:en:Simone Signoret
{{Short description|French actress (1921–1985)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Simone Signoret
| image = Simone Signoret (Harcourt).jpg
| caption = Signoret in 1947
| birth_name = Simone Henriette Charlotte Kaminker
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1921|3|25|df=y}}
| birth_place = Wiesbaden, Germany
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1985|9|30|1921|3|25|df=y}}
| death_place = Autheuil-Authouillet, France
| occupation = Actress
| years_active = 1942–1985
| spouse = {{plainlist|
- {{marriage|Yves Allégret|1944|1949|reason=divorced}}
- {{marriage|Yves Montand|1951}}
}}
| children = Catherine Allégret
}}
Simone Signoret ({{IPA|fr|simɔn siɲɔʁɛ|lang}}; born Simone Henriette Charlotte Kaminker; 25 March 1921 – 30 September 1985) was a French actress. She received various accolades, including an Academy Award, 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.
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,{{cite book | last = Signoret | first = Simone | title = Nostalgia isn't what it used to be | publisher = Penguin Books | location = Harmondsworth, England New York | year = 1979 | isbn = 978-0-14-005181-0 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/nostalgiaisntwha00sign }}{{cite news | title = Nostalgia Isn't What It Used to Be (Paperback) | work = The Guardian | date = 7 August 2000 | quote = Signoret was descended from Polish/Hungarian Jews }} 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.{{Cite journal | last = Hayward | first = Susan | title = Simone Signoret (1921–1985) — The body political | journal = Women's Studies International Forum | volume = 23 | issue = 6 | pages = 739–747 | doi = 10.1016/S0277-5395(00)00147-3 | date = November–December 2000 }}
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.{{sfn|David|1993|pp=24-26}}{{Cite book|title = Garden of Dreams: The Life of Simone Signoret|last = DeMaio|first = Patricia A.|publisher = University Press of Mississippi|date = January 2014}}
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.{{sfn|David|1993|pp=28-29}} 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.{{cn|date=May 2025}} 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.{{sfn|David|1993|pp=30-31}}
Signoret's sensual features and earthy nature led to type-casting and she was often seen in roles as a prostitute.{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/01/movies/simone-signoret-dies-in-france-at-64.html | work=The New York Times | title=Simone Signoret Dies in France at 64 | first=Eric | last=Pace | date=1 October 1985 |url-access=subscription | access-date=25 May 2025}}{{Cite news |date=1 October 1985 |title=Obituary: Simone Signoret, Well-loved French actress |work=The Times |issue=62257 |page=18}}{{sfn|David|1993|p=8}} She won considerable attention in La Ronde (1950),{{sfn|Bouchardeau|2005|pp=65-67}} a film which was banned briefly in New York City as immoral.{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1954/01/06/archives/court-sees-banned-film-u-s-justices-view-la-ronde-in-state.html | work=The New York Times | title=Court Sees Banned Film: U.S. Justices View 'La Ronde' in State Censorship Case | date=6 January 1954 |url-access=subscription | access-date=26 May 2025}} 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).{{Cite news |date=30 September 1990 |title=Scarred by a great beauty |first=Robin |last=Smyth |work=The Observer |page=56}}{{cite web|url=https://www.bafta.org/awards/film/foreign-actress|title=BAFTA {{!}} Film / Foreign Actress {{!}} Through the Years {{!}} 1953|website=bafta.org|access-date=2025-05-26}} She appeared in many French films during the 1950s, including Thérèse Raquin (1953), directed by Marcel Carné,{{cite web|url=https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/47326.html|title=Thérèse Raquin|language=French|website=cinematheque.fr|access-date=2025-05-28}} Les Diaboliques (1954),{{cite web|url=https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/47752.html|title=Les Diaboliques|language=French|website=cinematheque.fr|access-date=2025-05-28}} and The Crucible (Les Sorcières de Salem; 1956), based on Arthur Miller's The Crucible.{{sfn|Bouchardeau|2005|pp=93-101}}
File:Room at the Top screenshot.jpg in Room at the Top; the film established her as an international actress.]]
In 1958, Signoret acted in the English independent film Room at the Top (1959),{{cite web |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/440778/index.html |title=Room at the Top (1958) |first=Phil|last=Wickham |work=Screenonline |access-date=25 May 2025}} 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 turned them down for several years,{{sfn|Bouchardeau|2005|p=67}} continuing to work in France and England—for example, with Laurence Olivier in Term of Trial (1962).{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1963/01/31/archives/screen-term-of-trialoliviers-acting-fails-to-save-new-film-the-cast.html | work=The New York Times | title=Screen: 'Term of Trial' | first=Bosley | last=Crowther | author-link=Bosley Crowther | date=31 January 1963 |url-access=subscription | access-date=29 May 2025}} She earned another Oscar nomination for her work on Ship of Fools (1965), appeared in a few other Hollywood films, and returned 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 Lady 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. [http://film.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/Guardian/0,4029,351452,00.html "Sir Alec Guinness".] Film Guardian, 7 August 2000.
Signoret won acclaim for her portrayal of a weary madam in Madame Rosa (1977){{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/03/19/archives/screen-moishe-mizrahis-rosa.html | work=The New York Times | title=Moishe Mizrahi's 'Rosa' | first=Vincent | last=Canby | author-link=Vincent Canby | date=19 March 1978 |url-access=subscription | access-date=25 May 2025}}{{Cite news |date=12 April 1979 |title=An age of decision |first=Eric |last=Shorter |work=The Daily Telegraph |issue=38522 |page=15}}{{sfn|Bouchardeau|2005|p=242}} and as an unmarried sister who unknowingly falls in love with her paralyzed brother via anonymous correspondence in {{Interlanguage link|Chère inconnue|fr|3=Chère inconnue|lt=I Sent a Letter to my Love}} (1980).{{Cite news |date=4 November 1980 |title=Distinctive style in a sturdy retrospective |first=David |last=Robinson |author-link=David Robinson (film critic) |work=The Times |issue=60767 |page=8}}{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/03/movies/moshe-mizrahi-s-i-sent-a-letter-to-my-love.html | work=The New York Times | title=Moshe Mizrahi's 'I Sent a Letter to My Love' | first=Vincent | last=Canby | author-link=Vincent Canby | date=3 May 1981 |url-access=subscription | access-date=25 May 2025}} She continued to act until her death, working on the miniseries Music-Hall while terminally ill.{{sfn|Bouchardeau|2005|pp=265-267}}
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.{{cite news| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-10-01-mn-19173-story.html | work=The Los Angeles Times | title=French Actress Simone Signoret Dies at 64 | first=Stanley | last=Meisler | date=1 October 1985 | access-date=26 May 2025}}
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.{{cite book |last1=Demaio |first1=Patricia A. |title=Garden of Dreams The Life of Simone Signoret |date=2014 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |location=Jackson, Mississippi |isbn=9781604735697 |page=70 |url=https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/G/Garden-of-Dreams |access-date=17 April 2025}}
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.{{sfn|David|1993|p=205}} 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.{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/10/world/yves-montand-sage-charmer-of-french-film-and-politics-dies-at-70.html | work=The New York Times | title=Yves Montand, Sage Charmer of French Film and Politics, Dies at 70 | first=Alan | last=Riding | author-link=Alan Riding | date=10 November 1991 |url-access=subscription | access-date=25 May 2025}}
Signoret died of colon cancer in Autheuil-Authouillet, France, aged 64.{{sfn|Bouchardeau|2005|pp=266-267}} She was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, and Yves Montand later was buried next to her.{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/12/world/paris-journal-beyond-the-grave-dna-haunts-yves-montand.html | work=The New York Times | title=Beyond the Grave, DNA Haunts Yves Montand | first=Craig R. | last=Whitney | date=12 March 1998 |url-access=subscription | access-date=25 May 2025}}
Signoret identified as Jewish. She was a supporter of a variety of Jewish causes, including the Zionist 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.{{cite web|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/simone-signoret-dead-at-64 |title=Simone Signoret Dead at 64 |publisher=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |accessdate=2024-04-29}}
Filmography
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| rowspan="4" | 1942
| Bolero | Une employée de la maison de couture | Uncredited |
| Prince Charming
| Extra | Uncredited |
| {{sortname|Les|Visiteurs du Soir}}
| Extra | Uncredited |
| The Benefactor
| La sécrétaire du journal | Uncredited |
| rowspan="2"| 1943
| Extra | Uncredited |
| Goodbye Leonard
| {{sortname|La|gitane|nolink=1}} | Uncredited |
| rowspan="4"| 1944
| Une étudiante | Uncredited |
| Behold Beatrice
| Liliane Moraccini | |
| Night Shift
| {{sortname|La|danseuse à la taverne|nolink=1}} | Uncredited |
| Death No Longer Awaits
| La maitresse de Firmin | |
| 1945
| {{sortname|Une|femme|nolink=1}} | Uncredited |
| rowspan="3"| 1946
| Lily, la cabaretière | |
| The Ideal Couple
| Annette | |
| Back Streets of Paris
| Gisèle | |
| 1947
| Fantômas | Hélène | |
| rowspan="3"| 1948
| Michele Dennis | |
| Dédée d'Anvers
| Dédée | |
| Dilemma of Two Angels
| Marianne | |
| rowspan="4"| 1950
| Manèges | Dora | |
| Swiss Tour
| Yvonne | |
| {{sortname|La|Ronde|La Ronde (1950 film)}}
| Leocadie, the Prostitute | |
| Gunman in the Streets
| Denise Vernon | (also released as The Hunted) |
| rowspan="2"| 1951
| {{sortname|Une|journaliste|nolink=1}} | Uncredited |
| Shadow and Light
| Isabelle Leritz | |
| 1952
| Marie 'Casque d'Or' |
| 1953
| Thérèse Raquin | |
| rowspan="2"| 1955
| {{sortname|Les|Diaboliques|Les Diaboliques (film)}} | Nicole Horner | |
| Mother Courage and Her Children
| Yvette, Lagerhure | (unfinished) |
| 1956
| Djin | |
| 1957
| {{sortname|The|Crucible|The Crucible (1957 film)}} | Elisabeth Procter | BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress |
| 1958
| Alice Aisgill | {{unbulleted list|Academy Award for Best Actress|BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress|Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress|Jussi Award for Best Foreign Actress|Laurel Award for Top Female Dramatic Performance {{small|(3rd Place)}}|National Board of Review Award for Best Actress|New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress {{small|(2nd Place)}}|Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama}} |
| rowspan="2"| 1960
| Woman | Episode: Don't You Remember? |
| Adua and Friends
| Adua Giovannetti | (also released as Hungry for Love) |
| rowspan="2"| 1961
| {{sortname|Les|Mauvais Coups}} | Roberte | |
| Famous Love Affairs
| Jenny | (segment "Jenny de Lacour") |
| 1962
| Anna | |
| rowspan="3"| 1963
| | |
| The Day and the Hour
| Therese Dutheil | |
| Sweet and Sour
| Madame Geneviève | |
| rowspan="2"| 1965
| {{sortname|La|Contessa|nolink=1}} | {{unbulleted list|Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress|Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress|Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama}} |
| {{sortname|The|Sleeping Car Murders}}
| Eliane Darès | |
| rowspan="2"| 1966
| {{sortname|La|patronne du bistrot / Cafe Owner|nolink=1}} | |
| Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
| Sara Lescault | Episode: "A Small Rebellion" |
| rowspan="2"| 1967
| Elsa Fennan | Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress |
| Games
| Lisa Schindler | Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role |
| rowspan="2"| 1968
| Cameo | Uncredited |
| {{sortname|The|Sea Gull}}
| Arkadina, an actress | |
| rowspan="2"| 1969
| Mathilde | |
| {{Interlanguage link|L'Américain|fr|3=L'Américain (film, 1969)|lt=L'Américain}}
| Léone | |
| rowspan="2"| 1970
|{{sortname|The|Confession|The Confession (1970 film)}} | Mme L. | |
| A Hostage
| Meg | TV movie |
| rowspan="3"| 1971
|{{Interlanguage link|Comptes à rebours|fr}} | Léa | |
| {{sortname|Le|Chat|Le Chat (film)}}
| Clémence Bouin | Silver Bear for Best Actress {{small|(at the 21st Berlin International Film Festival)}}{{cite web |url=http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1971/03_preistr_ger_1971/03_Preistraeger_1971.html |title=Berlinale 1971: Prize Winners |access-date=14 March 2010 |work=berlinale.de}} |
| {{Interlanguage link|La Veuve Couderc (film)|fr|3=La Veuve Couderc (film)|lt=La Veuve Couderc}}
| Veuve Couderc Tati | |
| rowspan="2"| 1973
| Rose | |
| {{Interlanguage link|Rude journée pour la reine|fr}}
|Jeanne | |
| 1975
|{{sortname|La|Chair de l'orchidée}} | Lady Vamos | |
| 1976
| Thérèse Ganay | |
| 1977
| Madame Rosa | {{unbulleted list|César Award for Best Actress|David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress {{small|(tied with Jane Fonda for Julia)}}}} |
| rowspan="2"| 1978
| {{Ill|Madame le juge|fr}} | Elisabeth Massot | TV series, 6 episodes |
| Judith Therpauve
| Judith Therpauve | |
| 1979
| {{sortname|The|Adolescent|The Adolescent (film)}} | Mamie | |
| 1980
| Louise Martin | |
| rowspan="2"| 1982
| Mme Louise Baron | Nominated — César Award for Best Actress |
| {{Interlanguage link|Guy de Maupassant (film)|fr|3=Guy de Maupassant (film)|lt=Guy de Maupassant}}
| Maupassant's mother | |
| 1983
| Thérèse Humbert | |
| 1985
| Des terroristes à la retraite | Narrator | |
Awards and nominations
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.{{Cite news |date=24 August 1992 |title=Chasing after the manner of women |first=John |last=Lyttle |work=The Independent |issue=1826 |page=12}}
- Glover's subsequent stage-play on the same subject, Marilyn, premiered at the Citizens' Theatre, Glasgow in 2011.{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2011/mar/01/marilyn-review-citizens-glasgow | work=The Guardian | title=Marilyn - review | first=Mark | last=Fisher | date=1 March 2011 | access-date=25 May 2025}}{{cite news| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/monroe-miller-montand-signoret-when-golden-couples-meet-2221677.html | work=The Independent | title=Monroe, Miller, Montand, Signoret: When golden couples meet | first=Anna | last=Burnside | date=22 February 2011 | access-date=26 May 2025}}
- 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
See also
Notes
{{Notelist}}
References
{{Reflist}}
Works Cited
- {{cite book |last=Bouchardeau |first=Huguette |author-link=Huguette Bouchardeau |year=2005 |title=Simone Signoret: Biographie |language=French |location=Paris |url=https://archive.org/details/simonesignoretbi0000bouc |url-access=registration |publisher=Flammarion |isbn=2-08-068749-2}}
- {{cite book |last=David |first=Catherine |author-link=Catherine David (writer) |year=1993 |title=Simone Signoret |location=Woodstock, New York |url=https://archive.org/details/simonesignoret0000davi |url-access=registration |translator-last=Sampson|translator-first=Sally|publisher=Overlook Press |isbn=0-87951-491-4}}
= Further Reading =
{{Refbegin}}
- DeMaio, Patricia A. "Garden Of Dreams: The Life of Simone Signoret," 2014
- 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. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1978. {{ISBN|0-297-77417-4}}.
{{Refend}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- {{IMDb name|797531}}
- {{Rotten Tomatoes person|simone_signoret}}
- {{TV Guide person}}
- [http://www.the-numbers.com/person/132190401-Simone-Signoret Simone Signoret] at The-Numbers.com
{{Navboxes
|title = Awards for Simone Signoret
|list =
{{AcademyAwardBestActress 1941–1960}}
{{BAFTA Award for Best Actress 1952–1959}}
{{Prix d'interprétation féminine 1946–1959}}
{{César Award for Best Actress}}
{{David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actress}}
{{EmmyAward MiniseriesLeadActress 1950–1975}}
{{National Board of Review Award for Best Actress}}
{{Prix Suzanne Bianchetti}}
{{Silver Bear for Best Actress}}
}}
{{César Awards presidents}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Signoret, Simone}}
Category:20th-century French actresses
Category:20th-century French memoirists
Category:Best Actress Academy Award winners
Category:Best Actress César Award winners
Category:Best Foreign Actress BAFTA Award winners
Category:Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery
Category:Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress winners
Category:David di Donatello winners
Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer in France
Category:French film actresses
Category:French stage actresses
Category:French television actresses
Category:French people of Hungarian-Jewish descent
Category:French people of Polish-Jewish descent
Category:Actresses from Wiesbaden
Category:Silver Bear for Best Actress winners
Category:French expatriates in Germany
Category:Activists against antisemitism
Category:Soviet Jewry movement activists