Oscar winning actress dies

Jennifer Jones, one of the top stars of the 1940s and 50s...

15:36 18 December 2009

Jennifer Jones, the Oscar winning actress for her portrayal of a devout nun in 'The Song of Bernadette', has died aged 90.

Jones passed away at her home in Malibu of natural causes, museum spokeswoman Leslie Denk said. In her later years, the actress was a leader of the Norton Simon Museum.

Jones was the widow of the museum's founder, rich industrialist Norton Simon, and served as chair of the museum's board of directors following his death.

Better known for being one of Hollywood's most in demand stars of the 1940s and 50s, Jones received an Oscar nomination four years in a row from 1944 through to 1947.

She was nominated again in 1956 for the war romance 'Love Is A Many Splendored Thing' opposite William Holden. The celebrated actress made her screen swansong in the popular disaster movie 'The Towering Inferno' in 1974, which also starred Holden.

Some of her most celebrated roles include a half-breed seductress alongside Gregory Peck in 'Duel In The Sun', a beautiful amnesiac in 'Love Letters' and as a put-upon housewife in the drama 'The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit'.

Despite her popularity in Hollywood's golden era, Jones remained intensely private, explaining to a reporter in 1957: "Most interviewers probe and pry into your personal life, and I just don't like it. I respect everyone's right to privacy, and I feel mine should be respected, too."

Jones first married fellow actor Robert Walker in 1939. They divorced in 1945. Four years later, she married famed producer David O Selznick, who helped to promote her career.

Selznick died in 1965, and in 1973 Jones married millionaire Simon before retreating from the screen.