Born in Cairo on 15 August 1928 to French-Italian parents, Martha Simone de Bouillard, better known as Simone Silva, was an Egyptian and French film actress, who appeared in several low-budget commercial British films. Known less for her acting than for her voluptuous figure and publicity-seeking activities, she was once quoted as saying that she would do anything to get in the newspapers. At the age of eighteen she married Cecil Silver, a wealthy businessman, and moved to England in 1946, believing that England would provide opportunities for her to be noticed by American talent scouts and give her a better chance to achieve her ultimate goal of making a career in Hollywood. She started her career as a model posing for sexy pin-up photos, and made her film debut in 1950, in the French movie Le Tampon du Capiston (1950). The next year, Simone Silva broke into British films with a small uncredited part in the British films Bikini Baby (1951), followed by two more anonymous bit-part roles in Secret People (1952) and Bachelor In Paris (1952), before she landed a slightly more substantial part in the British travel adventure film The Golden Mask (1953).In the same year, she also appeared in several other films, which included Desperate Moment, The Shadow Man, and the crime drama Escape by Night (1953).

Simone Silva’s marriage to Cecil ended in 1954, and in the same year, she appeared among a lengthy female cast list in the women's prison drama, and costarred with Diana Dors in the drama film The Weak and the Wicked (1954:US title Young and Willing). She was also cast in the big budget adventure The Adventures of Hajji Baba (1954), but was replaced before filming began. However, her first and only top-billing came as a femme-fatale opposite Lloyd Bridge in the crime drama film Third Party Risk, released in the US as The Deadly Game (1954).

But although her career was on the rise, Simone was not satisfied with the situation. She was highly ambitious; she craved to be famous, and was eager to see her name in the headlines. The opportunity came soon, when in March 1954 she travelled to Cannes for the seventh Film Festival in an attempt to get herself noticed, and she was primarily successful in the event, as the festival organizers awarded her the honorary title of Miss Festival 1954, a title that had existed since the very first Cannes in 1946. Since the early days of the Film Festival, the participating stars, starlets, journalists and photographers usually take a cruise from Cannes and spend a day on Ile Sainte-Marguerite, and a scandalous incident happened during the Festival of 1954, when a group of stars were lounging around at a picnic on the Lérins Islands, a 15-minute boat ride from the Cannes harbour, to enjoy the sea air, the sunshine, and a game of pétanque, a popular French outdoor game.

In that gathering of stars and other celebrities, Silva, the Miss Festival of the year, a young attractive woman with curly hair trimmed below the cheeks, soft eyes, and a carefree smile, was a special subject of attention for the eager photographers, who asked her to pose for photos with actor Robert Mitchum. The scandal happened during the iconic photoshoot on 3 April 1954, when provoked by the photographers, Silva removed her top and posed cupping her bare breasts in her hands, and then nestled her bosom in the hands of Robert Mitchum, who obliged the anecdotal offer by pressing her ample breasts.

In the ensuing rushing and scrambling to take the best shots, several photographers were injured in the melée, a photographer broke his arm, another broke his leg, and many broke their lenses. However, although the press loved it, and the photographs were published around the world, the sensational seaside sojourn of Simone Silva and Robert Mitchum caused a big scandal. Simone thought that the appealing photoshoot would promote her career, since Marilyn Monroe became famous after she posed nude for a calendar. But despite her being chosen as the Miss Festival of the year, the festival committee were horrified, as they considered it a vulgar and cheap publicity stunt and Silva was asked to leave Côte d'Azur the next morning.

After the ill-fated photoshoot, followed by the unprecedented scandal, Simone Silva moved to Hollywood with the hope of establishing her career in the film industry, enriching her new-found notoriety. Nevertheless, she was signed by an independent producer named Al Petker and was earning a salary, but got into trouble with the US Immigration Service, as she had entered the country on a tourist visa, but was working without applying for a work permit. Apart from that, her relations with Petker also began to sour over the issue of her salary. In the mean time, Simone was hospitalised with severe vomiting by November 1954, and she claimed that worries and uncertainties about her future were the root cause of her illness. Unfortunately, her final appeal for US residency was heard and was turned down by the authorities on 4 May 1955, and she was ordered to leave the country by 7 June, or face deportation back to England.

After her forced return to the UK, she found it difficult to resurrect her fledgling film career, but finally landed the small role of a Nightclub singer in the low-budget crime picture The Dynamiters (1956), and also appeared in two episodes of the television show. Probably as a publicity stunt, she was also hinting to the journalists that she was planning another stunt for the 1957 Cannes Film Festival, which never happened. On 30 November 1957, when she was only twenty-nine years old, she was found dead in her London apartment, probably due to a fatal stroke, possibly caused by her rigorous crash-dieting in her attempt to return to the film world in perfect shape.