Jean Simmons born in the year 1929 at Lower Holloway, London, England, to Charles Simmons and his wife Winifred (Loveland) Simmons, Jean Simmons began acting at the age of 14. During World War II, the Simmons family was evacuated to Winscombe in Somerset. Her father, a physical education teacher (who had represented Great Britain in the 1912 Summer Olympics),[3] taught briefly at Sidcot School, and sometime during this period Simmons followed her older sister on to the village stage and sang songs like "Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow Wow". Returning to London and just enrolled at the Aida Foster School of Dance, she was spotted by the director Val Guest, while attending a dance class at the age of 14, she was offered to make her debut in “Give Us the Moon”, a British production. Following this, she appeared in lots of minor movies. In 1956, she became a US citizen when she followed her husband Stewart Granger to the US.

Jean Simmonsis well known for her role in Ophelia in Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet and her song with Marlon Brando in “Guys and Dolls.” She won Emmy Award for her role in “The Thorn Birds” in the 1980s. In Hollywood, she first left a mark with her role of Estella in “Great Expectations” of 1946. She gradually became one of the top actresses in Hollywood working with Paul Newman, Gregory Peck and Kirk Douglas. Her performance as Ophelia in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” made her an Oscar nominee. She received her second Oscar Nomination in 1969 for the movie “The Happy Ending”, which was directed by her ex-husband Richard Brooks where she played the role of a alcoholic. She was given to excessive drinking in her real life too.

Over her long career she starred in more than fifty films and was nominated for an Oscar twice. Once for Best Supporting Actress in 1948 for playing Ophelia To Larry Olivier's Hamlet and then as Best Actress in 1969 in The Happy Ending which was directed by her then husband Richard Brooks.

Known for her angelical beauty she also proved her worth as a multifaceted actress playing an exotic native girl in Black Narcissus, her singing skills in Guys and Dolls (for which she won a Golden Globe) and the spoiled Estella in David Lean's Great Expectations. In 1970s, 1980s and 1990s she shifted to television. The black-haired beautiful actress Jean Simmonsmet her first husband, a British star Stewart Granger at the sets of “Caesar and Cleopatra.” They divorced in the year 1960. Jean Simmons then married Richard Brooks which ended in a divorce in 1977.

Jean Simmons aged 80 died on Friday in her home in Santa Monica, the Los Angeles Times reported. The much acclaimed British film actress was suffering from lung cancer for some time. Jean Simmons served the industry for more than 7 decades.