Simone Signoret
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Simone Signoret (March 25, 1921 - September 30, 1985), was an Academy Award-winning French actress.
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[edit] Life and career
She was born Simone-Henriette-Charlotte Kaminker in Wiesbaden, Germany to Andre and Georgette (Signoret) Kaminker. She was the oldest child of three, with two younger brothers. Her father, a linguist who later worked in the United Nations, was a French-born Jewish army officer, who brought the family to Neuilly on the outskirts of Paris. Signoret grew up in Paris in an intellectual atmosphere and studied the English language in school, earning a teaching certificate. She tutored in English and Latin and briefly worked part-time as a typist for a French collaborationist newspaper, Le Nouveau Temps, run by Jean Luchaire.
During the German occupation of France, Signoret formed close bonds with an artistic group of writers and actors who met at a café in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés quarter, Café de Flore. By this time, she had developed an interest in acting and was encouraged by her friends, including her lover, Daniel Gélin, to follow her ambition. In 1942, she began appearing in bit parts and was able to earn enough money to support her mother and two brothers as her father, who was a French patriot, had fled the country in 1940 to join General De Gaulle in England. She took her mother's maiden name for the screen to help hide her Jewish roots.
Signoret's sensual features and earthy nature led to type-casting and she was often seen in prostitute roles. She won considerable attention in La Ronde (1950), a film which was banned briefly in New York state as being immoral. She won further raves, including an acting award from the British Film Academy, for her portrayal of yet another prostiute in Jacques Becker's Casque d'or (1951). She went on to appear in many notable films in France during the 1950s including Thérèse Raquin (1953), directed by Marcel Carné, Les Diaboliques (1954), and Les Sorcières de Salem (1957), based on Arthur Miller's The Crucible.
In 1958, Signoret went to England to film Room at the Top (1959), which won her numerous awards including the Academy Award for Best Actress. She was the first woman to win the award appearing in a foreign film. She was offered films in Hollywood but turned them down and continued to work in France and England. She played opposite Laurence Olivier in Term of Trial (1962). She did return to America for Ship of Fools (1965) which earned her another Oscar nomination and she went on to appear in several Hollywood films before returning to France in 1969.
Her one attempt at Shakespeare, playing Lady Macbeth opposite Alec Guinness at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 1966 proved to be ill-advised, although some critics were harsher and one referred to her English as "impossibly Gallic". [1].
In her later years, she was often criticized for gaining weight and letting her looks go but Signoret, who was never concerned with glamour, ignored the insults and continued giving finely etched performances. She won more acclaim for her portrayal of a weary madam in Madame Rosa (1977) and as an unmarried sister who unknowingly falls in love with her paralyzed brother via anonymous correspondence in I Sent a Letter to my Love (1980).
Her memoirs, Nostalgia Isn't What It Used To Be, were published in 1978. She also wrote a novel, Adieu Volodya, published in 1985, the year of her death.
First married to the filmmaker Yves Allégret from 1947 to 1949, with whom she had a daughter Catherine Allégret, herself an actress. Her second marriage was to the Italian-born French actor Yves Montand in 1950, a union which lasted until her death.
She died of pancreatic cancer in Auteuil-Anthouillet, France; and is buried in Le Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
The late American singer, pianist and composer Nina Simone took her stage name from Signoret.
[edit] Filmography, as actress, includes
- Guy de Maupassant (1982)
- L'étoile du nord (1982)
- Chère inconnue (1980)
- L'Adolescente (1979)
- Judith Therpauve (1978)
- La Vie devant soi (Madame Rosa) (1977)
- Police Python 357 (1976)
- La Chair de l'orchidée (1975)
- Rude journée pour la reine (1973)
- Les Granges brulées (1973)
- La Veuve Couderc (1971)
- Le Chat (1971)
- Comptes à rebours (1971)
- L'Aveu (1970)
- L'Américain (1969)
- L'Armée des ombres (1969)
- Mr. Freedom (1969)
- The Seagull (1968)
- Games (1967)
- The Deadly Affair (1966)
- Paris brûle-t-il? (Is Paris Burning?) (1966)
- Compartiment tueurs (1965)
- Ship of Fools (1965)
- Dragées au poivre (1963)
- Le Jour et l'heure (1963)
- Il Giorno più corto (1962)
- Term of Trial (1962)
- Barabbas (1962)
- Amours célèbres (1961)
- Adua e le compagne (1960)
- Les Mauvais coups (1960)
- Room at the Top (1959)
- Les Sorcières de Salem (The Crucible) (1957)
- Die Windrose (1957)
- Un matin comme les autres (1956)
- La Mort en ce jardin (1956)
- Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder (1955)
- Les Diaboliques (1955) (Diabolique)
- Thérèse Raquin (1953)
- Casque d'or (1952)
- Ombre et lumière (1951)
- Sans laisser d'adresse (1951)
- Gunman in the Streets (1950)
- Le Traqué (1950)
- La Ronde (1950)
- Swiss Tour (1950)
- Manèges (1949)
- Impasse des deux anges (1948)
- Dédée d'Anvers (1948)
- Against the Wind (1948)
- Fantômas (1947)
- Macadam (1946)
- Le Couple idéal (1946)
- Les Démons de l'aube (1946)
- La Boîte aux rêves (1945)
- Le Mort ne reçoit plus (1944)
- Service de nuit (1944)
- Béatrice devant le désir (1944)
- L'Ange de la nuit (1944)
- Adieu Léonard (1943)
- Le Voyageur de la Toussaint (1943)
- Les Visiteurs du soir (1942)
- Le Prince charmant (1942)
- Boléro (1942)
[edit] Awards and Nominations
USA
- 1966: Nominated for Best Actress: Ship of Fools (1965)
| Preceded by: Susan Hayward for I Want to Live! |
Academy Award for Best Actress 1959 for Room at the Top |
Succeeded by: Elizabeth Taylor for BUtterfield 8 |
- 1966: Won Emmy Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Drama for: Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1963) for episode A Small Rebellion
- 1965: Nominated Best Motion Picture Actress - Drama for: Ship of Fools (1965)
- 1960: Nominated Best Motion Picture Actress - Drama for: Room at the Top (1959)
United Kingdom
- 1969: Nominated Best Supporting Actress for: Games (1967)
- 1968: Nominated Best Foreign Actress for: The Deadly Affair (1966)
- 1966: Nominated Best Foreign Actress for: Ship of Fools (1965)
- 1959: Won Best Foreign Actress for: Room at the Top (1959)
- 1958: Won Best Foreign Actress for: Les Sorcières de Salem, (1957)
- 1953: Won Best Foreign Actress for: Casque d'or (1952)
Germany
Berlin International Film Festival
- 1971: Won Silver Berlin Bear for Best Actress for: Le Chat (1971) (Tied with Shirley MacLaine for Desperate Characters)
France
- 1959: Won Best Actress for: Room at the Top
César Awards, France
- 1983: Nominated Best Actress for: L'Étoile du Nord (1982)
- 1978: Won Best Actress for: La Vie devant soi (1977)
Italy
David di Donatello Awards, Italy
- 1978 Won Best Foreign Actress for: La Vie devant soi (1977) (Tied with Jane Fonda for Julia)
[edit] References
- Signoret, Simone, Nostalgia Isn't What It Used To Be. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1978. ISBN 0-297-77417-4
- Monush, Barry (ed), The Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors From the Silent Era to 1965. New York: Applause Books, 2003. ISBN 1-55783-551-9
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- L'Encinémathéque. Simone SIGNORET (in French).
- Simone Signoret at the Internet Movie Database
- César Award for Best Actress
