Richard Bennett

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 Deacons 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 costarred 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 Broadways Englishlanguage version of Leonid Andreyevs melodrama He Who Gets Slapped playing the title role as He The success of the play led to its being filmed by MetroGoldwynMayer with the production starring Lon Chaney in Bennetts 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 19041965 Barbara Bennett 19061958 and Joan Bennett 19101990 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 talkshow host Morton Downey Jr was Richard Bennetts 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 rolesthat 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