Richard Bennett (actor)
Clarence Charles William Henry Richard Bennett was an American actor who became a stage and silent screen actor over the early decades of the 20th century. He was the father of actresses Constance Bennett, Barbara Bennett and Joan Bennett with actress Adrienne Morrison, his second wife.
Biography
Bennett was born in Deer Creek Township, Cass County, Indiana, in May 1870. Called Clarence until he was 10, he was the eldest child of George Washington Bennett and Eliza Leonora Bennett. 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.Bennett made his stage debut on May 10, 1891, in Chicago, in The Limited Mail. He went to New York City, where his Broadway debut was in His Excellency the Governor, which was produced by Charles Frohman. In his third Broadway production, he played the role of Father Anselm in Frohman's production of A Royal Family.
Bennett 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 Hearst's New York American.
On November 8, 1903, Bennett and actress Adrienne Morrison were married in Jersey City. They had three daughters, all notable actresses: Constance Bennett, Barbara Bennett and Joan Bennett.
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.
A series of spectacular roles followed. In 1908, he played the role of John Shand opposite Maude Adams in J. M. 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 also known for adapting socially conscious works of Eugène Brieux, including Maternity.
In 1913, Bennett had a theatrical success starring as Georges Dupont in the stage drama Damaged Goods, which he also co-produced. He won a reputation for his curtain harangues, which friends—and critics—said were at least as good as his stage portrayals when he wound up an appearance by stepping in front of the curtain and castigating 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.
Bennett reprised his stage role for his feature film debut, Damaged Goods, which co-starred his wife, Adrienne Morrison. He helped adapt the screenplay and direct the drama. In the drama The Valley of Decision, 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 a film adaptation by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with Lon Chaney in Bennett's role.
Bennett and Morrison appeared together on stage in the 1923 play The Dancers. They were divorced in April 1925.
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 on July 11, 1927, in Chicago.
His daughter Joan made her stage debut acting with Bennett in Jarnegan. 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.
, Dolores Costello, Don Dillaway, Agnes Moorehead, Ray Collins
He and Raisch separated April 3, 1934, and were divorced in 1937.
With the advent of sound film, the middle-aged Bennett found a niche as a character actor. In 1931 he appeared with his daughter Constance Bennett in Bought. He played the dying millionaire John Glidden in If I Had a Million. Bennett is probably best known for his role as Major Amberson in Orson Welles's second feature film, The Magnificent Ambersons. Journey into Fear, Welles's next production, was Bennett's final film.
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.
Select theatre credits
| Date | Title | Role | Notes |
| May 10, 1891 | The Limited Mail | Tombstone Jake | Standard Theatre, Chicago First appearance on the professional stage, beginning in a small role but eventually playing the lead Production is on the road for a total of 54 weeks New York debut November 16, 1891 at Niblo's Garden |
| May 1897 | A Round of Pleasure | Harry Spaulding | Knickerbocker Theatre, New York |
| October 4, 1897– | The Proper Caper | Achille | Hoyt's Theatre, New York Produced by Gustave Frohman Cast includes Henry Bergman, Amelia Bingham, Alice Fischer |
| November 22, 1897– | The White Heather | Dick Beach | Academy of Music, New York Written by Cecil Raleigh and Henry Hamilton, produced by Charles Frohman |
| February 13–March 25, 1899 | Her Atonement | Charles Le Roy | Academy of Music, New York Produced by Charles Frohman |
| March 29, 1899– | At the White Horse Tavern | Frederick Siedler | Wallack's Theatre, New York Produced by Charles Frohman Bennett replaces Joseph Holland |
| May 9, 1899– | His Excellency the Governor | Captain Rivers | Lyceum Theatre, New York Written by Robert Marshall, produced by Charles Frohman |
| March 26–April 1900 | Twelve Months Later | Frederick Siedler | Hoyt's Theatre, New York Sequel to At the White Horse Tavern |
| September 5, 1901–February 1902 | A Royal Family | Father Anselm | Lyceum Theatre, New York Written by Robert Marshall, produced by Charles Frohman |
| December 30, 1901–February 1902 | Sweet and Twenty | Villain | Hoyt's Theatre, New York Written by Basil Hood, produced by Charles Frohman |
| October 20–November 1902 | His Excellency the Governor | Captain Rivers | Garrick Theatre, New York |
| November 17, 1902–January 1903 | Imprudence | Jimmy Greaves | Empire Theatre, New York |
| October 19–December 1903 | The Best of Friends | The Boer Boy | Academy of Music, New York Written by Cecil Raleigh, produced by Charles Frohman Cast includes Lionel Barrymore |
| December 29, 1903–May 1904 | The Other Girl | Mr. Taylor | Criterion Theatre, Empire Theatre, Lyceum Theatre, New York Cast includes Lionel Barrymore, Elsie de Wolfe, Frank Worthing |
| September 5, 1905– | Man and Superman | Hector Malone, Jr. | Hudson Theatre, New York Written by George Bernard Shaw, produced by Charles Dillingham Cast includes Edward Abeles, Clara Bloodgood, Fay Davis, Alfred Hickman, Robert Loraine |
| November 20, 1905– | The Lion and the Mouse | Jefferson Ryder | Lyceum Theatre, Grand Opera House, Hudson Theatre, Academy of Music, New York Written by Charles Klein, produced by Henry B. Harris Cast includes Edmund Breese |
| August 30, 1906–February 1907 | The Hypocrites | Lennard Wilmore | Hudson Theatre, New York Written by Henry Arthur Jones, produced by Charles Frohman Cast includes Viva Birkett, W. H. Denny, Leslie Faber, Doris Keane, Jessie Millward |
| January 20–March 1908 | Twenty Days in the Shade | Henri, Comte de Merville | Savoy Theatre, New York Produced by Charles Frohman Cast includes Pauline Frederick |
| September 5–September 1908 | Diana of Dobson's | Victor Bretherton | Savoy Theatre, New York Written by Cicely Hamilton, produced by Charles Frohman |
| December 23, 1908–June 1909 | What Every Woman Knows | John Shand | Empire Theatre, New York Written by J.M. Barrie, produced by Charles Frohman Cast includes Maude Adams, David Torrence, Lumsden Hare |
| August 11–September 1910 | The Brass Bottle | Horace Ventimore | Lyceum Theatre, New York Written by F. Anstey, produced by Charles Frohman |
| January 9–May 1911 | The Deep Purple | William Lake | Lyric Theatre, New York |
| September 14–December 1911 | Passers-by | Criterion Theatre, New York | |
| December 25, 1912–May 1913 | Stop Thief | Jack Doogan | Gaiety Theatre, New York |
| March 14–May 1913 | Damaged Goods | Georges Dupont | Fulton Theatre, New York Produced by Richard Bennett and Wilton Lackaye, Jr. |
| January 6–January 1915 | Maternity | Princess Theatre, New York Written by Eugene Brieux, adapted by Richard Bennett | |
| April 4–May 1916 | Rio Grande | Empire Theatre, New York Written by Augustus Thomas | |
| February 13–March 1917 | The Morris Dance | Little Theatre, New York | |
| April 9–May 1917 | Bosum Friends | Liberty Theatre, New York | |
| August 9–August 1917 | The Very Idea | Alan Camp | Astor Theatre, New York Written by William LeBaron |
| September 14, 1918–May 1919 | The Unknown Purple | Lyric Theatre, New York Written by Roland West and Carlyle Moore | |
| April 8–May 1919 | A Good Bad Woman | Harris Theatre, New York Written by William Anthony McGuire, directed by Richard Bennett | |
| December 19, 1919–May 1920 | For the Defense | Christopher Armstrong | Playhouse Theatre, New York Written by Elmer Rice |
| February 2–May 1920 | Beyond the Horizon | Robert Mayo | Morosco Theatre, New York Written by Eugene O'Neill, directed by Homer Saint-Gaudens |
| September 5–November 1921 | The Hero | Andrew Lane | Belmont Theatre, New York |
| January 9–June 1922 | He Who Gets Slapped | He | Garrick Theatre, New York |
| October 17, 1923–February 1924 | The Dancers | Tony | Broadhurst Theatre, New York Written by Gerald Du Maurier Cast includes Barbara Bennett |
| November 24, 1924–October 1925 | They Knew What They Wanted | Tony | Garrick Theatre, New York Written by Sidney Howard |
| December 17, 1926–February 1927 | Oh, Please | Sammy Sands | Fulton Theatre, New York Written by Maurice Hennequin and Pierre Veber Cast includes Helen Broderick, Beatrice Lillie, Charles Winninger |
| September 24, 1928–January 1929 | Jarnegan | Jack Jarnegan | Longacre Theatre, New York Directed by Richard Bennett Cast includes Joan Bennett |
| October 14–November 1930 | Solid South | Major Bruce Follonsby | Lyceum Theatre, New York Directed by Rouben Mamoulian Cast includes Bette Davis, Jessie Royce Landis |
| September 25, 1935–March 1936 | Winterset | Judge Gaunt | Martin Beck Theatre, New York Written by Maxwell Anderson, directed by Guthrie McClintic Cast includes Burgess Meredith |