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<h1>British Hollywood star Jean Simmons dies at 80</h1>
<div class="byline"> <cite class="vcard"> by Rebecca Frasquet <span
class="fn org">Rebecca Frasquet</span> </cite><abbr
title="2010-01-23T13:02:55-0800" class="timedate"></abbr></div>
<p>PARIS (AFP) – The <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1264280739_0">British
actress Jean Simmons</span>, who has died aged 80, established her
reputation with an unforgettable performance as <span
class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1264280739_1">Ophelia</span> in Laurence
Olivier's film "Hamlet" before becoming one of the <span
class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1264280739_2">Twentieth Century Fox studio</span>'s
leading stars.</p>
<p>Simmons, who died in <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1264280739_3">Santa
Monica, California</span> Friday, after suffering lung cancer, was
twice nominated for an Oscar and reached the height of her fame in the
1950s and 1960s.</p>
<p>In 1993 she told AFP she had never had an acting lesson, learning
the art on the job, and said her career had been a series of surprises.</p>
<p><img src="cid:part1.07030503.08080803@durrett.net" alt=""><br>
</p>
<p>Born in London on January 31, 1929, the fourth child of a
middle-class family, Jean Marilyn Simmons began her career in 1944, at
the age of 15, in "Give Us the Moon".</p>
<p>She established her reputation with the role of young <span
class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1264280739_4">Estella</span> in David Lean's
film of "Great Expectations" in 1946 before Olivier cast her as Ophelia
in 1948, a performance that won her an award at the <span
class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1264280739_5">Venice film festival</span>
and worldwide fame.</p>
<p>Despite the promising start to her career in Britain, Simmons quit
the respected Rank studio and in 1950 moved to <span class="yshortcuts"
id="lw_1264280739_6">Hollywood</span> with her husband, the actor <span
class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1264280739_7">Stewart Granger</span>.</p>
<p>Simmons' talent and youthful grace made her a star at Twentieth
Century Fox, though her angelic looks masked murderous intent in <span
class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1264280739_8">Otto Preminger</span>'s 1952
movie "<span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1264280739_9">Angel Face</span>",
where she starred alongside <span class="yshortcuts"
id="lw_1264280739_10">Robert Mitchum</span>.</p>
<p>Her classical beauty earned her a number of roles as heroines from
antiquity, notably in <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1264280739_11">Stanley
Kubrick</span>'s "<span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1264280739_12">Spartacus</span>",
in which she played the rebel slave leader's love interest.</p>
<p>She played opposite <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1264280739_13">Marlon
Brando</span> in the historical drama "Desiree" and the musical comedy "<span
class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1264280739_14">Guys and Dolls</span>".</p>
<p>In 1960 she married the <span class="yshortcuts"
id="lw_1264280739_15">director Richard Brooks</span>, who cast her as
a captivating evangelist alongside <span class="yshortcuts"
id="lw_1264280739_16">Burt Lancaster</span> in "<span
class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1264280739_17">Elmer Gantry</span>" and then
as an alcoholic wife in "<span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1264280739_18">The
Happy Ending</span>".</p>
<p>"The Happy Ending" earned Simmons her second Oscar nomination, after
"Hamlet", but the prize escaped her on both occasions.</p>
<p>In all, Simmons starred in around 50 features, but after 1970 her
big screen appearances were more limited, though she starred in Michael
Anderson's 1978 movie "Dominique".</p>
<p>On television, where she starred in around 30 series, Simmons played
the governess in "Heidi" and won an Emmy award in 1983 for "<span
class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1264280739_19">The Thorn Birds</span>".</p>
<p>Simmons had two children, one with Granger and one with Brooks, whom
she divorced in 1977.</p>
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