Jean Simmons British Movie Star Has Died Aged 80

Jean Simmons has died aged 80 of cancer in California.

A child star, she made her breakthrough in 1946 in Charles Dickens' classic Great Expectations.

She went on to star with Laurence Olivier in Hamlet and to sing with Marlon Brando in Guys And Dolls.

Jean, who won an Emmy for 1980s mini-series The Thorn Birds, also co-starred with Gregory Peck, Paul Newman and Kirk Douglas.

She left Britain for Hollywood in 1950, accompanied by her future husband Stewart Granger. Reclusive tycoon Howard Hughes organised their wedding.

She went on to become one of Hollywood's leading ladies, starring alongside Gregory Peck, Paul Newman and Kirk Douglas.

Born in London in 1929, Simmons began her career at the age of 14, when she was plucked from a dance class to make her movie debut in the 1944 British production Give Us the Moon.

She then appeared in several minor British films before her breakthrough role in Great Expectations, followed by Black Narcissus and then Hamlet in 1948, where she earned an Oscar nomination.

The actress also proved her mettle playing Desiree to Marlon Brando's Napoleon, appearing alongside him again in Guys and Dolls in 1955.

She picked up a second Oscar nomination for 1969's The Happy Ending, before moving largely to television roles in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

Simmons' first marriage was to fellow British film star Stewart Granger, who she met on the set of Caesar and Cleopatra.

The couple had been befriended by reclusive tycoon Howard Hughes in LA, who arranged their marriage in Tucson, Arizona.

Simmons and Granger had a daughter, Tracy, and starred in several films together.

However the pair divorced in 1960, with Simmons going on to marry Richard Brooks, who had directed her in Elmer Gantry.

Their marriage, which produced a daughter, Kate, ended in divorce in 1977.

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