Jean Simmons, a radiant British actress who as a teenager appeared opposite Laurence Olivier in "Hamlet" and emerged a star whose career flourished in the 1950s and 1960s in such films as "Guys and Dolls, "Elmer Gantry" and "Spartacus," has died. She was 80.

Simmons, who won an Emmy Award for her role in the 1980s miniseries "The Thorn Birds," died Friday evening at her home in Santa Monica, said Judy Page, her agent. She had lung cancer.

Plucked from a dance class at 14 by a talent scout, she had already made several movies before gaining attention for her portrayal of the young Estella in David Lean's film adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel "Great Expectations."

After Olivier cast her in his 1948 film "Hamlet," she received the first of two Academy Award nominations, for her role as the doomed Ophelia. More than 20 years later, she was nominated for her searing portrayal of an alcoholic wife in "The Happy Ending."

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-jean-simmons23-2010jan23,0,7616075.story

Veteran actor Ian Carmichael dies

Veteran British actor Ian Carmichael has died at the age of 89, his wife said.

The star of large and small screen from the 1950s to the 1970s had fallen ill over Christmas and New Year, Kate Carmichael said.

He died peacefully at his home in the Esk Valley on the North York Moors.

Hull-born Carmichael made his name playing in a series of films for the Boulting Brothers including Private's Progress (1956), Brothers in Law (1957) and I'm All Right Jack (1959).

During the 1960s and 1970s, he was successful in television, particularly as Bertie Wooster in The World of Wooster and Lord Peter Wimsey in several drama series based on the mystery novels by Dorothy L Sayers.