Simone Signoret

Simone Signoret
Born Simone Henriette Charlotte Kaminker
March 25, 1921(1921-03-25)
Wiesbaden, GermanyDied September 30, 1985(aged 64)
Auteuil-Anthouillet, FranceSpouse(s) Yves Allégret(1944-1949)
Yves Montand(1951-1985) Awards won Academy Awards Best Actress
1959 Room at the Top BAFTA Awards Best Actress in a Leading Role
1952 Casque d'or
1957 The Crucible
1959 Room at the Top César Awards Best Actress
1977 Madame Rosa Emmy Awards Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries or a Movie
1966 A Small Rebellion Other Awards Cannes Film Festival - Best Actress
1959 Room at the Top
NBR Award for Best Actress
1959 Room at the Top
Silver Bear for Best Actress
1971 Le Chat

Simone Signoret (pronounced [simɔn siɲɔˈʀɛ] in French) (March 25, 1921 - September 30, 1985), was an Academy Award, Emmy, BAFTA, César and Cannes award-winning Jewish-French actress.

1 Early life
2 Career
3 Filmography
4 Awards and nominations
5 See also
6 References
7 Bibliography
8 External links

Early life

Signoret was born Simone-Henriette-Charlotte Kaminker in Wiesbaden, Germany to André 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 of Polish descent[1], who brought the family to Neuilly-sur-Seine on the fancy 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 English and Latin and worked part-time as a typist for a French collaborationist newspaper, Le Nouveau Temps, run by Jean Luchaire.

Career

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 as immoral. She won further raves, including an acting award from the British Film Academy, for her portrayal of yet another prostitute 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 (1956), based on Arthur Miller's The Crucible.

Simone Signoret with Laurence Harvey in Room at the Top; the film established her as a major actress.

In 1958, Signoret went to England to film Room at the Top (1959), which won her numerous awards including the Best Female Performance Prize at Cannes and the Academy Award for Best Actress. She was the only French cinema actress to receive an Oscar until Juliette Binoche in 1997 (Supporting Actress), and 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".[2]

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 (Madame Rosa) in La Vie devant soi (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 1944 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.

In Playboy she was shown once in an embrace with Robert Mitchum. She was nude above the waist, and the magazine's caption used the term "a big bare hug."

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.

Filmography

Year Film Role Other notes 1942 BoléroUne employée de maison de couture uncredited Les Visiteurs du soirExtra uncredited Le Prince charmant 1943 Adieu Léonard La gitane uncredited Le Voyageur de la Toussaint Extra uncredited 1944 L'Ange de la nuit Une étudiante uncredited Le Mort ne reçoit plus La maitresse de Firmin Service de nuitLa danseuse à la taverne Béatrice devant le désir 1945 La Boîte aux rêves Une femme uncredited 1946 Macadam Gisèle Le Couple idéal Annette Les Démons de l'aube Lily, la cabaretière 1947 FantômasHélène 1948 Impasse des deux anges Marianne Dédée d'AnversDédée Against the Wind Michele Dennis 1950 Manèges Dora Gunman in the StreetsDenise Vernon a French version was also filmed as Le Traqué La RondeLeocadie, the Prostitute Swiss Tour Yvonne 1951 Ombre et lumièreIsabelle Leritz Sans laisser d'adresse Une journaliste uncredited 1952 Casque d'orMarie 'Casque d'Or' BAFTA Award1953 Thérèse RaquinThérèse Raquin 1955 Mutter Courage und ihre KinderYvette, Lagerhure Les DiaboliquesNicole Horner Diabolique 1956 Un matin comme les autres Janine Alix La Mort en ce jardin Djin 1957 Les Sorcières de SalemElisabeth Procter BAFTA Award Die Windrose1959 Room at the TopAlice Aisgill Academy Award for Best Actress; BAFTA Award;
Nominated - Golden Globe1960 Adua e le compagneAdua Giovannetti 1960 Les Mauvais coupsRoberte Amours célèbres Jenny segment "Jenny de Lacour" 1962 Il Giorno più corto Unconfirmed Term of TrialAnna Barabbas1963 Dragées au poivre Genevieve Le Jour et l'heure Therese Dutheil 1965 Compartiment tueursEliane Darès Ship of FoolsLa Contessa Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actress;
Nominated - BAFTA Award; Nominated - Golden Globe1966 Paris brûle-t-il?La patronne du bistrot/Cafe Owner Is Paris Burning?The Deadly AffairElsa Fennan Nominated - BAFTA Award1967 GamesLisa Schindler Nominated - BAFTA Award1968 The Sea GullArkadina, an actress 1969 L'Américain Léone L'Armée des ombresMathilde Mr. Freedomuncredited cameo 1970 L'AveuMme L. aka Lise London 1971 La Veuve Couderc Veuve Couderc Tati Le Chat Clémence Bouin Comptes à rebours Léa 1973 Rude journée pour la reine Jeanne Les Granges brulées Rose 1975 La Chair de l'orchidéeLady Vamos 1976 Police Python 357 Thérèse Ganay 1977 La Vie devant soiMadame Rosa 1978 Judith Therpauve Judith Therpauve 1979 L'AdolescenteMamie 1980 Chère inconnue Louise 1982 Guy de Maupassant Maupassant's mother L'étoile du nordMme Louise Baron

Awards and nominations

Emmy Awards

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

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 Cannes Film Festival

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)

References

^ Nostalgia Isn't What It Used to Be (Paperback) was descended from Polish Jews. Film Guardian.co.uk. 7 August 2000.
^ Sutcliffe, Tom. Sir Alec Guiness. Film Guardian.co.uk. 7 August 2000.

Bibliography

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
Signoret, Simone, Nostalgia Isn't What It Used To Be. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1978. ISBN 0-297-77417-4

External links

Simone Signoret at the Internet Movie Database
Simone Signoret at Find A Grave

v • d • e Academy Award for Best Actress

Joan Fontaine (1941) · Greer Garson (1942) · Jennifer Jones (1943) · Ingrid Bergman (1944) · Joan Crawford (1945) · Olivia de Havilland (1946) · Loretta Young (1947) · Jane Wyman (1948) · Olivia de Havilland (1949) Judy Holliday (1950) · Vivien Leigh (1951) · Shirley Booth (1952) · Audrey Hepburn (1953) · Grace Kelly (1954) · Anna Magnani (1955) · Ingrid Bergman (1956) · Joanne Woodward (1957) · Susan Hayward (1958) · Simone Signoret (1959) · Elizabeth Taylor (1960)

Complete list · (1928–1940) · (1941–1960) · (1961–1980) · (1981–2000) · (2001-present)

v • d • e Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries or a Movie

Judith Anderson (1954) · Mary Martin (1955) · Claire Trevor (1956) · Polly Bergen (1957) · Julie Harris (1959) · Ingrid Bergman (1960) · Judith Anderson (1961) · Julie Harris (1962) · Kim Stanley (1963) · Shelley Winters (1964) · Lynn Fontanne (1965) · Simone Signoret (1966) · Geraldine Page (1967) · Maureen Stapleton (1968) · Geraldine Page (1969) · Patty Duke (1970) · Lee Grant (1971) · Glenda Jackson (1972) · Cloris Leachman (1973) · Susan Hampshire / Cicely Tyson / Mildred Natwick (1974) · Katharine Hepburn / Jessica Walter (1975)

Complete list: (1954-1975) · (1976-2000) · (2001-present)

PersondataNAME Signoret, Simone ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kaminker, Simone Henriette Charlotte SHORT DESCRIPTION Actress DATE OF BIRTH March 25, 1921PLACE OF BIRTH Wiesbaden, GermanyDATE OF DEATH September 30, 1985PLACE OF DEATH Auteuil-Anthouillet, France