Diminutive, fiery-tempered Simone Simon was born in France, but spent much of her early childhood in Madagascar, where her father managed a graphite mine. Her schooling was somewhat unsettled, her family moving from city to city (Berlin, Budapest, Turin) before finally establishing themselves in Paris in 1930. Simone started as a dress designer, ...
Had an affair with a famous WWII spy, Dusko Popov, who was Yugoslavian and thought by the Germans to be a spy for them but in fact was a spy for the British. Popov was a very successful double agent and a well-known ladies man, and during WWII was also acquainted with another spy, Ian Fleming, who later used Popov as the basis for James Bond. It sounds like a movie in itself but it's completely true.
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Had an affair with composer George Gershwin. It has been suggested by Gershwin scholars that "Love Walked In" was likely written with her in mind. Simone would state in a 1991 interview that "Above anything else in the relationship, Gershwin and I shared a common interest in music".
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Jean Renoir offered her the role of "Christine de la Chesnaye" in The Rules of the Game (1939), but she preferred to go back to Hollywood.
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Her maid revealed that she rewarded men to whom she was attracted with a gold key to her boudoir.
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