap the actress harder and harder, until Mitchum turned and punched Preminger, asking if that was how he wanted it.[22]. 42-year-old Liverpool native Kate Brooks works as a series producer on ITV soap Emmerdale, after being promoted from her assistant producer role on the show in April 2018. Cecil B DeMille, in the audience, was so impressed that he offered her the female lead in his upcoming Samson and Delilah (the Hedy Lamarr role). He wasnt easy; she was a trouper. I like to think of myself as a very positive thinker, like to think of the glass as being half full., In the film Hannah suggests she may write a book about her life. MORE : Gemma Collins blames full moon as she crashes car into plant pot after sunflower field yoga session, MORE : Jesy Nelson gains an army of supporters as fans react to suicide attempt reveal in Odd One Out, Includes exclusive content, spoilers and interviews before they're seen on the site. Jean Merilyn Simmons, was a British actress and singer. In fact, the handsome Granger was 16 years her senior, and married once, having divorced Elspeth March in 1948. Simmons then did The Grass Is Greener (1960) with Mitchum, Cary Grant, and Deborah Kerr. The couple became citizens of the United States in 1956 and their daughter Tracy Granger was born the same year. In 1991, she made a late-career appearance in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Drumhead" as a retired Starfleet admiral and hardened legal investigator who conducts a witch hunt. Simmons had a small part as a harpist in the high-profile Caesar and Cleopatra (1945), produced by Gabriel Pascal, starring Vivien Leigh, and co-starring Simmons's future husband Stewart Granger. Simmons became a star in Britain when she was cast as the young Estella in David Lean's version of Great Expectations (1946). She was the most gentle, polite hero in my book a real lady. Her net worth is Under review in 2021. Here's how you can get the collection. It was successful, as was Spartacus (1960), where she played Kirk Douglas' love interest. Biography [ edit ] At age 20, while studying Russian and photography, Kate became actively involved in the plight of Russian orphans, starting a non-profit aid group to help the children at an institution . Her marriage to Brooks ended in divorce in 1977. On her return to London, Simmons enrolled at the Aida Foster School of Dance. She took a pair of scissors and simply started chopping off her fringe, forcing the hair stylist to devise a new look. She wasnt yearning for anything but maybe her marriage back, Kate says. Tracy was quite extraordinary, she revealed. Jan. 23, 2010. Burks was a student at Tennessee State University. Pascal saw potential in Simmons, and in 1945 he signed her to a seven-year contract to the J. Arthur Rank Organisation. But its the guy she chose that got me. Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, Officer of the Order of the British Empire, Bambi Award for Best Actress International, National Board of Review Award for Best Actress, Golden Globe Award for Best Actress Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, Laurel Award for Top Female Dramatic Performance, Golden Globe Award for Best Actress Motion Picture Drama, Laurel Award for Top Female Comedy Performance, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie, Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress Series, Miniseries or Television Film, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, Best Actress Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie, Best Supporting Actress Series, Miniseries or Television, Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, "Jean Simmons dies at 80; radiant beauty was known for stunning versatility", "Jean Simmons: Actress who dazzled opposite the likes of Marlon Brando, Kirk Douglas and Laurence Olivier", "Jean Simmons: an unforgettable English rose", "Critics Praise Drama: Comedians Win Profits", "Stewart Granger Jean Simmons and Claire Bloom adventures of two north London girls", "English actress was known for roles in the films 'Hamlet' and 'Elmer Gantry', "Looking at Hollywood: Story of Talking Animals Bought for Movie", "Jean Simmons Suit Settled by Hughes: British Actress Wins on Points; Producer to Pay All Costs of Trial", "Philip French's screen legends No 11: Jean Simmons profile", "A Little Night Music: 1974 Touring Production; 1975 London Production", "The Stewart Grangers Become Citizens of US", "Jean Simmons Files To Divorce Stewart Granger", "Sting leads campaign against Blair's plan to reclassify cannabis", "British-born Hollywood actress Jean Simmons dies at 80", "Bob Hope Takes Lead from Bing In Popularity", In Appreciation of Jean Simmons (19292010), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jean_Simmons&oldid=1148072615, Most Outstanding British Actress of the Year, This page was last edited on 3 April 2023, at 22:34. Unsurprisingly, Kate met Michelle while they were both working at Emmerdale. They made it work for so long. In a 1984 interview, Jean said, It was Richard Brooks who tried to make me stand on my own two feet. The pair wed in 1960 following Jeans decade-long marriage to the British actor Stewart Granger, with whom she had her first daughter, Sadly, busy work schedules drove Jean and Richard apart, and their marriage ended in 1980. She starred in Home Before Dark (1958) at Warner Bros. and This Earth Is Mine (1959) with Rock Hudson at Universal. Her father had died when she was just 16, but she said: "They were really nothing like my father at all. She lent her voice as Grandma Sophie in the Japanese animated fantasy film, Howl's Moving Castle (2004) and also as Shepway in the Hong Kongproduced 3D-CGI feature film, Thru the Moebius Strip (2005). From 1994 until 1998, Simmons narrated the A&E documentary television series Mysteries of the Bible. She went back to RKO to do the extra film under the settlement with Hughes, titled Affair with a Stranger (1953) with Mature; it flopped. Jean Simmons obituary British-born film star known for her roles in Great Expectations and Spartacus David Thomson Sun 24 Jan 2010 13.39 EST Jean Simmons, who has died aged 80, had a. This classy and talented beauty left a mark by her spectacular performances in big-screen films like Great Expectations, Hamlet, Guys and Dolls and The Happy Ending. [37], Simmons died from lung cancer at her home in Santa Monica on 22 January 2010, nine days before her 81st birthday. But the couple fell deeply in love, married and would soon set out together for Hollywood as a kind of middleweight Olivier and Leigh. Photograph: Allstar/Cinetext, Jean Simmons: an unforgettable English rose. Reporting by Mohammad Zargham; Editing by Janet Lawrence. When one considers that she was barely past 25 in 1955, it is all the stranger that her films slipped so far in quality: Hilda Crane; as secretary to gangster Paul Douglas in This Could Be the Night; with Paul Newman in Until They Sail; with Gregory Peck and Charlton Heston in the big western, The Big Country; This Earth is Mine. Richard Brooks (m 1960 - 1980), Stewart Granger . I had had such a crush on him since Wuthering Heights and he did not disappoint in person. Robert Mitchum, his controlling nature meant he even wanted to dictate the look of her long brunette locks. Kate Brooks (born 1977) is an American photojournalist who has covered the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Pakistan since September 11, 2001. Her star continued to rise once she moved to Hollywood, where she expertly tackled parts ranging from Shakespearean maidens to devilish femme fatales. Jean would seek treatment years later at the Betty Ford Center, quipping, All I can say is thank God for Mrs. Ford!, After many decades in the spotlight, Jean began to embrace her solitude. Copyright 18/04/2023 Alamy Ltd. All rights reserved. After the 1970s she concentrated more on television and stage performances. Tracy Granger and Kate Brooks, Los Angeles Times said. [12], Simmons was married and divorced twice. Even in the age of Vivien Leigh and Elizabeth Taylor, she was an authentic beauty. Simmons had two daughters, Tracy Granger (a film editor since 1990), and Kate Brooks (a TV production assistant and producer), one by each marriage - their names bearing witness to Simmons' friendship with Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. One notable exception to this trend was Home Before Dark (1958), where Simmons was outstanding as a woman who has had a nervous breakdown. Her performance in the drama film The Happy Ending (1969) directed by her husband Richard Brooks fetched her second Academy Awards nomination. In 2004, she voiced the lead role of Sophie in the English dub of Howl's Moving Castle. I just spent the day lolling around, watching television and playing Scrabble., A far cry from the days when she was voted Britains favourite actress maybe but theres no denying Jean. I was too young for it all really, very naive, she revealed. Neither was particularly successful; but Simmons was then in a huge international hit, playing Ophelia in Laurence Olivier's Hamlet (1948), for which she received her first Oscar nomination. In 2005, she signed a petition to British Prime Minister Tony Blair asking him not to upgrade cannabis from a class C drug to class B. [14][15], Simmons starred with Stewart Granger in the comedy Adam and Evelyne (1949). In 1961, their daughter Kate Brooks was born. Jean Simmons's net worth, height, age, weight, affair, relationship, family, movie update, and more . [21] They settled out of court; part of the arrangement was that Simmons would do one more film for no additional money. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/jean-simmons-7274.php, British Female Film & Theater Personalities, 20th Century Film & Theater Personalities, 20th Century British Film & Theater Personalities, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or a Special. Kate Brooks was born on July 9, 1961 in Los Angeles, California, USA. [5], During the Second World War, the Simmons family was evacuated to Winscombe, Somerset. That same year she starred in a remake of Great Expectations , this time playing the role of Miss Havisham, Estella's adoptive mother, and as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard/Naomi Collins, in the short-lived revival of the 1960s daytime series Dark Shadows, in roles originally played by Joan Bennett. During this time, little Simmons used to accompany her elder sister and sing songs at the village stage. In 1950, Simmons was voted the fourth-most popular star in Britain. Simmons, who was 80 and had lung cancer, died at her home in Santa Monica on Friday night, it quoted her agent Judy Page as saying. Only one thing emerged from the stand-off, Angel Face, in which she is a spoiled child and lethal temptress who seduces nearly everyone she meets (most notably Robert Mitchum). Closer Weekly has affiliate partnerships so we may receive compensation for some links to products and services. Born July 9, 1961 Add photos, demo reels Add to list More at IMDbPro Contact info Agent info Known for Pitch 6.5 Producer 1997 Superstars 5.1 TV Series Producer 2008 3 eps RME115GN - Sep. 09, 1975 - Actress Jean Simmons Takes Her Daughters on a Thames River Trip. Simmons, who won an Emmy Award for her role in the 1980s miniseries "The Thorn Birds," died Friday evening at her home in Santa Monica, said Judy Page, her agent. Her father was a gymnast who won a bronze medal at the 1912 Summer Olympics and later worked as a gymnastic instructor and physical education teacher. Kate, meanwhile, donned a white gown and held her bouquet of flowers up in the air while beaming at the camera. My father was a gentle, softly spoken man. She attended the Telluride Film Festival, Colorado, in 2008 and she was interviewed at a Lean centenary celebration in Los Angeles where she was still as pretty, seductive and mischievous as she had been as Estella in Great Expectations. I went away to make Elmer Gantry and came back to do re-takes. Open your image file to the full size using image processing software. 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