Richard Bennett
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Richard Bennett
Bennett, Richard (1873–1944), actor. Born in Deacon's Mills, Indiana, he made his debut in Chicago in 1891 as Tombstone Jake in The Limited Mail, and then played the role in New York later that year. For the next several seasons he toured in popular plays of the day and spent some time in stock, then in New York he appeared as the rich son Jefferson Ryder in the muckraking The Lion and the Mouse (1905); the social climbing Lennard Willmore in The Hypocrites (1906); the first American John Shand, playing opposite Maude Adams in What Every Woman Knows (1908); the ingratiating jewel thief Jack Doogan in Stop, Thief (1912); and George Dupont, the man victimized by hereditary venereal disease, in Damaged Goods (1913), which he co‐produced. A series of failures ensued before Bennett had another long run as Peter Marchmont, who learns the secret of invisibility, in The Unknown Purple (1918), followed by the doomed Robert Mayo in Beyond the Horizon (1920); the good brother, Andrew Lane, in The Hero (1921); the tragic clown in He Who Gets Slapped (1922); and the barkeep Tony who inherits an English title in The Dancers (1923). One of Bennett's most memorable interpretations was Tony, the aging grape‐grower, in They Knew What They Wanted (1924). His next success came four years later as Jack Jarnegan, the cynical film director, in Jarnegan. In 1932 he toured as Cyrano de Bergerac, then made his last Broadway appearance as Judge Gaunt in Winterset (1935). His screen actress daughter Joan Bennett described him as “a handsome, virile man with blue‐gray eyes, a determined chin, a firm and generous mouth, and a magnificent speaking voice.” An intellectual performer, he bore much of the credit for bringing a number of important plays to New York, such as Beyond the Horizon. Alexander Woollcott hailed his Robert Mayo in that play as a performance of “fine eloquence, imagination and finesse.” Biography: The Bennett Playbill, Joan Bennett and Lois Kibbee, 1970.
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Richard Bennett
Biography
Broadway luminary Richard Bennett made his first acting appearance in an 1891 Chicago production of The Limited Mail. Later that year, he made his New York bow appearing in the same play. With his classically chiseled features and athletic build, Bennett rapidly achieved "matinee idol" status, continuing to portray virile leading men into his fifties. He had a flair for foreign dialects, which he demonstrated to maximum effects in such plays as They Knew What They Wanted (1924) and such films as Arrowsmith (1931). While he regarded Hollywood as a "madhouse," Bennett occasionally functioned as technical advisor in silent-film adaptations of his stage plays, and was sporadically lured before the cameras in the talkie era, most memorably as the dying millionaire in If I Had a Million (1932) and the crusty Amberson paterfamilias in Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). Richard Bennett was the father of actresses Constance, Joan and Barbara Bennett, and the grandfather of talk show host Morton Downey Jr. ~ Hal Erickson, RoviFilmography:
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Richard Bennett
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Richard Bennett (actor)
| Richard Bennett | |
|---|---|
 Who's Who on the Stage pub 1911 |
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| Born | Charles Clarence Bennett May 21, 1870 Deacon Mills, Indiana, USA |
| Died | October 22, 1944 (aged 74) Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1891 to 1943 |
| Spouse | Grena Heller (1901-1903) Adrienne Morrison (1903-1925) Aimee Raisch (1927-1937) |
Richard Bennett (May 21, 1870 – October 22, 1944) was an American actor who became a stage and silent screen matinee idol over the early decades of the twentieth century.
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Contents
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Early Life
He was born in Deacon's Mills, Indiana in 1870 (some sources state 1872), the son of George Washington Bennett and Eliza Huffman.[1] His younger sister was Ina Blanche Bennett.[2] For a time, he was a professional boxer, medicine showman, troubadour and night clerk in a hotel in Chicago.
Career
Bennett made his stage debut in the play The Limited Mail (1891) in Chicago. He went to New York, where his Broadway debut was in His Excellency the Governor (1899), which was produced by Charles Frohman. In his third Broadway production, he played the role as Father Anselem in Frohman's A Royal Family (1900). In 1905, Bennett won fame as the leading man, Hector Malone, Jr., in Shaw's Man and Superman. That was followed by his role as Jefferson Ryder in the stage hit The Lion and the Mouse (1905).
A series of spectacular roles followed. In 1908, he played the role as John Shand opposite Maude Adams in Barrie's What Every Woman Knows. Frequent quarrels between the stars occurred during the run of the play, and when Adams opened in Peter Pan, Bennett telegraphed his congratulations "on achieving your long ambition to be your own leading man."
Bennett is probably best-known for his role as Major Amberson in Welles's motion picture adaptation of The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). He played the dying millionaire, John Glidden, in If I Had a Million (1932). Bennett is also known for adapting socially conscious works of Eugène Brieux, such as Damaged Goods and Maternity. In 1913, Bennett had a theatrical success starring as Georges Dupont in the social disease stage drama Damaged Goods, which he also co-produced.
Bennett won a reputation for his curtain harangues, which friends—and critics—said were at least as good as his stage portrayals when, in 1913, he wound up an appearance in Damaged Goods by stepping in front of the curtain and castigatigating the police and courts for "narrow-mindedness." He developed this penchant until his ab-lib speeches won greater applause than many of the plays in which he acted.
His silent movie debut was a reprisal of his stage role in Damaged Goods (1914), which co-starred his wife, Adrienne Morrison. He helped adapt 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-language version of Leonid Andreyev's melodrama He Who Gets Slapped, playing the title role as He. The success of the play led to its being filmed by Metro-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 a character actor. In 1931 he appeared with Constance Bennett in Bought.
Marriage
He was married to Grena Heller in 1901 in San Francisco. They soon separated, and were divorced in 1903. Using her married name, she starred in a few plays on Broadway, and went on to a successful career as a music critic for the Hearst newspaper New York American, which later became the New York Journal American.
On November 8, 1903, Bennett and actress Adrienne Morrison were married in Jersey City. They had three daughters, Constance Bennett (1904–1965); Barbara Bennett (1906–1958); and Joan Bennett (1910–1990). He and Morrison 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 appeared together on stage in the 1923 play The Dancers Barbara married the popular singer Morton Downey. The controversial television talk-show host Morton Downey, Jr., was Richard Bennett's grandson.
In 1925, he became acquainted with Aimee Raisch in San Francisco, during the production of Creoles, in which she played a minor role.[3] She was a young socialite and aspiring actress who was divorcing her millionaire clubman and polo player husband, Harry G. Hastings.
Bennett and Raisch were married July 11, 1927, in Chicago.[4] He and Aimee, who later went by Angela, separated April 3, 1934, and were divorced in 1937.[5] She died in San Francisco, in 1955.[6]
His daughter Joan made her stage debut acting with him in Jarnegan (1928). This play, in which he played Jack Jarnegan, provided one of his favorite roles—that of a belligerent, drunken movie director given to acidulous and profane comments on Hollywood.
Death
Richard Bennett died at age 74 from a heart attack at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles.[7] Episcopal funeral services were conducted on October 24, 1944, in Beverly Hills. He is interred in Pleasant View Cemetery, Lyme, Connecticut, beside his second wife and mother of his daughters.[8][9]
Bennett was fond of saying that the movie industry was not a business, but a madhouse. [10]
See also
References
- ^ 1870 Cass Co., IN, U.S. Federal Census, Deer Creek Township, Post Office, Logansport, Ind., July 12, Sheet 91, Page 82, Beginning on Line 36, Geo. W. Bennett, 23, Male, White, Works on Sawmill, Val. of Personal Estate: $500, NJ, Male Cit. over 21. Eliza L. Bennett, 18, Female, White, Keeps House, OH. Charles Bennett, 1/12, Male, White, IN, (If born in year, state month) May. William H. Bennett, 28, Male, White, Works on Sawmill, NJ, Male Cit. over 21. Jasper Neff, 17, Male, White, Works on Sawmill, IN.
- ^ 1880 Howard Co., IN, U.S. Federal Census, Ward 3, City of Kokomo, Taylor St., June 5, Enumeration Dist. 53, Sheet 15, Page 423 C, Beginning on Line 24, George W. Bennett, White, Male, 32, Marr., Constable, NJ, NJ, NJ. Eliza L. Bennett, White, Female, 28, Wife, Marr., Keeping House, OH, PA, OH. Clarence C. Bennett, White, Male, 10, Son, Single, Attended School In Year, IN, NJ, OH. Ina B. Bennett, White, Female, 6, Daughter, Single, Attended School In Year, IN, NJ, OH.
- ^ New York Times, July 8, 1927, from Chicago, July 7, "Richard Bennett To Wed --- Actor in 'The Barker' Engaged Mrs. Aimee Raisch Hastings," p. 17.
- ^ New York Times, July 12, 1927, from Chicago, July 11, "Richard Bennett Weds Mrs. Aimee Hastings --- Star of 'The Barker' Marries San Francisco Woman, Former Wife of Polo Player," p. 29.
- ^ Los Angeles Times, Oct. 9, 1937, "Wins Freedom From Thespian --- Wife Divorces Actor Bennett --- Father of Screen Sisters Declared Always on Rampage," p. A 3.
- ^ California Death Index, Name: Aimee Raisch Bennett, Birth Date: 09-13-1901, Mother's Maiden Name: Stealey, Father's Last: Raisch, Sex: Female, Birth Place: California, Death Place: San Francisco (38), Death Date: 10-18-1955, Age: 54 yrs.
- ^ California Death Index, Name: Richard Bennett, Birth Date: 05-21-1870, Mother's Maiden Name: Hoffman, Father's Last: Bennett, Sex: Male, Birth Place: Indiana, Death Place: Los Angeles (19), Death Date: 10-22-1944, SSN: 571-18-2360, Age: 74 yrs.
- ^ New York Times, Oct 23, 1944, from Los Angeles, Oct. 22 (AP), "Richard Bennett, Noted Actor, Dies --- Former Matinee Idol, 72, Who Made Stage Debut at 17, Was Father of Three Actress," p. 19.
- ^ Los Angeles Times, Oct 23, 1944, "Death Takes Bennett, Once Matinee Idol --- Father of Constance, Barbara and Joan Heart Attack Victim," p. 1.
- ^ The versatiles: a study of supporting character actors and actresses in the American motion picture, 1930-1955 pub. 1969
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