Actress Jennifer Jones Has Died at Age 90… Rest in Peace, My Dear “Bernadette” (video)
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on December 17, 2009
Jennifer Jones, one of my favorite actresses from the Golden Age of Hollywood, has died at age 90... rest in peace
The two movies I love most with Jennifer Jones are The Song of Bernadette and Portrait of Jennie. Jones had a beauty, an intelligence, and a natural intensity unlike other actresses during the Golden Age of Hollywood era, except maybe Lauren Bacall (another personal favorite of mine). Strangely, few younger generation folks know of Jones today.
A pity. Jones was absolutely magnificent.
At age 90, my beloved “Bernadette” has passed away. Rest in peace.
NOTE: The original theatrical trailer for Song of Bernadette that was embedded here is no longer available on YouTube… I’ll keep looking for a replacement.
Video clip from The Song of Bernadette: Lourdes, The First Apparition
Portrait of Jennie (1948) – Theatrical Trailer
Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing (1955) – Original Theatrical Trailer
Jennifer Jones Tribute
From Bob Thomas, AP News: Oscar winner Jennifer Jones dead at 90:
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.”
Jennifer Jones Tribute – Sublime Velvet Flower
From Los Angeles Times:
Jennifer Jones, who won a 1943 lead actress Oscar for “The Song of Bernadette,” passed away at her home in Malibu today at age 90.
Although she was known primarily for her Hollywood career, Jones was also the widow of Norton Simon, an industrialist and art collector who created the noted art museum in Pasadena that bears his name.
Following her husband’s death in 1993, Jones served as chairwoman of the Norton Simon Foundation Board and oversaw a $3-million renovation of the museum’s interior, which was designed by architect Frank Gehry, as well as the gardens.
Jones met Simon in 1971 at a reception in Los Angeles for a New York magazine editor, according to a Times obituary. At the time, Simon was 64 and Jones was 52.
Portion of Jones’ bio at IMDB.com:
Throughout the remainder of the 1940s Jones continued to produce memorable performances, such as in Portrait of Jennie (1948), which carried her into the 1950s and saw her receive her fifth and final Oscar nomination for Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955), losing out to Anna Magnani for The Rose Tattoo (1955). However, despite her obvious success within the film industry Jones was a very private person and managed to stay out of the spotlight which dominated so many other actresses of the time. As a result Jones began to become less and less noticed, which increased further when Selznick died in 1965. Films roles began to appear less and less and after a moderately successful supporting performance in The Towering Inferno (1974) Jones decided to make this her swansong and bowed out of the film industry. She did, however, try to revive her film career in later years by campaigning for the role of Aurora Greenway in Terms of Endearment (1983), but Shirley MacLaine was cast instead and as a result won the Best Actress Academy Award for her performance.
Unfortunately now in the 21st Century and in her 90th year, Jennifer Jones is relatively unknown in comparison to the other actresses of her time such as Ingrid Bergman, Katharine Hepburn, Greer Garson, Bette Davis etc. But for those that are aware of her and her extraordinary talent she is alluring to watch and her acting abilities extend far greater than most of her contemporaries.
From The New York Times: The Actress Jennifer Jones Has Died
Jennifer Jones, who won an Academy Award in 1943 for “The Song of Bernadette” and was married to the producer David O. Selznick, died on Thursday at her home in Malibu, Calif., The Associated Press reported. She was 90.
Other related reading on Jones and Hollywood in general:
John Nolte, Big Hollywood: Oscar-Winner Jennifer Jones Dead at 90 and ‘Progressive’ Hollywood Fails Women Where Old Studio System Did Not and Will Ben Mankiewicz Be Allowed to Destroy Turner Classic Movies?
GayPatriot: Remembrance of Jennie (-fer Jones)
Leigh Scott, Big Hollywood: Megan Fox: Another Cowardly Conformist Who Makes Things Worse for Women in Hollywood
Daniel J. Flynn, Big Hollywood: Margot Tenenbaum Would Not Approve
Clinging to G & G: John Nolte on The Extinction of the Movie Star
Matt Patterson, Big Hollywood: Dear Hollywood: It’s Over Between Us
Chris Yogerst, Big Hollywood: Film Noir Revival, Anyone?
About the author
Thank you for the memorial. Count us (babies of the early 50s) among those few who do indeed remember Jennifer Jones! My husband and I are huge fans of movies from the 40s/50s. Song of Bernadette is one of my personal favorites.
You’re so welcome, Marilyn. Actually, I’m a “baby of the late 50s,” but still adored Jennifer Jones.
I agree with you and your husband about the older films. The films of the 40s/50s were far better for quality women roles than those written today. The Golden Age of Hollywood vs. The Aluminum Foil Age of Hollywood…
[...] here to read the rest: Actress Jennifer Jones Has Died at Age 90… Rest in Peace, My Dear … Posted in Hollywood Actresses | Tags: age-90-, bernadette, from-the, golden, has-died, [...]
She was a wonderful actress and had an air of grace and beauty about her. Needless to say, she was one of a kind.
Thank you for letting us know about Jennifer Jones. She set the tone for her era of films with wonderful story-telling, acting, sets – the works. I am glad she is at peace AND that I have a copy of my favorite film of hers – PORTRAIT OF JENNY.