Simone Simon Biography: The Life of the French and American Film Star
Discover the biography of Simone Simon, the star who shone in French and American cinema. Learn about her career, personal life and interesting facts.
Simone Thérèse Fernande Simon was born in Marseille on April 23, 1911. Her father was an engineer and was an airplane pilot in the Second World War. He was persecuted for being Jewish and ended up dying in a concentration camp.
In 1931 she left for Paris, where she began her career as a singer. Simone also posed for photographs and had a talent for sculpture and fashion design, but her plans to become a great costume designer were put to rest when she was spotted by director Victor Tourjansky, who offered her a film contract. Her debut came in Le chanteur inconnu (1931) . It was a small role, but her delicate face soon caught the public’s attention.
Simone was soon one of the most beloved French actresses in her country. In 1935 she left for America, where she was hired by Darryl F. Zanuck. Noting that she did not speak English, it took her several lessons before she starred in a film. In addition, the beginning was not easy. Simone had disagreements with some directors at 20th Century Fox and was fired after 12 days.
After falling ill, she decided to give up her contract and return to France. There she made a few films before returning to the United States. There she finally starred in Ladies in Love (1936) alongside Loretta Young, Constance Bennett and fellow star Janet Gaynor.
But she was only the fourth name in an all-female cast, and even so she would leave a bad impression because of the stardom she had already shown at the beginning of her career. Her first success was The 7th Heaven (1937) alongside James Stewart:
Despite the film’s failure, she continued to make appearances, which were always hampered by her poor English. Angered, Simone returned to France, only returning to America in the 1940s. In 1942, she starred in Panther’s Blood , the most successful film of her career. In it, she played a fashion designer who was the victim of a curse that transformed her into a panther when she angered someone. The role seemed to have been a perfect fit for Simone.
The film also had a sequel, The Curse of the Panther’s Blood (1944), which had little or nothing to do with the original version. After a series of horror films, she returned to her homeland, where her career ended due to a lack of good roles. Simone Simon never married, and was generally very discreet in her personal life. The actress died at the age of 94 in Paris, on February 22, 2005.
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