Richard Bennett

Biography

From WikipediaRichard Bennett (May 21, 1870 – October 22, 1944) was anAmerican actor who became a stage and silent screen matinee idol over the earlydecades of the twentieth century.He was born in Deacon's Mills, Indiana in 1870 (some sourcesstate 1872), the son of George Washington Bennett and Eliza Huffman. Hisyounger sister was Ina Blanche Bennett. For a time, he was a sailor on GreatLakes steamer, a professional boxer, medicine showman, troubadour and nightclerk in a hotel in Chicago.His silent movie debut was a reprisal of his stage role inDamaged Goods (1914), which co-starred his wife, Adrienne Morrison. He helpedadapt the screenplay and direct the drama. In the drama The Valley of Decision(1916), which he wrote, Bennett appeared on the screen with his wife, Morrison,and his three daughters.In 1922, Bennett starred in Broadway's English-languageversion of Leonid Andreyev's melodrama He Who Gets Slapped, playing the titlerole as He. The success of the play led to its being filmed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with the production starring Lon Chaney in Bennett's role.With the advent of the talkies the middleaged actor found a niche as acharacter actor. In 1931 he appeared with Constance Bennett in Bought!On November 8, 1903, Bennett and actress Adrienne Morrisonwere married in Jersey City. They had three daughters, Constance Bennett(1904–1965); Barbara Bennett (1906–1958); and Joan Bennett (1910–1990). He andMorrison were divorced in April 1925. Their first and third daughters,Constance and Joan, became successful movie stars. Their second daughter,Barbara, was also briefly an actress, but with less success. The two appearedtogether on stage in the 1923 play The Dancers Barbara married the popularsinger Morton Downey. The controversial television talk-show host MortonDowney, Jr., was Richard Bennett's grandson.In 1925, he became acquainted with Aimee Raisch in SanFrancisco, during the production of Creoles, in which she played a minor role.She was a young socialite and aspiring actress who was divorcing hermillionaire clubman and polo player husband, Harry G. Hastings.Bennett and Raisch were married July 11, 1927, in Chicago.He and Aimee, who later went by Angela, separated April 3, 1934, and weredivorced in 1937. His daughter Joan made her stage debut acting with him inJarnegan (1928). This play, in which he played Jack Jarnegan, provided one ofhis favourite roles—that of a belligerent, drunken movie director given toacidulous and profane comments on Hollywood.Richard Bennett died at age 74 from a heart attack at GoodSamaritan Hospital in Los Angeles. Episcopal funeral services were conducted onOctober 24, 1944, in Beverly Hills. He is interred in Pleasant View Cemetery,Lyme, Connecticut, beside his second wife and mother of his daughters.Bennett was fond of saying that the movie industry was not abusiness, but a madhouse.