She drops the surname Kaminker, which indicates that her father is Jewish, and takes her mother's surname, Signoret. Simone studies at Lycée Pasteur, one of the most prestigious high schools in France. Among her teachers are intellectuals such as Jean-Paul Sartre.
Simone Henriette Kaminker was born on March 25, 1921, in Wiesbaden, Germany. Her father, André Kaminker, a Jew of Polish and Austrian descent, is an officer of the occupying army; her mother, Georgette Signoret, is the daughter of a French Catholic family who joined the occupation army in Germany as a volunteer secretary.
They fall in love and get married; Their daughter, Simone, is born. Many officials live in Germany to oversee the Treaty of Versailles after the First World War; therefore, after 2 years, the family returns to France.
Simone Signoret (born Simone Henriette Charlotte Kaminker; 25 March 1921 – 30 September 1985) was a French actress. She received various accolades, including an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, a César Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress, in addition to nominations for two Golden Globe Awards.
Her father does not give a religious education about the Jewish faith to both Simone and his two sons who will be born later. “My father was born in France. I never knew exactly where in Poland his family came from; he only said that his father was a Polish diamond dealer. My grandmother was from Austria. I barely knew her and I didn't like my mother very much as she never fully accepted my mother." Simone Signoret does not hold long to her Jewish roots; She describes the Jewish world in detail in her novel Adieu Volodia, which she wrote in her last years.
Simone studies at Lycée Pasteur, one of the most prestigious high schools in France. Among her teachers are intellectuals such as Jean-Paul Sartre. Thanks to her teachers, Simone broadens her horizons and meets literature. Although she thought of studying philosophy at the university; Not possible due to the outbreak of the Second World War. Moreover, the Germans occupied France. Since her father left the house quite a while ago; She has to take care of the family, which consists of her mother and two brothers. Later, she learns that her father has taken refuge in London after joining the resistance and is a broadcaster for the BBC. Simone will say of her father: "It's like we missed each other, we were tangent to each other."
She starts working as a shorthand typist in a far-right magazine run by her family friend. She gives English lessons in addition to secretarial work, she also starts acting as an extra in the cinema. She dropped the surname Kaminker, which indicates that her father was Jewish, and took her mother's surname, Signoret, during these years. There is a theater actor named Gabriel Signoret, who was very famous at that time. Simone introduces herself as Gabriel Signoret's niece, although they have no affinity other than their similar surname. She entered the world of cinema with a small role in the movie Le Prince Charmant in 1941. She continues with small roles in films such as Bolero, La Boite Aux Reves, and Adieu Leonard. During this period, she got together with one of the young actors Daniel Gélin. However, her meeting with director Yves Allégret becomes an important breaking point both in her private and professional life.
Yves Allégret, handsome and one of the famous directors of the period, falls madly in love with Simone. Since he is married, they begin to live together. Simone prefers her blonde hair, which will go down in cinema history, in this period. Thanks to Allégret, she became known for playing the leading female role in the 1946 film Les Démons de l'Aube. However, Simone is pregnant and gave birth to a boy named Patrick, a month before the film's release, but unfortunately the baby dies at 9 days old. Films come one after another: Macadam, Fantomas, and Dédée D'Anvers, who starred in 1947 as a lecherous woman. This film was described as a scandalous film in those years, and it was even banned from being shown in Antwerp, Bruxelles, and Boston.
Simone Signoret longs to go to the USA, that is, to Hollywood, which was the heart of the cinema industry in those years. A trip to Hollywood is arranged for the Signoret-Allégret couple, but before they set off, the trip is canceled due to her love for Yves Montand.
Simone Signoret and singer Yves Montand meet for the first time at the restaurant La Colombe d'Or in Saint-Paul de Vence, where artists and writers come together; Both are 28 years old and a tumultuous romance begins.
“He had blond hair. She was barefoot and wearing a Gypsy floral skirt, and her voice was strange, hoarse, overconfident, and sarcastic… An unforgettable voice…” Montand would write later, describing their first encounter on August 19, 1949. The couple would celebrate their wedding anniversary according to this date in the future.
“You have to choose clearly, Yves Allégret or me. And now! Making her decision in favor of Montand, who warned her, "Otherwise, don't even call me on the phone."
These legendary lovers move into a house they call La Roulotte (Caravan). They then acquire a country house in Auteuil that will become as legendary as they are, where all their friends and loved ones come and stay.
The adventure of writing for Simone Signoret begins when she is past fifty. In her book La Nostalgie N'est Plus Ce Quelle Etait (Longing Has No Old Taste), in which she tells her memories, she writes about the dark days of the Second World War, her memories in the cinema, the difficulties of being a left-wing intellectual, her relationships with world celebrities such as her husband Yves Montand, Khrushchev, André Malraux, Tito, and Marilyn Monroe.
She later wrote two novels and made many translations. In her highly acclaimed novel, Adieu Volodia, she describes Ukrainian and Polish Jews who immigrated to Paris and are trying to adapt to their new lives.
Simone Signoret passed away on October 30, 1985, at her home, while she was preparing the press file for her novel, succumbing to pancreatic cancer, for which she had been treated for a while. Despite the fact that Yves Montan and Simone Signoret cheated on each other many times during their nearly 30-year relationship, they could not end their marriage.
Yves Montand marries his young secretary, Carole, after Simone Signoret dies. At the age of 67, he becomes a father for the first time, and a son is born. But he cannot escape Simone's shadow; To defend himself against fans accusing him of treason, he is forced to have Jorge Semprun write a book called La Vie Continue (And Life Goes On). Yves Montand died in 1991, 6 years after Simone's death.