Celebrity Graveland

January 31, 1929 – January 22, 2010

British actress Jean Simmons was most widely known for her award-winning roles in classic films like Elmer Gantry and Guys and Dolls, as well as her appearance in other unforgettable movies like 1960’s epic Spartacus. She appeared in the noir classic, Angel Face, opposite Robert Mitchum and was well-represented later in her career on television in everything from The Odd Couple to her monumental turn in the 1983 miniseries, The Thorn Birds.

She was not, however it may sound, the singer and bass player for the American rock band, KISS.

Jean Merilyn Simmons was born in London and began dancing and acting at the age of 14. She made her film debut a year later and she never looked back. Her career in Britain was hugely successful and by the time she arrived in Hollywood in the early 1950s, she had caught the eye of Howard Hughes, the then-head of RKO Pictures. Hughes was immediately interested romantically in her, but Simmons (and her husband!) both put an end to that. Howard being Howard, he made her life hell until she was able to get out of her contract and sail on to bigger and better things.

She went on to make dozens of movies and TV appearances. Simmons originated the role of Desirée Armfeldt in Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music on the West End, helping to further popularize the song “Send in the Clowns.” She won an Emmy (The Thorn Birds) a Golden Globe (Guys and Dolls) and was nominated for a host of other awards. The ’80s and ’90s found her guest-starring on everything from Murder, She Wrote to Star Trek: The Next Generation. In 2003, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for her contributions to the arts. She died of lung cancer in 2010 at the age of 80. Though she died in California, she was buried not far from her birthplace in North London.

Burial

Highgate Cemetery West – London, UK

Specific Location

Enter the western section of Highgate and go up the hill on the main road. Take your first, sharp left onto the circular Meadow loop. Jean’s grave will be on your left at almost the halfway (southernmost) point around this loop.

This entry was posted on November 20, 2023 at 9:12 am and is filed under Highgate Cemetery with tags Actors, Highgate Cemetery West. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.