Jean Simmons Dead at Age 80

Very sad to share the news that actress Jean Simmons has died of lung cancer at the age of 80. Simmons is well-known for her roles in Guys and Dolls and Spartacus, but ROBERT MITCHUM fans will also remember her as a femme fatale in the noir Angel Face. She also starred with Mitchum in the comedy She Couldn't Say No and The Grass is Greener.

She was married to actor Stewart Granger and under contract to movie mogul Howard Hughes. "I was married to Jimmy (Granger's real name was James Stewart), so Hughes remained at a distance," she recalled years later. "But those movies! So terrible they aren't even on videocassettes." Of course, Angel Face has benefited from the resurrection of many film noirs that were overlooked in their day.

The Washington Post gives this account of her time with Hughes:
Ms. Simmons was wildly miscast in a series of lurid dramas and second-rate adventure and historical films ....

Hughes reportedly refused to lend her to another studio for the leading female role in "Roman Holiday" (1953), which made a star and Oscar-winner of Audrey Hepburn. Granger later wrote in his memoir that Ms. Simmons's relationship with Hughes deteriorated so badly that the producer cast her as a murderess in the drama "Angel Face" (1952), with Robert Mitchum, and reportedly ordered director Otto Preminger to be rough with her.

Preminger demanded repeated takes of Mitchum's character slapping Ms. Simmons, and the actress's face became redder and redder. Finally, according to Granger, Mitchum punched Preminger, asking how that take was, or "Would you like another, Otto?

Good to know she had Bob on her side. RIP, Jean