Simone Signoret

 ( 1921 Births ) 

Simone Signoret (; born Simone Henriette Charlotte Kaminker; 25 March 1921 – 30 September 1985) was a French actress. She received various accolades, including an Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, a César Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress, in addition to nominations for two Golden Globe Awards.

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Early life Signoret was born Simone Henriette Charlotte Kaminker in Wiesbaden, Germany, to Georgette (née Signoret) and André Kaminker. She was the eldest of three children, with two younger brothers. Her father, a pioneering interpreter who worked in the League of Nations, was a French-born army officer from an assimilated and middle-class Polish-Jewish and Hungarian-Jewish family,

Simone Signoret (1979). 9780140051810, Penguin Books. . ISBN 9780140051810

who brought the family to Neuilly-sur-Seine on the outskirts of Paris. Her mother, Georgette, from whom she acquired her stage name, was a French Catholic.

Signoret grew up in Paris in an intellectual atmosphere and studied English, German and Latin. After completing secondary school during the Nazi occupation, Simone was responsible for supporting her family and forced to take work as a typist for a French collaborationist newspaper Les nouveaux temps, run by Jean Luchaire.

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Career During the occupation of France, Signoret mixed with an artistic group of writers and actors who met at the Café de Flore in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés quarter. 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 roles as a prostitute.

She won considerable attention in La Ronde (1950), a film which was banned briefly in New York City as immoral. She won further acclaim, including an acting award from the British Film Academy, for her portrayal of another prostitute, Amélie Élie, in Jacques Becker's Casque d'or (1951), which in France became a signature role for her. She appeared in many French films during the 1950s, including Thérèse Raquin (1953), directed by Marcel Carné, Les Diaboliques (1954), and The Crucible ( Les Sorcières de Salem; 1956), based on Arthur Miller's The Crucible.

In 1958, Signoret acted in the English independent film Room at the Top (1959), and her performance won numerous awards, including the Best Female Performance Prize at Cannes and the Academy Award for Best Actress. She was offered films in Hollywood, but for the next few years worked in Europe—for example, with Laurence Olivier in Term of Trial (1962). She earned another Oscar nomination for her work on Ship of Fools (1965); was part of a cast of international stars recreating the liberation of Paris in Paramount's epic Is Paris Burning?; then, after working with Sidney Lumet on The Deadly Affair and The Sea Gull, she returned permanently to France in 1969.

In 1962, Signoret translated Lillian Hellman's play The Little Foxes into French for a production in Paris that ran for six months at the Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt. She played the Regina role as well. Hellman was displeased with the production, although the translation was approved by scholars selected by Hellman.Signoret 1978, pp. 324–328. Signoret's one attempt at Shakespeare, performing Macbeth with Alec Guinness at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 1966 proved to be ill-advised, with some harsh critics; one referred to her English as "impossibly Gallic".Sutcliffe, Tom. "Sir Alec Guinness". Film Guardian, 7 August 2000.

Signoret won acclaim for her portrayal of a weary madam in Madame Rosa (1977) and as an unmarried sister who unknowingly falls in love with her paralyzed brother via anonymous correspondence in (1980). She continued to act until her death, working on the miniseries Music-Hall while terminally ill.

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Personal life Signoret's memoirs, Nostalgia Isn't What It Used to Be, were published in 1976. She also wrote the novel Adieu Volodya, published in 1985, the year of her death: this was autobiographical in its depiction of Jewish immigrants in France between the wars. Both books were best-sellers in France.

Signoret first married filmmaker Yves Allégret (1944–1949), with whom she had a son (Patrick) and a daughter Catherine Allégret. Patrick died nine days after his birth. Privately, Signoret blamed the hospital for his death as they had taken Patrick to a chapel for baptism and he shortly thereafter caught a cold and died. Signoret never spoke publicly about his death.

(2025). 9781604735697, University Press of Mississippi. . ISBN 9781604735697

Her second marriage was to the Italian-born French actor Yves Montand in 1951, a union which lasted until her death; the couple had no children. They were both active in left-wing and humanitarian causes, although as they grew older she gravitated towards the political centre and he to the right.

Signoret died of colon cancer in Autheuil-Authouillet, France, aged 64. She was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, and Yves Montand later was buried next to her.

Signoret identified as Jewish. She was a supporter of a variety of Jewish causes, including the Zionism movement and the Soviet Jewry movement. She maintained relationships with many Israeli leaders and was critical of antisemitism in the French Communist Party. Because she was of patrilineal Jewish ancestry and was therefore not considered Jewish under traditional halakha, there was no religious ceremony at her funeral.

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Filmography

1942	Bolero	Une employée de la maison de couture	Uncredited
	Prince Charming	Extra	Uncredited
		Extra	Uncredited
	The Benefactor	La sécrétaire du journal	Uncredited
1943	Strange Inheritance	Extra	Uncredited
	Goodbye Leonard		Uncredited
1944	The Angel of the Night	Une étudiante	Uncredited
	Behold Beatrice	Liliane Moraccini
	Night Shift		Uncredited
	Death No Longer Awaits	La maitresse de Firmin
1945	Box of Dreams		Uncredited
1946	Dawn Devils	Lily, la cabaretière
	The Ideal Couple	Annette
	Back Streets of Paris	Gisèle
1947	Fantômas	Hélène
1948	Against the Wind	Michele Dennis
	Dédée d'Anvers	Dédée
	Dilemma of Two Angels	Marianne
1950	Manèges	Dora
	Swiss Tour	Yvonne
		Leocadie, the Prostitute
	Gunman in the Streets	Denise Vernon	(also released as The Hunted)
1951	...Sans laisser d'adresse		Uncredited
	Shadow and Light	Isabelle Leritz
1952	Casque d'or	Marie 'Casque d'Or'	BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress
1953	Thérèse Raquin	Thérèse Raquin
1955		Nicole Horner
	Mother Courage and Her Children	Yvette, Lagerhure	(unfinished)
1956	Death in the Garden	Djin
1957		Elisabeth Procter	BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Award for Best Actress
1958	Room at the Top	Alice Aisgill
1960	General Electric Theater	Woman	Episode: Don't You Remember?
	Adua and Friends	Adua Giovannetti	(also released as Hungry for Love)
1961		Roberte
	Famous Love Affairs	Jenny	(segment "Jenny de Lacour")
1962	Term of Trial	Anna
1963	The Shortest Day
	The Day and the Hour	Therese Dutheil
	Sweet and Sour	Madame Geneviève
1965	Ship of Fools
		Eliane Darès
1966	Is Paris Burning?
	Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre	Sara Lescault	Episode: "A Small Rebellion" Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Drama
1967	The Deadly Affair	Elsa Fennan	Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress
	Games	Lisa Schindler	Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1968	Mr. Freedom	Cameo	Uncredited
		Arkadina, an actress
1969	Army of Shadows	Mathilde
		Léone
1970		Mme L. Lise London
	A Hostage	Meg	TV movie
1971		Léa
		Clémence Bouin	Silver Bear for Best Actress
		Veuve Couderc Tati
1973	The Burned Barns	Rose
		Jeanne
1975		Lady Vamos
1976	Police Python 357	Thérèse Ganay
1977	Madame Rosa	Madame Rosa
1978		Elisabeth Massot	TV series, 6 episodes
	Judith Therpauve	Judith Therpauve
1979		Mamie
1980	I sent a letter to my love	Louise Martin
1982	L'étoile du nord	Mme Louise Baron	Nominated — César Award for Best Actress
		Maupassant's mother
1983	Thérèse Humbert	Thérèse Humbert
1985	Des terroristes à la retraite	Narrator
1986	Music-Hall	Yvonne Pierre	Broadcast posthumously

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Awards and nominations

1959	Academy Awards	Best Actress	Room at the Top
1965			Ship of Fools
1971	Berlin International Film Festival	Best Actress	Le Chat
1952	British Academy Film Awards	Best Foreign Actress	Casque d'Or
1957			The Crucible
1958			Room at the Top
1965			Ship of Fools
1967			The Deadly Affair
1968		Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Games
1959	Cannes Film Festival	Best Actress	Room at the Top
1977	César Awards	Best Actress	Madame Rosa
1982			L'Étoile du Nord
1977	David di Donatello Awards	Best Foreign Actress	Madame Rosa
1959	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama	Room at the Top
1965			Ship of Fools
1959	Jussi Awards	Best Foreign Actress	Room at the Top
1957	Karlovy Vary International Film Festival	Best Actress	The Crucible
1959	Laurel Awards	Top Female Dramatic Performance	Room at the Top
1959	National Board of Review Awards	Best Actress
1959	New York Film Critics Circle Awards	Best Actress
1966	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Drama	Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre

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Popular culture

• A BBC TV film, Madame Montand and Mrs Miller (1992), depicted the relationship between Signoret and Marilyn Monroe during the filming of Let's Make Love, when Monroe had an affair with Yves Montand. Sue Glover wrote the script and Pauline Larrieu played Signoret.
• Glover's subsequent stage-play on the same subject, Marilyn, premiered at the Citizens' Theatre, Glasgow in 2011, with Dominique Hollier playing Signoret.
• Singer Nina Simone (Born Eunice Waymon) took her last name from Simone Signoret.Source: "What Happened, Miss Simone", documentary on Nina Simone's life, 2015

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See also

• Cinema of France
• César Award for Best Actress
• List of actors with two or more Academy Award nominations in acting categories
• List of French Academy Award winners and nominees

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Notes

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Works Cited

• Huguette Bouchardeau (2025). 9782080687494, Flammarion. . ISBN 9782080687494
• Catherine David (1993). 9780879514914, Overlook Press. . ISBN 9780879514914

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Further Reading

• DeMaio, Patricia A. "Garden Of Dreams: The Life of Simone Signoret," 2014
• Signoret, Simone. Nostalgia Isn't What It Used To Be. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1978. .

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External links

• Simone Signoret at The-Numbers.com

Categories: 1921 Births, 1985 Deaths, 20th-century French Actresses, 20th-century French Memoirists, Actresses From Paris, Best Actress Academy Award Winners, Best Actress César Award Winners, Best Foreign Actress Bafta Award Winners, Burials At Père Lachaise Cemetery, Cannes Film Festival Award For Best Actress Winners, David Di Donatello Winners, Deaths From Pancreatic Cancer In France, French Communists, French Film Actresses, French Stage Actresses, French Television Actresses, French People Of Hungarian-jewish Descent, French People Of Polish-jewish Descent, Actresses From Wiesbaden, Silver Bear For Best Actress Winners, French Expatriates In Germany, Activists Against Antisemitism, Soviet Jewry Movement Activists, French Ashkenazi Jews, French Zionists, French Secular Jews

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