I am still collating memories or information on Jean Simmons, particularly from her time living at 120 Cheviot Gardens, NW2 and surrounding areas, plus her time at the Aida Foster Dance & Drama School in Golders Green.

I have been temporarily ill for 18 months and I am starting to get back into the swing of things, such as collating information and memories again, which I asked for originally in a letter during 2010.

I thank those who kindly sent me information or had a discussion with me between 2010 and 2012, and if there is anybody who hasn’t contacted me in the past, who has memories of Jean living and working in the Cricklewood/Willesden/Golders Green areas, please get in touch.

There is no doubt Jean was a diverse and well-loved actress, who delighted her audience in everything she starred in. One of my favourite films of hers was Elmer Gantry, but we all have our own personal choices. There are so many of her movies that are classics. But there are also many of her films still unknown and uncritiqued, but still proof that her star shone bright, years before and after fame befell her. Films such as Uncle Silas (1947), The Clouded Yellow (1950), Cage of Gold (1950), and Dominique (1978).

I will always remember when she spoke to me on the phone in 2000, from her home in Santa Monica, her comment “Darling, I’ve worked with them all”, and I am sure she did; a pity she never wrote her own autobiography.

Even though she is sadly no longer with us, her memory lives on in celluloid and photos and hopefully in tribute memories, such as the one I am putting together.

I am proud and happy I managed to get a portrait of Jean commissioned for Mill Hill County High School in 2003, which was beautifully painted by a former pupil from the school and now hangs proudly near to the headmaster’s office. I was sad the TV establishment didn’t do more to show her films as a fitting tribute, when she passed away in 2010.

I look forward to a few more pieces of information from local residents and I am reminded of one memory recently from a local person, who said: “Jean was certainly a lovely looking girl, I can still remember her walking down Cheviot Gardens with her tennis racket off to play in Basing Hill Park. The courts are still there, I was only six or seven at the time and hadn’t yet appreciated young beauty.”

Ian Payne

Thornbury Road, Walsall