# Was Wallis Simpson A Good Actress? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 9, 2018, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wallis-simpson-a-good-actress/825848 "2018-12-09T14:49:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wallis-simpson-a-good-actress/825848/1 "2018-12-09T14:49:52Z")
You can count on two hands the number of movies I’ve seen that were made before I was born (1970) - which means that I’ve likely missed the entirety of Wallis’ ouvre. Was she a good actress? ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wallis-simpson-a-good-actress/825848/2 "2018-12-09T14:54:24Z")
Are you thinking of someone else? Wallis Simpson wasn’t an actress. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wallis-simpson-a-good-actress/825848/3 "2018-12-09T14:57:38Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > Are you thinking of someone else? Wallis Simpson wasn’t an actress. Furthest thing from it. [Here’s](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallis_Simpson) a link for the above. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wallis-simpson-a-good-actress/825848/4 "2018-12-09T15:07:11Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > Are you thinking of someone else? Wallis Simpson wasn’t an actress. As far as I can tell, she never had a job of any sort. She made her living either off of owning stock or from somebody else’s money (relatives, husbands, or friends). ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wallis-simpson-a-good-actress/825848/5 "2018-12-09T15:07:25Z")
Well I’ll be damned. I had it in my head she was an actress. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wallis-simpson-a-good-actress/825848/6 "2018-12-09T15:24:04Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Well I’ll be damned. I had it in my head she was an actress. Well, she acted like a Nazi sympathizer pretty convincingly for awhile there. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wallis-simpson-a-good-actress/825848/7 "2018-12-09T15:39:57Z")
Her IMDB listing: > **[Duchess of Windsor - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0239846/)** > > Duchess of Windsor. Self: A King's Story. Wallis Warfield Spencer Simpson Windsor was born in 1896 to a distinguished family. In 1916 she married Lt. Earl Winfield ("Win") Spencer, a pilot for the U.S. Navy. After World War I, Win began to drink... ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wallis-simpson-a-good-actress/825848/8 "2018-12-09T16:02:04Z")
She acted her way into a kings heart and his bed. After he abdicated, she acted like a de-throned Queen. I’d say she was a pretty good actress. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wallis-simpson-a-good-actress/825848/9 "2018-12-09T17:35:38Z")
An actress who married into royalty. Princess Grace (Kelly) of Monaco? If we’re allowed post 1970 actresses, there was a Meghan something, I seem to remember. j ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wallis-simpson-a-good-actress/825848/10 "2018-12-09T17:42:28Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > As far as I can tell, she never had a job of any sort. She made her living either off of owning stock or from somebody else’s money (relatives, husbands, or friends). Her own background was very much that of poor relation to wealthy relatives. She didn’t inherit much. But she married for the first time when she was only nineteen and, as she was always already involved with her next husband, the gaps between her marriages were very brief. So she lived off her husbands and her male admirers. And each husband was wealthier than his predecessor. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wallis-simpson-a-good-actress/825848/11 "2018-12-09T17:58:29Z")
BTW, was she considered a great beauty? Because I don’t see it. (Grace Kelly, on the other hand.) ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wallis-simpson-a-good-actress/825848/12 "2018-12-09T18:21:00Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Well, she acted like a Nazi sympathizer pretty convincingly for awhile there. Don’t think that was acting ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wallis-simpson-a-good-actress/825848/13 "2018-12-09T18:45:50Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > BTW, was she considered a great beauty? Because I don’t see it. (Grace Kelly, on the other hand.) My impression was that she had great charm that made her attractive. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wallis-simpson-a-good-actress/825848/14 "2018-12-09T19:47:45Z")
I heard she knew about sexual techniques that drove men to extasy. Edward VIII had premature ejaculation problems that she supposedly cured. Or so said the gossip at the time. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wallis-simpson-a-good-actress/825848/15 "2018-12-09T19:50:10Z")
She [acted like a woman](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2023050/Was-Wallis-Simpson-woman-New-evidence-speculates-sexual-make-up.html) and convinced the world. (cheap shot with apologies to my various trans friends.) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wallis-simpson-a-good-actress/825848/16 "2018-12-09T20:15:42Z")
> [@APB](#): > > Her own background was very much that of poor relation to wealthy relatives. She didn’t inherit much. But she married for the first time when she was only nineteen and, as she was always already involved with her next husband, the gaps between her marriages were very brief. So she lived off her husbands and her male admirers. And each husband was wealthier than his predecessor. There were also periods when she would live with wealthy friends. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wallis-simpson-a-good-actress/825848/17 "2018-12-09T20:24:19Z")
> [@APB](#): > > Her own background was very much that of poor relation to wealthy relatives. She didn’t inherit much. But she married for the first time when she was only nineteen and, as she was always already involved with her next husband, the gaps between her marriages were very brief. So she lived off her husbands and her male admirers. And each husband was wealthier than his predecessor. In other words, she was a rank whore and a parasite. I’ve long contemplated writing a novel in which the British Establishment conspires to have her whacked before Edward VIII decides to abdicate, thereby changing the course of history… ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wallis-simpson-a-good-actress/825848/18 "2018-12-09T20:24:49Z")
Were you perhaps conflating her with [Marion Davies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Davies)? ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wallis-simpson-a-good-actress/825848/19 "2018-12-09T21:22:08Z")
and if the op was just find “the floradora girls” its a talkie…… I wasn’t impressed … ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wallis-simpson-a-good-actress/825848/20 "2018-12-10T11:46:57Z")
I’ve recently read a couple of biographies of Wallis and Edward, and they were both thoroughly unpleasant and nasty people. However, I think the world owes a huge debt of gratitude to Wallis, because if not for her, Edward – a Nazi sympathizer who was not very bright or temperamentally suited to leadership – would probably have ascended to the throne. As monarch, he wouldn’t have had authority to conduct diplomacy, and he might have been reined in by the Prime Minister and the Foreign Office, but his naivete and his affinity for the Germans might have led to a very different outcome for World War II. The world is quite fortunate that George, a very reluctant king, was much better suited to the role of wartime monarch when greatness was thrust upon him. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-wallis-simpson-a-good-actress/825848.md?page=2)