Movie Icon Jean Simmons Dies at 80

By PopEater Staff Posted Jan 23rd 2010 09:31AM

Actress Jean Simmons, who lit up the screen with the female lead in 'Guys and Dolls,' lost her battle with lung cancer Friday, at the age of 80. Simmons died at the Santa Monica home, her agent Judy Page told the Los Angeles Times.

"Jean Simmons' jaw-dropping beauty often obscured a formidable acting talent," Alan K. Rode, a writer and film historian, told The Times in an e-mail.

The British actress was only a teenager when she appeared opposite Laurence Olivier in 'Hamlet.' She charmed audiences with her later performances in 'Guys and Dolls' opposite Marlon Brando, 'Elmer Gantry' and 'Spartacus.'

Simmons was nominated for an Oscar as best supporting actress in her 1948 role in 'Hamlet;' she was nominated for best actress for 1969's 'The Happy Ending.' In the '80s, Simmons won an Emmy for her work in the 'Thornbirds' miniseries.

Simmons had left Britain for Hollywood in 1950, with her future husband Stewart Granger. According to the Associated Press, they were befriended in California by reclusive tycoon Howard Hughes, who flew them to Tucson, Ariz., for a surprise wedding.

"When I returned from the honeymoon," Simmons told a reporter in 1964, "I learned that Hughes owned me - he had bought me from (British producer) J. Arthur Rank like a piece of meat."

Recalling her experience filming 'Guys and Dolls,' Simmons said in 1998 that she'd loved the rehearsals, "especially the dancing routines with Marlon trying not to step on me and choreographer Michael Kidd looking very worried."

"I got to sing," she added, "because Sam Goldwyn said, `You might as well wreck it with your own voice than somebody else's.'"

Comments

(117)

Saturday 23 January

By UncleD

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Yes Wendell...there really is a Santa Claus.

By Wendell

Why?

By judejaded

i thought she was waaaaay better looking than liz talor, vivian leigh etc... a very beautiful movie actress

By bo

what is wrong with you blogheads the first blogger is GOOFING ON YOU AND ALL OF YOU ARE FALLING FOR IT. F O O L S !!

By Walt

Surely you could have found a petter photo to run with the sad news that most beautiful lady is gone!

Of course I meant Better, not Petter. She was a breathtakingly gorgeous "Ophelia" (at age 19, I believe) in Olivier's "Hamlet." I thought she was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen and have remained in love with her ever since. (As I recall, I was 20 or 21 when I saw "Hamlet.")

By Tam

why wouldnt they have mentioned the "THORN BIRDS". She was wonderful in that movie!!!

By Michael

The Thornbirds!!!!!!!! My favorite!!! Although I did watch it for Rachel Ward!!!!

By julie ashworth

One week before her 81st birthday. Great actress and great friend to Deborah Kerr(deceased) and Glynis Johns. Mourning her.

By fred

you know what's really amazing. he guy with the "gene simmons" remark was obviously joking. he was trying to be funny and the rest of you were finding it easy to be stupid. good job on biting, fish.

By SUSAN & LEN

you forgot "The Big country" and The Thornbirds We will miss her not being around.

By Gary Coleman

First!

By ev

RIP Jean...I love to watch Guys and Dolls; she was a really so good in it. There was a movie she was in that I can't remember the title, but she was a psycho withc and drove herself and a guy off a cliff in a car, name, anyone?

Sunday 24 January

By LANE

MY CONDOLANCES GOES OUT TO THE FAMILY OF JEAN SIMMONS HER FANS CLOSE FRIENDS WHO LOVED HER DEARLY TO ME SHE WAS ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMEN IN HOLLYWOOD I FELL IN LOVE WITH HER THE FIRST TIME I EVER SAW HER IN MOVIES I WAS ONLY A YOUNG BOY AT THAT TIME YOU NEVER HEARD ANYTHING BAD ABOUT HER SHE WAS A TRUE LADY
MAY HER SOUL REST IN PEACE MAY GOD BLESS HER FAMILY

By SUSAN

She was one of the greatest actresses ever. I'll remember her movies, sure, but also her TV appearances in MURDER SHE WROTE (she deserved an Emmy for that one), a PERRY MASON movie, THE THORN BIRDS, etc.
RIP, Miss Simmons. You will be missed.

By Ricky

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A lot of upset people here for nothing! LOL!! okay This is the real truth behind the name Gene Simmons orginally by birth was named "Chaim Witz" imigrated to the U.S. in 1957 from Israel he later adopted the name "Eugene Klein" "Klein wich was his Mother's Maiden name, the name changed yet again to "Gene Klein" and finally in the late sixties he changed his name to the "Gene Simmons" in wich is derived from the Rockabilliy preformer "jumpin Gene Simmons", so there was never a spinoff at all from the Late Actresses name "Jean Simmons" Although I'am sure that the two never crossed paths!...

By George

O.K.chidren, now let's all go to our dictionaries and look up the word "sarcasm", then once you fully understand the meaning,send dvdfrnzwbr an apology.

By OGDEN NIELD

As a young boy I was transfixed by this tempting young lady in Great Expectations (Estella). She was just about 16 (I was 13) when she looked from the screen said to Pip (me) "You may kiss me if you like." After Expectations, she starred in many of my young dreams. Jean Simmons continued to be a great actress in every role she played. Alas, I never got my kiss.

By CAF

I am so sorry to hear about that. I loved her brilliant acting and so was also so beautiful. I've seen a number of her movies including the British version of "Great Expectations" in 1947 when she played the young Estelle. She was fabulous in "The Thorn Birds", "Guys and Dolls" and "Young Bess (1950)-a movie about Queen Elizabeth I, which also starred her future husband Stewart Granger and the late and great Deborah Kerr.

By Carla

They don't make actors like Jean Simmons anymore or am I just getting old? Either way, she will be missed.

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