Thursday, October 22, 2020

By the Gods!

Jean Simmons is a slave in SPARTACUS (1960)

Simmons was a rare PEPLUM star in Hollywood in that she made a good number of genre films. ANDROCLES AND THE LION (1952), THE ROBE (1953), THE EGYPTIAN (1954) and this one. Aside from ANDROCLES, all other films were big productions and casting her in SPARTACUS made sense. She was a familiar face in such pictures. But she would slowly stop working after this epic, only starring in 6 films in the 1960s after the year SPARTACUS was released. In this story, she's the catalyst in that Spartacus (Kirk Douglas) revolts against the Romans after she is whisked away from the slave camp.

What do you think of her? Any fans out there?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Jean Simmons is one of my favorite actresses. She should have been given an Academy Award at some point in her career but her great talent seemed to be taken for granted. In addition to the epic films, in which she shines, she is also great in Desiree (perhaps my favorite Simmons role), Young Bess, The Big County and Elmer Gantry.

In addition to the epic films you mention, Simmons also has a bit part as a harp player in Caesar and Cleopatra.