Simone Signoret Biography

Simone Signoret (25 March 192130 September 1985) was a French cinema actress often hailed as one of France's greatest film stars. She became the first French person to win an Academy Award, for her role in Room at the Top (1959).

In her lifetime she also received two Csars, three BAFTAs, an Emmy, a Cannes Film Festival Award, the Silver Bear for Best Actress awards, an NBR Award and a Golden Globe nomination.

Early life

Signoret was born Simone Henriette Charlotte Kaminker in Wiesbaden, Germany, to Andr and Georgette (Signoret) Kaminker, as 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 a Polish Jewish family, 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.

Career

During the German occupation of France, Signoret mixed with an artistic group of writers and actors who met at the Caf de Flore in the Saint-Germain-des-Prs quarter. By this time, she had developed an interest in acting and was encouraged by her friends, including her lover, Daniel Glin, 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 as immoral. She won further acclaim, including an acting award from the British Film Academy, for her portrayal of another prostitute in Jacques Becker's Casque d'or (1951). She appeared in many notable films in France during the 1950s, including Thrse Raquin (1953), directed by Marcel Carn, Les Diaboliques (1954), and The Crucible (Les Sorcires de Salem; 1956), based on Arthur Miller's The Crucible.

In 1958, Signoret acted in the English independent film, Room at the Top (1959), which won her numerous awards including the Best Female Performance Prize at Cannes and the Academy Award for Best Actress. She was the only French cinema actress to receive an Oscar until Juliette Binoche in 1997 (Supporting Actress) and Marion Cotillard in 2008 (Best Actress), and the first woman to win the award appearing in a foreign film. She was offered films in Hollywood, but turned them down, continuing to work in France and England"?notably opposite Laurence Olivier in Term of Trial (1962)"?until 1965. Earning another Oscar nomination for her work on what would be Vivien Leigh's final film"?Columbia Pictures' Ship of Fools, also starring Lee Marvin"?Signoret appeared in a few other Hollywood films before returning 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 Theatre 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's one attempt at Shakespeare, performing Lady Macbeth opposite 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".

Signoret was never concerned with glamour, ignored sexist and ageist insults and continued giving finely etched performances. She won more 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).

Personal life

Signoret's memoirs, Nostalgia Isn't What It Used To Be, were published in 1978. She also wrote a novel, Adieu Volodya, published in 1985, the year of her death.

Signoret first married filmmaker Yves Allgret (1944-49), with whom she had a daughter Catherine Allgret, herself an actress. Her second marriage was to the Italian-born French actor Yves Montand in 1951, a union which lasted until her death.

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

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1942	The Benefactor	La scrtaire du journal	(uncredited)
	Bolero	Une employe de la maison de couture	(uncredited)
	'	Extra	(uncredited)
	Prince Charming	Extra	(uncredited}
1943	Goodbye Leonard		(uncredited)
	'	Extra	(uncredited)
1944	'	Une tudiante	(uncredited)
	Behold Beatrice	Liliane Moraccini
	'	La maitresse de Firmin
	Service de nuit
1945	'		(uncredited)
1946	Back Streets of Paris	Gisle
	The Ideal Couple	Annette
	'	Lily, la cabaretire
1947	Fantmas	Hlne
1948	Dilemma of Two Angels	Marianne
	Dde d'Anvers	Dde
	Against the Wind	Michele Dennis
1950	Manges	Dora
	Gunman in the Streets	Denise Vernon	(also released as Le Traqu)
	'	Leocadie, the Prostitute
	Swiss Tour	Yvonne
1951	Shadow and Light	Isabelle Leritz
	...Sans laisser d'adresse		(uncredited)
1952	Casque d'or	Marie 'Casque d'Or'	BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress
1953	Thrse Raquin	Thrse Raquin
1955	Mother Courage and Her Children	Yvette, Lagerhure	(unfinished)
	'	Nicole Horner
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	Adua and Friends	Adua Giovannetti	(also released as Hungry for Love)
	General Electric Theater	Woman	episode: Don't You Remember?
1961	'	Roberte
	Famous Love Affairs	Jenny	segment: Jenny de Lacour
1962	Term of Trial	Anna
1963	Sweet and Sour	Genevieve
	The Day and the Hour	Therese Dutheil
1965	'	Eliane Dars
	Ship of Fools
1966	Is Paris Burning?
	'	Elsa Fennan	Nominated "? BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress
	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	Games	Lisa Schindler	Nominated "? BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1968	'	Arkadina, an actress
1969	'	Lone
	Army of Shadows	Mathilde
1970	'	Mme L. Lise London
	A Hostage	Meg	(TV movie)
1971	'	Veuve Couderc Tati
	'	Clmence Bouin	Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 21st Berlin International Film Festival
	'	La
1973	'	Jeanne
	'	Rose
1975	'	Lady Vamos
1976	Police Python 357	Thrse Ganay
1977	Madame Rosa	Madame Rosa
1978	Judith Therpauve	Judith Therpauve
	Madame le juge (TV series)	Elisabeth Massot	6 episodes
1979	'	Mamie
1980	'	Louise Martin
1982	'	Maupassant's mother
	L'toile du nord	Mme Louise Baron	Nominated "? Csar Award for Best Actress

Television award

Emmy Awards

• 1966: Won Emmy Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Drama for: Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1963) for episode A Small Rebellion

Popular culture

• Marilyn (2011) by Sue Glover, premiered at the Citizens' Theatre, Glasgow on 17 February 2011. The play charted the deteriorating relationship between Signoret and Marilyn Monroe during the filming of Let's Make Love. Unable to achieve the recognition of Oscar-winning Signoret, Monroe begins an affair with Signoret's husband, Yves Montand.
• Singer Nina Simone (Born Eunice Waymon) took her last name from Simone Signoret.

See also

• Cinema of France
• Csar 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