WHAT YOU DID NOT KNOW ABOUT SIMONE SIGNORET

Photo: Simone Signoret, behind her, Yves Montand, mobbed by the press, at the OSCAR Awards Ceremony.

Simone Signoret earned a college degree in philosophy and was fluent in French, English, German, Italian, Hebew, Spanish, Russian and Polish. Her professor of literature and philosophy at lycée de Vannes was the legendary  Lucie Aubrac who disguised herself as  Mrs. Salomon. After graduation, Simone joined  général de Gaulle as a scholar and a freedom fighter. Unfortunately, her war efforts and work in the French resistance war are quasi-forgotten by the public and the media. Once I asked Simone "Few know you are Jewish. Did you intentionally hide your Jewish faith and Jewish ethnic background?" And Simone went ape. She replied "Are you crazy Maximillien? I never did such a thing. For years, I sheltered Jews who escaped from Poland. And during my short trips from London to Paris, (At the end of the war), I financed and supervised the habitat of more than 100 impoverished Jews from all Europe who arrived to Paris penniless, flat broke and jobless. Ask Marilyn Dietrich. Together we rented a apartment in Paris under Marlene's name and sheltered 50 Jews. My god, they were so noisy and kept pacing the floor back and forth, day and night. The people who lived on the second floor beneath us began to complaint. They feared that the floor might collapse over their heads...It was an old building, the structure  of the floor was weak and they did not stop pacing. It was terrifying. Marlene had to threaten them. She warned them either they stop pacing the floor or get the hell out of the apartment. So they stopped. Marlene was sweet, generous and tough. Mon Dieu! She was a great humanitarian. She helped so many refugees from Germany. Why don't you ask your mother Alexandra, she will tell you all about it."

Photos from left to right: #1.Simone Signoret in 1953. Simone, a few days before she passed away in 1985.

SIMONE'S FIRST JOB: I asked Simone :" After graduation from school and upon your return to Paris, did you try to become an actress? ", "Hell no, Maximillien. I was not good at it. I did not know anybody in the cinema business. I asked general de Gaulle to help me. He was very helpful. He got me a job as an assistant secretary at the journal "Le Petit Parisien". But it was during that time, I mean when I was working at the journal, that I met Monsieur Jean Luchaire, the director of the paper who was the  father of Corinne Luchaire (Famous actress of the era). I might say, Corinne introduced me to " le monde du cinema et spectacles" (world of movies and shows). So I changed my name from Henriette Charlotte Simonne Kaminker to  simply Simone Signoret. I had to do this, not because I was Jewish or a foreigner but because I was labeled by some ignorant press agents as "gauchiste" (Leftist or Social Communist). Maximillien, you have to understand mon cher Maximillien, at that time, two things were happening in France. French men were horny and would "screw" anything that moves. And secondly, any person who could think like a philosopher or an erudite was stigmatized  "communist."