Simone Signoret
| Simone Signoret | ||
 | ||
| Background information | ||
| Birth name | Simone Henriette Charlotte Kaminker | |
| Born | Mar 25, 1921 | |
| Died | Sep 30, 1985 - age 63 Auteuil-Anthouillet, France | |
| Spouse(s) | Yves Allégret (1944-1949) Yves Montand (1951-1985) | |
| Awards | Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress 1966 A Small Rebellion Academy Award for Best Actress 1959 Room at the Top César Award for Best Actress | |
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Early life
Signoret was born Simone-Henriette-Charlotte Kaminker in Wiesbaden, Germany to André and Georgette (Signoret) Kaminker. She was the oldest child of three, with two younger brothers. Her father, a linguist who later worked in the United Nations, was a French-born Jewish army officer of Polish descent, who brought the family to Neuilly-sur-Seine on the fancy outskirts of Paris. Signoret grew up in Paris in an intellectual atmosphere and studied the English language in school, earning a teaching certificate. She tutored English and Latin and worked part-time as a typist for a French collaborationist newspaper, Le Nouveau Temps, run by Jean Luchaire.
Career
During the German occupation of France, Signoret formed close bonds with an artistic group of writers and actors who met at a café in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés quarter, Café de Flore. 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 prostitute roles. She won considerable attention in "La Ronde" (1950), a film which was banned briefly in New York as immoral. She won further raves, including an acting award from the British Film Academy, for her portrayal of yet another prostitute in Jacques Becker's 'Casque d'or' (1951). She went on to appear in many notable films in France during the 1950s, including 'Thérèse Raquin' (1953), directed by Marcel Carné, 'Les Diaboliques' (1954), and 'Les Sorcières de Salem' (1956), based on Arthur Miller's 'The Crucible.'
In 1958, Signoret went to England to 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 the first woman to win the award appearing in a foreign film. She was offered films in Hollywood but turned them down and continued to work in France and England. She played opposite Laurence Olivier in 'Term of Trial' (1962). She did return to America for 'Ship of Fools' (1965) which earned her another Oscar nomination and she went on to appear in several Hollywood films before returning to France in 1969.
Her one attempt at Shakespeare, playing Lady Macbeth opposite Alec Guinness at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 1966 proved to be ill-advised, although some critics were harsher and one referred to her English as "impossibly Gallic".
In her later years, she was often criticized for gaining weight and letting her looks go but Signoret, who was never concerned with glamour, ignored the insults and continued giving finely etched performances. She won more acclaim for her portrayal of a weary madam (Madame Rosa) in "La Vie devant soi" (1977) and as an unmarried sister who unknowingly falls in love with her paralyzed brother via anonymous correspondence in 'I Sent a Letter to my Love' (1980).
Her 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.
First married to the filmmaker Yves Allégret from 1944 to 1949, with whom she had a daughter Catherine Allégret, herself an actress. Her second marriage was to the Italian-born French actor Yves Montand in 1950, a union which lasted until her death.
In Playboy she was shown once in an embrace with Robert Mitchum. She was nude above the waist, and the magazine's caption used the term "a big bare hug."
She died of pancreatic cancer in Auteuil-Anthouillet, France; and is buried in Le Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
The late American singer, pianist and composer Nina Simone took her stage name from Signoret.
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