Our world lost a great shining star last week. The beautiful and graceful Jean Simmons, known for her roles in Guys and Dolls and Spartacus, died at her home in Santa Monica, California, on Friday, January 22, after a battle with lung cancer. She was 80 years old.

Simmons, who was born in London, made her debut on the silver screen when she was 14, in Give Us the Moon. However, she is best known for her role opposite Kirk Douglas in 1960′s Spartacus, playing Virinia, wife of Spartacus. She also starred opposite Marlon Brando in the film adaptation of Guys and Dolls.

In 1974, and for three years following, she also graced the stage with her presence in the role of actress Desirée Armfeldt in Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, beginning with a US tour and culminating in the London premiere.

She was nominated for her first Oscar for her role as Ophelia in Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet (1948 film), and received a second Oscar nomination in 1970 for The Happy Ending. She won an Emmy Award for her appearance as Fiona Cleary, the Cleary family matriarch, in the 1983 miniseries The Thorn Birds.

Film critic Pauline Kael has called Ms. Simmons, “one of the most quietly commanding actresses Hollywood has ever trashed,” due to Howard Hughes, who held her contract and forced her to make films which were not suited to her. She got out of this contract by suing him later on.

She was married twice, to actor Stewart Granger, with whom she had a daughter, Tracy, and director Richard Brooks, with whom she had another daughter, Kate. Both marriages ended in divorce. She is survived by her two daughters, Tracy Granger and Kate Brooks, and a grandson, Ty Saville.

Here are some new and old pictures from her life and career: