SIMONE SIGNORET
Name: Simone Signoret
Birth name: Simone Henriette Charlotte Kaminker
Born: 25 March 1921 Wiesbaden, Germany
Died: 30 September 1985 Auteuil-Anthouillet, France
Simone Signoret (March 25, 1921-September 30, 1985), was an Academy Award, Emmy, BAFTA, Berlin Silver Bear,
Volpi Cup, Cesar, David di Donatello and National Board of Review winning Jewish-French
actress.
She 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.
During the German occupation of France, Signoret formed close bonds with an
artistic group of writers and actors who met at a cafe in the Saint-Germain-des-Pres
quarter, Cafe de Flore. By this time, she had developed an interest in acting
and was encouraged by her friends, including her lover, Daniel Gelin, 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 Therèse
Raquin (1953), directed by Marcel Carné, Les Diaboliques (1954), and Les
Sorcières de Salem (1956), based on Arthur Miller's The Crucible.
Simone Signoret with Laurence Harvey in Room at the Top; the film established
her as the first French actress and the first woman to win the Academy Award for
Best Actress appearing in a foreign film.
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 the second French actress (after
Claudette Colbert) to receive an Oscar until Juliette Binoche in 1997 (Supporting
Actress) and Marion Cotillard in 2008 (Lead 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 Sir 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 1947 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.
Name: Simone Signoret
Birth name: Simone Henriette Charlotte Kaminker
Born: 25 March 1921 Wiesbaden, Germany
Died: 30 September 1985 Auteuil-Anthouillet, France
Simone Signoret (March 25, 1921-September 30, 1985), was an Academy Award, Emmy, BAFTA, Berlin Silver Bear,
Volpi Cup, Cesar, David di Donatello and National Board of Review winning Jewish-French
actress.
She 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.
During the German occupation of France, Signoret formed close bonds with an
artistic group of writers and actors who met at a cafe in the Saint-Germain-des-Pres
quarter, Cafe de Flore. By this time, she had developed an interest in acting
and was encouraged by her friends, including her lover, Daniel Gelin, 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 Therèse
Raquin (1953), directed by Marcel Carné, Les Diaboliques (1954), and Les
Sorcières de Salem (1956), based on Arthur Miller's The Crucible.
Simone Signoret with Laurence Harvey in Room at the Top; the film established
her as the first French actress and the first woman to win the Academy Award for
Best Actress appearing in a foreign film.
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 the second French actress (after
Claudette Colbert) to receive an Oscar until Juliette Binoche in 1997 (Supporting
Actress) and Marion Cotillard in 2008 (Lead 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 Sir 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 1947 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.