Pasadena, CA – In celebration of the life and career of Academy Award winning actress Jennifer Jones (March 2, 1919–December 17, 2009), wife of Museum founder Norton Simon, the Norton Simon Museum is screening four of her wellknown films: The Song of Bernadette, Duel in the Sun, Beat the Devil and Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing. Immediately preceding the screenings, Chief Curator Carol Togneri talks with Mrs. Simon’s son Robert Walker about growing up with the legendary screen icon.
About Jennifer Jones:
Jennifer Jones (née Phylis Lee Isley) was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on March 2, 1919. As a student at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, she met her first husband, Robert Walker, who later starred in such films as One Touch of Venus, Strangers on a Train and My Son John. They married in 1939 and had two sons, Robert Walker Jr. and the late Michael Walker. Jones and Walker divorced in 1945. In the early 1940s, Jones moved to Hollywood, where her screen test for David O. Selznick, the legendary producer of Gone with the Wind, Rebecca and other significant films, resulted in a film contract. (Jones would marry Mr. Selznick in 1949 and have one child, the late Mary Jennifer Selznick.) For her first major movie role, in The Song of Bernadette (1944), Jones received an Academy Award for Best Actress. She went on to star in many other films, including Duel in the Sun (1946), Beat the Devil (1953) and Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955). Her final film appearance was a cameo role in The Towering Inferno (1974).
Films and Schedule:
Saturday, October 9, at 2:00 p.m. The Song of Bernadette, 1943 (156 minutes)
Saturday, October 16, at 2:00 p.m. Duel in the Sun, 1946 (129 minutes)
Saturday, October 23, at 2:00 p.m. Beat the Devil, 1953 (89 minutes)
Saturday, October 30, at 2:00 p.m. Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing, 1955 (102 minutes)
Image: Jennifer Jones The Song of Bernadette
Norton Simon Museum 411 West Colorado Boulevard Pasadena, CA 91105-1825
www.nortonsimon.org