Simone Simon | |
|---|---|
 Simon inLove and Hisses (1937) | |
| Born | Simone Thérèse Fernande Simon (1911-04-23)23 April 1911 Marseille, France |
| Died | 22 February 2005(2005-02-22) (aged 93) Paris, France |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1931–1973 |
Simone Thérèse Fernande Simon (23 April 1910 or 1911[1] – 22 February 2005) was a French film actress who began her film career in 1931. She is perhaps best remembered for her role in the American horror filmCat People, and its sequelThe Curse of the Cat People.
Born inMarseille,[1] France, she was the daughter of Henri Louis Firmin Clair Simon, a French Jewish engineer and airplane pilot in World War II who died in a concentration camp, and Erma Maria Domenica Giorcelli, an Italian housewife. Before settling and growing up inMarseille, Simon lived inMadagascar,Budapest,Turin, andBerlin.[2] She went to Paris in 1931 and worked briefly as a singer, model, and fashion designer. She also at one point wanted to become a sculptor.[3]
Simon worked chiefly for theThéâtre des Bouffes Parisiens and then managed to get more serious work withSacha Guitry inÔ mon bel inconnu.[3]
After being spotted in a restaurant in June 1931, Simon was offered a film contract by directorVictor Tourjansky, which ended her plans to become a fashion designer.[2] She made her screen debut inLe chanteur inconnu (The Unknown Singer, 1931), and quickly established herself as one of the country's most successful film actresses. Simon later told a reporter that she had no acting experience when making her first screen test forThe Unknown Singer.[4] In 1932, she was given more important roles and she rose to fame after starring inMarc Allégret'sLac aux dames (Ladies Lake, 1934), which was in her own opinion her first serious role sinceThe Unknown Singer.[3][4] In later interviews, Simon expressed her gratitude towards Allégret, feeling that he was responsible for her glory.[3]
After seeing her inLadies Lake,Darryl F. Zanuck brought her to Hollywood in August 1935 with a widespread publicity campaign. Before accepting an American contract, Simon completed two more films for Allégret,Les yeux noirs (Black Eyes, 1935) andLes beaux jours (1935).[3] It was usual for foreign actresses to receive months of preparation before working, but Simon was given only a few weeks of English lessons before she was told to report on set.[5] Meanwhile, the studio had trouble finding her a suitable role. She was scheduled to make her American film debut inA Message to Garcia (1936), playing a Spanish girl, but was replaced byRita Hayworth.[6] In mid-1935, she was cast in the female lead inUnder Two Flags (1936), but was discharged during production.
Although it was reported that she withdrew due to illness, it was later revealed that Zanuck fired her after twelve days of shooting because of her temperamental behavior, which displeased the film's directorFrank Lloyd.[6] Simon herself claimed in a 1936 interview that she fell ill after weeks of tests and rehearsing for the film.[5] She admitted, though, that in the early stage of production she was temperamental, insisting that she was inspired to behave that way after a conversation withMarlene Dietrich, who told her that "a star is only as important as she makes herself out to be."[7] She dismissed any further claims of her being rude or difficult to work with, explaining to the press that she was initially not used to the American lifestyle, which was in her view more extroverted than the French way of living.[3] Her poor health caused her to be hospitalized, during which she became convinced to give up her American contract.[7]
Shortly after she had decided to return to France,[7] the studio assigned her to a third billing role inGirls' Dormitory (1936). Simon was attracted to the story and saw "great possibilities" in her character.[7] Reportedly, she again showed a temperament, which led to difficulties withRuth Chatterton, the film's star, who felt that Simon was receiving more attention.[7][8] Simon confessed that she was nervous during production, because studio executives were closely watching her every step.[7] Although thought to be one of the highlights of the year,[9]Girls' Dormitory was soon forgotten by the public, making Simon's American film debut less than impressive. Nonetheless, Simon was hailed a sensation and critics applauded her performance.[2] Furthermore, magazines reported that it brought the actress overnight fame.[3] Shortly after the film's release she was cast inWhite Hunter, aB movie that would reunite her with producerIrving Cummings. During filming, she was again stricken by flu, and she ultimately had to be replaced by actressJune Lang.[10]
Instead, the studio rushed her in the romantic comedyLadies in Love (1936), which was filmed in mid-1936. She shared the female lead withJanet Gaynor,Loretta Young andConstance Bennett, some of whom[who?] objected to the large number of scenes that Simon was getting.[2] It was a heavyweight lineup in which Simon's role left her little chance to compete effectively. Trying to avoid quarrels, she hired an assistant to prevent her from making headlines with her behavior.[11] Despite a big build-up, which included a weekly salary even though her first American film was released more than a year after her arrival in the country,[8] Simon's films for20th Century Fox were only moderately successful. Among others, she was cast in the Janet Gaynor role in the1937 remake of the silent classicSeventh Heaven (1927), which co-starredJames Stewart and flopped. Afterwards, she was cast inDanger – Love at Work (1937), but due to her heavy French accent she had to be replaced byAnn Sothern.[12] Failing in finding her appropriate roles, the studio allowed her to go on an eight-week vacation to France, and following her return in June 1937, she was assigned toSuez (1938), but the project was shelved and she was eventually replaced.[13]
In the late 1930s, Simon returned to France, dissatisfied with the development of her American film career and the backfiring of its related publicity.[14] There, she appeared in theJean Renoir filmLa Bête Humaine (The Human Beast) in 1938. With the outbreak ofWorld War II, she returned to Hollywood and worked forRKO Radio Pictures where she achieved her greatest successes in English language cinema withThe Devil and Daniel Webster (1941),Cat People (1942) andThe Curse of the Cat People (1944); the latter two formed part of the horror film series produced byVal Lewton. At the time, due to her relative obscurity in the United States, Simon generated a series of apocryphal rumours about her origins, such as that she was the love child ofMarion Davies andWilliam Randolph Hearst, and that she had been a Paramount stock player fromSalem, Oregon.[15] These films did not lead to greater success and she languished in mediocre films until the end of the war.
She returned to France to act, and appeared inLa Ronde (Roundabout, 1950). Her film roles were few after this and she made her final film appearance in 1973.
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Simon never married. She was at one time in a relationship with World War IIdouble agentDuško Popov, codenamed "Tricycle", a notorious womaniser.[16] This relationship led to her being placed under covert surveillance by the FBI during the filming ofCat People. Simon had loaned Popov £10,000 in 1942 shortly before he left the country, likely her payment for the film (value circa £600,000 in 2025). They broke up in 1943 with him not repaying the money.[17]
It was alleged by Simon's secretary that she gave a gold key to her boudoir to any man she was interested in, includingGeorge Gershwin. The film historian, Greg Mank, reports in his audio commentary for the DVD ofCat People, that the secretary was then on trial for extorting money from her employer, and her word on this matter cannot be taken at face value (the secretary was later convicted, and the terms of her probation required that she never speak of the "gold key" scandal again). In the 1950s, Simon was romantically involved with the French banker and racehorse owner–breederAlec Weisweiller whose wifeFrancine was one ofJean Cocteau's patrons.
Simon died in Paris, France, on 22 February 2005 from natural causes after having gone blind. A few days later, French Minister of CultureRenaud Donnedieu de Vabres issued a statement in which he extolled Simon's "charm, her irresistible smile... With Simone Simon's passing, we have lost one of the most seductive and most brilliant stars of the French cinema of the first half of the 20th century."[18] Simon was buried in the Cimetière du Château-Gombert with a simple headstone which merely commemorates her name together with her dates of birth and death.
The French playwrightPierre Barillet, who knew Simon in real life, authored the biographyLa Féline in 2013.[19] The book has not yet been translated into English.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1931 | Durand Versus Durand | Eliane | |
| Mam'zelle Nitouche | Uncredited | ||
| The Unknown Singer | Pierette | Original title:Le chanteur inconnu | |
| On opère sans douleur | |||
| 1932 | The Chocolate Girl | Julie | Original title:La petite chocolatière |
| A Son from America | Maryse | Original title:Un fils d'Amérique | |
| King of the Hotel | Victoire | Original title:Le roi des palaces | |
| To Live Happily | Jacqueline | Original title:Pour vivre heureux | |
| 1933 | The Sad Sack | Lily | Original title:Tire au flanc |
| Mind the Paint | Amélie Gadarin | Original title:Prenez garde à la peinture | |
| The Star of Valencia | Rita | ||
| Le Voleur [fr] | |||
| 1934 | Lake of Ladies | Puck | |
| 1935 | Dark Eyes | Tania | Original title:Les yeux noirs |
| Beautiful Days | Sylvie | ||
| 1936 | Girls' Dormitory | Marie Claudel | |
| Ladies in Love | Marie Armand | ||
| 1937 | Seventh Heaven | Diane | |
| Love and Hisses | Yvett Guerin | ||
| 1938 | Josette | Renee LeBlanc | |
| La Bête Humaine | Séverine Roubaud | Alternative title:The Human Beast Alternative title:Judas Was a Woman | |
| 1940 | Love Cavalcade | Juliette | Original title:Cavalcade d'amour |
| 1941 | The Devil and Daniel Webster | Belle | Alternative title:All That Money Can Buy |
| 1942 | Cat People | Irena Dubrovna Reed | |
| 1943 | Tahiti Honey | Suzette 'Susie" Durand | |
| 1944 | The Curse of the Cat People | Irena Reed | |
| Johnny Doesn't Live Here Any More | Kathie Aumont | Alternative title:And So They Were Married | |
| Mademoiselle Fifi | Elizabeth Bousset – A Little Laundress | Alternative title:Guy de Maupassant's Mademoiselle Fifi | |
| 1946 | Pétrus | Migo | |
| 1947 | Temptation Harbour | Camelia | Alternative title:Temptation Harbor |
| 1950 | Women Without Names | Yvonne Dubois | Original title:Donne senza nome |
| 1950 | La Ronde | Marie, the housemaid | |
| 1951 | Olivia | Mlle. Cara | Alternative title:The Pit of Loneliness |
| 1952 | Le Plaisir | Joséphine – le modèle | Alternative title:House of Pleasure (segment "Le Modèle") |
| 1954 | The Three Thieves | Doris Ornano | |
| A Double Life | Françoise Dunoyer | Original title:Das zweite Leben | |
| 1956 | The Extra Day | Michele Blanchard | |
| 1973 | The Woman in Blue | La dame de Meudon | Original title:La femme en bleu (final film role) |
| Year | Program | Episode/source |
|---|---|---|
| 1945 | The Adventures of the Thin Man | The Case of the Homicidal Husband[20] |
| 1945 | Inner Sanctum | The Black Art |
