Simone Signoret was one of the most celebrated actresses of the post-war French cinema. She won numerous awards for her performances, including an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, a César Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress. She was also known for her political activism and her turbulent marriage to actor Yves Montand. But how did this remarkable woman die? What was the cause of her death?
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Early Life and Career
Simone Signoret was born on March 25, 1921, in Wiesbaden, Germany, to a French-Jewish father and a Catholic mother. Her father was a pioneering interpreter who worked in the League of Nations, and her mother was a teacher. She had two younger brothers. Her family moved to Paris when she was a child, and she grew up in an intellectual atmosphere. She studied English, German, and Latin at school.
During the Nazi occupation of France, Signoret had to support her family by working as a typist for a collaborationist newspaper. She also developed an interest in acting and joined an artistic group of writers and actors who met at the Café de Flore in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés quarter. She took her mother’s maiden name, Signoret, to hide her Jewish roots. She began appearing in bit parts in films in 1942 and soon earned enough money to support her family. Her father had fled to England to join the Free French forces.
Signoret’s sensual features and earthy nature led to typecasting and she was often seen in roles as a prostitute. She won considerable attention in La Ronde (1950), a film that was banned briefly in New York City as immoral. She won further acclaim for her portrayal of another prostitute in Casque d’or (1951), which earned her an acting award from the British Film Academy. She appeared in many French films during the 1950s, such as Thérèse Raquin (1953), Les Diaboliques (1954), and The Crucible (1956).
International Fame and Recognition
In 1958, Signoret acted in the English independent film Room at the Top (1959), which established her as an international star. Her performance as a married woman who has an affair with a young man won her numerous awards, including the Best Female Performance Prize at Cannes and the Academy Award for Best Actress. She was the first French actress to win an Oscar.
Signoret continued to work in both French and English films throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Some of her notable films include Adua and Her Friends (1960), The Confession (1970), The Army of Shadows (1969), Madame Rosa (1977), and Chère Inconnue (1980). She also appeared on stage and television, winning a Primetime Emmy Award for A Christmas Carol (1964) and a César Award for La Vie Devant Soi (1977).
Personal Life and Political Involvement
Signoret was married twice in her life. Her first husband was filmmaker Yves Allégret, whom she married in 1944 and divorced in 1949. They had a daughter, Catherine Allégret, who also became an actress. Her second husband was actor Yves Montand, whom she married in 1951. They were one of the most famous couples in France, but their relationship was often troubled by Montand’s infidelities, including an affair with Marilyn Monroe.
Signoret and Montand were also involved in various political causes throughout their lives. They were initially pro-communist, but they changed their views after the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956. They became outspoken advocates for human rights and especially for Soviet Jewry. They also supported Israel’s right to exist and participated in several pro-Israel rallies before the Six-Day War.
Signoret was also a feminist and a pacifist. She wrote two autobiographical books: Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used to Be (1976) and Adieu Volodia (1985). The latter was a novel based on the lives of Jewish immigrants who came to France from Eastern Europe in the 1920s.
Death from Pancreatic Cancer
Signoret was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 1981. She did not stop working despite her illness, but her health deteriorated gradually. She died on September 30, 1985, at her country home near Paris. She was 64 years old.
Her husband Montand was filming in the south of France at the time of her death and returned to their home in the evening. He said: “She died bravely as she has always lived.” He buried her at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
Signoret’s death was mourned by many people in France and around the world. She was remembered as one of the greatest actresses of her generation and a woman of courage and conviction. According to Britannica, she was “a French film icon who portrayed fallen romantic heroines and headstrong older women with passion, intelligence, and dignity.”
