Thursday, December 17, 2009

Jennifer Jones, R. I. P.

Jennifer Jones Died, Best Known For Oscar Role in "The Song of Bernadette" and Marriage to David O. Selznick - Speakeasy - WSJ: "Jennifer Jones, the golden-era Hollywood star best known for her Oscar-winning role as a nun in “The Song of Bernadette,” died today at 90 of natural causes at her home in Malibu. Jones was nominated for an Academy Award five times including the “Bernadette” win and starred in such movies as “Duel in the Sun” (with Gregory Peck) and “A Farewell to Arms” (with Rock Hudson)."

Hat tip to Scott Cupp.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

A great actress. One of the movies I re-watch every once in a while is "Portrait of Jenny." She gave a terrific performance in it, along with the rest of the cast. It's one of the few sentimental movies I can stand to watch.

Unknown said...

Pretty good book by Robert Nathan, too.

Unknown said...

Yep. I think I ended up with a signed first of the book, somehow. Stumbled across it in a bookstore many years ago. All my books have been in storage, I'll have to dig it out and re-read it some time. As I recall, in the book Ethan's friends could see Jennie, she had a physical presence; whereas in the book, they couldn't.

I misspelled "Jennie" in my first post. Apparently I can't edit the comment.

Psoriatic said...

I adored Jennifer Jones.. She was so beautiful and had such a fabulous presence on screen. She was particularly awesome in Beat in the Devil, which also starred Bogart; but my favourite role of hers was Pearl in Duel in the Sun.

Anonymous said...

I left a comment on your Facebook post, which stirred up a lot of memories. I had a major crush on Jennifer's first husband, Robert Walker, who was 32 when he died of an allergic reaction to medication. Was never much of a fan of Jennifer's, but she was an Oklahoma girl, born and married in Tulsa. Thanks for the memories --
Pat Browning

Cap'n Bob said...

All good roles, but I loved as the swamp hoyden in RUBY GENTRY.

Ed Gorman said...

For me the most interesting thing about Jones--who was beautiful to be sure but only in Portrait of Jennie did she interest me much--was that her suicide attempt was over the death of Charles Bickford. Yes, Charles Bickford. I read this in a few places several years ago. Apparently two other women tried suicide because of him. He was my idea of a damned fine Irisher (and damned good actor) but a heartbreaker? If these stories are true they'll have to be filed under--who knew?

Deb said...

Sad news indeed. She had some devastating experiences in her life, including the suicide of her daughter. I believe she found some measure of happiness in her last marriage (to Norton Simon).

I know some people find it campy, but I enjoy her performance in "Love Is A Many Splendored Thing."

Todd Mason said...

TCM has bumped several classic westerns in January in favor of the Jones films MADAME BOVARY, DUEL IN THE SUN, and BEAT THE DEVIL.

Unknown said...

Our fellow blogger Ivan Shreve, Jr., will be glad to hear about the last one named.