Jean Simmons Has Died
by John NolteWell, the wait is over. Every year I was sure the Academy would get their act together and award this underrated and under-appreciated actress who possessed the most beautiful speaking voice to ever grace a motion picture with a long overdue honorary Academy Award, and every year the Academy never failed to disappoint.
And now it’s too late.
Twice nominated for an Oscar, Jean Simmons brought an exquisite mix of regal bearing, accessible warmth, feminine strength and womanly eroticism to such timeless classics as “Black Narcissus,” “Hamlet,” “Great Expectations,” “Guys and Dolls,” “The Big Country,” “Elmer Gantry,” and “Spartacus.” There were also too many superb but lesser-known gems on her resume to count, but you can start with “Until They Sail” with Paul Newman and “Angel Face” with Robert Mitchum. To set your DVR using her name is to discover a treasure-trove.
So powerful and bewitching was her screen presence that we completely understood and believed that larger-than-life men – Brando, Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster — would fall head-over-heels for her because we fell right along with them.
Exhibit A: Watch this scene from ”Until They Sail,” as a cynical, hard-drinking Paul Newman and a wary, suspicious Simmons fall for each other – watch two actors add more subtext with the unspoken than any amount of exposition ever could. And then name a love scene filmed in the last ten years as rich. I don’t think you can.
I fell in love with Jean Simmons while Spartacus did, during a beautifully choreographed sequence played in almost complete silence. Both are slaves. Simmons is a servant girl given to gladiators as a sexual reward and Kirk Douglas is a gladiator who chose his humanity over taking that reward. In the middle of a large outdoor dining area packed with hungry gladiators and overseers, director Stanley Kubrick creates a slow romantic dance of sorts as she and Douglas steal tender looks and erotic touches.
Unforgettable.
All the talent in the world can’t pull a scene like that off without the right actress, and Jean Simmons was always the right actress. Pure movie star — beauty, talent, and above all, class.
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65 Comments
RIP Miss Simmons. Her work in "The Blue Lagoon" was unparalleled. Wasn't she also in "Young Bess"?
Contrast Miss Simmons with the Jennifer Aniston clones working in film today; then contrast Miss Simmons to Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly. They were nothing like each other, yet each a talented, beautiful actress in her own way. We don't have that today. Julia Roberts is always Julia Roberts. Sarah Jessica Parker is always Sex in the City (a series I never saw five minutes of). Anne Hathaway is different, not blonde, but has no charisma. Where are the Audrey Hepburns, Grace Kellys, Jean Simmonses?
Don't forget Deborah Kerr who we also just lost — Kerr, Audrey, Grace and Jean SImmons.
We will never see the likes of them again. Never.
Along with Jean Simmons, I always wanted the Academy to recognize Richard Widmark. Sadly, they screwed up there, too.
It's tough to pick a favorite Jean Simmons movie. She was wonderful in Black Narcissus, The Big Country, Elmer Gantry, and Spartacus. Simmons also gave a memorable performance in The Thorn Birds.
I remember when I was a kid, I saw Great Expectations on TV and she took my breath away. She was definitely one of the most beautiful actresses of all time. And as you say, very subtle. Too often over acting is rewarded by the awards people. She was above that.
I was very sad to hear of her passing. I was unaware that she had not been recognized by the Academy while she was alive and now it is too late, what a shame.
She stole my heart the first time I saw her on the Silver Screen when I was kid in " The Robe". Boy…was she Lovely. Sleep sweet sweetheart.
When Jean Simmons played young Bess, you saw Bess, not Jean. When you saw her in 'The Robe', you saw Diana's obsessive love for Marcellus. And in 'The Thorn Birds' you saw a bitter old woman mourning the loss of a married lover, only to realize too late it cost her the love of an adoring husband and eldest son. IOW, you didn't see Jean, you saw the people Jean played. It takes integrity to do that. Which is probably the reason Hollywood didn't honor her.
I'm certain Jean didn't care. If she had the integrity to honor her craft, she had the smarts to realize that an award that doesn't do the same is an award that's not worth missing. I will miss her, though. God speed, Ms. Simmons.
Well, it's still not too late to give an honorary Oscar to my favorite actress, Maureen O'Hara. Get off your butt, Academy!
My first exposure to Jean Simmons was as Sarah Brown. Prettiest missionary ever.
Jean Simmons was a terrific, no, a great actress. I am so sad she is no longer with us. I was watching "The Big Country" on TCM the other night and wondered as I watch, you know all the stars of that wonderful movie have all died. Then I said Oh wait, I think Jean is still alive and I went to the internet to research and found she was indeed still alive, and now, this. Her film resume speaks for itself as to how great an actress she was. RIP Jean.
The "Great Expectations" that you are refering to, isn't that the original movie version with John Mills playing Pip, to her Estella?
"Until They Sail" is playing on TCM Jan 26, 11.15 am EST.
She also appeared in the ST:TNG episode "The Drumhead".
http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Jean_Simmons
Jean Simmons is among the last of a rapidly vanishing breed: The Lady! Like her peers Kerr, Kelly, Hepburn, O'Hara, et al, she possessed a grace, class, style and integrity that transcended mere physical beauty (which, needless to say, she also possessed in knee-buckling adundance). Our loss.
RIP.
Always one of my favorite actresses, especially in The Big Country, Carroll Baker never stood a chance of hanging on to Gregory Peck once Jean showed up. She was in a small movie that's not well known but worth watching, So Long at the Fair, perhaps TCM will have a Jean Simmons tribute and show it.
Very sad news, and she was always wonderful to watch, but…I always felt she WAS Jean SImmons…her characters were usually modest, loving, charming and classy, and that's why she was a star. Like Audrey, Grace, Deborah, Marlene, etc., they were kind of always themselves…it's just that they were so compelling. 'Charm' is a rare gift, and she had it in abundance.
(And speaking of Young Bess-that's a great film that showcases Simmons and Kerr.)
"'Charm' is a rare gift, and she had it in abundance. "
You said it in a single sentence there, maatkare. They show far too few of her films on TCM these days, too. Perhaps they'll get together a small retrospective for a special showing since she's passed away.
Jean Simmons was class pesonified. Her acting ability simply mesmerizing. It is a pity that the academy continually chooses to ignore the fundamental history of cinema to spotlight the drivel of the latest releases. But part of the academy's raison d'etre is to stimulate box office, not historical perspective. Nevertheless some of the most memorable moments in Oscar history were special recognitions given for stellar careers. The Oscars given to Myrna Loy and Carey Grant come to mind. Jean was certainly in the same category. For some strange reason my favorite of her roles was in The Egyptian. It is a tragedy to loose her at 80. Yet she will be remembered for quite a long time.
Jean quietly stole every scene she was in.
I NEVER understood how Jennifer Aniston became so famous! I suppose I sort of understand, actually – because she was married to Brad Pitt. But how this Angie vs. Jen crap keeps selling magazines, I have NO idea. Or maybe the magazines sell because that's all there is at the supermarket, if you're not into "O" or the "National Enquirer."
I disagree about Anne Hathaway – I think she can be very charming!
One of my favorite times at the restored Egyptian Theater in Hollywood was seeing GREAT EXPECTATIONS with Jean Simmons happily sitting in the audience a few rows away. Afterward both she and cinematographer Guy Green (who won the Oscar for the film) gave a talk about the movie and answered questions. For all of you out there who regret her never receiving a honorary Academy Award, know that when her name popped up in the opening credits the audience erupted in a round of applause that shook the timbers of the theater's ceiling. I can't speak for her, but I'd take a reaction like that over a stinkin' Academy Award any day.
What a great experience. From her performance you can see why the boy Pip would become obsessed with her for the rest of his life. Of course that whole element was missing from the "modern" version with Ethan Hawke and Paltrow. I lovedhow Simmons would just "boy".
Amen. Aniston is famous for what happens on the tabloids not on the screen.
The last moments of Angel Face are some of the most powerful I've ever seen. And the fate of that beautiful Jaguar. Well, no spoilers here. You'll just have to see it. My jaw dropped.
It was pretty crappy overall, but you have to admit Anne Bancroft was a hoot.
A wonderful actress, whose role in Young Bess co-starring her then husband Stewart Grainger, seeded my Anglophilia when I was just 9 years old-I left the USA for UK in the 70s and never looked back. Superb actress, versatile and a real lady. God bless her, and Stewart.
We will never see the likes of them again. Never.
Each actor had a style of there own.Humphrey Bogart would never make it today. Not "pretty" enough. I bought The Big Country the other day what a great movie. Heston, Peck, Simmons, Burl Ives, Chuck Connors. Connors was very good. I wonder why he did not get better roles? Anyway you have me in the mood to dig up an old movie and pop it in the DVD player…
Yes.
I agree, Kathy! Jean Simmons and Stewart Granger were wonderful in "Young Bess". I remember watching it as a teenager late one evening while babysitting. I have never forgotten their performances. I think I'll rent it tonight, in her honor.
John – I had my mouth open at once to contradict you by going 'No, wait, we DO have a classy actress today.' Then I realized my mouth was still open with no sound coming out. The one peep I could manage was – Jessica Tandy. Until I realized – oh, sorry, no longer with us. I could not possibly classify Meryl Streep as a classy actress. Any actress who uses her craft to bludgeon the audience with her own political opinion is NOT an actress approaching the likes of Kerr, Audrey, Grace or Jean. The true meaning of class is not just respect for one's craft, but respect also for the audience that views it. Sorry, Meryl – you and your bifocals don't qualify.
Very sad… She was a great actress and fantastic to watch on screen. In Spartacus some of the sweetest scenes I've seen her in are those quiet ones in the mess hall with Kirk Douglas… When he asks her "Did he hurt you?" in a voice you can barely hear even with the sound turned up… the look on her face and her reply is something to watch.
A very feminine, very sweet, very beautiful actress…
Marvelous, classy actress who always added so much to any film that was lucky enough to have here.
Right on, Mr. Nolte. The combination of that heartbreaking soundtrack and her monumental beauty and strength in "Spartacus" has stayed with me for decades. She was a great actress and I'm very sad to hear of her passing.
Man I fell in love with Jean Simmons in the Big Country. The school marm with a boatload of inner strength and character, and beautiful to boot. Peck had to choose between her and spoiled daddy's girl Carol Baker. Hmmm.
In the final scene when Peck and Simmons are riding away – wow.
To me the Academy Awards are becoming about as relevant as the Nobel Peace Prize.
If you want to seeing a great example of non-verbal acting, watch Ms. Simmons as she considers Gregory Peck's offer to buy her ranch.
They became irrelevent when Cher won for the worse Italian accent ever for Moonstruck—-now, the media decides who deserves the Oscar—if Jennifer Aniston does a Halle Berry/Charlize Theron (okay, Donna Reed did it first)—play a bad girl, without makeup, then she'd get the nod…..
never bother to watch anymore, and it used to be a fun night.
I had to go to imdb after reading this piece, and Jean Simmons said that working for Wm Wyler was very difficult – he kept things on the set pretty tense. They would memorize their lines, then he would change them – and the actors would stay up through the night relearning them – and then in the morning he would change it again!
But it was Simmon's idea to not give Peck an immediate answer to his offer to buy the ranch, but carefully consider it over a period of time. Wyler agreed to let her change that in the script.
And of course that helped make the movie a great movie.
Probably John Nolte would have a better idea than me over the politics of the Academy Awards – they have always had some politics in them I am sure – but for me my "defining moment" came when they picked "It's hard being a pimp" – or some such similar nonsense – as the best music.
She absolutely MADE that role. She was deliciously evil in it. That was the first thing that came to mind for me when I heard that she had passed. It is one of the true classics of ST-TNG.
One of the most beautiful, most talented, sexiest, and classiest film actresses in the history of cinema is now gone. In movies as different as Black Narcissus (Indian servant girl), Angel Face (spoiled femme fatale), The Big Country (school teacher/rancher's granddaughter), Spartacus (slave), and The Grass Is Greener (wealthy gadabout), Jean Simmons showed that she could do it all and do it all superlatively. (She was also the female lead in the original version of The Blue Lagoon.) She demonstrates as well as any film actress in the business ever did why they used to be called screen goddesses.
Shaving Leviathan tribute.
Hud, did you know she played the voice of Sophie (old version) in Miyazaki's movie, "Howl's Moving Castle"…?
When I was younger, her and Glynis Johns were two of the older actresses that most made my heart go pitter-pat.
What a wonderful tribute in both Mr Nolte's remembrances and those of all here. You all have got me going, I'm just going to have to find some of those movies you're talking about that I've managed somehow to miss. The first time I saw her I think was in Spartacus and I absolutely agree with everyone said here about her performance there. The scene there that always gives me a special thrill is when Spartacus, coming out of an enraged series of challenges to his captors, shouts "I'm not an animal!" and the Simmons' character quietly, but firmly, says "Neither am I." That scene really says volumes about the contemporary vision of Man and Woman as Strong, Sensual, Different, Complementary, and in each his and her own way, utterly Human.
Oh and hey I was just checking her out at IMDb and found she was working her craft right to the end … last film, Shadows in the Sun (2009). Now may you Rest in Peace, Jean Simmons.
aah.."The Robe" She was gorgeous.
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Until They Sail is one of my all-time favorites. I can watch it again and again. Young Bess is also wonderful. She was amazing. This makes me sad.
R.I.P. Jean, I just saw her in an old "Odd Couple," rerun in which she played a princess. She was one classy lady.
WHAT?!
Oh, I thought it said Gene Simmons.
Whew. Nevermind.
She was amazing in "Young Bess." Absolutely BEAUTIFUL. In fact, I've always preferred to imagine Elizabeth I as looking like Jean Simmons with that vibrant red hair and fantastic bone structure. And the end of "Spartacus." Wow. I get teary eyed thinking about it. Truly, film has lost yet another true movie star and the pathetic thing is, most folks have no idea what they've lost.
Rest in peace, ma'am. You will be remembered.
P.S. I'm glad they added "Blood and Sand" or whatever it is to that abomination they've put on Starz. What a deep-fried hunk of crud that is. It shares NOTHING with the "Spartacus" with Jean Simmons, Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier and Tony Curtis among many. Yet another pathetic Hollywood remake of a story that didn't need one.
"Unforgettable.
All the talent in the world can’t pull a scene like that off without the right actress, and Jean Simmons was always the right actress. Pure movie star — beauty, talent, and above all, class."
I couldn't have said it better myself.
God bless you Jean…
"To me the Academy Awards are becoming about as relevant as the Nobel Peace Prize."
Perfect Bill, just perfect.
If only………
It's really odd how the woman holding the torch in the Columbia logo looks just like her.
Fell in love with her watching "Spartacus."
Very sad and not a little depressing. Another classic face gone and beautiful voice silenced. I could sit through a Jean Simmons reading of the Senate health-care bill just to be engulfed by that wonderful voice. Perfect diction that always hinted at inner fire, force of character and smoldering sexuality. She was the perfect foil for Burt Lancaster's over-the-top performance in "Elmer Gantry" and more than held her own in every scene with Burt. A genuinely beautiful, classy and intelligent performer. R.I.P Miss Simmons.
I would have to agree with most of what you say, but to say Anne Hathaway has No Charisma No Way. Did you not see her First Films The Princess Diaries??? and at just 19 commanded those films. I suspect that most would agree with comments posted in an early review which stated, ( when Anne burst onto our screens it was like a breath of fresh air reminiscent of Hollywood in its hay day.) Pity her Agent never saw her true potential or possibly was only interested in a quick buck, and convinced her that nudity was the key to success which has ruined more careers that it has made. Had she been given the right parts then perhaps she would have been ranked with those you mention above
I may have Anne Hathaway mixed up. Was she the actress in "The Devil Wears Pravda"? If not, then I DO have her mixed up so shouldn't have commented. Never saw "The Princess Diaries" — not the kind of movie I usually go to.
The nicest lips in show business…
I had to watch the Big Country again in honor of Jean and between that and the other you mentioned (and Until They Sail) she could say more with "that look" than most actresses with the best dialogue. She gave it to Gregory Peck and Paul Newman – any red blooded male's heart melts with "that look".
Yes Anne was in TDWP but this was after Havoc (total disaster) Drugs Sex and nudity, and Brokeback mountain when she was on screen for about ten minutes and the only recognition she received was for her topless scene. Anne like so many others was subjected to the Hollywood treatment which exploits every new beautiful Actress these days regardless of there acting ability.
I agree with your assessment of The Big Country. No contest. Not do put down Caroll Baker, but…no contest.
I did not know about Hathaway's topless, nude, etc. scenes — I only knew that I thought the ingenue in TDWP was pitifully homely for an actress and had no charisma. Meryl Streep is one of my lease favorite actresses, however, she has presence and she consumed every scene she was in. AH disappeared into the woodwork. I wonder if a young Jean Simmons, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn would not have held her own against Streep. Ho'wood is about 1K quarts low on actresses. I don't know why. They seem to be clones of each other with the exception of Cate Blanchette. Kate Winslett had possibilities but there is always the tinge of semi-hysterical about her acting. Emma Thompson has passed the age, but she's very talented. Keira Knightly maybe – a little different than the others (Sarah Jessica, Reese – who had possibilities, Kate Hudson-another one who had possibilities, etc.) Lately I've noticed a plethora of big-eyed brunettes being raved over by the critics — the gal in "Book of Eli" being one. Sadly, they are not Audreys (or Deborrahs, Laurens, Graces, Jeans). Note the big difference in all of the above — they are all different looking; they were all talented; they were all classy (at least on film). I realize times have changed and so have film, but in both cases, I'm not sure it's for the best.
I suspect that you like I remember the time when Actresses were treated with the respect they deserved for their abilities, unlike today, when most are treated like slabs of meat.. Mind you most behave off screen in a manner that might suggest they ask for it. Possibly things may change but I doubt I shall be around to see it.
Wonderful actress. Not totally slighted by the Academy, she did win Best Supporting Actress in 1948 for Hamlet, but that was another era. Her best work, I thought was in Elmer Gantry. A tour-de-force with stellar performance also from Robert Mitchum and Shirley Jones. A timeless classic.
Class and Elegance… like Donna Reed in "It's A Wonderful Life".
Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be available in DvD
Big difference!
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