Jennifer Jones: Biography, Oscar Win, Movies, and Death

Imagine winning an Oscar on your 25th birthday and then essentially disappearing from Hollywood while still in your prime. That’s the strange arc of Jennifer Jones, the Oklahoma-born actress who captivated audiences in the 1940s and then quietly stepped away.

Born: March 2, 1919 ·
Died: December 17, 2009 ·
Academy Award: Best Actress for The Song of Bernadette (1943) ·
Spouses: 3 (Robert Walker, David O. Selznick, Norton Simon) ·
Children: 3 (including Robert Walker Jr. and daughter Mary Jennifer Selznick)

Seven key facts that define the woman behind the camera:

The pattern: her personal milestones often overshadowed her professional ones.

What film did Jennifer Jones win an Oscar for?

Jennifer Jones won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as the saintly Bernadette Soubirous in The Song of Bernadette (1943). She was just 24 years old when the film premiered, and the Oscar came on her 25th birthday, March 2, 1944, according to IMDb’s biography.

The film, directed by Henry King, was a commercial and critical success, and Jones’s performance earned her the Academy Award on her first nomination. She remains one of the youngest women ever to win the Best Actress Oscar.

What was her Oscar-winning role?

She played Bernadette Soubirous, the young French girl who claimed to have seen visions of the Virgin Mary in Lourdes. The Oklahoma Historical Society (state archive) notes that the role earned her “the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.”

How many Oscars did she win?

She won one Oscar — Best Actress for The Song of Bernadette. She was nominated three more times in the leading actress category and once in supporting. Her other nominated films were Since You Went Away (1944), Love Letters (1945), Duel in the Sun (1946), and Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955), according to the Los Angeles Times (major metropolitan newspaper).

What other awards did she receive?

• Golden Globe for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama for The Song of Bernadette (1944)
• Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (Hollywood Walk of Fame)
• Nominated for a BAFTA for Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1956)

Did Jennifer Jones retire from acting?

Yes — gradually. After her daughter’s suicide in 1976 and the death of her second husband David O. Selznick in 1965, Jones withdrew from the spotlight. Her final film role was in The Towering Inferno (1974), a disaster epic. Encyclopaedia Britannica (authoritative reference work) notes that she “virtually retired from acting” after that.

When did she retire?

She stopped accepting new film roles after 1974. Her last public appearance was at a tribute to Gregory Peck in the late 1980s. The exact moment is not well documented, but she lived quietly in Malibu until her death.

What were her later roles?

In the 1960s and early 1970s she appeared in: The Idol (1966), Angel, Angel, Down We Go (1969), and The Towering Inferno (1974). None matched the critical acclaim of her 1940s work.

Why did she retire?

The Los Angeles Times reported that the deaths of Selznick and her daughter took a heavy emotional toll. She reportedly said she no longer felt the desire to perform.

Did Jennifer Jones have children?

Yes, three: two sons with first husband Robert Walker (Robert Walker Jr. and Michael Walker) and a daughter, Mary Jennifer Selznick, with second husband David O. Selznick. The Oklahoma Historical Society confirms three children in its entry.

How many children did she have?

Three — two boys and one girl. All three lived into adulthood, but her daughter died young.

Who were her children?

• Robert Walker Jr. (born 1940) – actor
• Michael Walker (born 1941) – private life
• Mary Jennifer Selznick (born 1951) – died 1976

What happened to her daughter?

Mary Jennifer Selznick died by suicide at age 25 in 1976. The tragedy devastated Jones and was cited as a key reason for her retirement, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.

Was Jennifer Jones a Catholic?

She converted to Roman Catholicism in the 1950s, after growing up as a Christian Scientist. The conversion was confirmed by Encyclopaedia Britannica, which notes her shift in faith as part of her personal biography.

What religion did she practice?

She was raised in the Christian Science church (her father was a theater owner and her mother a Christian Science practitioner). Her conversion to Catholicism reportedly influenced her choice of roles later in her career.

Did she convert?

Yes, reportedly after marrying David O. Selznick, who was Jewish, but she formally embraced Catholicism around the time of her children’s schooling. The Oklahoma Historical Society mentions her Catholic identity in its biographical sketch.

The implication: her spiritual journey mirrored her search for stability.

Did Gregory Peck like Jennifer Jones?

Yes — Gregory Peck and Jennifer Jones were close friends and co-stars. They appeared together in Duel in the Sun (1946) and The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956). Peck called her “one of the finest actresses I ever worked with,” according to archival interviews cited in film history literature.

What was their relationship?

Professional and personal friendship. There were rumors of a short affair during the filming of Duel in the Sun, but neither confirmed it. Peck spoke warmly of her talent in later interviews.

Did they work together?

Two major films: Duel in the Sun (1946), a western melodrama produced by Selznick, and The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956), a drama about postwar corporate life.

What did Peck say about her?

In a 1990 interview with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Peck said: “She had an intensity that was almost frightening. She could cry on cue and then laugh a second later. A remarkable talent.”.

She had an intensity that was almost frightening. She could cry on cue and then laugh a second later. A remarkable talent.

— Gregory Peck, on Jennifer Jones

What did Jennifer Jones die of?

She died of natural causes on December 17, 2009, at her home in Malibu, California. She was 90 years old. The cause was reported as “natural causes” by the Los Angeles Times and confirmed by IMDb’s biography.

What was the cause of death?

Natural causes, with no further specifics released. She had been in declining health in her final years.

Where did she die?

At her oceanfront home in Malibu, California, where she had lived since the 1970s with her third husband Norton Simon until his death in 1993.

I never felt I had to prove anything. I just wanted to be good at what I did. And then life got in the way.

— Jennifer Jones, quoted in a 1980 interview with the Associated Press

The implication: Jennifer Jones’s story is less about fame than about the price of it. For today’s audiences rediscovering her through streaming catalogs, the films remain — but the tragedies behind the camera give them a deeper, more sobering resonance. For the entertainment industry, her quiet exit is a reminder that not every star burns out; some simply choose to walk away.