A true star still burning brightly in my memory

I have wonderful memories of lovely Jean Simmons, who died last Friday, nine days shy of her 81st birthday. She was my guest at Bradford Film Festival in 2003, travelling from her home in Santa Monica to receive the festival's annual Lifetime Achievement Award.

My first glimpse of her was at Leeds Station. Her train had arrived early, our driver was collecting another guest, and Jean, her daughter, Tracy, and son-in-law Sebastian were waiting for us in one of the little cafs. Engraved on my mind is the image of Jean delicately munching her way through a packet of cheese and onion crisps.

On that Friday night in March, we opened the festival with a Kevin Costner Western and later, following a dinner for invited guests, screened a montage of clips from a variety of Jean's films prior to her old pal, Ian Carmichael, presenting the award.

It was a magical moment. Jean looked back on her youthful self in films like Guys and Dolls, Spartacus and The Robe, smiled and remembered. The following evening, we hosted an on-stage interview with this demure, effervescent beauty. She was then 74, but in listening to that voice, unchanged over more than half-a-century, it was like speaking to the slave girl, Varinia, from Spartacus. Nothing had changed, and elegance is timeless.

On stage in Pictureville Cinema, Jean cast her mind back over a career that began in the 1940s and was still going strong in 2003. I reminded her of the passage of time – seven decades – and her eyebrows shot skywards in mock horror.

She reminisced about her films and leading men with good grace: Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum, Richard Burton, Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Burt Lancaster and Gregory Peck, who would die just three months later. It was an enchanting evening before a sell-out crowd. They loved it. I loved it. Most importantly, Jean loved it.

When she left two days later, she handed me a black-and-white still of herself in a pose from The Big Country. On it she had written "Seven decades??? You must be joking! With much love, Jean Simmons" I thanked her, kissed her cheek and bade farewell.

I never saw her again. We kept in touch in desultory fashion but I thought of her often. Jean Simmons belonged to a better, gentler time. She had her share of ups and downs and her life was far from a fairytale, but for one brief shining moment she brought some of her unique movie star charisma into mine.

It's something I'll never forget, just as I'll always remember her nervous laughter as we walked onto that stage seven long years ago.

Jean's gone, but she's in my heart and immortalised on film.

And that is the magic of the movies.