Young Bess

Overview

The mother died under the executioner's axe; the daughter rose to become England's greatest monarch -- the brilliant and cunning Queen Elizabeth I. Jean Simmons portrays young Bess in this rich tapestry of a film that traces the tumultuous, danger-fraught years from Elizabeth's birth to her unexpected ascension to the throne at a mere 25. Charles Laughton reprises his Academy Award®-winning* role as her formidable father Henry VIII. Deborah Kerr plays her last stepmother (and Henry's last of six wives), gentle Catherine Parr. And Simmons' then real-life husband, Stewart Granger, adds heroics as Lord Admiral Thomas Seymour. In a resplendent world of adventure, romance and court intrigue, Young Bess reigns.

Directed by George Sidney

Top cast

Jean Simmons

Young Bess (Queen Elizabeth I)

Stewart Granger

Thomas Seymour

Deborah Kerr

Catherine Parr

Charles Laughton

King Henry VIII

Kay Walsh

Mrs. Ashley

Guy Rolfe

Ned Seymour

Kathleen Byron

Ann Seymour

Cecil Kellaway

Mr. Parry

Rex Thompson

Prince Edward / King Edward VI

Robert Arthur

Barnaby

Leo G. Carroll

Mr. Mums

Norma Varden

Lady Tyrwhitt

Alan Napier

Robert Tyrwhitt

Noreen Corcoran

Bess as a child

Ivan Triesault

Danish Envoy

Elaine Stewart

Anne Boleyn

Dawn Addams

Kate Howard

Doris Lloyd

Mother Jack

Lumsden Hare

Archbishop Cranmer

Lester Matthews

Sir William Paget

Details