Simone Signoret
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| Simone Signoret | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | Simone Henriette Charlotte Kaminker March 25, 1921 Wiesbaden, Germany |
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| Died | September 30, 1985 (aged 64) Auteuil-Anthouillet, France |
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| Spouse(s) | Yves Allégret (1944-1949) Yves Montand (1951-1985) |
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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.
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[edit] 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.
[edit] 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.
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.
[edit] Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1942 | Boléro | Une employée de maison de couture | uncredited |
| Les Visiteurs du soir | Extra | 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 nuit | La 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 | Fantômas | Hélène | |
| 1948 | Impasse des deux anges | Marianne | |
| Dédée d'Anvers | Dédée | ||
| Against the Wind | Michele Dennis | ||
| 1950 | Manèges | Dora | |
| Gunman in the Streets | Denise Vernon | a French version was also filmed as Le Traqué | |
| La Ronde | Leocadie, the Prostitute | ||
| Swiss Tour | Yvonne | ||
| 1951 | Ombre et lumière | Isabelle Leritz | |
| Sans laisser d'adresse | Une journaliste | uncredited | |
| 1952 | Casque d'or | Marie 'Casque d'Or' | BAFTA Award |
| 1953 | Thérèse Raquin | Thérèse Raquin | |
| 1955 | Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder | Yvette, Lagerhure | |
| Les Diaboliques | Nicole Horner | Diabolique | |
| 1956 | Un matin comme les autres | Janine Alix | |
| La Mort en ce jardin | Djin | ||
| 1957 | Les Sorcières de Salem | Elisabeth Procter | BAFTA Award |
| Die Windrose | |||
| 1959 | Room at the Top | Alice Aisgill | Academy Award for Best Actress; BAFTA Award; Nominated - Golden Globe |
| 1960 | Adua e le compagne | Adua Giovannetti | |
| 1960 | Les Mauvais coups | Roberte | |
| Amours célèbres | Jenny | segment "Jenny de Lacour" | |
| 1962 | Il Giorno più corto | Unconfirmed | |
| Term of Trial | Anna | ||
| Barabbas | |||
| 1963 | Dragées au poivre | Genevieve | |
| Le Jour et l'heure | Therese Dutheil | ||
| 1965 | Compartiment tueurs | Eliane Darès | |
| Ship of Fools | La Contessa | Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actress; Nominated - BAFTA Award; Nominated - Golden Globe |
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| 1966 | Paris brûle-t-il? | La patronne du bistrot/Cafe Owner | Is Paris Burning? |
| The Deadly Affair | Elsa Fennan | Nominated - BAFTA Award | |
| 1967 | Games | Lisa Schindler | Nominated - BAFTA Award |
| 1968 | The Sea Gull | Arkadina, an actress | |
| 1969 | L'Américain | Léone | |
| L'Armée des ombres | Mathilde | ||
| Mr. Freedom | uncredited cameo | ||
| 1970 | L'Aveu | Mme 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'orchidée | Lady Vamos | |
| 1976 | Police Python 357 | Thérèse Ganay | |
| 1977 | La Vie devant soi | Madame Rosa | |
| 1978 | Judith Therpauve | Judith Therpauve | |
| 1979 | L'Adolescente | Mamie | |
| 1980 | Chère inconnue | Louise | |
| 1982 | Guy de Maupassant | Maupassant's mother | |
| L'étoile du nord | Mme Louise Baron |
[edit] Awards and nominations
- 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)
[edit] See also
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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
[edit] External links
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| Persondata | |
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| NAME | Signoret, Simone |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Kaminker, Simone Henriette Charlotte |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Actress |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 25, 1921 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Wiesbaden, Germany |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 30, 1985 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Auteuil-Anthouillet, France |
