Garden of Dreams: The Life of Simone Signoret

363 Pages·2014·2.45 MB·English

by  Patricia A. DeMaio

G a r d e n o f dr e a m s
Hollywood legends series
Carl rollyson, general editor
G a r d e n o f dr e a m s
The Life of
Simone Signoret
PaTr i c i a a. D eM a i o
University Press of Mississippi • Jackson

www.upress.state.ms.us
The University Press of Mississippi is a member of the association of american
University Presses.
copyright © 2014 by Patricia a. DeMaio
all rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of america
First printing 2014
∞
Library of congress cataloging-in-Publication Data
DeMaio, Patricia a.
Garden of dreams : the life of Simone Signoret / Patricia a. DeMaio.
pages cm — (Hollywood legends series)
includes bibliographical references and index.
iSBN 978-1-60473-569-7 (hardback) — iSBN 978-1-61703-936-2 (ebook)
1. Signoret, Simone, 1921–1985. 2. actors—France—Biography. i. Title.
PN2638.S47D46 2014
791.43’028’092—dc23
[B] 2013029852
British Library cataloging-in-Publication Data available
To my parents,
James and Helen DeMaio
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C o n t e n t s
introduction....................................... 3
Part i: The Long Four-Year Night
chapter 1: a Secret Desire.......................... 11
chapter 2: “i Was an only child” .................... 20
chapter 3: “The Peace Has Been Saved, Papa” .......... 29
chapter 4: The Phony War ......................... 36
chapter 5: “a Big Spot on My Life”................... 40
chapter 6: “The Grand Doors to a Splendid Dream”...... 48
chapter 7: “There’s No Law against Dreaming” ......... 58
chapter 8: “The end Was in the air”.................. 65
Part ii: Yves Montand
chapter 9: “This Was the end for Us” ................. 73
chapter 10: “Something indiscrete and irreversible” ..... 84
chapter 11: “i Do Not Like to Speak of My Personal Life” . 93
chapter 12: The Stockholm appeal................... 98
Part iii: The ideal couple
chapter 13: “The Finest Film i ever Made”.............105
chapter 14: Thérèse Raquin..........................114
chapter 15: Witches and Devils......................123
chapter 16: Disillusioned...........................129
chapter 17: “Sentimental People”....................138
Part iV: Mccarthyist Purgatory
chapter 18: Me and the Colonel .......................149
chapter 19: Room at the Top .........................158
chapter 20: From the Trough to the crest of the Wave ...166
chapter 21: Small World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175
chapter 22: “a Whacking Down to Size” ..............184
chapter 23: “Sad, and abysmally Stupid”..............195
Viii Contents
Part V: Monstrous egocentricity
chapter 24: The Little Foxes................. 215
chapter 25: Zorba the Greek ................ 221
chapter 26: “Sorry, William Shakespeare” .... 230
chapter 27: The Seagull ................... 236
chapter 28: Army of Shadows ............... 243
Part Vi: Monstra Sacré
chapter 29: a Dark chapter ............... 253
chapter 30: Garden of Dreams ............. 260
chapter 31: Nostalgia..................... 268
chapter 32: “The Next Day, She Smiled” ..... 277
Part Vii: autumn Leaves
chapter 33: “My Guilty conscience”......... 287
chapter 34: Adieu, Volodia ................. 295
chapter 35: “all i ever really Had in Mind”... 304
acknowledgments ......................... 314
Notes.................................... 317
Filmography.............................. 334
Bibliography.............................. 337
index ................................... 341
G a r d e n o f dr e a m s