- Amazed with her performance in The Blue Lagoon (1949), William Wyler wanted her for the role of Princess Ann in Roman Holiday (1953), but Howard Hughes, who owned her contract, would not loan her out to Paramount to do the film.
- She and Marlon Brando were originally supposed to lip-sync their songs in the musical film Guys and Dolls (1955). Samuel Goldwyn heard them during rehearsal and decided the untrained stars should do their own singing for authenticity.
- As of 2013, she is one of six women who has received a Best Actress Oscar nomination for a performance directed by her spouse, namely for The Happy Ending (1969) directed by Richard Brooks. The other five are Elisabeth Bergner for Escape Me Never (1935) (directed by Paul Czinner), Joanne Woodward for Rachel, Rachel (1968) (directed by Paul Newman), Gena Rowlands for A Woman Under the Influence (1974) and Gloria (1980) (both directed by John Cassavetes), Julie Andrews for Victor/Victoria (1982) (directed by Blake Edwards), and Frances McDormand for Fargo (1996) (directed by Joel Coen). Jules Dassin also directed his future wife Melina Mercouri in a Best Actress Oscar nominated performance (Never on Sunday (1960)), but they were not married yet at the time of the nomination.
- She was the only guest star on the television series Murder, She Wrote (1984) to receive an Emmy Award nomination (1989).
- Becoming depressed at the lack of quality parts being offered her, Jean became addicted to alcohol. In 1986, she sought professional treatment.
- Her Hamlet (1948) co-star Laurence Olivier urged the young actress to perfect her craft on the stage; instead, she decided to follow her future husband Stewart Granger to Hollywood.
- Turned down the role of Jean Pargetter on the British television series As Time Goes By (1992), which went to Judi Dench.
- In America from the early 1950s, Jean found out that RKO head Howard Hughes had purchased the remaining six months of her Rank contract without her consent. When Hughes claimed that an oral agreement with Rank precluded her from being loaned out to any other studio, she sued RKO. The legal battle raged for over a year. When the suit was finally settled, RKO had a three-year contract for Jean's services, but was obligated to pay her $250,000 in addition to her legal fees. Furthermore, she won the right to work on loan to other studios at a substantial salary.
- Her mother was Winifred Aida Loveland. Her father, Charles Simmons, won a bronze medal in the Olympics for Great Britain in artistic gymnastics and died of an ulcer when Jean was age 16.
- Even before her American debut, she was revered and beloved by both the British critics and filmgoers. By the end of 1950, she was the #4 box office attraction, American or British, in British cinema.
- She was made a Fellow of the British Film Institute in recognition of her outstanding contribution to film culture.
- Quit smoking while filming Shadows in the Sun (2009).
- She was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2003 Queen's New Year Honours List for her services to drama.
- Became a United States citizen in 1956.
- Gave birth to her 1st child at age 27, a daughter Tracy Stewart Granger, aka Tracy Granger, on September 10, 1956. Child's father is her 1st ex-husband, Stewart Granger.
- Director Richard Brooks claimed that he wrote The Happy Ending (1969), the filmed story of an alcoholic wife (played by Simmons) as a way to tell his wife that she herself had a problem. The marriage eventually broke up due to Simmons' drinking and Brooks' workaholic tendencies.
- In 1958, she accepted the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role on behalf of Alec Guinness, who was not present at the awards ceremony.
- She has appeared in one film that has been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Spartacus (1960).
- According to Richard Burton's biography "And God Created Burton", Simmons had an affair with the actor when they were filming The Robe (1953) together.
- In the late 1970s, she and daughter Kate Brooks lived in the Litchfield County town of New Milford, Connecticut. They later returned to their longtime California home in Santa Monica.
- She was one of Cecil B. DeMille's favorite actresses and he wanted to cast her in the role of Delilah in Samson and Delilah (1949), but she was too busy making films in England and the role went to Hedy Lamarr. Simmons later narrated the TV episode Samson and Delilah (1998).
- Received her first on-screen kiss from Tony Wager in Great Expectations (1946).
- Was a little over 10 years younger than Teresa Wright, who played her mother in The Actress (1953) and The Happy Ending (1969).
- Won her role in Black Narcissus (1947) from 1,600 applicants.
- A memorial service was held for her at St. Paul's Church, Covent Garden on 29th June 2010.
- Was considered for the role of Marion Crane in Psycho (1960).
- She has two roles in common with Helena Bonham Carter: (1) Simmons played Ophelia in Hamlet (1948) while Bonham Carter played her in Hamlet (1990) and (2) Simmons played Miss Havisham in Great Expectations (1989) while Bonham Carter played her in Great Expectations (2012). Simmons coincidentally starred in two adaptations of the Dickens story: Great Expectations (1946) and Great Expectations (1989). She played Estella in the former and Miss Havisham in the latter.
- Appears in four Oscar Best Picture nominees: Great Expectations (1946), Hamlet (1948), The Robe (1953) and Elmer Gantry (1960). Hamlet won Best Picture in 1948.
- Her daughters are named after Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.
- 20th Century-Fox offered her the lead in The Seven Year Itch (1955) in the case Marilyn Monroe, the studio's biggest female star of the day and already the project's first choice as Billy Wilder wanted Monroe from the start, was unavailable, but she declined, thus ending her non-exclusive contract with that company. Monroe's performance became iconic. To compensate for her rejection of that film, Darryl F. Zanuck offered her the titular role in Hilda Crane (1956). Monroe's movie became a smash hit; Simmons' movie flopped.
- Was considered to play Bonnie Parker in Bonnie and Clyde (1967) but director Arthur Penn and producer Warren Beatty thought she was too old for the part.
- Was chosen from about 200 applicants for the role of Margaret Lockwood's on-screen sister Heidi in Give Us the Moon (1944).
- Darryl F. Zanuck wanted her for the role of Miss Casswell in All About Eve (1950) based on the strength of her performances in British films, but J. Arthur Rank refused to loan her to 20th Century Fox.
- Was considered for "Mrs. Robinson" in The Graduate (1967).
- Was considered for the role of Brenda in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) but its director Karel Reisz felt she was too famous as an actress.
- Was offered the roles of "Gwendolen" or "Maria" in Beat the Devil (1953), but turned both roles down.
- Was considered for the role of Bree Daniels in Klute (1971), but Jane Fonda, who won an Academy Award for her performance, was cast.
- Is one of 23 actresses who did not receive an Oscar nomination for their Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical Golden Globe-winning performance; hers being for Guys and Dolls (1955). The others, in chronological order, are: June Allyson for Too Young to Kiss (1951), Ethel Merman for Call Me Madam (1953), Taina Elg and Kay Kendall for Les Girls (1957), Marilyn Monroe for Some Like It Hot (1959), Rosalind Russell for A Majority of One (1961) and Gypsy (1962), Patty Duke for Me, Natalie (1969), Twiggy for The Boy Friend (1971), Raquel Welch for The Three Musketeers (1973), Barbra Streisand for A Star Is Born (1976), Bernadette Peters for Pennies from Heaven (1981), Kathleen Turner for Romancing the Stone (1984) and Prizzi's Honor (1985), Miranda Richardson for Enchanted April (1991), Jamie Lee Curtis for True Lies (1994), Nicole Kidman for To Die For (1995), Madonna for Evita (1996), Renée Zellweger for Nurse Betty (2000), Sally Hawkins for Happy-Go-Lucky (2008), Amy Adams for Big Eyes (2014), Awkwafina for The Farewell (2019), Rosamund Pike for I Care a Lot (2020) and Rachel Zegler for West Side Story (2021).
- Read for the title role in Miranda (1948) but she was rejected for the part which eventually went to Glynis Johns.
- After Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder failed to find an actress for the role of Emmeline, she was cast in The Blue Lagoon (1949) at the suggestion of J. Arthur Rank, who saw her performance at the world premiere of Great Expectations (1946). The project has been announced in the late 1930s for Gainsborough to star Margaret Lockwood but was canceled because of World War II. When it was restarted in 1944 under Gilliat and Launder's newly formed production company Individual Pictures with backing from Rank, it was envisioned as a comeback vehicle for Shirley Temple because Lockwood was deemed too old, but due to the cost overruns from the troubled production of Caesar and Cleopatra (1945), Launder chose to cast an unknown actress to cut costs.
- Was screen-tested for the role of Joan Huggett in Holiday Camp (1947).
- Was considered for the role of Aurora Greenway in Terms of Endearment (1983) but Shirley MacLaine, who won an Academy Award for her performance, was cast instead.
- Declined an invitation from director Randal Kleiser to attend the world premiere of The Blue Lagoon (1980); she starred in The Blue Lagoon (1949).
- In Italy, most of her films were dubbed by Fiorella Betti. She was occasionally dubbed by Dhia Cristiani during the mid-1950s, most notably in The Robe (1953). Other actresses like Miranda Bonansea, Rosetta Calavetta and Rina Morelli also lent their voice to Simmons at some point. From the 1960s onwards, Maria Pia Di Meo became her official Italian voice.
- Applied for the role of Rose in Brighton Rock (1948) but fellow Rank contract player Carol Marsh got the part.
- Took a break from filming The Blue Lagoon (1949) to accept the Academy Award for Best Art Direction on behalf of J. Arthur Rank.
- Was considered for the role of Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet (1968) but the role went to Natasha Parry.
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