Jean Simmons was a British actress born on January 31, 1929, in Crouch End, London. At the age of 14, she was discovered by Gabriel Pascal, a renowned producer, and signed a seven-year contract with the J. Arthur Rank Organization. This led to her starring in several major British productions, including "Great Expectations," "Black Narcissus," "Hamlet," "The Blue Lagoon," and "So Long at the Fair," among others.
In 1950, Simmons married Stewart Granger, and the same year, she moved to Hollywood. Initially, she was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, but her contract was later sold to Howard Hughes, who owned RKO Pictures. However, Granger put a stop to Hughes' advances, and a court case eventually freed Simmons from her contract.
Simmons went on to star in several Hollywood films, including "Androcles and the Lion," "Angel Face," "Young Bess," "The Robe," "The Actress," "The Egyptian," "A Bullet Is Waiting," "Désirée," "Footsteps in the Fog," "Guys and Dolls," and "Hilda Crane," among others. She earned her first Golden Globe Award for her performance in "Guys and Dolls."
Simmons divorced Granger in 1960 and married writer-director Richard Brooks, who cast her in the film "Elmer Gantry." She also co-starred with Kirk Douglas in Stanley Kubrick's "Spartacus" and played a would-be homewrecker opposite Cary Grant in "The Grass Is Greener."
After a few years off the screen, Simmons returned with a brilliant performance as the mother in "All the Way Home," a literate adaptation of James Agee's "A Death in the Family." However, she found quality projects harder to come by, and took work in a range of films, including "Life at the Top," "Mister Buddwing," "Divorce American Style," "Rough Night in Jericho," and "The Happy Ending," for which she was Oscar-nominated.
Simmons continued making films well into the 1970s and appeared mainly in television miniseries in the 1980s. She made a comeback to films in 1995 with "How to Make an American Quilt" and most recently voiced the elderly Sophie in the English version of Hayao Miyazaki's "Howl's Moving Castle" in 2004.
Jean Simmons passed away on January 22, 2010, nine days before her 81st birthday, due to lung cancer. She was a talented and versatile actress who left a lasting impact on the film industry.
