Newsmakers (Newsweek, June 14, 1971)
The date: May 5, 1971. The occasion: a dinner party hosted by a NEWSWEEK editor in Los Angeles.
The guests included millionaire conglomerateur and art collector Norton Simon, 64, and movie actress Jennifer Jones, 52, who had not previously met - but they soon made up for lost time. "There was just great simpatico between us right from the start," recalled Simon last week after Jennifer had become Mrs. Simon. "There was a soul communication. I found her soul must more beautiful than her face, and her face is pretty nice." He began courting Jennifer at the party, prevailed on her to join him on a trip to Europe and proposed at 7 o'clock one morning over tea at the Dorchester Hotel in London. "He walked me around Paris and London until I was so exhausted I couldn't resist him anymore," smiled Jennifer, who won a 1943 Oscar for "The Song of Bernadette" and was married in the past to the late actor Robert Walker and the late producer David O. Selznick. Simon and his wife of 37 years were divorced in 1970. To get around England's residency rules, he hired a launch, took along a Unitarian minister and married Jennifer in the English Channel on May 30 - at 4 a.m. "We were bobbing about in the sea," said Simon, "and in the early morning light I could just make out the white cliffs of Dover. It was very romantic."
Back to Articles Index
The date: May 5, 1971. The occasion: a dinner party hosted by a NEWSWEEK editor in Los Angeles.
The guests included millionaire conglomerateur and art collector Norton Simon, 64, and movie actress Jennifer Jones, 52, who had not previously met - but they soon made up for lost time. "There was just great simpatico between us right from the start," recalled Simon last week after Jennifer had become Mrs. Simon. "There was a soul communication. I found her soul must more beautiful than her face, and her face is pretty nice." He began courting Jennifer at the party, prevailed on her to join him on a trip to Europe and proposed at 7 o'clock one morning over tea at the Dorchester Hotel in London. "He walked me around Paris and London until I was so exhausted I couldn't resist him anymore," smiled Jennifer, who won a 1943 Oscar for "The Song of Bernadette" and was married in the past to the late actor Robert Walker and the late producer David O. Selznick. Simon and his wife of 37 years were divorced in 1970. To get around England's residency rules, he hired a launch, took along a Unitarian minister and married Jennifer in the English Channel on May 30 - at 4 a.m. "We were bobbing about in the sea," said Simon, "and in the early morning light I could just make out the white cliffs of Dover. It was very romantic."
Back to Articles Index