Richard Bennett

Born: 1870-05-21

From Wikipedia 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. He was born in Deacon's Mills, Indiana in 1870 (some sources state 1872), the son of George Washington Bennett and Eliza Huffman. His younger sister was Ina Blanche Bennett. For a time, he was a sailor on Great Lakes steamer, a professional boxer, medicine showman, troubadour and night clerk in a hotel in Chicago. 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! 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. 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. He and Aimee, who later went by Angela, separated April 3, 1934, and were divorced in 1937. 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 favourite roles—that of a belligerent, drunken movie director given to acidulous and profane comments on Hollywood. Richard Bennett died at age 74 from a heart attack at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles. 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. Bennett was fond of saying that the movie industry was not a business, but a madhouse.


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The Magnificent Ambersons

as Major Amberson
Released: 1942-07-10

The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the...

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Journey into Fear

as Ship's Captain
Released: 1943-01-07

An American ballistics expert in Turkey finds himself targeted by Nazi agents. Safe passage home...

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Arrowsmith

as Gustav Sondelius
Released: 1931-12-07

A medical researcher is sent to a plague outbreak, where he has to decide priorities for the use...

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If I Had a Million

as John Glidden
Released: 1932-11-18

An elderly business tycoon, believed to be dying, decides to give a million dollars each to...

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The Pirates of Blood River

as Seymour (uncredited)
Released: 1962-05-09

A group of ruthless pirates attack a 17th Century Huguenot settlement on the Isle of Devon in...

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This Reckless Age

as Donald Ingals
Released: 1932-01-09

Donald Ingals and his wife Eunice are conventional and loving parents who are shocked when their...

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Nana

as Gaston Greiner
Released: 1934-02-01

Young Parisian Nana wards off of a boozed-up military officer at a local restaurant, and fellow...

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Madame Racketeer

as Elmer Hicks
Released: 1932-07-23

International con artist Martha Hicks a.k.a. Countess von Claudwig is released from another stay...

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Big Executive

as Commodore Richardson
Released: 1933-10-19

Big Executive

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Five and Ten

as John Rarick
Released: 1931-06-13

John owns the largest chain of five and ten cent stores in the country. He moves his family to...

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Strange Justice

as Kearney
Released: 1932-10-07

Socialite banker Henry Judson maintains his extravagant lifestyle by embezzling from his bank,...

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Bought!

as David Meyer
Released: 1931-08-22

Working-class girl dreams of living a better life and forsakes her friends when she has a chance...

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The Valley of Decision

as Arnold Gray
Released: 1916-12-04

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The Home Towners

as Vic Arnold
Released: 1928-11-03

Man from small town comes to New York to be best man at an old friend's wedding. He mistakenly...

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18 Minutes

as Korn
Released: 1935-04-07

A lion-tamer's partly innate and partly acquired attitude to other living beings - that they...

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The Eternal City

as Bruno
Released: 1923-12-17

War drama - Fitzmaurice was able to film King Victor Emmanuel III and Benito Mussolini reviewing...

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The End of the Road

as Doctor
Released: 1919-02-16

Childhood friends Mary Lee and Vera receive two different versions of the 'birds and the bees'...

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The Gilded Youth

as John Slocum
Released: 1917-01-01

Pinky Cochrane is one of a trio of starving artists: the other two are Sam Wellbridge and Mac...

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Youth for Sale

as Montgomery Breck
Released: 1924-04-01

Connie urges her friend Molly and Molly's boyfriend Tom to attend a party with her. Molly, who...

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Damaged Goods

as uncredited
Released: 1914-08-31

"Damaged Goods" pictures the terrible consequences of vice and the physical ruin that follows...

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