In an exceptional film career that spanned four decades and more than 60 films, Simone Signoret achieved a level of fame, critical acclaim and genuine public admiration that falls only to actors of rare talent and character.  Most of her work was in French cinema, where she starred along such icons as Jean Gabin, Alain Delon, Philippe Noiret and Yves Montand, although she made notable appearances in some American and British films.  In her early career, she is best remembered as the cold but beautiful femme fatale in such dramas such as Yves Allégret’s Dédée d’Anvers (1952).  In later years, she distinguished herself with her portrayals of hard matriarchal women, parts in which she showed great humanity and an extraordinary talent for pathos.

Simone Signoret’s real name is Simone-Henriette-Charlotte Kaminker .  She was born in Wiesbaden, Germany, in 1921 to French parents, and had two younger brothers.  Her father, a linguist, took the family to Neuilly, just outside Paris, where the girl Simone enjoyed a comfortable, happy childhood.  Her first work was as a tutor of English and she worked as a typist for a newspaper.  It was during the Nazi occupation of France in the early 1940s that Simone took up acting, encouraged by her then lover Daniel Gélin.  Taking minor parts in films, she adopted her mother’s maiden name Signoret to avoid awkward questions (her father was a Jew who had fled to England in 1940).