Jean Simmons began her career as a child actress in Britain where she became a favorite among critics and audiences before moving to Hollywood in the early 1950s. Although the quality of her vehicles varied at times, Simmons earned a well-deserved reputation as a strikingly beautiful, but more importantly, reliable leading lady, playing opposite established stars like Brando, Newman, Peck and Douglas. If she had a fault, it was that she consistently turned in excellent performances, inadvertently encouraging the industry to take her exceptional talents for granted. As a result, few of her performances ever really stood out, and her stardom never reached the stature her talents warranted.
She died today on Jan 23, 2010