In ten short years she co-starred with Richard Burton, Marlon Brando (twice), Frank Sinatra, Gregory Peck, Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Cary Grant and Robert Mitchum. She also starred opposite Granger in four films, including the chilling Victorian murder story Footsteps in the Fog. The couple divorced in 1960, after which Simmons married filmmaker Richard Brooks, the writer of Key Largo and the director of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. With a child from her marriage to Brooks, Simmons slowed down her output in the Sixties, but in 1969 received her second Academy Award nomination - this time as Best Actress - for her dazzling portrayal of a lonely, directionless wife in Brooks' The Happy Ending. She lost to Maggie Smith in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

Capable of being demure, aristocratic, haughtily imperious and downright sensual, Jean Simmons is that rare creature: a beautiful woman whose luminous talent as a performer matches her looks. Never fully recognised for her work in a string of classic motion pictures, she was awarded the OBE in the 2003 New Year Honours list.

The BFF03 retrospective represents the first occasion Jean Simmons has been honoured by any organisation. Bradford Film Festival is proud to pay tribute to one of the greatest stars Britain has ever produced.
Tony Earnshaw.

Jean Simmons OBE
Born: January 31 1929, London, England

Selected filmography

1946 Great Expectations
1947 Black Narcissus
1948 Hamlet (AAN)
1949 The Blue Lagoon
1950 So Long at the Fair
1953 The Robe
1953 The Actress
1953 Young Bess
1954 Desirée
1955 Guys and Dolls