Jean Simmons lends voice to 'Howl's' hag

NEW YORK, June 12 (UPI) -- Legendary film actress Jean Simmons says she enjoyed the new experience of dubbing her voice for the animated movie, "Howl's Moving Castle."

The "Spartacus" and "Guys and Dolls" star lent her voice to Grandma Sophie in the English-language version of Hayao Miyazaki's enchanting film, which was released Friday and features the voice talents of Lauren Bacall, Christian Bale, Billy Crystal and Emily Mortimer.

The Japanese version has earned $210 million worldwide.

"It was wonderful," the 76-year-old actress told United Press International. "It was a whole learning experience."

Simmons said the filmmakers sent her a tape of the Japanese version of the movie "out of the blue" and asked her to star in the English version.

Noting she once recorded her voice for a series called "Mysteries of the Bible," Simmons confessed, "But to do a character, a cartoon character, was very exciting."

Simmons said she was fascinated by how she had to pace her lines with the movements of the character's mouth because it was originally drawn to match the elderly character's Japanese dialogue.