Golden Globe and Emmy Award winning British actress Jean Simmons has passed away yesterday Friday 22nd January aged 80. Born in London in 1929, Simmons made her screen debut alongside Margaret Lockwood in Give Us The Moon (1944) before working with legendary directors David Lean (Great Expectations, 1946) and Laurence Olivier (Hamlet, 1948). Her work in Hamlet was recognised with an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress and Simmons soon made the transition to Hollywood under contract to Howard Hughes.
Simmons went on to enjoy a long and successful career sharing the screen with acting legends such as Marlon Brando, Gregory Peck, Charlton Heston, Paul Newman and Kirk Douglas. She received a Golden Globe for Best Actress in the classic musical Guys and Dolls (1956) and a further Oscar nomination in 1969 with The Happy Ending (directed by her second husband, Richard Brooks), while her shift towards television work in the 1970s led to an Emmy Award for the 1983 mini-series The Thorn Birds. Later career appearances include the mini-series’ North and South (1985-86) and Great Expectations (1989), while more recently she provided voice-over work for animations Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) and Howl’s Moving Castle (2004).
Originally published January 23, 2010. Updated April 10, 2018.
