Barbara Bennett

Barbara Jane Bennett (August 13, 1906 – August 8, 1958) was an American stage and film actress and dancer.

Family

Richard Bennett with his three daughters (from left), Constance, Joan and Barbara (ca. 1913)

Born in Palisades Park, New Jersey, Barbara Bennett was the second of three daughters born to actor Richard Bennett and his wife, actress Adrienne Morrison. Her maternal grandfather was the stage actor Lewis Morrison. Her older sister Constance and her younger sister Joan had successful film careers. The girls attended the Chapin School with the actress Jane Wyatt.

Personal life Bennett married three times and had five children. On January 28, 1929, she married tenor Morton Downey. The couple had four biological children, including son Morton Downey Jr., and adopted a fifth child, Michael. They divorced in June 1941. Bennett later married actor Jack Randall, a popular romantic star and singing cowboy at the time. On July 16, 1945, Randall died after suffering a myocardial infarction and falling from a horse during the filming of The Royal Mounted Rides Again. Bennett married Laurent Surprenant in 1954. The couple moved to Montreal in 1957 and remained together until her death the following year.

Career Bennett is featured on the poster for Black Jack, a 1927 Fox Film Corporation release. Bennett was an actress on Broadway as well as a film actress (1916-1930). In 1931, she co-authored the waltz Dreaming of My Indiana Sweetheart with Bill Hansen.

Bennett later worked as a literary representative for producer Walter Wanger, who was married to her sister Joan. In that position, Bennett scouted best-sellers and the like as potential movie properties, especially for her sister Joan.

Death On August 8, 1958, five days before her 52nd birthday, Bennett died after what the media described as an unidentified "long illness" in Montreal.

She was buried at Burtonville cemetery in Lacolle, Quebec. A memorial service was later held at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills.

Broadway credits Production Role Date The Stork Heloise January 26 – February 1925 Victory Belles Miss Flo Hilliard October 26, 1943 – January 22, 1944

Filmography Year Title Role Notes 1916 The Valley of Decision Unborn soul 1927 Black Jack Nancy Blake 1929 Syncopation Fleurette Sloane 1929 Mother's Boy Beatrix Townleigh 1930 Love Among the Millionaires Virginia Hamilton