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Turner Classic Movies Tribute to Jennifer Jones TCM is changing its previously scheduled programming for Thursday, January 7th in order to honor the late Jennifer Jones. Here is the new schedule line-up: 8:00 PM Duel In
The Sun (’46) TCM Remembers Jennifer Jones (1919-2009) With her dark, oblique beauty and capacity for emotional fervor, Jennifer Jones became a leading star of the 1940s and '50s. An actress of determined versatility, she played everything from spiritual innocents to tempestuous vixens, quivering neurotics to assured professional women. Born in Tulsa, Okla., in 1919, Jones was trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. She married fellow actor Robert Walker in 1939, and the two headed for Hollywood. After minor film appearances under her real name, Phyllis Isley, Jones came under the powerful influence of producer David O. Selznick, who groomed her for stardom. She made an indelible impression with her impassioned performance in her first major movie role, that of Bernadette in The Song of Bernadette (1943), which brought her a Best Actress Oscar®. Jones was again nominated for Oscars® for Since You Went Away (1944, in the supporting category); Duel in the Sun (1946), Selznick's grandiose Western, in which she broke away from her usual screen stereotype for the first time playing a fiery half-breed who shares a lustful affair with Gregory Peck; Portrait of Jennie (1948), a love story with supernatural overtones; and Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955), in which she gives a lovely, self-assured performance as Han Suyin, the Eurasian doctor who falls for an American (William Holden). Jones, who divorced Walker in 1945 and married Selznick in 1949, continued to pick off plum roles in such films as Madame Bovary (1949), Carrie (1952), Ruby Gentry (1952), Good Morning, Miss Dove (1955), The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1957), A Farewell to Arms (1957) and Tender Is the Night (1962). Perhaps her most offbeat effort was Beat the Devil (1953), a satirical adventure in which she dons a blonde wig to play a seemingly respectable Englishwoman with secrets up her sleeve. In this deadpan comedy, which went unappreciated in its day but later became a cult favorite, Jones held her own against leading man Humphrey Bogart and proved she could be a first rate farceur. After Selznick's death in 1965, Jones' career became erratic, with leads in a couple of minor films and a supporting role in one last big-budget production, The Towering Inferno (1974), which brought her a Golden Globe nomination. She was remarried, to businessman-philanthropist Norton Simon, and again widowed. She has avoided the limelight except for her work with charity and the Norton Simon Museum, her late husband's art museum in Pasadena, Calif. by Roger Fristoe
Jennifer Jones has died at the age of 90 By Bob Thomas, AP LOS ANGELES – Jennifer Jones, the beautiful, raven-haired actress who was nominated for Academy Awards five times, winning in 1943 for her portrayal of a saintly nun in "The Song of Bernadette," died Thursday. She was 90. Jones, who in later years was a leader of the Norton Simon Museum, died at her home in Malibu of natural causes, museum spokeswoman Leslie Denk told The Associated Press. Jones was the widow of the museum's founder, wealthy industrialist Norton Simon, and served as chair of the museum's board of directors after his death. Known for her intense performances, Jones was one of Hollywood's biggest stars of the 1940s and '50s. Among her most memorable roles were the vixen who vamps rowdy cowboy Gregory Peck in "Duel in the Sun," and the Eurasian doctor who falls for Korean War correspondent William Holden in "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing." Despite her heavily dramatic screen roles, Jones conveyed an aura of shyness, even aloofness offstage. She rarely gave interviews, explaining to a reporter in 1957: "Most interviewers probe and pry into your personal life, and I just don't like it. I respect everyone's right to privacy, and I feel mine should be respected, too." Early in her career, Jones had become nearly as famous for her high-profile marriages as for her movie work. She met actor Robert Walker when both studied acting in New York, and they married and came to Hollywood, where her stardom ascended more rapidly than his. Jones' boss, David O. Selznick, became obsessed with his star and spent much of his time promoting her career. They married four years after she divorced Walker in 1945. Selznick died in 1965, and in 1973 Jones married Simon. After his death in 1993, she assumed a major role in leading the Pasadena-based museum. She initiated the museum's celebrated gallery renovation by architect Frank Gehry and spearheaded the development of its public programming and outreach initiatives. She was born Phylis Isley on March 2, 1919, in Tulsa, Okla., to parents who operated a touring stock company that presented melodramas in tent theaters in the Southwest. She began doing roles in their plays at the age of 6. After graduating from a Catholic high school, she toured with another stock company, studied drama at Northwestern University for a year, then persuaded her father to support her for a year at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. She married Walker in 1939 and they spent their honeymoon traveling to Hollywood. They could find only bit roles in small pictures, she in a western, "New Frontier," and a serial, "Dick Tracy's G-Men." The pair retreated to New York before Jones was selected for the prize role in "The Song of Bernadette" about a French peasant girl who claimed to have seen a vision of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes in 1858. Her performance and the Oscar for best actress helped make her one of Hollywood's most popular leading ladies. Director Henry King recalled testing the six finalists for the role of Bernadette: "A man held a stick behind the camera; the girls focused their rapt attention on that stick. The other five did very well. But only Jennifer looked as if she saw the vision." Among her other films were "Love Letters" (with Joseph Cotten), "We Were Strangers" (with John Garfield), "Madame Bovary" (with Louis Jourdan) and "A Farewell to Arms" (with Rock Hudson). She received a supporting actress Oscar nomination for "Since You Went Away," and lead actress nominations for "Love Letters," "Duel in the Sun" and "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing." While in Rome filming "A Farewell to Arms," Hudson told a reporter, "I heard fantastic stories about this girl, that she was neurotic, temperamental, under hypnosis by Selznick. Not a word of truth in any of it. From the first take, she's been cooperative with everyone — except reporters." Her last film under Selznick's guidance came in 1962 with F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Tender is the Night," a failure. Several months after Selznick's death in 1965, she went to England to film "The Idol." As it turned out, she made only two more film appearances, in 1969's "Angel, Angel, Down We Go" and 1974's "The Towering Inferno." Two years after she filmed "The Idol," a sheriff's deputy found Jones in the surf at Malibu. She was not breathing but still had a heartbeat and he was able to revive her. She had earlier called her physician to say she was taking pills, and it appeared she had fallen from a cliff into the ocean. Her daughter plunged to her death from the 22nd floor of a hotel in west Los Angeles in 1976, and tests showed traces of morphine, barbiturates and alcohol in her system. The death was ruled a suicide. After retiring from acting after "The Towering Inferno," Jones avoided the limelight as much as possible. She is survived by her son, Robert, eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. ___ Associated Press
Writer John Rogers contributed to this story. Turner Classic Movies to feature Jennifer Jones on the Seventh Edition of Popular SUMMER UNDER THE STARS Each August, movie fans come out of the sun and park themselves on the sofa for the latest edition of Turner Classic Movies’ (TCM) ultimate movie star showcase: SUMMER UNDER THE STARS. Returning for its seventh year, the festival dedicates each of its 31 days to one of Hollywood’s most enduring personalities. Assembled from the network’s library of more than 5,000 films, this one-of-a-kind festival is an opportunity for viewers to enjoy a varied selection from each star’s body of work, uncut and commercial free. Monday, August 17, is Jennifer Jones day! Twelve of her films will be shown beginning at 6 am eastern time. Be sure to check out the TCM website which features an interesting essay on each of the films being shown.
Jennifer Jones Simon attended the Hereditary Disease Foundation's 40th Birthday Gala in January 2008. She is seen here with HDF President Nancy Wexler. If you are interested in helping to support the foundation, visit their website. The following is from a recent newsletter from the Hereditary Disease Foundation: "The Jennifer Jones Simon Foundation has pledged $400,000
at the rate of $100,000 per year over the next four years to be
used exclusively for our world renowned Mary Jennifer Selznick
Workshop Program, named in honor of Jennifer Jones Simon’s
late daughter. This generous endowment ensures the continuing
success of our unique workshops. These small, informal, free-wheeling
workshops foster dialogue among researchers from a variety of
fields, who come without prepared lectures or slides to converse
across disciplinary borders. Jennifer has been a critical member
of the HDF family since she served on the Congressional Commission
for the Control of Huntington’s Disease and its Consequences
in 1976. We appreciate her loyalty and championship of beginning
and established scientists worldwide who have, in turn, been graced
by her presence at workshops, many in her own home with its stellar
art collection."
(Note: An article about Jennifer Jones will appear in the May issue of Film Comment by film scholar Miriam Bale) Tribute to Jennifer Jones at the Film Society of Lincoln Center
NEW YORK, April 23, 2008––The Film Society of Lincoln Center returns to the Golden Age of Hollywood this spring, beginning with Saint and Sinner: The Tempestuous Career of Jennifer Jones at the Walter Reade Theater, May 16–24. Opening with comedy auteur Ernst Lubitsch’s late masterpiece Cluny Brown and including a new 35mm restoration of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s Gone to Earth, the series presents 14 classic films starring the award-winning 1940s and ’50s actor. Several special guests will introduce selected films, including critics Molly Haskell and Andrew Sarris, historian and Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne, Academy Award-winning film editor Thelma Schoonmaker, producer Daniel Selznick and Jennifer Jones biographer Edward Z. Epstein. In addition to spotlighting the myriad roles Jones portrayed throughout her career, Saint and Sinner showcases some of cinema’s most inventive and exciting directorial talents. These include John Huston (Beat the Devil), Vincente Minnelli (Madame Bovary), King Vidor (Duel in the Sun, Ruby Gentry), William Wyler (Carrie), and Henry King, who directed Jones in her first starring role, an Academy Award-winning performance as a saintly French peasant persecuted for her reports of angelic visitations in The Song of Bernadette. “Jennifer represented a woman of mystery,” says Joanna Ney, producer of arts programming at the Film Society and the curator of the series. “Her sui generis performances captured compassionate, vulnerable and sometimes bitter heroines who were also—though they did not mean to be—femme fatales, because her feminine drive challenged the guy in question.” Jennifer Jones was born Phylis Isley in Tulsa, Okla., in 1919, taking the experiences of her childhood in a show business family to New York’s American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Though she met and married her first husband, actor Robert Walker, in New York in 1939, her attempts at breaking onto the stage were short-lived: Jones appeared in her first Hollywood film, New Frontier, a B-movie Western starring John Wayne, the same year as her wedding. Soon discovered by mogul David O. Selznick, she rocketed to stardom in The Song of Bernadette. She soon
displayed a gift for comedy starring alongside Charles Boyer in
1946’s Cluny Brown (also showing as part of the
upcoming Film Society series “Charles Boyer and The Art
of Seduction,” May 23-27), as well as a remarkable talent
for melodrama, captivating audiences with her depictions of psychological
turmoil and vulnerability in such films as Madame Bovary
(1949), Gone to Earth (1950) and Carrie (1952). Yet, the public interest in Jones’s relationship with Selznick often outpaced her reputation as talented and distinctive actress. The pair married in 1949, while Jones appeared in such Selznick-produced projects as Since You Went Away (1944), the boldly sexual Duel in the Sun (1946) and Portrait of Jennie (1948). She earned four additional Oscar nominations, the last coming in 1956 for Love is a Many-Splendored Thing. Jones and Selznick remained married until Selznick’s death in 1965. By the late ’60s, Jones had virtually retired from Hollywood acting. She married millionaire art collector Norton Simon in 1971, three years before her final onscreen appearance in The Towering Inferno. She remains active advocating for the rights of the mentally ill and as a director of the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. A series pass is available for Saint and Sinner: The Tempestuous Career of Jennifer Jones combined with the Film Society’s following series, “Charles Boyer an the Art of Seduction.” The pass admits one person to a total of five titles in the two series, May 16–27. They are $40; $30 for Film Society members, and available only at the Walter Reade Theater box office (cash only). Single screening tickets for the series are $11; $7 for Film Society members, students and children (6-12, accompanied by an adult); and $8 for seniors (62+). They are available at both the Walter Reade Theater box office and online at www.filmlinc.com. The Film Society of Lincoln Center was founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international cinema, to recognize and support new directors, and to enhance the awareness, accessibility and understanding of film. Advancing this mandate today, the Film Society hosts two distinguished festivals: the New York Film Festival, which annually premieres the best films from around the world and has introduced the likes of François Truffaut, R.W. Fassbinder, Jean-Luc Godard, Pedro Almodóvar, Martin Scorsese, and Wong Kar-Wai to the United States, and New Directors/New Films, co-presented by the Museum of Modern Art, which focuses on emerging film talents. Since 1972 when the Film Society honored Charles Chaplin, the annual Gala Tribute celebrates an actor, filmmaker or industry leader who has helped distinguish cinema as an art form. Additionally, the Film Society presents a year-round calendar of programming at its Walter Reade Theater and offers insightful film writing to a worldwide audience through Film Comment magazine.
Film fest focuses on Jones, Selznick Norfolk, Virginia, July 9, 2006 A FILM FESTIVAL to showcase one of the more intriguing partnerships in film history opens Monday, led by Virginian-Pilot movie critic Mal Vincent. A rare theatrical screening of the spectacle "Duel in the Sun," starring Jennifer Jones and produced by David O. Selznick, opens the festival at 7:15 p.m. It is the first of six features in the Jennifer Jones-David O. Selznick Film Festival, which runs for six consecutive Monday nights at the Naro Expanded Cinema in Norfolk. Jones, who earned five Academy Award nominations and one subsequent Oscar, remains one of the more mysterious and complex actresses in film lore because she has seldom granted interviews. Her last film was "The Towering Inferno" in 1974, yet her place in film history grows. She now is chairman of the board of the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, Calif., and is active in social and charitable causes. She has been invited to the festival. As the producer of "Gone With the Wind" and "Rebecca," which won best-picture Oscars for 1939 and 1940, Selznick was the most powerful man in Hollywood when he signed the girl from Oklahoma to an exclusive contract. She was married (to actor Robert Walker) and the mother of two sons when she met the producer. He spent the rest of his life promoting and managing her career. They were married from 1949 until his death in 1965 - years that included the major films of her career. Her marriage to millionaire art collector Norton Simon came later. "Duel in the Sun," a steamy western released in 1946 about a young woman who comes between two brothers, was initially panned by critics but became a box office success. It has gained respect over the years, and director Martin Scorsese said it influenced film forever. It was made for the sole purpose of changing Jennifer Jones' saintly image, which she acquired from playing the lead role in "The Song of Bernadette." "Duel in the Sun" achieved that purpose. It was banned by censors and the Catholic Church, although it was tame by today's standards. The all-star cast includes Gregory Peck, Virginia's own Joseph Cotten (a native of Pet ersburg), Lionel Barrymore, Lillian Gish, Butterfly McQueen, Herbert Marshall and Charles Bickford, with narration by Orson Welles. All screenings will include discussions before and after the films, led by Vincent. He will give talks on the real-life as well as the on-screen intrigue of the Jones- Selz?nick pairing. Naro managers said the search for theatrical prints of the films has been exhaustive, and this is likely the last time any of the films will be seen in a theater and on the big screen. The festival will continue on July 24 with the MGM production "Madame Bovary," in which Jones stars with Van Heflin and Louis Jordan. "Love Is a Many Splendored Thing" screens on July 31. Aug. 7 is North Carolina night with "Ruby Gentry" starring Jones and Charlton Heston in a drama set in a small North Carolina seaport town. The families of military veterans are honored with a screening of Selznick's World War II drama of the home front, "Since You Went Away," on Aug. 14. It stars Jones with her then-husband Walker . The festival will close Aug. 21 with the film that made Jones a star and won her the Academy Award, "The Song of Bernadette." The complete schedule is as follows: July 17 – Duel in the Sun July 24 Madame Bovary July 31 Love is a Many-Splendored Thing Aug. 7 Ruby Gentry Aug. 14 Since You Went Away Aug. 21 Song of Bernadette
Selznick/Jones home featured in new book
"There were these upside down Italian carafes suspended in ornamental wrought iron holders with red wine poised on one side and white wine on the other. You stuck your glass underneath whichever color you wanted and a button released the wine. It was the first time I'd really had expensive wine and normally when you have really expensive wine, the wine bottle is put on the table so you can see the label. Not here. Jennifer would never appear at these parties until quite late in the evening. David O. would assign a guest to be the hostess at each table. He was a fabulous host. He just loved giving parties. We'd have dinner and Jennifer would appear around dessert time, because she would have been downstairs endlessly changing outfits. But then she would make this fabulous entrance in this glamorous, gorgeous dress. She'd sort of swish around down this long room saying hello. She would not sit down. Then she'd go down to change again. Often, I saw her in three or four different outfits by the end of the evening. It was fabulous because it was everything that was left of old Hollywood." Another snippet by designer Leonard Stanley: "...Tony (Duquette) and I were up at the Selznick's talking about doing a few things in the living room. Jennifer went downstairs and came back dragging on the floor four Charles James ball gowns and the most beautiful dress from Christian Dior's second collection. It was tulle and blue satin, and she said, "Well, I'll never wear them again. Why don't we cut them up and make pillows." Tony said, "Jennifer, these Charles James belong in a museum!" David O. Selznick Gets Hollywood Walk of Fame Star by BOB THOMAS, Associated Press Writer Oct. 27, 2004 Even though he produced "Gone with the Wind" and other movie classics, David O. Selznick never had his own star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. That oversight was corrected Tuesday when the Producers Guild sponsored the late producer's star on Hollywood Boulevard, a half-block from Grauman's Chinese theater where many of his films played. "David Selznick should have been among the first 1,500 names when the Walk of Fame was started in 1960," commented Walk impresario Johnny Grant, adding that the event finally "remedied that unbelievable omission." Daniel Selznick, who unveiled the star, admitted that "my father's feelings were hurt that he wasn't included." Two performers from "Gone with the Wind" were among the small gathering in front of the Roosevelt Hotel: Ann Rutherford, who played Scarlett's sister, and Cammee King, the ill-fated young daughter of Scarlett and Rhett Butler. Rutherford read letters from Olivia de Havilland, the wistful Melanie, Selznick widow Jennifer Jones, and Rhonda Fleming, who was discovered by the producer. "This giant among creators," de Havilland wrote from Paris, "has enriched the lives of generation after generation." Rutherford was asked if it was true that the actresses in "Gone with the Wind" wore silk petticoats under their hoop skirts. "Absolutely," she replied. "I told David he could save a lot of money if he used flannel petticoats as I did in westerns. He said maybe the audience wouldn't see the petticoats, but the actresses would know they were silk." Son of pioneer filmmaker Lewis J. Selznick, David Selznick grew up in the movie business and at 29 headed production at RKO studio when "King Kong" was made and Katharine Hepburn became a star. He moved to MGM, run by his father-in-law Louis B. Mayer, and produced "David Copperfield," "Dinner at Eight," "Anna Karenina" and "A Tale of Two Cities." Selznick formed his own company, brought Alfred Hitchcock and Ingrid Bergman to Hollywood, and made such films as "A Star Is Born," "Rebecca," "Spellbound," "Duel in the Sun" as well as "Gone with the Wind." He died in 1965.
Here's an interesting bit of trivia - Bill Mayrath writes to me and sends this photo of an award given to Phylis Isley by Pawnee Bill who had a Wild Wild West Show that competed with and later merged with Buffalo Bill. The award reads: "On the 12th day of July, 1939, by authority of the Pawnee Indian Council and the Chiefs of the Skidi Band of Pawnees - Phylis Isley was inducted into the Pawnee Tribe for her distinguished accomplishments in the entertainment world, reflecting great credit upon her native state of Oklahoma and is hereby given the Indian name of "Red Star". Thank you Bill! And if anyone would like a larger sized photo of the award (that you can actually read), drop me an e-mail and I will forward it to you.
AFI Chooses Top 100 Romantic Films "Love is a Many Splendored Thing" was chosen as one of the Top 100 films (it ranked #85). Hard to believe that "Portrait of Jennie" didn't make it! (although it and "Love Letters" were among the 400 films nominated). You can see AFI's complete list on their web site
(VARIETY, Sept. 17, 2001) THEY FLEW IN FROM ALL OVER, but then were unable to wing out. For the wedding of Cecilia Peck to Daniel Voll, guests arrived from as far away as Bali and as near as Mexico for the Sept. 8 ceremony at the home of her parents Veronique and Gregory Peck. Most of the guests were the close friends of the couple but the showbiz contingent included Lauren Bacall and Jennifer Jones Simon as well as the Pecks' poker-playing pals Barbara Sinatra, Angie Dickinson, Felicia Lemmon and Pat and Larry Gelbart. The ring bearer was the wedding couple's 2½-year-old son Harper for the service performed by Rev. Jim Cavanaugh of St. Jerome's. (Army Archerd)
Jones to host Norton Simon Documentary event Excerpted from Variety, Nov. 28, 2000 Candice Bergen, Gregory Peck and Jennifer Jones Simon will host guests at the world premiere of "The Art of Norton Simon," the 30-minute docu directed by Davis Guggenheim, produced by Charles Guggenheim at the inauguration of the newly renovated Norton Simon Museum Theater. The galleries, recently renovated by Frank Gehry, will be open to guests … (Army Archerd) |
Saint
and Sinner: The Tempestuous Career of Jennifer Jones 
JJ's
first award?
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Jennifer made a rare public
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