Jean Simmons was an English actress.
Biography[]
Born in Lower Holloway, London, Simmons began acting at the age of 14. She junior roles in a number of films including Great Expectations and My Uncle Silas before acheiving recognition and Academy Award nomination for playing Ophelia in Laurence Olivier's Hamlet.
By 1950, Simmons was ranked the fourth most popular star in Britain, and continued to appear onscreen to great success, achieving a second Academy Award nomination in 1969 for The Happy Ending. In later life she appeared frequently on television, and worked in voiceovers, providing narration as well as later featuring in the English dub of Howl's Moving Castle.
Simmons passed away in 2010.
Singing[]
Simmons made a number of singing appearences beginning with early on in her film career where she played a singer in The Way to the Stars. This was followed by her role as Ruth Gordon Jones in The Actress, for which she performed "My Beautiful Lady".
Simmons' largest sung role on film however was as the pious Sergeant Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls, in which she had several numbers including the solo "If I Were a Bell". This success would later enable her be the first actress to play Desirée Armfeldt on the London stage in A Little Night Music.
Film[]
The Way to the Stars (1945)[]
- Let Him Go, Let Him Tarry (solo)
The Actress (1953)[]
- My Beautiful Lady (solo)
Guys and Dolls (1955)[]
- Follow the Fold (contains solo lines)
- I'll Know (duet)
- If I Were a Bell (solo)
- A Woman in Love (duet)
Stage[]
A Little Night Music (1975)[]
- This Glamorous Life (contains solo lines)
- You Must Meet My Wife (duet)
- Send in the Clowns (solo)
- The World Won't End/Every Day a Little Death (duet)
- Send in the Clowns (reprise)(duet)
Gallery[]
