Jean Simmons (born Jan 31, 1929; died Jan 22, 2010)
I thought she was spectacular. I realized in researching about her that I haven't seen her earlier work in films, but how I admired her portrayal as Fiona Cleary in 1983. Women who were middle-aged and older when they first saw the TV mini-series, The Thorn Birds, may well have related to Fiona. And women who were younger when the film was shown undoubtedly related, as I sure did, to the young Meggie -- played to the hilt by Rachel Ward -- (Meggie's line to Luke, "... you can't make love for toffee" is one of the best ever written/spoken). Meggie's mother, the icy Fiona Cleary, was so fascinating and complex as played by Jean Simmons that their heartrending coming-to-understand-one-another-as-women late in the movie helped me to see my own mother in fresh ways.
When I read that she died last Friday I had a strong desire to hear the theme song from The Thorn Birds. I loved it as much as the story. It was one of those times that I was grateful for the Internet. Having instant gratification in hearing a long-loved song that remained only a strain or two in my brain was thrilling because I sat back and played it over and over, becoming reacquainted with the glorious trills of the pan flute while watching again scenes from the movie with its sweeping scenery, those gorgeous faces, that hot and forbidden love.
Jean Simmons would have been 81 this Sunday. Perhaps not by this weekend, but sooner rather than later, I would like to see her movie Angel Face -- described as her best work, albeit little recognized, in The Guardian's full and fascinating obituary of Jean Merilyn Simmons.
Below is her life in a nutshell from another source.
Jean Simmons Dies
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) — A representative of Jean Simmons confirms that the "Guys and Dolls" and "Spartacus" actress has died of lung cancer.
Agent Judy Page told The Associated Press on Sunday that Simmons died at her home in Santa Monica on Friday, surrounded by her family. Simmons was 80.
A classically trained actress who started appearing in films at 14, Simmons used her beauty and charm in virtually every genre and played leading lady to virtually every major leading man of the mid-century.
She sang opposite Marlon Brando in 1955's "Guys and Dolls," played Ophelia opposite Laurence Olivier in 1948 Best Picture Oscar winner "Hamlet" and appeared alongside Kirk Douglas in 1960's "Spartacus."
Simmons won an Emmy for her role in the 1980s miniseries "The Thorn Birds."
Jean Simmons as Fiona 'Fee' Cleary in The Thorn Birds
Ralph de Bricassart: Poor little Meggie. It must be hard being the only girl.
Fiona 'Fee' Cleary: But I've been blessed with sons, these and the two I've buried. It's her sons a mother thinks of, isn't it?
[yells out to Meggie in the field]
Fiona 'Fee' Cleary: Meggie don't dawdle! You've got the chickens to feed!
Ralph de Bricassart: Fee, she's your daughter. It's as if you never remember that.
Fiona 'Fee' Cleary: Does any woman? What's a daughter? Just a reminder of the pain... a younger version of oneself... who will do all the same things, cry the same tears. No, Father. I try to forget I have a daughter.
Fiona 'Fee' Cleary: But I've been blessed with sons, these and the two I've buried. It's her sons a mother thinks of, isn't it?
[yells out to Meggie in the field]
Fiona 'Fee' Cleary: Meggie don't dawdle! You've got the chickens to feed!
Ralph de Bricassart: Fee, she's your daughter. It's as if you never remember that.
Fiona 'Fee' Cleary: Does any woman? What's a daughter? Just a reminder of the pain... a younger version of oneself... who will do all the same things, cry the same tears. No, Father. I try to forget I have a daughter.
This is some of the information about The Thorn Birds at The Museum of Broadcast Communications:
U.S. Miniseries
The miniseries The Thorn Birds, based on Colleen McCullough's 1977 best selling novel, was broadcast on ABC for 10 hours between 27 and 30 March 1983. Set primarily on Drogheda, a fictional sheep station in the Australian outback, the melodrama focused on the multi-generational Cleary family, and spanned the years 1920-1962.
At the outset, the family--patriarch Paddy Cleary (Richard Kiley), his wife, Fiona (Jean Simmons), and children--moved from New Zealand to Australia to help run Drogheda, owned by Paddy's wealthy sister, Mary Carson (Barbara Stanwyck). Over the years, numerous deaths and disasters--fire, a drowning, a goring by a wild boar-- were to befall the family.
While the saga recounted the story of the entire Cleary clan, it focused primarily on the lone Cleary daughter, Meggie (Rachel Ward) and her relationship with Father Ralph de Bricassart (Richard Chamberlain). Although they met when she was just a child, Meggie grew up to fall in love with the handsome, young Catholic priest who had been banished to the outback for a previous disobedience. Father Ralph was torn between his own love for Meggie, his love for God, and his ambition to rise in the Catholic hierarchy. Spurred on by the spiteful Mary Carson--who was herself attracted to the priest--Father Ralph was forced to choose between his own advancement in the church and his love for Meggie. . .
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