Matinee Classics - Joan Bennett Biography & Filmography

Joan Bennett ACTOR

JOAN BENNETT BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Joan Bennett was born on February 27th, 1910 in Palisades, New Jersey with the middle name Geraldine. She was born into a family involved in show business and by the age of four, Bennett was making her first stage appearance. Her parents, Richard Bennett and Adrienne Morrison were both actors and her siblings, Barbara and Constance Bennett also later pursued careers in entertainment.

She received her early years education at Miss Hopkins School for Girls in Manhattan, St. Margaret's, which was a boarding school in Waterbury, Connecticut and L'Hermitage, a finishing school in France.

Joan broke into the film industry in 1916 with her first appearances as a child actor in the film, "The Valley of Decision". Her father as well as her siblings and mother all appeared together in this film. Her next film role was again with her father in 1923 in, "The Eternal City".

Five years later after a unsuccessful marriage and the addition of a daughter to now raise, Bennett began to focus full time on a career as an actress to provide for her family. She began appearing on the big screen in such films as, "Power" (1928), "Bulldog Drummond" (1929), "Disraeli" (1929), "The Mississippi Gambler" (1929) and "Three Live Ghosts" (1929).

Bennett was also working as a stage actress appearing with her father on Broadway in 1928 in a production of, "Jarnegan" which ran for a total of 136 performances. She then signed a contract with Fox Film Corporation and began to add more credits to her resume.

As her career in the industry continued she gained a large fan base and was highly desired by film directors in Hollywood. Between the 1930's and 1940's, Bennett stayed quite busy adding to her resume credits for such films as, "Little Women" (1933), "She Couldn’t Take It" (1935), "Big Brown Eyes" (1936), "The Texans" (1938), "Trade Wings" (1938) and "Green Hell" (1940).

She is known for appearing in a number of films directed by Fritz Lang such as, "Man Hunt" (1941), "The Woman in the Window" (1944), "Scarlet Street" (1945) and "The Macomber Affair" (1947).

In addition to film roles she also made a variety of television appearances on such series as, "The James Melton Show", "Danger", "The Best of Broadway", "Climax!", "Playhouse 90", "Burke's Law", "Mr. Broadway" , "Love, American Style" and her most well known recurring role on the series, "Dark Shadows" (1966-1971), portraying character Elizabeth Collins Stoddard. She later returned back to the film industry when she reprised her famous character in the film, "House of Dark Shadows" (1970).

Joan Bennett's most recent appearances were in the television movies, "Gidget Gets Married" (1972), "The Eyes of Charles Sand" (1972), "Suddenly, Love" (1978) and her final role was in 1982 in, "Divorce Wars: A Love Story".

In total throughout her career in the industry she appeared in more than 70 motion pictures and in 1978 she retired from the industry

She married a total of four times throughout her lifetime, first to John Marion Fox in 1926 and after having one daughter this marriage came to an end in 1928. Her second husband was Gene Markey in 1932 however by 1937, this marriage also ended in divorce. Her third husband was Walter Wanger whom she wed in 1940 and together they had two children and remained married until 1965. Her fourth and final time to marry was in 1978 to David Wilde and they remained together until she passed away on December 7th, 1990 in Scarsdale, New York after suffering from a heart attack. She was survived by thirteen grandchildren.

Joan Bennett was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to the motion Picture industry. Her remains are interred in Pleasant View Cemetery in Lyme, Connecticut.

Filmography

1982 Divorce Wars: A Love Story

1981 This House Possessed

1978 Suddenly, Love

1977 Suspiria

1972 Police Surgeon

1972 The Eyes of Charles Sand

1972 Gidget Gets Married

1966-1971 Dark Shadows

1971 Love, American Style

1970 The Governor & J.J.

1970 House of Dark Shadows