Simone Signoret's Birthday

On March 25, 1921 in the German city of Wiesbaden in the family of an officer, military translator of the French occupation forces André Kaminker and his wife Georgette, nee Signoret, a girl was born, who was named Simone Henriette Charlotte. Little Simone's father came from a family of Polish Jews, and this circumstance played a role in the fate of the future actress. In 1923, the Kaminker family moved to Neuilly-sur-Seine, a suburb of Paris, where Simone spent her childhood. Thanks to the profession of her father, Simone already in childhood mastered English and German, as well as Latin. Simone went to a regular high school, where her classmate and friend was Corinne Luchaire, who dropped out of school at the age of 15 and began acting in films. Corinne also played a role in the future fate of Simone.

After graduating school in 1939, Simone Kaminker entered the lycée de Vannes, Bretagne, where the Kaminker family moved. In 1940, Simone's father, realizing that his Jewish origins did not bode well for him under the Nazi occupation, even though in 1934 he provided synchronous translation of Hitler's speech on French radio, he left for London, leaving his family. In London, André Kaminker started working for Radio Brazzaville. This radio station was the mouthpiece of the anti-Nazi organization "la France libre", created on the initiative and with the participation of Charles de Gaulle.

In connection with the departure of her father, Simone had to leave lycée and, together with her mother and two young brothers, return to Paris, where there were more opportunities to find a livelihood. School friend Corinne Luchaire helped Simone get a job as a secretary for her father, Jean Luchaire, who, as editor-in-chief of the newspaper Les Nouveaux Temps, actively collaborated with the Nazi regime. However, a few months later, Simone quit this job, because Corinne Luchaire, who had acquired the necessary connections for several years of working in the cinema, persuaded her friend to also take up acting.

In 1942, four films appeared on the screens of Parisian cinemas at once, in which the charming Simone played, but more correctly, flashed in episodic roles. Naturally, under the conditions of the Nazi occupation, she had to change her last name: instead of her father's Jewish last name, she took her mother's maiden name. However, at first her name did not appear in the credits on the screen, because the roles were absolutely fleeting, episodic. Due to her beauty and sexual appearance, Simone Signoret was mostly given the roles of prostitutes at first. Finally, in 1944, the movie "Béatrice devant le désir (Behold Beatrice)" was released on the screens of cinemas, in the credits of which Simone Signoret was first mentioned. By this time, Simone Signoret was already married to the director Yves Allégret. In 1946, the couple had a daughter. Simone Signoret played in three films directed by Yves Allégret. And in 1949, already quite famous in France, the actress Simone Signoret met a young aspiring singer Yves Montand, who was experiencing a break with Edith Piaf, who, despite their affair, did not want to become his wife. The meeting between Signoret and Montand was rather accidental, in a cafe. But, according to the actress, it was like a lightning strike. Simone took her daughter and left one Yves for another. And both Yves' were even born on the same day. The transition process took only five days.

For a number of years, the Montand-Signoret pair was considered a symbol of the family. And, which rarely happens, the family idyll did not distract both from creativity. Both grew in popularity and fame. Moreover, this glory has penetrated even beyond the "Iron Curtain". However, this penetration was facilitated by the openly demonstrated communist convictions and sympathy for the Soviet Union by Yves Montand. As a result, in December 1956, the Montand-Signoret couple received an invitation to visit the Soviet Union, where they were given an enchanting reception with the participation of top officials of the Soviet state, including Nikita Khrushchev. You can read a description of this reception here. It should be noted that this invitation coincided with the suppression of the Hungarian revolution by Soviet troops, and Montand, upon returning to France, had to make excuses before the democratically minded cultural community of Western countries.

The peak of the acting career of Simone Signoret can be considered 1960, when she was awarded an Oscar for her role in the film "Room at the Top". There are two factors that make this award particularly valuable. Firstly, Signoret's rivals in the fight for this award were such world cinema stars as Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, and secondly, Signoret became the first French actress to be awarded an Oscar. After Signoret, only Juliette Binoche and Marion Cotillard were awarded the same honor, but decades later.

But this same peak of fame served as the starting point for the collapse of Simone Signoret's family happiness. Here is how Natalia Turovskaya describes this episode in the life of Simone Signoret:

"The thunder broke when Simone Signoret was nominated for an Academy Award along with Elizabeth Taylor, Katharine Hepburn and Audrey Hepburn. Simone won. She was happy! At the ceremony, Yves sang, without taking his eyes off his wife in love, world celebrities applauded her, and champagne flowed like a river. And only one pair of eyes from the audience watched with envy and longing. It was Marilyn Monroe. "She has both an Oscar and Yves. She's smart. She has everything. And I?! " - Marilyn will write in her diary. And she started to act. This woman always got what she wanted."

The adultery of Montand and Monroe very quickly became the property of the press, and therefore of the whole society. Journalists everywhere literally tormented Simone with questions about her attitude to her husband's infidelity. Natalia Turovskaya:

"Simone still desperately loved her Yves, knitted him warm scarves and pullovers, supported him in everything, but something inside her broke. Irrevocably. She tried to keep herself in shape for a long time, continued to act in films, engaged in social activities, but did all this rather by inertia, through force. And, unlike men, alcohol never failed her. Gradually, almost nothing remained of the old Simone Signoret. A monstrously fat woman with a lost face and sad eyes stared back at her from the mirror."

Simone Signoret died of pancreatic cancer in 1985 at the age of 64. She was buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. Yves Montand was later buried next to her.

The filmography of Simone Signoret includes more than 60 full-length feature films. 4 of them entered the Golden Thousand. Thanks to this indicator and her beauty, Simone Signoret is included in the list of the 100 most beautiful and sexy Actresses in world cinema, compiled by FilmGourmand.

Simone Signoret's acting talent brought her not only an Oscar, but 12 more film awards, including such prestigious as 3 British BAFTA awards, the Silver Bear of the Berlin International Film Festival, the Cannes International Film Festival's Award, the French Cesar Award, the Italian David di Donatello Award, the award of the International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary.

In commemoration of the birthday of the great Actress, we invite fans of her talent to recall shots from the best films with her participation.