|
|
 |
THE SCREEN LEGACY OF JEAN SIMMONS  Jean Simmons clutches the robe of the crucified Jesus Christ in a scene from "The Robe" (1953), one of her most popular films. Next to Simmons is her leading man, Richard Burton. They're both facing Jay Robinson, who played Rome's profligate emperor Caligula. |
She left behind some very
memorable performances
of TheColumnists.com
“Jean Simmons:
An Unforgettable English Rose”
was the headline in the prestigious British newspaper The
Guardian on January 23.
The death of Simmons at 80 was greeted with a slew of remembrances,
which was surprising considering she had lived her last decade
out of the limelight.
Critic David Thomson wrote: “Even in the age of Vivien
Leigh and Elizabeth Taylor, she was an authentic beauty and there
were always hints the lady might be very sexy.”
I met Simmons twice. Once was at a TV critics’ lunch on
the set of ABC's 1983 miniseries, "The Thorn Birds,"
where she dutifully answered questions about the miniseries then
in production in the Simi Valley near Los Angeles.
It was a sweltering day. Simmons had been up since dawn and finished
several scenes that morning. She looked radiant, but was temporarily
taken aback when Ron Miller, then a TV critic and now my colleague
at TheColumnists.com, sneaked in a question about her role as
an Indian girl in the classic 1947 movie "Black Narcissus."
I had my own interview time with Simmons in the summer of 1988
when she sat down in Toronto on the set of the TV revival of
"Alfred Hitchcock Presents" for what turned out to
be several hours of reminiscing about a film career that first
started in 1944 when she was just 15.
BAWDEN: What do you remember about your breakout movie, David
Lean's "Great Expectations?"
 |
right, was intimidated by co-star Martita Hunt, who behaved like a witch in the 1946 "Great Expectations." |
SIMMONS: I was only 17 and here I was in this magnificently mounted motion picture. The Havisham mansion was a real house, not a studio set, although it was re-dressed so the great room was filled with spiders’ webs that would get in my hair. And there were movie rats everywhere! They came scampering when one called them for the food. I was plain terrified of Martita Hunt as Miss Havisham. She truly frightened me. She stayed in character and, to this teenager, looked like a witch. My scenes were with young Pip, played wonderfully by Anthony Wager. He was three years younger than me, so I could truly boss him around as when Estella (her character) asks him if he would like to kiss her. He also was in the 1989 (TV) version.
BAWDEN: And what did you think when asked to play Miss Havisham 40 years later?
SIMMONS: Well, of course I saw the connection right away. There’s the scene in the (1946) film where (the grown-up Pip) John Mills comes back to the decrepit great house and finds (the grown-up) Estella (Valerie Hobson) there and alone and she’s turning into a crazy lady. So it made sense to me and I thought why not? This one ran on the Disney Channel in five episodes. I don’t think I was as cruel as Martita Hunt, but maybe I was as looney. And the cast was quite good: John Rhys-Davies as Joe, Anthony Hopkins as Magwitch, Anthony Calf as Pip, Ray McAnally as Jaggers. This one ran over three hours, everything was in it. And the director was Kevin Connors. But that doesn’t stop me from loving the 1946 version, too.
 |
brunette locks blond for her role as Ophelia in Olivier's 1948 "Hamlet." |
BAWDEN: You made a number of fine British films in those years. Let me throw titles at you.
SIMMONS: "Hungry Hill"? It was a Daphne DuMaurier story nobody remembers. A Margaret Lockwood movie (1947), She was always very nice to this teenager. I was Dennis Price’s younger sister, I was always the younger sister in those days. "Uncle Silas"? It ran in North American cinemas as "The Inheritance," a very bad title. They cut it down and it makes no sense when played on American television. I had a big part in it as a very naive young thing whose old uncle tries to kill her off. An old dark house type of story. I was constantly terrified. Derrick De Marney was the codger but he was only 40–he used buckets of old age makeup. They remade it for British television with Peter O’Toole (Shown as "The Dark Angel" on PBS' "Mystry!" in 1991 with Beatie Edney in Simmons' earlier role.) ), but it can’t be as scary as our version.
BAWDEN: "Black Narcissus?"
SIMMONS: I went into the studio and got painted brown every day. It itched whatever they used. And, yes, I said studio. Every scene was done inside a studio. It was an experiment by (Director Michael) Powell and (Co-Director Emeric) Pressburger to prove anything can be replicated in a studio. You had to be in the right mood but the color was stunning, the overall effect was brilliant. My part as an (East) Indian princess was comparatively small and, as I recall, I never say anything. Am I right? I was opposite Sabu, the most entrancing Indian boy who had been discovered by Alex Korda and taken to England from India. There was something lost about him--his own culture, was that it? Today (the film) might be dismissed as racism but at the time it was considered a film of high art. I don’t think actors do blackface any more, It’s not considered proper. But it was fun!
 |
in heavy makeup as an Indian girl in the color classic "Black Narcissus" (1947). |
BAWDEN: At 19 you won an Oscar nomination for Laurence Olivier's 1948 "Hamlet."
SIMMONS: Ophelia is a very difficult part, although not a big one. So I needed a lot of training. I think I got it (the role) for my looks and then they peroxided my features because Larry Olivier had gone blond. In his case, it was to wash the wrinkles away, he said, because he was 41. The critics said "bravo" for using black and white after the color of (Olivier's) "Henry V," but Larry always said he was fighting with Technicolor at the time so color was out. I stayed away from the rest of the cast, I had to remain immersed in my character and I didn’t quite understand her. I ran lines constantly, even with Vivien Leigh, as I remember. She’d wanted to play the part as marquee value, but at 36 was considered too old. But I only remember the kindness of these two –at the time they were the world’s most glamorous film couple. Larry said I had a huge stage career ahead of me, if only I’d go to Bristol and repertory for a few years. But I much preferred the salary of a film star at that stage.
BAWDEN: Then you were off to Hollywood.
SIMMONS: I first made "The Clouded Yellow" (1950), which I’ve seen again recently. It’s a fine chase movie. And I made "So Long at the Fair" with Dirk Bogarde, who has remained a lifelong friend. It was a tricky plot about a girl and her brother who travel to the 1889 World Exposition in Paris and he disappears without a trace. If you haven’t seen it, I won’t give you the trick ending, which was based on fact.
BAWDEN: In America you had quite a brawl with Howard Hughes.
SIMMONS: A mad man! HE bought up my (J. Arthur) Rank contract for five films and threatened to have me blacklisted unless I made the kind of drivel RKO was putting out. I did one, "Angel Face," and it was pretty fair. I was a psychopath who sends her father over a cliff, as I recall. But there’s no doubt Howard stopped my momentum. Finally he lent me out to do "The Robe" (1953). Everybody has seen it. I think it’s junk, but why argue with its popularity? It was the first Cinemascope picture and they were experimenting as they went along. Scenes would be shot and when we watched them (they) would look gruesome because the lens distorted everything. The director was Henry Koster and he said he’d have to keep the camera perfectly still and could we just walk into the frame, give our lines, then walk out!
BAWDEN: One of my favorite Jean Simmons movies is "The Actress."
SIMMONS: It’s one of mine, too. Also one of MGM’s biggest flops. I went to see it at a Westwood cinema and nobody else was there. MGM didn’t quite know how to sell it. It was from a memoir by Ruth Gordon about growing up with her unusual father. Spencer Tracy read it first and that meant MGM wanted to make it. (Director) George Cukor signed on and asked me to try it on, but I never completely eliminated my (British) accent to his satisfaction. Nothing much happened in it. There were vignettes. Perhaps it was too precious for the average moviegoer. Spencer was lord of MGM in those days. When we went on location, his great trailer came along, as did his retinue of servants. Tony Perkins was my young man and it was his first movie and he was just plain scared of Spencer who could really bellow when provoked. Teresa Wright, who was 11 years older (than me) played my mom! She did so again in "The Happy Ending" (1969). I loved it when a reporter asked her years later why she’d stopped making movies and she replied, “I guess Jean Simmons no longer needs a mother.”
BAWDEN: Didn’t you wish you were at MGM instead of RKO?
SIMMONS: Who wouldn’t have wanted to be at MGM? I watched how they were grooming Liz Taylor but I’m guessing there was only one British leading lady allowed under contract at one time. They did the same job of polishing Grace Kelly. I never got such sustained studio treatment, I guess I resented it. I actually made "Young Bess" at MGM before "The Actress." A lot of money went into that one but it just doesn’t look right historically. (Director) George Sidney, who usually did musicals, was very meticulous. My husband, Jimmy (Simmons's husband then was actor Stewart Granger, whose real name was Jimmy Stewart) was there and so was Deborah Kerr, who was so ticked off she bought up her contract and made "From Here To Eternity"(at Columbia) all in the same year. After two iffy pictures MGM declined to renew my short term contract and I freelanced.
BAWDEN: You made two movies around that time with Marlon Brando.
SIMMONS: It was supposed to be three. First up was "The Egyptian" (1954). Marlon just walked out at the last minute, wouldn’t do it. I don’t blame him, I should have walked, too. If I ever see a bit of it on television, I start howling with laughter. It was rubbish but expensive rubbish–cast of thousands, huge sets, a big cast. Victor Mature was again in it and he just loved showing his (physique) off. Edmund Purdom replaced Marlon and he couldn’t bring any conviction to the script. Then when Michael Wilding walked out with that huge headdress Peter Ustinov said he looked like a gigantic salt shaker and we all dissolved in laughter. But it made a ton of money. Anything Biblical was selling but this was what a thousand years earlier (in world history).
BAWDEN: Then you made "Desiree" with Brando and Merle Oberon.
SIMMONS: He was Napoleon. He’s Method so it meant strutting around, looking coy, berating everybody behind and in front of the camera. The script wasn’t right and we were just uncomfortable. Merle Oberon as the aging Josephine was O.K., but I just felt so silly. (Simmons played the title role, a seamstress who was Napoleon's lover.) Director Henry Koster wasn’t much help, although he is a lovely man. It was one of Marlon’s few flops from that time.
BAWDEN: But you and Marlon were delightful in "Guys And Dolls" (1955).
SIMMONS: The idea of casting a British gal as Sarah Brown--why it was audacious! (Director) Joe Mankiewicz’s doing. Some of the Broadway cast was there, but Joe wanted to use Betty Grable as Miss Adelaide. But she was late for an interview with Sam Goldwyn. She stopped to help an injured dog and Sam blew up and refused to see her. I always thought Frank Sinatra should have been Sky Masterson rather than Marlon and so did Frank. On this set the two male stars feuded, not the women. Michael Kidd staged all the dances. I somehow got through it. The critics were kind of nice to me. But I was never asked to do another screen musical, although I did "A Little Night Music" on the stage.
 |
with Marlon Brando in the musical "Guys and Dolls" from 1955. |
BAWDEN: Why do you say "Hilda Crane"
(1956) was an important picture in Hollywood’s history?
Explain please.
SIMMONS: It was the last picture made at Fox or anywhere else
in Hollywood where we worked six days. New union rules came in
and that was the end of working Saturdays, which really was until
dawn broke on a Sunday morning. Other than that the picture is
awful.
BAWDEN: I think in "Home Before Dark" (1958) you give
your best screen performance.
SIMMONS: The way Mervyn LeRoy presented it to me was this was
not going to be another "Snake Pit" (1949). It would
be a completely realistic study of what gave this girl a breakdown
and how she scaled out of it. Mervyn insisted on black and white
and he cast meticulously. I thought Dan O’Herlihy stunning
as my college professor husband. I got a Golden Globe nomination,
so did Efrem Zimbalist Jr. who was superb. Rhonda Fleming still
says it was her best acting job. But (studio boss) Jack Warner
hated the material and campaigned against any Oscar nominations,
if you can believe it. And it never appears on the late show.
BAWDEN: Then came "The Big Country" (1958), a true
all-star western.
SIMMONS: Can’t talk about that one. Won’t. (Director)
Willie Wyler was downright nasty and impossible to work with.
He always selects a victim to go after on each picture. This
time it was me. Charlie Bickford said, “If the little
squirt tries anything more then I’ll squash him like a gnat.”
But Willie would never have dared go after Greg Peck or Charlton
Heston or even Charlie, who was over 70 by then.
BAWDEN: How did you prevent Burt Lancaster from overpowering
you in "Elmer Gantry" (1960).
SIMMONS: He was too busy being Elmer. Burt had spent a lot of
years angling for the Oscar. This time he really felt he had
it. I met my future husband, Richard Brooks, on that one. He
shot very slowly, but with all due speed. He knew what to look
for and he kind of expected actors to take in his detailed direction.
Burt was in his glory and Richard got fine performances out of
Arthur Kennedy and particularly Shirley Jones, who got a supporting
Oscar. It’s very long for a drama, over two hours. And nobody
expected it would be such a money maker, Richard’s home
studio, MGM, declined to make it and United Artists stepped in.
BAWDEN: How did "Spartacus" come about?
SIMMONS: Well, I did have this reputation for spectacles. But,
seriously, I’d just finished "Elmer Gantry" and
the word coming from that set was strong. I knew "Spartacus"
was Kirk Douglas’s project all the way and, after the first
scenes were shot, he fired (director) Anthony Mann and switched
to Stanley Kubrick. It was in that period I got cast. The first
choice was a continental import who did not make it. I was back
with Larry Olivier, with Charles Laughton, with Peter Ustinov.
All the interiors were done in L.A. So, we all bonded and played
games on each other and the months passed rather well. Kirk was
the king so we all obeyed him. I still like to tease him that
during the crucifixion scene he’d finally been placed up
on the cross after hours of adjustments. Right then the assistant
director bawled “Lunch!” So we all trooped off leaving
Kirk to writhe on the cross. It was a huge hit for me, played
reserved seats everywhere.
BAWDEN: But after "The Grass is Greener" (1961), you
were gone from movies for several years?
SIMMONS: My agent said why take fourth billing when you’ve
just finished the biggest movie of the year? I said it was the
first real comedy role I’d been offered. Same reason Bob
Mitchum took third billing. Perhaps we had too much fun on the
set. It never translated into a satisfying comedy, did it.? It
was about adultery but that subject couldn’t even be discussed
back then. Cary Grant was in most of my scenes. He was a fuss
budget. Everything must be just so. Then he’d come forth
with the most amusing, polished take, so seemingly effortlessly.
I needed more comedy chances and I rarely got them. Then I married
Richard Brooks, had a baby and luxuriated in not working for
the first time since I was 14.
BAWDEN: Producer David Susskind once told me the reason "All
the Way Home" (1963) was such a monumental flop.
SIMMONS: It was the Kennedy assassination, right? We opened the
weekend after President Kennedy was killed. And nobody had the
heart to see James Agee’s little story about the death of
the father figure. It wouldn’t have made much money anyway.
Today they’d do it for PBS or something. I always considered
it something special.
BAWDEN: Critique your later movies.
SIMMONS: I’d lost all career momentum. I took "Life
at the Top" (1965) because it was the only offer. Working
with Laurence Harvey was difficult. But he was playing a difficult
character. "Mister Buddwing" (1966) with Jimmy Garner
wasn’t coherent. "Rough Night in Jericho" (1967)
was a Dean Martin Western. "Divorce American Style"
(1967) had me in a comedy and I needed comedy by then.
BAWDEN: You won your second Oscar nomination for "The Happy
Ending" (1969).
SIMMONS: Critics assailed it as a women’s picture. Well,
it was from a women’s perspective, although Richard (her
husband, director Richard Brooks) was very masculine, he always
had terrific parts for women. The moments in it were unmelodramatic.
Bobby Darin was wonderful, John Forsythe, too, Shirley Jones.
But TV movies were just coming in and people thought it too small
for movie screens.
BAWDEN: I’m a big fan of your British film "Say Hello
to Yesterday" (1971).
SIMMONS: So you’re the one who saw it. It was (Canadian)
director Alvin Rakoff’s attempt to comment on "Brief
Encounter." I’m a middle aged London housewife who
has a fling with a young nob played by Leonard Whiting from "Romeo
and Juliet." Only this time, there’s no guilt. No recriminations.
British critics hated it. How dare we go after a true classic?
It was all very slight and needed more work but I rather liked
it. Leonard was disturbed by its failure. In this business you
have to roll with the punches I told him, but he stopped acting
a few years later.
BAWDEN: How did you take to life as a TV actress.
SIMMONS: I’m a realist. After 40, the roles generally stop
for women. TV offers a lot more. I did two dramas for Bob Hope’s
series and liked the experience. Tight schedules do not bother
me. I guess I finally became a true convert when "The Dain
Curse" (1978) did so well and then I did "Beggarman
Thief" (1979) and I had become a TV name. I did "The
Thorn Birds" (1983) to meet Barbara Stanwyck. I saw myself
in her. She’d lived to act and was a true professional,
although faltering in health. The gas lighting bothered her breathing
and she wheezed visibly. The day you TV critics came to Simi
Valley, she’d done her one scene of the day and to conserve
strength had to go home. I got an Emmy for it and then I did
another "North and South" (1985) and felt it was the
best of my miniseries existence.
BAWDEN: My Favorite Jean Simmons TV role was in the British made
"December Flower" (1984).
SIMMONS: I was a woman searching for her roots who comes back
to Britain and finds she has an elderly aunt who needs caring
for and she moves in. That’s all the story there was. (Director)
Stephen Frears made it on location in a cramped house–a
two up, two down thing–and it just worked so beautifully
as a study of elderly abuse. Mona Washbourne was the sweet old
soul and Mona was so decrepit Stephen said he wasn’t sure
if she was going to make it. Make It? She’d been stealing
scenes left and right! There was the scene where Mona shows her
abusive relatives her Mickey Mouse telephone and it was all I
could do not to break up she was so wonderful. You tell me why
this one has never been on video.
BAWDEN: You must see the irony of making an episode of "Alfred
Hitchcock Presents."
SIMMONS: Because he never used me? Yes! I saw him at a party
and he said I was brunette and that would never do. But he’s
one of the directors who got away. I do wonder why David Lean
never used me again. Why Powell and Pressburger gave up on me
so early. Or if I’d taken Larry O’s career advice and
gone into theatre for good.
©2010 by Jim Bawden. This column first posted Feb. 1, 2010.
TO ACCESS JIM BAWDEN'S ARCHIVE OF COLUMNS ON THIS SITE, CLICK HERE: BAWDEN ARCHIVE
You can comment
on this column online. Please address your message to either
"The Editors" or Jim Bawden. To send an email, click
here and don't forget to mention Jim's name: talkback@thecolumnists.com
|
|
|
Archives |
|
|