Oscar Winner Jennifer Jones Leaves Lasting Legacy on Film

Jennifer Jones died today at her home in Malibu of natural causes, the Associated Press has reported. She was 90 years old and had been retired from the movie industry for 35 years - the same length of time she had been in it.

While my children look at me slightly dumbfounded as I mention films they have never heard of, I find myself lost in fond remembrances of the beautiful actress from old movies that were old even when I was young. Her performances were always magnificent, and she was a brunette, like me. When the whole world seemed to be mesmerized by blonde-headed Tammy's and Debbie's, I related to Jennifer Jones and her characters. Unfortunately, most of her movies were made before I was born, and I was relegated to watching them on the small screen.

She only made 27 films in her career, including three she made as Phylis (or Phyllis) Isley - her given name. Many blame second husband David O. Selznick (Gone with the Wind) with controlling her career to the point of strangulation, much like William Randolph Hearst did with Marion Davies.

Jones rarely did interviews, believing her private life should remain private. She felt her work should speak for itself. I believe it does.

As a tribute to her and her movies, here are my top five favorite Jennifer Jones films.

#5 Towering Inferno (1974)

While this may not have been her best film, or even her best performance, perhaps I feel led to include it as it's the only one I've seen that actually released to theaters in my lifetime. Jones portrayed Lisolette Muller, a painter who foregoes her opportunity to evacuate the burning high-rise in an attempt to save the lives of two of her students and their deaf mother.

#4 Ruby Gentry (1952)

Jones starred as the title character in this romantic drama alongside Charlton Heston and Karl Malden. Gentry holds similarities with Pearl Chavez, Jones' character in Duel of the Sun. Both movies were directed by King Vidor, and, despite Jones' Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Chavez, I prefer Ruby.

Spurned by her erstwhile beau, Boake Tackman (Heston), the girl from the other side of the tracks finds herself married to Jim Gentry (Malden). While Gentry's wealth can bring her social status, their marriage lacks any flame as Ruby still holds a torch for Tackman. Ruby is a fine example that money does not bring happiness, and revenge is not always sweet.

#3 Love is a Many Splendored Thing (1955)

Jones was Han Suyin, a Eurasian doctor who falls in love with a married American war correspondent (William Holden) in Hong Kong. Racy stuff for 1955. The film, based on the memoirs of the real Han Suyin, was filmed entirely on location in Hong Kong. Her stunning portrayal of a woman in love with the (in so many ways) wrong man, won her an Oscar nomination. Interestingly, the chemistry between Holden and Jones was as hot for what they didn't do on screen as for what they did - tantilizing without being tawdry. Charles Le Maire took home an Academy Award for costume design - certainly in part for his creation of Jones' fabulous Oriental dresses.

#2 The Song of Bernadette (1943)

Jones' portrayal of Bernadette, the young girl who claimed to have seen a vision of a woman at Lourdes, France, would garner Jennifer her only Oscar win, for best actress. She also took home the very first Golden Globe awarded for best actress. The vision, which the townspeople would attribute to the Virgin Mary, would later lead to Bernadette's canonization by the Roman Catholic church, but not without some doubters and naysayers along the way.

Hoping to thwart criticism of the controversial religious element in the movie, 20^th Century Fox opened the film with the introduction: "To those who believe in God, no explanation is necessary. To those who do not believe in God, no explanation is possible."

#1 Portrait of Jennie (1949)

It's hard for me to believe that this movie was not very popular when it was first released to theaters. I loved it the first time I saw it on television when I was a teenager. It's a fantasy love story between Jones' character, Jennie, and Eben Adams, played by Joseph Cotton. Adams, a struggling artist, fails to capture any real passion in his work - until he meets the young Jennie in New York's Central Park.

Rights to the story, which was based on a novella by Robert Nathan, were purchased in the late 1940's by Selznick for Jones. The actual "Portrait of Jennie", painted by artist Robert Brackman and the only Technicolor image in this black and white film, would hang at the Selznick home after filming was completed. It's been said that Norton Simon, the multi-millionaire industrialist and art collector, attempted to buy the portrait. Years later, in 1971, Simon would become Jones' third husband.

Sources of background information:

www.imdb.com

www.allmovie.com

www.wikipedia.org