Jones, Jennifer (1919–)

American actress. Name variations: Jennifer Jones Simon. Born Phylis Lee Isley, Mar 2, 1919, in Tulsa, OK; only child of Philip (vaudeville performer) and Flora Mae (Suber) Isley; attended Northwestern University, 1936, and American Academy of Dramatic Arts; m. Robert Walker (actor), Jan 2, 1939 (div. 1945, died 1951); m. David O. Selznick (film producer), July 18, 1949 (died 1965); m. Norton Simon (billionaire industrialist and art collector), 1971 (died 1993); children: (1st m.) Michael and Robert; (2nd m.) Mary Jennifer Selznick (died 1976).

A shy, dark-haired beauty, captured an Academy Award for 1st major movie The Song of Bernadette (1943), the story of Bernadette Soubirous (Bernadette of Lourdes); career flourished (1940s–50s), controlled largely by producer-husband David O. Selznick; starred in such films as Since You Went Away (1944), Love Letters (1945), Cluny Brown (1946), Portrait of Jennie (1949), Madame Bovary (1949), Carrie (1952), Ruby Gentry (1952), Good Morning, Miss Dove (1955), The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1957), A Farewell to Arms (1957) and Tender Is the Night (1962); donated $1 million to establish the Jennifer Jones Simon Foundation for Mental Health and Education and served as president of Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. Nominated as Best Actress for Duel in the Sun (1946) and Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955).

See also Edward Z. Epstein, Portrait of Jennifer: A Biography of Jennifer Jones (Simon & Schuster, 1995); Beverly Linet, Star-Crossed: The Story of Robert Walker and Jennifer Jones (Putnam, 1986); and Women in World History.